How to ride a bike (in a group) Part 2.

This is part two of Ken's comprehensive take on riding in a group. This part includes snotty gloves and driver-passenger relationships (apparently this is not about sado-masochism). Anyway this should just about cover it, but feel free to comment and or add to!

"TRAINING TYRES

Part 1: This can be a bone of contention, because we all don’t have the same budget restrictions. The question is, how much should you pay for a training tyre? There is only one thing to consider, and that is you should buy the safest tyre possible. Tyres with anti-puncture compounds will do what they are supposed to do, but will usually slide all over the place on corners, or when braking. Safe winter, or wet weather, tyres will have better compounds, such as chilli on the Conti’s, which stick to the road better. They are more expensive, but then so is your life!

Part 2: The fine balance between budget and safety can be determined by the hours per week you spend riding. When we were young guns, in the old ‘wild west’, the target was 10 hours per week to race, 15 hours to get a result, and 20+ hours to win. So you used more rubber! These days, now that training is more scientific, you spend fewer hours on the bike, so you use less rubber. Therefore, you should be considering the safer option.

DRIVER OR PASSENGER?

With a mixed-ability group, which we usually have on training rides, the ‘driver’ and ‘passenger’ arrangement is determined pretty early in the ride, especially with Gabriel as the driver! It’s a natural selection process - the strong and the not so strong. After all, you are training to race! But things can change during the ride, and your own ability will fluctuate. The group will naturally break up on a climb or after a sprint for a sign. If you find yourself getting stronger, then push to the front of the group. If you are peaking, then settle to the back. The main thing is not to sit towards the front of the group, when you don’t have any intention of driving it. You will just get in the way. But, as I said, your ability will fluctuate, up as well as down. Later in the ride, you may be driving it.

SAFE LINE THROUGH A BEND OR CORNER

This is something we’ve all seen before. The group is riding hard as a bunch. The leading rider leans into a right-hand bend. The rider behind tries to come through on his right-hand side. A car comes the other way. Panic!!! Everything squeezes down, hopefully without a problem. It’s all about the position of your front wheel in relation to the rear wheel in front of you. The lesson is that the leading rider will always take the shortest line - that’s either the curb or the middle white line. Therefore, if it’s a right-hand bend, you should ride to the left of the wheel in front of you. If it’s a left-hand bend, you should follow the same line of the wheel in front of you. If you do anything else, you could take everyone out!

SNOTTY GLOVES ON THE CAFE TABLE

One of the things that puts me off my toasted tea-cake at the cafe stop is a pair of snotty gloves on the table. It should be a given that you put them under the table, out of sight. One thing worse than that is a snotty face. If you’ve got a snotty face, then you’ve got no friends. I’ve got a friend in Brian H. I had a snotty face twice and he told me both times.

COURTESY AT ROUNDABOUTS AND TRAFFIC LIGHTS

We get bad press all the time, mainly through city cyclists, riding on pavements and through traffic lights. We can make up for that, and win a few motorist friends, if we show a little courtesy towards them, when we are out training. We get overtaken by motorists all the time, but when we approach traffic lights or roundabouts behind them, we should just hang back a little. But too often, one or two of our guys zig-zag around to the front of them, while they are stationary, and the last thing they, the motorist, wants is to have to negotiate around us once more. They get frustrated and it’s just more bad press for us.

TRAINING TIMES - MEET / DEPART

This is short and sweet. Some of our rides can be quite long - 120 klicks or more. Therefore, we should depart at the advertised time, not just casually arrive up to fifteen minutes later. I expect the response to this will also be short and sweet!"