Originally Posted by
LarrySellerz
Sup guys, the weekend hammerfest ride with 100+ people hit a rider two weeks ago. Sent her to the hospital, there was like a 20 MPH speed difference between her and the group. The group maintains that it was her fault, she made an illegal blind u turn while wearing headphones and couldn't hear guys yelling at her. Ive talked to multiple cyclists who tell me they think the pelotons in the area are a menace, that they've been almost run off the road, etc. People are continuously trying to make this ride safer, but from what I can tell its mostly about getting people to stop or atleast slow down for stop signs and call out dangerous things. When talking to a "leader" who is respected, I said that we should give more room, at least a couple feet. He responded that encroaching on the cars makes them hate us more, and they kill us. Screw the cars, they hate us anyways, I think we should be more mindful of our fellow riders even if it means putting ourselves at risk. Slowing down when passing them is not an option. Do any of you guys have similar experiences? Apparently its almost unheard of for us to hit someone, but we scare people all the time
The #1 issue I have with the weekend group rides I see around town is a lack of discipline WRT holding a paceline or rotation. These 50+ person groups overlap wheels, ride 3 and 4 wide when pulling off the front, get scared to ride close enough to the wheel in front of them or person beside them, etc...... It looks like a freaking Fred-fest. If someone finds that offensive, then take action and ask a leader to lead by demonstrating or controlling the group into a safer formation. Or find a group with a leader who will show you how it is done.
When you get THAT crossing paths with a solo rider, yeah, it's the group's problem.
When a tight paceline passes a solo rider you can probably pass them barely getting close to the center yellow. With plenty of space.
I've had the issue/dilemma of these groups usually being a B-group and I need to pass freaking 50 to 100 people strung all over the dang place. I yell out, nobody hardly listens, and I wind up having to pass over the yellow like a car would pass.
My suggestions:
-if your group members can't rotate or can't roll both front folks off to the same side and slotting onto the back............split up the huge group into smaller chunks going off 10min apart
-teach folks to freaking rotate so you don't get 4-wide clusters of groups that meander all over the road, you said it's a hammer ride..........a rotation ought to form on the front and either form a break or set the pace. Then folks behind should be 2-up and either slotting in time to time or attacking outright. Not sitting 3 and 4 wide just for the hell of it.
There's a group local to Raleigh called Team CBC. I have no idea why they post so many fail videos up on Facebook of terrible group ride skills. It's usually in a "hey we had a good time" good nature. But it almost always shows folks way out of line, meandering, not rotating, 4-wide, over the center yellow, doing basically 75% of everything wrong. The Gyros are the opposite, typically a textbook paceline or rotation with good spacing and positions and movements. Tony is a great leader for that group.
Folks don't need to be rubbing elbows like it's the last lunge for the finishing corner in a crit, but they don't need to ride 5 feet beside the next person either. Even then, that's what shoulders and elbows are for.......so you don't hook bars. A good distance for even just a modest seasonal B rider is if you were to while riding reach out with your arm you should be able to barely touch the person's elbow or shoulder beside you with your fingertips.
Yeah, if there isn't gross negligence on the rider's part you are passing..........then yeah it is the group's fault. The person in front has the right of way.