Introduction
This post provides some pointers for planning and leading bike rides. In no way does this replace formal training though it can be used as an aide memoir or a way of troubleshooting the Let's Ride system (as of 2026), especially when getting started.
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| Image by Freepik |
Let's Ride Getting Started
If you want to be a "Guided Ride" or "Breeze" leader then the first step is to get the required courses booked.
Ride Leader Level 1 (L1) is the minimum leader training but doing the Ride Leader Combined course (L1 & L2 combined) is useful if you envisage doing faster paced and/or longer rides as L1 only covers you up to 50 miles. The combined course is the same content as L1 plus L2 but being combined over a weekend it is more efficient. For the course I completed we rode at an average 12mph over 3 laps of a 9 mile route for the L2 element though speed isn't essential.
The basic first aid training will be a minimum of three hours and needs to meet BC requirements which are provided on their website. Training doesn't necessarily cover scenarios such as what to do if you have a casualty who you think needs transport. In my experience it is worth phoning 999 early and they will talk you through any actions you need to take and they will assess whether an ambulance is required and if so the urgency. Having the What3words app allows you to provide a precise location if you are on a remote country lane. Having taxi numbers or an app would help if transport is required.
Don't worry about the order in which you do the courses just get them booked. St John's ambulance do courses and your local club/hub/association/society may be able to add you to an existing local course so use those networks and contacts.
At the time of writing British Cycling don't fund the Ride Leader training anymore (though check) but there may be other funding sources locally and British Cycling do have a bursary programme.
You need to upload your certificates to your learning record and specifically this is via the Ride Leader course you registered for. More specifically, if you can't find the upload facility click onto the course you completed and it should be there though British Cycling is upgrading its systems.
Courses done and certificates uploaded you need a Let's Ride account and that needs to allow you to lead rides for the relevant group such as your local hub or club. That can be achieved by getting Admin rights on the group though I suspect there is another route such as Let's Ride being able to 'see' your British Cycling profile.
Check your First Aid certificate is valid for three years on the BC website after you upload it; mine only showed as valid for one year and BC where quick to resolve that for me.
Ask the Guided Ride section of British Cycling to make you a Guided Ride Leader. When they do that they will ask you sign an online form (the annual Volunteer Declaration) to say you will comply with their rules.
With all certificates uploaded and Volunteer Declaration signed a "G" will then show on your record ("B" for Breeze) and you can create rides after one last step.
Go to your profile and you will see a new "VOLUNTEER DETAILS" section. Update this by selecting the locations that you will lead rides in. Without this you can't create rides. The locations aren't obvious so search on county, town, council, or borough to find something in the area you lead rides from. The postcode for your start location could be a clue so "CO" may indicate you need to add "Colchester". If you get stuck then searching for the council for a given ride start may offer clues, for example Harwich comes under Tendring, and Croxley Green comes under Three Rivers. A list of councils can be found here. If you use existing routes the location will be shown so you will know what location to add.
To create a ride login to Let's Ride, go to Home and scroll down to the Create Ride button.
Ride Creation
When you are ready to put rides up it is recommended that you review the required data fields on the Let's Ride web site, create the text in a document (text, MS*Word, web) then cut and paste the text across. This is because some people have found their text dissappears in certain circumstances when creating a ride such as updating the photo or GPX file. If it is a ride you then plan to copy and re-use it is worth taking the time to get the text and route right as the Let's Ride platform allows you to copy a ride to create a new ride event.
Copying a ride is very easy though be careful if your ride text included start times and be careful when updating with the new date, time etc. In particular the photo may revert to the Let's Ride default and you may wish to insert your own which in turn will blank some of tge text fields. Strategies for picture choice include:
- One picture for all your rides; people can associate the ride with its leader.
- A picture representing the start point; this is especially useful if starting in a park
- A picture representing the ride itself such as the café or viewpoint.
Let's Ride picks up a postcode from the .GPX file so don't worry about that, especially if it doesn't match the postcode used in your own description of the start location. As start locations are often in parks or other areas not easily identifiable by a new rider the What3words reference will help.
Ride Suitability is peculiar in that the text gets translated to an age group for example:
- "Local Rides Steady" translates to all age ranges from age 5 up which may or may not be what you want.
- "Local Rides Challenging" translates to "Adults 16+".
