July 22, 2009
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Sheep, Rules and Cycling
So, as many of you know I sometimes lead the Sunday "Breakfast Club Group ride". I also attend a few other rides on occasion. Recently there have been some discussions among the of the riders about Rules. The Breakfast Club ride does have a set of rules. Most of the are based on cycling history, safety and the BC group culture of smooth, safe group riding. Here are the Links to the BC Paceline and Group etiquette information. These are pretty much universal in usage, but surprisingly many strong cyclists have never seen such! 
Too often, riders will often follow the strongest riders in an attempt to emulate their behavior, right wrong, or just stupid. You may have noticed that there is nothing in the links about attacking or sprinting. These actions are determined by each groups ride policies, but within these policies the above rules are still applicable.
One thing that riders who a new to a group need to remember is to think of themselves are guests on the ride and should be following suit, so as to get an idea about the culture of the group that they are joining. Not all groups do things the way I would do them, but when I am on that groups ride, unless I feel it compromises safety or I am not having fun, I will go with the flow.
A well disciplined group knows the paceline rules and they won't follow bad behavior like Sheep! Once the Sheep thing starts to happen a ride can break down quickly.
Being the ride leader it's a fine line to walk in correcting behaviors that are not safe. Too often riders feel alienated no matter how the information is conveyed. Riders who know me have found out that I just pretty much just tell it like I see it. Sure this has upset a few riders, and they have sworn never to ride with me again. That's OK with me because I would rather err on the side of speaking up rather than wait for an accident to happen, knowing that I may have been able to prevent that. The ride leader has the right and responsibility to speak out, and that's something that may be new to some, ( having a ride leader who takes on that responsibility). "Better Safe Than Sorry"
I just hope that some riders read the links posted above and think about their actions before going out on their next group ride. After all it's about having good clean, safe group fun.
Comments (7)
hey steve its chris
I'm glad you wrote this cuz i have to admit that the tone of admonishment you used with me and that new guy on that ride was a little offputting. i'm all for input, but both he and i are experienced riders, and being spoken down to, given "lessons" was a bit much i thought.
Despite the fact that we were both feeling a little stronger than the rest of the crew, we were making an effort to keep it together, just in the interest of having a social experience in addition to an athletic one. Sometimes its really hard to find a solid pace where theres a big gap in how hard different parties want to work on a give nday. we were very much trying to defer to the ride leader and behave as "guests" as you put it and struggling to pace appropirately and that lead to some coasting to let you guys catch up. if you objected to the pace we were setting when coasting for a couple of the sections, we'd have been fine with yall pulling through, and probably would have been fine with a suggestion that you feel morecomfortable when the pace setter is at least turning his cranks. i think the tone was just a little presumptuous, and put the new guy, who was an otherwise nice guy and a strong rider, off of riding with us.
i get what youre saying about how youd rather say something than risk an accident, and nobody expects you to ignore a percieved threat to safety, but tone goes a long way i guess.
anyway, no hard feelings from my end and i hope you feel the same, i just followed the link to your blog from FB abd saw this post, and knew who you were talking to so i thought i'd reply.
see you soon
chris
Hi Chris, Yeah I figured that you and Jason didn't take my tone too well. The reason I took that tone the second time is because I just said something about "the coasting up front" in an nicer tone 2 seconds before... No hard feelings.
Bottom line is that there isn't a good way that I have found where folks will accept what you have to say unless you are a Pro (cat I) or a professional coach. I see folks on the roads driving that have been driving for twenty years, so experience doesn't mean you have been doing the right thing, it just means you have been doing stuff for a long time. Try giving another driver some driving tips....
My ultimate goal is to have a safe, fast, efficient "group" to ride. Anyone who has ridden in a really smooth pace line knows what I am talking about! Sadly many riders have never experienced such..... And many group rides are just a bunch of folks going in the same direction....
i like pacing too, steve, and when everybody is up for the effort, it is a good feeling and it is smooth, and i'm familiar with all your "rules" but when the effort gap is what it was that day, on top of it being hilly, sometimes "a bunch of folks going in the same direction" talking and hanging out is more fun that being shouted at about the "rules" of pacing. i guess if we were working for a strict paceline drill that would have been good info to have on the velocal ride notice or at the start of the ride.
@commuterchris -
It's not even about strict paceline drills. If someone up front is soft pedaling the guys in the back are putting on there brakes or really moving out into the wind (A better choice) This is what I was trying to avoid. Anytime this happens there it is a recipe for problems to occur, especially if the riders don't know each other or what to expect. Anytime I see riders up front coasting, It gives me cause to back off their wheels in order to give me a measure of comfort/safety. I was merely expressing what I expected.
Speaking of Drills ... http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=5614 I tried running one of these many years ago in NJ for one of the touring clubs. The amount of reistance I got from many of the most experinced riders was amazing. Those that listened were really happy, those that didin't just kept doing what they always did....
oh man i used to run one of those clinics when i was a messenger in chicago....
thinking about the bottle pickup drill brings back memories!
in anycase, i'm not resitant to improving and i'm always doing drills, but i dont think this incident was matter of handing so much as i wasnt aware i was "pulling" at that point. and said as much in my first post. just suggesting that there are less condescending ways to talk to people that dont assume quite so much, thats all.
while we're talking, heres somethign i would like your help on: help me pick out a mountain bike!
Cool, yeah I was just like to "Best Practices" when possible. Yeah I probably could have been a bit more diplomatic.
Guess I'll try and say something up front before the ride starts or post on VeloCal what is expected. That way if folks
don't want to show up I am cool with that.
I love that water bottle drill. My brother Paul ran such a clinic for 8 + years. He could pick up a piece of paper from the
ground! I was amazed at how some people couldn't even reach down and touch their ankles.
Just let me know what kinda MITB your looking for and I'd be happy to give my opinion.
Comments are closed.