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Durango Wheel Club Group Ride Plan for 2009 After months of work and years of discussion, the Durango Wheel Club is excited and proud to announce its new club ride plan for the 2009 season! The DWC Board of Directors (Steering Committee) decided to end the official Tuesday club rides early in 2008 to address a number of growing safety concerns including: traffic congestion, route safety and group size. Historically, DWC group rides started at 5:30 pm, putting those groups on roads during peak commuting time. With the increased popularity of cycling in Durango, the group sizes have grown dramatically over the last several years. During the last two years, the DWC regularly had 200+ cyclist (split between four groups) on the road during rush hour. Considering this, and coupled with the fact that many of their favorite routes placed riders on heavily used roads with little or no shoulders, it is remarkable that the DWC has not had a tragic accident during the group rides. In addition to the mounting safety concern, the DWC received numerous complaints from motorists, commuting cyclists and law enforcement about cyclists. The question of how to improve the club group ride has been one that the Steering Committee has extensively debated since 2006. The club tried a number of strategies to work with the traditional 5:30 start time to accommodate the many riders who came to the rides directly from work. They varied departure times for certain rides, moved starting points further from the center of town and split large groups. When none of these efforts had the desired effect, the Steering Committee concluded that they needed to come up with a different solution to the growing problem. After analyzing the group rides’ strengths and weaknesses, surveying club members, and examining cycling club group rides in other towns, the Steering Committee decided to change Tuesday evening rides to Saturdays and offer alternative events on Tuesday nights. During the winter, members of the Steering Committee met with the state, county and city law enforcement officials to discuss their proposed changes. The DWC was surprised and pleased with the enthusiastic support they received. Captain Petrik of the Colorado State Patrol noted that this was the first time in his long career that a cycling club approached him to address safety and work together to find solutions to issues. It was a sentiment that was echoed by other law enforcers. This is significant, because Captain Petrik was an officer on the Boulder force when they shut down club rides because of similar problems and the lack of leadership or willingness of that cycling community to work with the officers. The new plan is to have all DWC cycling groups ride the same route on Saturdays (Click Here for a post of routes). The groups will set off at intervals with the fastest group departing first to prevent groups from merging. In order to alert motorists of riders, they will have a follow-car with a ‘cyclists ahead’ sign on the back. These routes will be publicized to the general public and have been posted on the website. Law enforcement officials will also know the times, dates and routes well ahead of time. They have generously offered to escort some of the rides. In place of Tuesday evening group rides, the DWC hopes to promote a series of events that will consist of criterium, circuit and hill-climb races. These events will be held on a combination of private roads and public roads with very little traffic to minimize conflicts. In order to hold these events properly the DWC will be seeking permission from neighborhoods and businesses to use the private roads. The Wheel Club will continue the Thursday night Time Trial series with two divisions: the Armstrong Division: where participants can use their aerodynamic toys, and the Merckx Division: where aerodynamic equipment is not allowed. See the DWC website for more details. The Steering Committee’s plan addresses most issues. However, there is a long tradition of DWC Tuesday night rides with many of their members using these as important training events for weekend races. The Committee acknowledges that these changes may result in objections from some local cyclists. They understand this is a drastic change, but hope that the changes outlined will make the group rides far safer and encourage even higher participation. This new plan should allow the club to continue riding in relatively large groups on the limited number of local roads in a manner that does not invite disaster. Although some will favor the changes and some will not, the Steering Committee has worked hard to put together a plan that will keep their cyclists safe while minimizing conflicts with the greater community. Spencer Compton is the Managing Director of the Durango Wheel Club and a founding member of the Safe Roads Coalition. He may be contacted for additional information questions or concerns at durangowheelclub@gmail.com |
