Spimothy Leary
Well-Known Member
About 4 weeks ago I had an annoying experience with a small group ride and i'm finally getting around to venting about it.
6 ski's planned, 10am launch, lunch at 12, off water by 2:30-3. 4 (reg's) are guys I know from previous rides and two newbs that were invited by two of my reg's off a forum ride thread. The newbs call him at 9, running a half hour late, no big deal, but they get lost twice and 11:15 they finally arrive, two ski's one guy brought his wife. They don't apologize, lollygag while launching, sunscreen, etc, and its 11:45 now.
We skip a side ride and go straight to lunch which was planned and the newbs fuss with the menu, eat slowly, order desert, and drag it out forever while they sip a beer, I was done eating around 12:45, but we're crawling to 1:30, i'm agitated now and we really haven't even been on the water yet ! FWIW they were really nice peeps, easy to talk to but I would really prefer to be on the water. We finally are off the beach at 1:45 because they donk around some more and heading into a long no wake zone. the 4 regs are ideling around 7-8 mph, the newbs around 5mph at best, chatting it up so they are a solid 500 yards behind us when we hit the channel.
we hit the channel (25 mph) around 40 and the noobs stick to about 22, so we circle back for them, take off at 40 again, and they stick under 22. I even asked "is everything all right ?", noob #2 mentions the speed limit and I really didn't argue. this circle back & wait process goes on for 15 miles and we hit the no speed limit zone, open it up to 55ish, the newbs speed up to 30ish and poke along, we circle back 3 or 4 times again. Newb #1 gets his act together, but the couple never did speed up past 30 even in the no limit zones, it was like watching grass grow.
I didn't get off the water until 6pm, all the delays added about 3+ hours to my ride and generally made for a poor experience.
Obviously newb #2 will never be invited back, newb #1 is a "maybe".
FWIW i'm not against "Full day" rides with a lot of social interaction and slow paced riding, but I usually know its planned as a full day ride. Also, i'm not advocating that we constantly break the speed limit, but when 4-5 out of 6 are going 35+, at least go 27ish and not 22ish ! and there is no reason not to idle around 7mph and stay off plane vs 4mph when your entire group is 500 yds ahead of you circling.
Does anybody else get frustrated when a 4 hour ride turns into 7 because of one or two people that slow you down from beginning to end ?
:end rant:
6 ski's planned, 10am launch, lunch at 12, off water by 2:30-3. 4 (reg's) are guys I know from previous rides and two newbs that were invited by two of my reg's off a forum ride thread. The newbs call him at 9, running a half hour late, no big deal, but they get lost twice and 11:15 they finally arrive, two ski's one guy brought his wife. They don't apologize, lollygag while launching, sunscreen, etc, and its 11:45 now.
We skip a side ride and go straight to lunch which was planned and the newbs fuss with the menu, eat slowly, order desert, and drag it out forever while they sip a beer, I was done eating around 12:45, but we're crawling to 1:30, i'm agitated now and we really haven't even been on the water yet ! FWIW they were really nice peeps, easy to talk to but I would really prefer to be on the water. We finally are off the beach at 1:45 because they donk around some more and heading into a long no wake zone. the 4 regs are ideling around 7-8 mph, the newbs around 5mph at best, chatting it up so they are a solid 500 yards behind us when we hit the channel.
we hit the channel (25 mph) around 40 and the noobs stick to about 22, so we circle back for them, take off at 40 again, and they stick under 22. I even asked "is everything all right ?", noob #2 mentions the speed limit and I really didn't argue. this circle back & wait process goes on for 15 miles and we hit the no speed limit zone, open it up to 55ish, the newbs speed up to 30ish and poke along, we circle back 3 or 4 times again. Newb #1 gets his act together, but the couple never did speed up past 30 even in the no limit zones, it was like watching grass grow.
I didn't get off the water until 6pm, all the delays added about 3+ hours to my ride and generally made for a poor experience.
Obviously newb #2 will never be invited back, newb #1 is a "maybe".
FWIW i'm not against "Full day" rides with a lot of social interaction and slow paced riding, but I usually know its planned as a full day ride. Also, i'm not advocating that we constantly break the speed limit, but when 4-5 out of 6 are going 35+, at least go 27ish and not 22ish ! and there is no reason not to idle around 7mph and stay off plane vs 4mph when your entire group is 500 yds ahead of you circling.
Does anybody else get frustrated when a 4 hour ride turns into 7 because of one or two people that slow you down from beginning to end ?
:end rant:
