Ride Etiquette
Being a good cyclist isn’t just going fast. It’s how you conduct yourself while out riding on your own as well as in a group. It can appear daunting at first but anyone can learn how to be a safe, smooth rider and benefit from the faster pace of riding in a bunch.
Firstly, it helps to learn some of the dos and don’ts of group etiquette. Once you know these things, what looks erratic and risky at the outset becomes clear and easy to follow.
With experience comes confidence and ultimately safer, better riding.
Respect the Ride Leader
It is the Ride Leader’s responsibility to lead the group on a ride safely from start to finish. They can only do this when the group works as a team and all look out for one another. Do not surge ahead of your Ride Leader or cycle in a way that may endanger the group. Please follow instructions from the Ride Leader.
Point out hazards
Minimise flats by physically pointing to the holes, glass, and random car parts that litter the roadside. This hand signal needs to travel all the way back, so pass it on so the people behind you get the message.
Be proactive around safety & pacing
Nobody likes being barked at constantly, and certainly not during a nice group ride. But there are some times when it’s good to speak up. The riders at the back should let the group know when they need to single up to better share the road with cars, or when there is a particularly large vehicle coming around.
Stay off the brakes
You’re going to need to make minor speed adjustments in a group ride, and you want to do this with air resistance rather than braking whenever possible. That means sitting up a bit and/or moving out into the wind a little to slow down, or tucking into the draft and pedaling a bit more to speed up. When you tap the brakes, you slow more abruptly and that signals the rider behind you to tap his brakes, and so on.
Pull longer, not harder
It’s not nice and it makes the pace uncomfortably hard for your club members. Instead, ride the group’s pace and stay at the front longer. You’ll get the training you want and give the rest of the group some extra time in the draft.
Pull shorter, not slower
If you don’t have the fitness to take a long pull at the group’s pace, you should still rotate through like everyone else, but just pull off quickly. There’s no rule that says you have to take a pull equal to the rider before you.
Pace the climbs
When the group hits rolling hills it can be hard to keep the group together. When drafting is less of a help to the riders in the middle and rear of the group ride, it’s important for the riders at the front to consider everyone when establishing the climbing pace. On social group rides it’s typical to wait at the top of longer climbs, but to minimize the frequency of these soft pedal periods or stoppages, try to set a pace that’s comfortable for the middle of the group. This may mean it’s a bit easy for some at the front and pretty challenging for others at the back, but this pacing strategy is good for keeping the group together over the majority of hills.
Keep moving
If the group splits, the riders up front should ride easy to allow the dropped riders to catch up. Whilst the following riders are still in sight, the front group should not stop as it will create an obstruction and will only force the following riders to stop behind them.
Learn how to blow your nose
If it’s time to spit or blow a snot rocket, do it when you’re at the back of the group. If you have to do it around other people, aim down to the road not out to the side. Put your head down a bit and expectorate under your arm, almost as if you’re aiming for the end of your handlebar.
Shift as you stand up
When you stand up to pedal your weight shifts and your cadence almost always slows. This can result in what’s known as a “kickback”, where your rear wheel seems to kick backwards toward or into the front wheel of the rider behind you. It not only freaks people out, but if you end up tapping or overlapping wheels it can cause a crash. To avoid this, please make sure there is sufficient gap between you and the rider behind you before making this manoeuvre.
Punctures and mechanicals
In the event you do suffer a puncture or mechanical, raise your hand and let the group know so that everyone can slow down and pull into the side of the road safely. Do not suddenly stop as this is dangerous. Don’t stop until the group has completely passed you, then move to the side of the road. The group will wait while the repair is made. If the damage is to bad to carry on, a taxi or train or another way home will have to be made.
DON’T…
… pull so hard you drop yourself
Social group rides tend to wait for dropped riders, which is great, but try not to make them wait for you because you were riding like an idiot. If you take monster pulls at the front and then get dropped, you’re not making any friends. Learn to gauge your efforts and keep something in the tank to make sure you can latch onto the back of the group and stay on a wheel.
… show up late & unprepared
We’ve all been late to a group ride at some point, and we’ve all forgotten something important (like food) before. It happens, but it shouldn’t happen often. Be on time and be self-sufficient. This includes tools, tubes and a pump. We’re all nice people and we’ll give you a tube or a bar if you need it, but try not to need it.
… half-wheel your friends
The right way to ride in a double paceline is handlebar-to-handlebar, not half a wheel ahead of the rider next to you. Half-wheeling annoys people, especially when you accelerate to maintain the half-wheel advantage despite your partner’s attempt to pull even with you. It also messes up the spacing for everyone in the paceline behind you.
… sprint away from stops
When the light turns green, gradually build the speed back up to where it’s supposed to be. Don’t be that person who does a standing start sprint at every traffic light. Depending on the size of the group, the folks at the back won’t even start moving until you’re 50 meters down the road, and then they’re going to be maxed out trying to get on a wheel.
… run red lights
Just don’t do it. Besides being unsafe, against the law, and damaging to our collective reputation, it’s also disrespectful to all the groups who are working hard to convince communities to improve cycling infrastructure and enhance cyclists’ safety. Again, just don’t do it.
… get the group in trouble
When you decide to join a group ride, it’s like joining the Musketeers: all for one and one for all. For safety and efficiency, the whole group needs to move with one mind. This is most important when you are at the front. Can the whole group make it through the green traffic light? Is there enough space in traffic for the whole group to turn left or right? Though everyone has to be responsible for themselves, try not to make riders at the back have to decide between a dangerous situation and staying with the group.
At some point on some group ride, a car will pass too closely or some unhappy person will yell at the group from a car. Escalating these situations can be dangerous, and during a group ride you are potentially endangering more than just yourself and involving other people in a situation they may not want to deal with. Individual cyclists and groups should absolutely defend the right to safely share the road, just remember that how you do that will reflect on the entire group. Be an adult, even when others are not. In the case of traffic stops, one hothead can get everybody ticketed instead of getting on with the ride.
In the long run most of these habits become second nature, and the longer you ride with groups of people on a club ride, the more you will be able to anticipate how the whole group is going to behave and the more comfortable you’ll be riding close together in a nice, tight pack or pace line.