SacramentoMike
Not Safe For Work
We just had a great ride in the Alps, as you may have read here. Ten bikes plus our guide, riding some very different and challenging roads, mostly unfamiliar to all but the guide. Luckily, the group was small enough that we were able to keep it fairly well organized. Manuel, the guide, wore a distinctive orange helmet, and he stopped every time the road diverted from the main road we were following, allowing the group to gather again. Sometimes, though, we stopped in some awkward places, causing some traffic back-ups behind us, and in a couple of cases forcing impatient drivers to weave through and around us. We kind of hung out in traffic a couple of times too.
If we'd had just one more bike we would have met the requirement of the Eidelweiss bike tour company to provide a second guide to act as a trailer or sweep. In other words, we had the biggest group that the system we used would have worked for, at least by their policy. Even then, we had one instance where Manuel had to go back and find a few bikes who had chased each other off in the wrong direction after a confusing intersection in a small town.
We've probably all been in large group rides, forum-related or not, that just didn't "work" all that well for some reason: different riding skills and/or tolerance for speed, traffic, impatient drivers, somebody's need to stop for random reasons, all these things can cause a lot of confusion in any group ride.
For a couple of days in Italy, our group was joined by Dave Clark (forum member Orestes), who rode the 800 miles down from southern England for a couple days' riding and to see forum friends again. He's a very experienced Alps rider (search out some of his great videos on the forum) and often leads rides all over the continent for his UK friends and others. We talked about group riding and Dave told me about a fairly simple group riding system they use that sounded great. He explained it in just a minute, but said he could forward a printout of the whole system. I just received the link today, so thanks, Dave. It's a PDF file, four or five pages.
Second Man Drop-Off System
I'll see if I can summarize it; it's really simpler than it looks. Any group, any size, any range of riding skills can use it, but they must all understand and agree to abide by it in advance. There is one Leader and one Sweep, who never deviate from those positions. At any point where the ride changes direction, turns a corner, or there's a confusing intersection, etc., the leader designates a "Marker," (the first rider behind him) to stay there and direct all subsequent riders in the right direction until he is released by the Sweep rider. He then rejoins the group, passing the Sweep as soon as practically possible. If he's one of the faster riders, he's free to work his way up through the group again, but never pass the Leader. (Nobody passes the Leader.)
Riders don't even have to keep each other in sight, or keep the Leader in sight. If a turn comes up and there's no one behind the Leader, he just waits (safely) until the next rider comes up, designates him as a Marker, and is free to ride on. Other traffic can pass through if needed. Everybody rides his or her own ride. Dave says their groups have used it with great success over the years. I hope this prompts a discussion and folks begin to use it. I'd also like it if Dave would post here and talk about anything relevant. Thanks.
If we'd had just one more bike we would have met the requirement of the Eidelweiss bike tour company to provide a second guide to act as a trailer or sweep. In other words, we had the biggest group that the system we used would have worked for, at least by their policy. Even then, we had one instance where Manuel had to go back and find a few bikes who had chased each other off in the wrong direction after a confusing intersection in a small town.
We've probably all been in large group rides, forum-related or not, that just didn't "work" all that well for some reason: different riding skills and/or tolerance for speed, traffic, impatient drivers, somebody's need to stop for random reasons, all these things can cause a lot of confusion in any group ride.
For a couple of days in Italy, our group was joined by Dave Clark (forum member Orestes), who rode the 800 miles down from southern England for a couple days' riding and to see forum friends again. He's a very experienced Alps rider (search out some of his great videos on the forum) and often leads rides all over the continent for his UK friends and others. We talked about group riding and Dave told me about a fairly simple group riding system they use that sounded great. He explained it in just a minute, but said he could forward a printout of the whole system. I just received the link today, so thanks, Dave. It's a PDF file, four or five pages.
Second Man Drop-Off System
I'll see if I can summarize it; it's really simpler than it looks. Any group, any size, any range of riding skills can use it, but they must all understand and agree to abide by it in advance. There is one Leader and one Sweep, who never deviate from those positions. At any point where the ride changes direction, turns a corner, or there's a confusing intersection, etc., the leader designates a "Marker," (the first rider behind him) to stay there and direct all subsequent riders in the right direction until he is released by the Sweep rider. He then rejoins the group, passing the Sweep as soon as practically possible. If he's one of the faster riders, he's free to work his way up through the group again, but never pass the Leader. (Nobody passes the Leader.)
Riders don't even have to keep each other in sight, or keep the Leader in sight. If a turn comes up and there's no one behind the Leader, he just waits (safely) until the next rider comes up, designates him as a Marker, and is free to ride on. Other traffic can pass through if needed. Everybody rides his or her own ride. Dave says their groups have used it with great success over the years. I hope this prompts a discussion and folks begin to use it. I'd also like it if Dave would post here and talk about anything relevant. Thanks.
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