Last night I went (again) on this semi-regular cycling event called The Slow Roll. As usual, Sam the organizer picked a spot, put out a Facebook event, and announced that the gathering starts at 6:00 and the actual ride starts at 6:30.

Also as usual, nobody’s wheels moved until about 7:00.

Now I would start showing up half an hour late for these things, but I can’t count on the half hour. Sometimes it’s twenty minutes. Sometimes it’s longer. Sometimes the waiting around is kind of fun. (No, it isn’t.) I can’t make plans around this.

Last night it was all census-taking, repeatedly, until the last few stragglers showed up from some other event. I’m still not clear on why they couldn’t just join us in progress–Lakewood isn’t that big a town. Stragglers gotta straggle.

So from now on, rather than stewing at the starting line, I’m going to start the Roll on time for myself and whoever else Rolls along. Maybe we’ll do a half-hour sized lap around the neighborhood.

When Sam’s crowd is ready to roll too, that’s great. They can catch up, or not. Riders gotta ride.