At the moment every other person out there on their bike is the contender for the title. I don’t know what title a lot of them think they are capable of attaining, but anyway there they go...

Some may ask what am I on about commenting about training rides from the Bike Lane. Well, it stems from around a year ago when Auckland’s infamous Mechanics Bay 8am ride started to get a bit on the large side. With unconfirmed reports of the bunch getting up to 80 plus riders. With a fair amount of contenders in the mix, it was/is becoming a recipe for disaster...

So, along with the Mt Eden Glider Club, we started leaving from BikeCentral at 7.30am on a Saturday morning to spread out the numbers and avoid the carnage. This wasn’t done because the guys & girls I ride with have a disrespectful attitude to other people in other bunches, it was done so that we could ride with people we all know and keep ourselves safer by keeping the numbers down.  

Last week I had the chance to ride briefly with a NZ cycling legend (no, not you Gordy!), Eric McKenzie. We had a quick chat about bikes and riding in general. What came up as we were riding along Tamaki Dr were things that could be done proactively by riders to help the current car ‘vs.’ bike situation. We talked about bunch sizes and the cross section of riders all in the mix.

The conclusion we came to was to think about a self imposed bunch limit of 20 riders. Because although we have a right to use the road, we don’t have the right to ‘own’ it with massive bunches all over the show. Best to save the all over the show bunches for Taupo!

The ‘20max’ bumper sticker is on its way....Just kidding.