Group Riding Article

Guys and girls your help/opinions/tips and recommendations are needed please.

I’m going to put together an article/help sheet thing about the best practices for group riding, something we can all use to remind ourselves of when we are about to head out, and for people not so familiar with group rideouts to ‘gen’ up on so they know what to expect.

Also, in case a safety briefing isn’t held at the start of a ride this should serve as a general one.

So anything you guys can think of, especially Jets - Mark and Ang - Rob - other Ride-out regulars, and what faults/failings you see regularly, and what you think people should be aware of.

I will be forwarding you 4 a copy of it anyway, before it gets posted up, if you don’t mind a spot of proofing?

Please though don’t start getting personal by pointing at people’s riding - this isn’t a witch hunt.

Tim is a good one for the process as he posts it on all his rideouts?

ooooh will be interesting to read this :slight_smile:

I’ll get the ball rolling with: If you plan to leave the group mid-way, make sure people are aware of this or at least try and make it visible to all that you are going a different way so that people behind don’t follow… wave or at least stay just in front of the (aware) tailgunner.

http://www.lazymotorbike.eu/tips/group/

http://lichfieldlizards.co.uk/ClubSafetyGuide.aspx

this covers most of the stuff i wanted to say.

Dont follow too close- stagger your formation for better visibility

good stuff, cheers for the links.

BikerGirl - please PM him the link and see if he’s keen to contribute?

Do you mean, left and right sides of the lane, alternating. Sounds obvious, but if you can’t see the person in fronts helmet in his own wing mirror, he probably can’t see you…

yeah Andy, exactly. Thing is, if you are going to leave the std “2 second rule” gap to the rider in front, and there’s 25 bikes it means one helluva length of convoy. By staggering you maintain the same gap but not to the guy directly infront, but the fella in front of that bike.

say…

I I
I I
I x I (rider 1 position in his lane)
I I
I x I (rider 2 position)
I I
I x I (rider 3 position)
I I
I x I (and so on…)

So the gap between rider 1 and rider 3 is the safety gap, as is that between rider 2 and 4 and so on.

You can’t always maintain this - corners for example will naturally see most riders taking a more ‘racing’ line through them (rightly or wrongly) but the idea is to anticipate this and back off from the bike DIRECTLY in front to leave a proper gap through the corner. Then once done with the bend the above positions should be resumed.

Or at least that’s my take on it.

Not a tip as such but the photos/diagrams in some of those links are very helpful to those of us who are new to the whole group riding thing and they stick in the mind better than a couple of paragraphs of text. The dots explaining the cornerman system look particularly clear & memorable.

My twopenneth…the most important thing for a group (of any other rideout) imho - is…

Everyone should ride at a pace they re comfortable with, and not to feel pressure to keep up with faster riders. For the record, I think rideout leaders should always make this crystal clear to any new riders at the start, to any people they don’t know.

I also think anyone complaining about someone being a bit slow - should think twice - Do you seriously want someone to speed up and ride at a pace they are not comfortable with? I have heard this a number of times from some very experienced riders and I think some people should know better as the consequences could be fatal.

Great idea btw.

Two simple things, 1. mark the corner properly and stay put,:slight_smile: in my opinion a corner/junction should be marked about a metre before not after and the biggest problem of all people, stay on your corner until you see the tailgunner and are happy he’s seen you.

  1. dont undertake,:w00t: god I still see it today and it really gets up my nose:)

@ Rioting Rob - What about people that hit your kill switch :Whistling:

ssshhhh…that’s one of the fun bits when you can’t join a rideout, reading about the cockups!

Very naughty Daniel, “do not play with other riders kill switch” it’s not funny:D

yeah we’ll save the killswitch and cups over exhaust games for the bonus disc on the DVD release eh>

Before the turn for a left turn off the main road but…at right turns it’s not always safe to stop in the middle of the road- more often than not the marker is best placed just after the turn so he is still in full view of following riders of course.

At a 90 degree T-junction surely the marker should also be placed just after the turn. If you stop just before the turn how do the following riders know whether they are supposed to go left or right? As long as you can stop near enough to the junction to be clearly visible (and not in harms way) as the following riders approach that is. Does depend on the junction though and experienced front riders will point exactly where they want you to stop.

One other thought- if it is a big organised ride maybe the tailgunner should have a distinguishing bid or hi-viz so that when the corner marker looks back he can clearly see that the bike waving him to continue is in fact the tailgunner and not just one of the pack. I have a sneaking suspicion that the reason corners are sometimes left unmarked is down to the marker innocently thinking the tailgunner has arrived when he or she has not.

^^^ Couldn’t they point to the direction, if they are before the corner?
Like the tailgunner Hi-viz idea.

I always thought who ever was leading the pack would point out where to stop as they ride past it…
I think that is a big key one… Ride at your own pace!!! … The cornerman system means you dont have to rush to keep up. And generaly when a rideout is put up the organiser will say if its open to all or experienced/fast paced riders only.
And another big one… Watch out for ASBO, that guys a nobber :w00t:

If you are falling behind go really really really fast so that you catch up.

Also take note of the rider infront of you, if they are not that experienced be more cautious when over taking and give them a wide berth, they may not be prepared for you to go wizzing past and if your too close you may give them a shock and cause an accident. A more experienced rider should see that you are going to make a move and be ready for it but still make sure you overtake safely