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Group Riding
Guidelines
Before you Ride
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Plan route
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Check bike
over – brakes, wheels etc
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Things to
carry – spare inner tube, pump or gas cartridges, mobile, food, drink
and some money.
On the Ride
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Ride on the left.
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Red lights, don't jump them.
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Pavements - don't cycle on them.
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Busy roads – ride single file.
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Ride in a pack.
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Ride in pairs, never more than two abreast, but single-out ("file-out")
if a car is behind and when filing out would enable the car to pass.
(Note: when filing-out, it is normal for the rider on left to go
forward, and the rider on right to drop behind.)
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Do not overlap wheels (known as "half-wheeling").
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Communicate with the other riders by pointing and calling out holes,
walkers, joggers, parked cars and horses.
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Repeat calls up and down the line; assure the front knows if the back
are struggling with the pace.
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Slow down for horses, give them lots of room. Call ahead "bikes-up" if
approaching horses from behind, so as not to startle them.
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Call out "stopping" or "slowing" if that is what you are doing, to avoid
the rider behind you crashing into you.
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Keep your lines. On corners, do not cut the corner, or under steer the
corner. Remain parallel to the road centre line /edge. There WILL be
someone to your rear left or rear right whom you will be forcing off the
road or into the path of an oncoming car.
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Do not overtake the lead rider. The lead rider is controlling the pace.
The exception to this is when "rotation" action is being used to share
the load against a headwind.
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Do not overtake another rider on the left without shouting out a warning
to the rider first.
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If you are at the front of the pack, after reaching the top of a climb,
do not accelerate immediately as you go down the other side of the
hill. Remember that in a big group, the rear riders will still be
labouring up the hill even after you are descending down the other
side. Keep the group together.
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When pulling out from a junction, or turning into a road, slow down a
little to allow the riders behind to catch up. Everyone takes time to
set-off, clip-in and get settled back in the saddle. Keep the group
together.
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Do not litter. If you eat on the move, or take a gel, put the wrapper
in your pocket.
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All cyclists must adhere to the Highway code.
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Most importantly – ENJOY
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