Organizing big group rides >50 people

[RagingGrandpa]

Last weekend we had our area's first 100+ PMD groupride, with 6 stages totaling 55 miles of organized riding... which brought new fun and also new challenges.

Things that worked:

• All the riders got along  
  I expect some infighting in any large group, but we haven't had to face it yet with the PMD crowd. Hope we can keep this trend going.
   
• Blocking intersections worked great
  When the group leaders encountered red lights, we stopped the group and waited for green.
  Once we were in an intersection with a green light, we used riders (volunteering randomly) to block the vehicle traffic from opposing directions, even after the signals turned red again, to hold the intersection until the tail of the group had passed. 
  In a city center, I think car traffic is accustomed to parades, demonstrations, and various blockages... it really didn't seem to anger anyone, and we were usually thru within one extra light cycle.
   
• No serious collisions
  Plenty of riders fell, but there were no substantial collisions with bystanders or vehicle traffic. 
  It's what I wanted to see from a big group: not putting non-participants at risk.
   

Opportunities for improvement, in no particular order:

1. Group stretch-out
   Our organizers were on 100V EUC's and set a cruising speed of 25mph, but could easily burst to 30+ to move to different positions within the group. 
   With a mixed-PMD crowd including 600wh devices like OWGT and Inmo V8, the tail of the group became stretched and sparse, which probably isn't very fun for those riders, and made holding intersections and navigation more tedious. 
   I'm betting that if the ride leaders held to a strict limit of 20mph for the front of the group, we'd be a tighter pack. Speed enthusiasts might still enjoy this, by circulating within and around the pack.
    
2. Group size is too large for any single restaurant or recharging location 
   Instead, we chose stopping spots with resources nearby, and told riders to be on their own for 90mins to eat and charge wherever they could find. 
   (Luckily, with short ride segments <12mi each, most fullsize devices didn't need to recharge.)
   But this approach added challenges with fragmentation of the group and difficulty re-grouping and re-starting; and also requires more decision-making from the riders (to find food and electricity on their own). 
   There may be no practical alternative... in the previous year's event with about 50 riders, we tried stopping at sufficiently-large, designated restaurants, but foodservice was slow and delayed our schedule, and of course we still tripped all their circuit breakers.
    
3. Group communication
   We used a telegram groupchat and encouraged everyone to join, but I noticed that about 25% of the riders weren't actually responsive to it. The various reasons included lack of familiarity with the app, dead phone batteries, and lack of mobile data service (for some travelers). For the 75% using it, 'pinned' announcements from organizers were the best way we found to communicate next-step details, like "next segment starts at 2pm at the beach". 
   Verbal communication in the outdoor environment (even using a bullhorn) could only ever reach about 50% of the group- a source of frustration for the rest. 
    
4. Staying on-route 
   This was easy for our daytime 25mph ride segments; but our faster segment after dark was barely controllable. Having a designated ride leader carrying a raised flag did help, but as soon as any handful of riders enjoying a fast burst blew past the leader, others immediately followed and the leader became unrecognizable in a dark sea of blinky lights and chaos. Perhaps a tall illuminated beacon (balloon, pole, etc) could help distinguish the leader at night.
   Telegram live location sharing is great for finding the group again, so nobody actually got lost... but we missed a lot of turns that would have led to better riding spots that we planned. 
   And I haven't seen a way to show a route map within Telegram... so the result is switching back and forth between Google Maps (displaying the upcoming route) and Telegram (for the group's current position along the route). This is a hassle that few riders will actually complete, especially those who don't ride hands-free (scooters etc).  
    
5. Fallen-rider protocol 
   We chose to stop the whole group, to assess any fallen rider. This was ad-hoc, without prior instruction. Like usual, nobody was seriously injured, but there were some instances of machine or rider damaged enough that they shouldn't continue the ride. (I don't actually know how those damaged EUC's got transported in the end... I presume via taxi / rideshare.) 
   Crashes will happen, and planning for it sounds appealing. Plans could help victims get home or get wound care more quickly, and also help the large group continue their enjoyment guilt-free. This might involve some non-rider on standby with a recovery car. 

