In the paceline's I ride, we are moving 22 to 26 mph and riding about 1' apart. All it takes is someone to miss what is going on ahead and the potential for a pileup is there. It's usually the guy behind the guy not paying attention who ends up crashing. If a guy wants to take risks on his own, then so be it, but he shouldn't put others in a position due to his inattentive actions.

A couple of years ago I was doing a Sunday ride with my two boys. One son who was leading got a cell phone call and when he reached into his pocket to grab his phone he dropped it. I missed it but my other son, who was directly behind me, ran over the phone. I think that was a lesson learned.