Group Riding: How to Ride Safely in a Group
It is very important that if you ride in a group, that you understand that you have a responsibility to ride safely! Please do not come to a group ride if you are not going to follow these simple rules. We all want to have fun with cycling, we don’t want to crash or risk injury because of aggressive bicycle riders who don’t follow the rules.
How to ride safely in a group ride:
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When the shoulder is wide enough, two riders can ride side by side comfortably as long as you stay inside the bike lane/shoulder white line.
When the shoulder is too narrow, you ride single file.
Don’t overlap the wheel of the rider in front of you, that is dangerous and can cause a collision if the rider in front makes a sudden move to the side you are overlapping from.
Don’t ride too close to the rear wheel of the rider in front of you (unless you are absolutely certain that you can handle your bike in a sudden stop.)
If you are a slower rider, stay to the right and let others pass you on the left.
If you plan on passing a rider in front of you, make sure you look behind first to avoid interfering with a another rider, car or other traffic…then, state that you are passing ‘on your left’ to the rider you are passing. (It’s normally safer to pass on the left and not on the right side of the rider.) If you don’t say anything when passing, it is possible to collide if that rider moves slightly to their left without knowing you are coming from behind them.
Never come from behind and ram your way through two side by side riders ‘up the middle’ - that is completely dangerous and you are only looking for problems.
Point out obstacles in the road by pointing to them with your hand. You don’t have to shout out every obstacle. A good rider is watching and is alert and will see your hand signal.
Use hand signals when riding so everyone on the road knows what you plan on doing. i.e. Left turn, right turn, stopping.
Warn the riders behind you that you are stopping by putting your hand behind you with your palm facing outward toward the rider. This means you are stopping.
When riding two riders side by side…when you approach a turn, stay within your lane. This means do not cut the person off who is riding next to you. (Visualize a runners track with lanes…the lanes never cross, they are side by side.)
ALL RIDERS SHOULD BE 100% COMPLETELY AWARE OF THEIR SURROUNDINGS AT ALL TIMES.
If you think I missed anything, feel free to post a comment below. Also make sure you bookmark this page so you can pass it along to your friends who may be new to bicycling.
April 25th, 2010 at 9:00 am
One more note I forgot to mention:
Headphones/iPods/MP3 Players - When you ride with a group, you should turn off your music players and remove your earphones. You should be alert to all the riders and the traffic around you. On our group rides, I normally ask riders to do this.
June 25th, 2010 at 3:29 pm
And to add to this list… it keeps growing!
CELL PHONES:
Please do not ever answer your cell phone or make a call on your cell while you are actually riding on the road. If you need to answer your phone, or have to make a call, you waive all riders behind you to go in front of you. Then, you stop when safe, pull over off to the side of the road and then answer or make your call.
BREAKAWAY GROUPS / PACE OF GROUP RIDE:
If you are riding in a group where the pace is set. Please do not push up the pace of that group. If you feel it’s too slow for you, all you need to do is let the ride leader know you are breaking off the main group and remove yourself from the ride. By staying in the ride and pushing up the pace, you may be exhausting other riders who are striving to learn and enjoy the sport. So, please know that anyone who breaks in front of the ride leader will be considered off the group and on their own ride.
ROUTE:
When a ride is organized, there is normally a ride leader who puts together a route that the group will enjoy. If you have a suggestion for a change in the route…ask the ride leader either before or after the ride. If it’s something the ride leader wants to incorporate into their ride, they will give that option. If not, do not get ahead of the group and then force the route change. That is just downright rude. A little courtesy to the ride leader is expected on this subject…please understand the reasons why we stick to a route is mainly for safety reasons.
SEPARATED AT A LIGHT/INTERSECTION - WHAT TO DO:
There is a possibility with every route that a part of the group will have to stop at a traffic light and then will lose the main group in front of them. As a matter of courtesy, the main group will slow down and soft pedal until the rest of the group has rejoined. DO NOT EVER RUN THROUGH A RED LIGHT if you are the one in the back. Please stop and rest assured that you will be able to catch up with the main group after the light, as we will make every effort possible to insure that you will catch up with us. If it is a long traffic light, the group will soft pedal to a place where we may then pull over to wait for you.
A PACE LINE FORMS - WHAT DO I DO?:
Please let the ride leader know if you are not comfortable riding in a pace line or if you have never ridden in one before. Do not attempt to get into the paceline if you have never ridden in one. The ride leader will ask you to stay in the back of the line and just watch and learn. Of course, BikingLasVegas.com offers paceline classes, but until that time where you can come out to a class, the ride leader will ask you to stay in the back and then after the ride you can converse about the subject and possibly get one-on-one help so you can learn how to ride in a paceline safely for next time.
CONSISTENT PACING IN A PACELINE:
When in a paceline, please remember to keep a consistent, steady pace. If the pace of the line is 14mph and the front leader pulls off, leaving you to take over, it is your job to keep that pace consistently. Remember, when going uphill, your pace will slow up but your pedal cadence should remain the same. The same applies to downhill, only you will go faster, but your pedal cadence should remain the same. By keeping a consistent pedaling cadence, you will help the line run smoothly.
THERE WILL BE ANOTHER CLASS ON PACELINE ETIQUETTE COMING SOON…check back on this.
COMMUNICATION:
Bottom line is this…don’t be afraid to let someone know of a rule they are not following. And if you are the rider that is not following a rule…do not take it personally. We are all out to have a fun, but safe ride. No one should ever feel they are being singled out, nor should you feel that anyone is picking on you. If someone mentions something to you, it’s for the betterment of the group.