Riding in groups: IT AIN’T EASY
Ever go riding with your mates? Yeah? Then you need to read this, especially if you’re heading abroad for some winter sun riding.
Welcome to the third episode in our Improve Your Riding series of articles. This month we’re looking at riding in groups.
Now, this is something that almost all of us have done from time to time and when it’s done right, riding in groups is a brilliant way to get about. But get the basics of group riding wrong and things can be a right royal pain in the backside.
So here’s a brief overview of the few main points of group riding.
Because you’re a switched on lot, we’ll assume that you’ve already read our previous instalment about road position. The same applies when riding in a group like this, too.
Okay, ready? Head down and read this and then we’ll be on our way as one big happy group of bikers.
Bliss.
Step one: Don’t bunch up
Distance is the key here, not just the distance that you’re covering as a group, but the amount of space between you and the rider in front and behind. As a general rule, about 10 bike lengths when at pace will feel about right.
Don’t treat group riding like a track day, leave yourself plenty of room to be able to avoid any trouble up ahead should the chap in front get it wrong.
Step two: Working the junction
Keep the discipline at junctions. Stay in line and ensure that everyone indicates, not just the riders at the front of the line. Remember, you may be riding in a group, but in reality you’re dealing with each road hazard and obstacle as an individual rider. Just because myopic Mary in her Maestro has seen big Terry up front indicating, it doesn’t mean she realises that you’re riding in the same group a few bikes back.
Step three: Ride your own ride
This can be one of the most important aspects of riding in a group, and it’s the one thing that will catch out more riders than anything else. All too often the problem is that one rider thinks it’s safe to overtake a vehicle ahead just because the chap up ahead has made the call and gone for a gap in the traffic.
This is a massive mistake to make. You have no idea what the other rider is thinking, and because he’s further along you’ve got no idea exactly what he can see (he will, by the very nature of riding in a group, be further along the corner’s progress than you will so he’ll be able to see more).
So don’t make any decision to push on and go for an overtake (or even pull away from a junction or a stop) based on what the person ahead is doing. Assess what you can see, make your decision based on that and be professional and swift in the execution of each move.
Step four: The one-behind rule
Now this is a bit of a catch-all about riding in a group, but it really works. The idea is that each rider is responsible for just one person in the whole group, and that’s the rider immediately BEHIND. So, if the rider behind has a problem and stops, then no matter where in the group’s order he might be, any rider behind him will see him pull over and join him in the stop, but the rider who had been ahead will eventually see that the rider behind isn’t there, pull over and go back. Then the rider ahead of that rider will do the same, and so on until the entire group has stopped and returned to the issue.