Legal Law

Group riding for beginners

Now when I say ride in a pack, I bet some of you are picturing a scene from a movie that has about a hundred cyclists all riding down the road side by side.

Well, this is not always the case, but whether it is 2 bikes or more than 100, you have to consider many different things.

A few simple tips for riding in a group.

The first thing I always tell people is: NEVER drive outside of your own comfort zone, don’t try to keep up with someone if it makes you nervous, drive to your own abilities, if you’re in a group, your “friends” or other cyclists will wait for you at the next intersection if you can’t keep up. If they don’t wait for you, you have to say to yourself: are these the people I really want to travel with? Remember it’s not just about the bike, it’s about the rider. I’ve been with a lot of bands and to be honest some of them travel a lot faster than me and no I’m not going to keep up with them. Similarly, I have traveled with people who travel slower than me. leave them (I can hear some of my friends now saying I should) but no I don’t. It’s not just about how fast you get there, it’s more about the journey.

So the second tip for riding in a pack is to try to hold your position in a pack. If you are the 3rd, 4th or 25th rider in a group stay in position as riders crossing each other in a group can be dangerous as we are all busy looking at those ahead we are not waiting for someone do a quick overtake on the inside or the outside, and if for any reason you have to move suddenly, you have reached the scene of the accident, and believe me you know how much it hurts to fall off a motorcycle.

That said, if you need to get past those in front, do so, but remember there’s plenty of room, they may not be waiting for you. Now something to consider is the size of the group. I have ridden with 2 bikes and also with a couple of hundred.

When the group gets too big, you might consider some of the following.

Does everyone know the route?

Do not? You may want to use the corner man system.

The lead cyclist will indicate where they want the next cyclist to stop at a junction to indicate to the rest of the group which way they are turning at the traffic light/junction or roundabout. the “marker” will then wait for the tail rider or rear gunner or whatever name you want to give the guy in the back to get to it, then the marker can rejoin, usually in front of the tail rider. Once you’ve rejoined, hold your position and you’ll eventually be behind the lead rider.

That brings us nicely to the tail rider, who can be any member of the group, but if someone who has a bike or distinctive clothing (some groups use a different hi-vis for this rider) can be helpful, just let everyone know who it is. the tail rider is. In addition, the trailing cyclist must be aware of the route that he is taking and must also have the number or means to contact the leading cyclist.

In very large groups there may sometimes be riding marshals, who will normally always wear high visibility clothing and even have flashing amber lights to identify themselves, they may even be bikers by blood, but certainly advanced bikers of some kind (ROPSA or YO SOY).

So I thought this was going to be a quick post, but it just so happens that there is a lot to consider about group riding, and even more that I haven’t covered.

I hope you enjoy reading this and I will post some more soon.

safe driving

Simon

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