So I did my annual Wednesday Wheeler ride last December. I repeated the same ride I had done with them the previous year, which I had dubbed the "small intestine" ride since it doubled back on itself repeatedly. This fit my ride criteria of no more than ten miles from my house to the start, and not too long, so the total would be 50ish. Last year I didn't actually do the ride. I rode to the start to check it out, rode with the group a bit and then bailed, mostly because I didn't want to do lunch and I didn't know how to get home without a native guide. This year, however, I was armed with my GPS, which I had owned since 2007 but finally figured out how to use (I'm a slow learner). So I figured I could go the distance and still get home by myself.
At the start, Bob, the leader, gave me a Wednesday Wheeler card. I knew I had arrived, since despite my somewhat spotty attendance, I had become a card carrying Wednesday Wheeler. On one side it had "Wednesday Wheeler Rider Expectations." Most of it was the same generic stuff we say for every CRW ride. But what caught my eye was the section titled "Collaboratively Navigate the Route" where it explained the concept of human arrows. Since the Wheeler rides are not arrowed, they have an elegant system where at each turn someone is designated to be a human arrow, pointing the way until the last rider, or sweep, shows up. I had actually tried something similar to this many years ago on a winter ride, and it failed miserably. I would wait at the turn, and ask the last visible riders if there was anyone behind them. The usual answer was "I don't know" or better yet, "no" when in fact there were. But the Wheelers are well trained, and it runs like a well oiled machine. The sweep on this ride even had a blinking light to act as a beacon in case you didn't recognize him.
The other side of the card had the cell phone numbers of over 50 Wheelers (this would come in handy later on). Of course the print was way too small for most of the elder members of the group to read, but it's the thought that counts. Techno-geek that I am, I immediately thought of a phone app that would have a Google map of all the Wheeler homes, so that I'd know who to call when I got in trouble. It knows my location, so it should be able to find the closest Wheeler.
At the first turn, I heard Bob say something about arrows. Looking around, I didn't see any arrows, and I finally figured out that he was asking me to be a human arrow. I was thrilled to be asked but was a little slow on the uptake. By then someone else had stepped into the breech so my career as Arrow was yet to be.
Later on it seemed like every time I tried to be an Arrow, someone beat me to the punch. It was becoming quite a challenge to assume my solemn responsibility as human arrow. Finally, in frustration, I jetted ahead, found a turn and planted myself there. I had finally achieved arrowhood, and neither hell nor high water would remove me from my post. The rest of the group acknowledged my status as Nouveau Arrow, and there I stood.
The process worked really well. When I saw the last of the group, I took off, and proceeded to ride by all the subsequent Arrows. For extra credit, I started telling each of my comrade Arrows how many more riders were behind me, until I realized I wasn't really sure of the count and giving a wrong number was worse than giving no number at all. I finally caught up to the main group near the lunch stop having traversed 6-8 Arrows in transit.
The other interesting aspect of the ride was that at one point Bob got a call on his cell phone. One of the group had had a rather large mechanical, to wit, a broken frame. The Wheelers rallied round their comrade in need, and help was nearby, as they called a Wheeler who lived close by who came to the rescue (even without my phone app).
I bid the group adieu at the lunch stop and headed home, with my treasured Wheeler card as a memento.
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