Introduction
This post covers some of the points to bare in mind when planning and leading bike rides. In no way does this replace formal training though it can be used as an aide memoir.
Route planning
Before you start planning a route consider your audience. The only constant is the all important coffee stop and the social aspect.
- Beginners may enjoy 5 to 10 miles riding on flat mostly traffic-free roads and cycle paths
- Confident cyclists happy with 10 to 30 mile rides
- Some riders enjoy cycling as a way to explore and see sights of interest
- People wanting to have a good bike ride on open roads
- Riders looking to go at pace and cover longer distances
Planning routes is time consuming so make use of resources.
- Paper maps can play a useful role if you want to get a big picture view
- The cycle.travel website and app will create routes for you including circular routes for whatever distance you require
- Komoot, RideWithGPS and similar apps have route planning functionality
- British Cycling has a library of routes
The Epic Ride Weather app is useful for longer faster rides and racing where you may wish advance information on how weather conditions will affect your ride. If you have a brisk tailwind on the outward leg and a strong headwind on the return you may wish to opt for a later café stop or change how you manage pace.
The briefing
- Welcoming riders as they arrive allows you to check for lose laces, soft tyres and missing water bottles
- Swapping bikes for a bike check lets people inspect different bikes and technologies though you can't force anyone to hand over their bike
- You do need to cover the bases and if you feel the group is experienced you can skip the bike check but if you get confirmation from riders that they have checked their bikes
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| Image by Freepik |
Leading a ride
There are different ride leadership approaches (or systems) depending on whether you have one, two, three or four ride leaders. If you are leading as a team then it is just that; this is especially true when leading as a team of three or four because the roles on the road rotate at every junction to be managed.
Do treat every give way line on the road as a junction and manage it in that way. This includes the mini-roundabout with no cars in sight. It is only the left hand turn off a main road to a minor road where you have right of way and you can take the left turn.
Junctions are where problems could occur or the group might split. Applying the rule of slow in and slow out helps greatly. Slow in allows the group to bunch up at the junction and slow out prevents separation and allows the ride leader to check for any split.
To signal riders through a junction ensure the rider responsible for the junction can get there early and uses a calm "Clear", not a frantic "GO! GO! GO!" and use big windmill arms whilst concentrating on the road and a clear hand out and "Stop." if the road is no longer clear. Ideally the last rider will shout "Last rider approaching" and then a shout of "Last rider" as they pass the person manning the junction enabling that person to concentrate on whether the road is actually clear or not.
There are calls and signals the ride leaders or riders may want to use and it is worth clarifying these in advance as there is no international standard.
- "Easy!" as an instruction on pace. This could be from a ride leader on the approach to a junction or from a rider who is finding the pace hard.
- "Single" with arm up and one finger up
- "Double" with arm up and two fingers up
- "Out" with left hand pointing behind back to signal a move to the right; this is usually used when moving out for parked cars
- "In" with right hand pointing behind back
- "Elbows" to get riders in a tighter formation when riding two abreast. Useful for oncoming traffic or situations where there is less road width available
- "Pedal Ready" to get riders on their marks whilst waiting to roll
- "Rolling" indicates that the group is underway
- "Inside", "Middle" and "Outside" with finger pointing for any potholes or other hazards. This works best if you are in a formal two abreast formation. Otherwise a call of "Hole" with finger pointing will work for less experienced riders
- The navigator can raise their hand for three seconds to get attention before signalling left or right, or to rotate their arm signalling a roundabout. Arm point forward can signal straight ahead at a roundabout
Concluding Note
If a problem occurs could you justify your actions.