In addition to ride suitability there is also ride level which, confusingly, has the same Steady and Challenging classification. The meaning here is as follows:
Finally, if you can't create rides because the system thinks that you don't have a valid British Cycling membership it may be picking up an old expired membership and ignoring your valid one; speak to British Cycling to get expired accounts deleted or merged. If you still can't create rides try deleting your web browsing data as a fix. As of spring 2026 British Cycling is updating its website and back-end systems so other issues may emerge or it may be seamless.
Let's Ride Administration
You need to do pre-ride risk assessment which means accepting standard BC provided risks and adding any new ones specific to your ride. Frankly, if you need to add risks it is worth considering redesigning the route.
The day before the ride:
1. Ensure the pre-ride risk assessment is done.
2. Optionally, you could update the maximum attendees to ensure no late joiners, especially if you know the current group of riders are uniform in their pacing. Not required for short slower paced rides.
3. Download the participant register so you have participants details and their ICE contact. This will be in PDF format so you may wish to screen grab that for ease on the day.
After the ride there is more administration including a post-ride risk assessment and you need to delete any personal data such as the participant register.
Tooling and Organisation
Get organised recognising that you will likely keep tweaking routes and thereby creating multiple versions.
Primary version: I use Komoot as the master copy as this is where I create and edit rides.
Navigation version: I link the Wahoo app on my phone to my Komoot app so the Wahoo app always sees the Primary version. I then ensure my Wahoo cycle computer is refreshed (synced) from the Wahoo app.
Backup and ride creation text: I store the .GPX file and relevant image for a ride on Dropbox so it is in the cloud and easy to load up the required files when creating rides on Let's Ride. In truth Let's Ride struggles to read from my Dropbox so I copy to a folder on my phone. Also, I can readily share the .GPX with anyone not comfortable downloading off Komoot. I now use a single standard AI generated image for all rides; the image you use needs to be approximately square.
You might be using different tools but do get organised.
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 who enjoy 5 to 10 miles riding on flat mostly traffic-free roads and cycle paths
- Confident cyclists happy with 10 to 30 mile rides
- Riders who enjoy cycling as a way to explore and see sights of interest
- Cyclists who prefer a longer bike ride on open roads where they can cycle two abreast with minimal stops
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
- Walk Wheel Cycle Trust is the new name for Sustrans which supports the National Cycle Network.
- Komoot, RideWithGPS, Strava 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
- Letting people introduce themselves facilitates the start of the briefing and gets people's attention
- Swapping bikes for a bike check lets people inspect different bikes and technologies though you can't force anyone to hand over their beloved bike
- You do need to cover the bases and if you feel the group is experienced you can skip the bike check but only if you get confirmation from riders that they have checked their bikes
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, a team; 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.
You will be carrying out dynamic risk assessment during the ride and making decisions based on risk such as re-routing if you encounter risks such as roadworks or road closures. If you are aware of potential roadworks or just want to check your route then the local council should have up to date information potentially displayed on the Causeway one network website.
Do treat every give way line on the road as a junction and manage it in that way. This includes going straight at a 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" or "Go, Go, Go", not a frantic "GO! GO! GO!", and use a big windmill arm whilst concentrating on the road. 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 and them jumping on the back of the group without having to look back for the last rider.
There are calls and signals the ride leaders or riders may want to use and it is worth clarifying these in advance if you are using them as there is no international standard. You wouldn't use all these but giving riders a simple word like "Easy" to ask for a slower pace can help.
- "Easy!" as an instruction on pace. This could be from any of the ride leaders on the approach to a junction or from a rider who is finding the pace hard.
- "All on" is helpful if the person at the back calls when the group is back together after a split.
- "Single" with arm up and one finger up to signal single file
- "Double" with arm up and two fingers up to signal two abreast
- "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
- "Shoulder please" might be used by a leader wanting to glance behind while maintaining their line; they would reach over and put a hand on their partners shoulder for balance
- "Slowing" is an important command and one that needs to be transmitted back through the group by riders
- "Stopping" is important for junctions where a stop is required or if stopping for any reason
- "Car front" where there is a car ahead of the group
- "Car back" where there is a car behind probably wanting to overtake
- 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 pointing forward can signal straight ahead at a roundabout
Ride Leading Isn't ...
... about providing advice and coaching. However, you will invariably get questions.
- Bike lock advice from Bikmo.
- To save your legs:
- Slow uphill and (safely) fast downhill
- Using the bike's gears
- Correct saddle height
- Pack light
- Well maintained bike including a clean lubricated chain
Concluding Note
These are my thoughts, observations and preferences. You need to apply best practices appropriately and if a problem occurs the question to ask is, could you justify your actions?