Group rides: When safe numbers are unsafe

[zabalad]

This weekend I did a group ride around Marine drive in Port Elizabeth (this is a beautiful two line road alongside the ocean), at 5 am we started approximately 20 riders and other groups joined adding up to +/- 80 riders.

When automobile drivers wanted to overtake the rear cyclists they did not realize the length of the group until they were already on the other line with no space to move into their left. We had a couple of close calls with cars going into the right side of the road to avoid incoming traffic.

This was the worst ride I've ever had, I was so stress with cars overtaking the group because it was just too long.

I've always heard that in group rides, numbers are safe, in this case, numbers were unsafe.