The Oneweel crowd has been doing the massive-groupride thing longer than us EUC riders, perhaps they have lessons to share.

I also notice large motorcycle grouprides around us... which must be even more challenging to manage. 
Does anyone personally know- are those usually free-for-alls? Or do they make an effort to stick to a plan?

Comments appreciated, thx.
 

On 9/24/2020 at 12:57 PM, RagingGrandpa said:

how do you prefer to handle the task of keeping a large EUC groupride together? Options I've seen are:

1. By headcount (difficult with >10ppl)
2. Designated tail rider
3. Online group chat (stragglers msg the group; not good for mountains I expect...)
4. You're-on-your-own (breakdowns and stragglers fend for themselves; buddy system encouraged)

Cheers

On 9/24/2020 at 3:29 PM, Marty Backe said:

For the trail rides it won't really be possible to get lost. For the suburban rides, I will be posting my live position continuously (via the "share my position" feature of the Telegram app).

Finally, the route for each day will be provided to everyone. So if stragglers happen to fall out of sight, they should be able to find us. Having upwards of 60-riders will make it impossible for us to stop and wait for people

For ~20 people it's never been an issue. I've never done 60 so this will be a new experience 

[Paul A]

Maybe approach the group ride as an event like an organized marathon/fun run/tour de France.......

Route is signed and marked at various points the day before. 

Cheap/simple corflute signs, zip tied, hand written with marker pens, to indicate route, turns/distances to next check point etc.

 

Perhaps rest stops that tour buses use. 

Perhaps venues like casinos which specialize in large groups, large dining rooms, with buffets.

Maybe prior arrangement(s) with venue(s) to expect a large group. 

Members can carry power boards that will multiply outlets from each single power point.

Groups of fast and slow EUCs.

Separate leaders. 

Riders can fall back to the slower group if needed.

 

Planned route given in advance to all riders.

Group SMS alerts when needed.

[Tawpie]

Herding cats!

Perhaps the organizers of the Friday Night Ride in Portland or Seattle's Saturday Night Ride could weigh in? These are very large mixed-PEV rides with (most) all speed levels invited.

I do know here in SEA that there have been struggles with keeping the group together and to some extent I think the organizers are at a loss. Fast riders want to go fast, slower riders don't have a whole lot of choice but to lag behind. I've helped out as trail sweep before, and ended up poking along with a near dead OW until I could get them to a spot with charging/access to ride share—but I'm not sure that function is still being supported. The ride leader carries a bullhorn that had a siren function, that made them quite easy to identify. Trail sweep carried one of those red traffic directing flashlights... but the ride notice now warns of minimum speed requirements.

One thing that worked well when the SEA ride was new was to have the fast riders perform the intersection blocking function. That way they could zoom ahead, but then they had to sit there. As time passed there were enough differing opinions about red lights that holding intersections is a very ad hoc thing these days. And that splits everyone up pretty quickly.

My general feeling about the giant rides is that they're exhausting and not much fun for the organizers and 'workers'. Too much stuff to worry about to do every single week. Portland is definitely an exception to that though, their FNR has been going weekly for years now and doesn't seem to be losing steam. It's a lot of fun to be part of a massive take over the stroad ride that's for sure, but I don't go very often anymore. It's high anxiety for me as a mere participant, the mix of speed and daring and skill makes it a lot less fun.

I wonder if NYC's experiment is a good answer... split the ride so everyone does one or two segments together, then the fast folks take a fast route and the casuals take another?

Edited June 21, 2022 by Tawpie

[Paul A]

Rental scooters might be one way to get back to the car, train station, bus station.......

Maybe strap the EUC onto the scooter upright post with bungee cords?