There was lots of good input from others. Hopefully nobody got scared off by this thread.
Ride to where you feel safe and don't impede others. Ride YOUR pace and allow others theirs.
This years route features much tamer downhills compared to some of the "laundry chute" descents we had last year. It should be really fun no matter what your skill or confidence levels.
I would have not broached the subject but for the fact that the two times prior through here I've been trapped behind riders who believed themselves fast that would not yield a line to constant yells of "LEFT" from behind.
After 5 or 6 corners of being forced with blind opposite lane passing or diving inside to the right, I ended up with passing on the right as being the safest option based on their bike handling behavior prior.
This always elicits a tirade of how that's against the rules or something to that effect. Amazing how one can block continuously and then be incensed when you get by using the safest option they provide.
While on the road between Halfway and the Snake River watch the pastures adjacent to the road. Last time through there were about 10 or 12 horses running through the fields like children playing crack the whip.
There was a leader that would run seemingly aimlessly around some invisible obstacle course while the others followed behind. It was beautiful to watch their motions as they would accelerate, slow, and turn. At times they used the banking of the hillside to aid in the turns.
I could see them lean out their stride to pick up speed, drop lower in the front to slow and pivot their bodies in the turns. For the several minutes that they provided this magnificent display of pure animal joy I stood transfixed and I could feel their spirit inside.
When I fly downhill its not competition, its not some macho superiority, its just pure joy. A freedom of control, expression. focus. and joy that I find I share with other animals.
Its flying without wings, its instinct, its incredible! Something buried deep within our common genetic building blocks I expect.
I've always gotten along well with animals, likely cause evolutionarily I'm not that far off

Anyway. Be safe, enjoy the ride.
Don "Fastest cow in the west" Bolton