The Leader

In every group there is a leader, but what makes a good leader? Does the rider with the most experience make the best leader? Not necessarily! Just because a rider has a high level of skill doesn’t mean that he/ she will make a good leader. “Good skills are irrelevant in the absence of good judgment!” To be a leader a rider must be able to set a pace that every one in the group can follow safely. He or she must also be able to plan ahead and communicate to the other members of the group. Making last minute turns, stops, lane changes, etc will catch other riders off guard and can lead to disaster.

If you are a leader who constantly loses slower riders in the group, you are not doing a good job of leading. A good leader also has to be able to follow others as well. “If you cannot follow others, how do you expect others to follow you?”

Sweep Rider

As well as having a leader, a group should also have a chase rider, the last rider in the group. This rider’s duty is to keep an eye on the riders in front of him/ her. This should also be a rider with a fair amount of experience. If something were to happen (a fall, mechanical failure, etc) to a rider near the back of the group, the chase rider will be there to deal with the situation.

One of the biggest problems with riding in a group is that speeds can get out of hand quickly. Normally the ride starts off at legal speeds, then one rider ups the pace a little, and then the next rider will up the ante. Before you know it the group is doing speeds well above the legal limit. How do you keep this from happening? The best way to that I can suggest to keep this from happening is to ride with people that you know and trust. Personally if I ride with someone for the first time and they do something that put others at risk I will not ride with that person again period! I have better things to do than scrape someone off the road.

“Riding in a group is not about competing with each other; it’s about working together as a unit. If you want to compete go to the track!”