Which is the higher risk;
Shame on youAnd i ride a motorbike as well ...
I guess you’ve never been on a B.C. guided ride then. If it’s done properly ( and admittedly some aren’t ) the leaders will work as a team to keep the group moving, and no one will be waiting at junctions, and so on and so forth. If the leaders are really good, the ride will get round the route, and only have stopped to allow re grouping if anyone has dropped off ( probably on an upward bit of the route, when some people get off and walk, and it’s not practical to slow the entire group down that much ) or needs a rest, or at the planned stop points. If anyone does start to drop off, on the bulk of a route, they should get the groups pace backed off, so that it’s riding at the pace of the slowest rider(s). There are also signals used ( if it’s a multi leader ride ) that indicate to one of the leaders from the pack, when to sprint ahead to an up coming junction and try and ensure that the group can pass through without having to stop. That leader then waits for every one to pass through, and joins the back, and gets a ‘dynamic rest’ whilst the previous ‘rear gunner’ moves to the middle / front ( depending on how many leaders / group size ) and becomes the next ‘junction sprinter’. Then the middle and rear leaders swap roles sequentially, whilst the leader who’s route it is, or has been designated ‘mother goose’ remains at the front. If there are only 2 leaders, then the front leader and rear leader take turns in being signaller and junction sprinter, and if it’s a solo ride leader, they have to do everything themselves, sitting at the back for the most part, sprinting ahead and getting the junctions dealt with, then sitting at the back again, unless there’s anything potentially tricky on the route that requires them to be leading at the front of the pack. All the routes should be reccy’d, and risk assessed, and assigned a difficulty / suitability rating, according to B.C. criteria. These are the key difference between what we do, and what the majority of ‘club rides’ do. We are properly trained and experienced, I’ve personally yet to find a ‘club’ that does it ‘properly’ indeed from having experienced a few ‘clubs’ rides, I see what would put people off.
That I do agree with.
THAT^^^^^ does not sound like a social ride
Is that the best you can do? Their ride leaders, and CUK's, are derided in the professional cycling and training community (not the professional sporting community, their skills and knowledge are of no relevance to riding in public). Some years back ACPO looked at using BC for training, and very, very quickly dropped the plan after looking at it. Having ridden with them and seen what their laughingly call their training, their poor discipline, lack of adherence to their own safety drills, internal political interfence in both development of the syllabus and delivery, and questionable roadcraft, neither I or most other professional trainers will ride in groups with them because they're considered too much of a liability. With the greatest of respect, I've seen some of your videos, and that hardly does them any credit. the implausible leader-rider ratio alone is enough to put professional trainers off of coming out to play with them.
They are.
Thats right, hence the rigid ‘leader to rider quotient’ on a ‘guided rideit’s 1 leader to 8 riders ( it used to be 1 to 10).
Which is why it’s leaders prerogative when the numbers / splits are known, whether it’s safe to proceed. If it’s not safe, we don’t go. If that means disappointing anyone, so be it. Safety first.
which is why things are done the way they are. In all of my many years doing this, and many rides / thousands of miles, nothing has happened on any rides lead by me.
That’s right, and that’s exactly what happens.
I still don't get the Leader thing ..... why do you need a Leader ....
It isn’t (for the leaders) it should feel like a social ride (regardless of conditions) for the participants. If it’s been done properly, the participants won’t notice the technical bits ( except for safety calls ) and have got round a route in a hassle and stress free way they couldn’t under normal circumstances. Admittedly, the skill and experience levels of some leaders can be variable, but if they’re too crap, they wouldn’t be doing it.
That’s a fair assessment of what happens, and why good leadership skills are required, to get a successful ride completed.
If the leaders / course creators have done their job properly, it’s not uncontrollable with a 1 to 8 ratio. It can be a challenge, and that’s where skill and experience come in. If it starts to look like it’s getting too risky, everyone stops, words of encouragement and guidance are given, then it continues, and foreshortened if needs be.
WTF? Talk about over complicating something as simple as a bike ride! Anyone who rides a bike and goes on one of these "social rides" should be capable of dealing with a junction without someone holding their hand. If marking junctions is really necessary for navigation purposes in the event of a large ride getting strung out, then why not use the motorbike "marker" method whereby you have a ride leader who stays at the front, and a tail end charlie bringing up the rear. At each junction, the person behind the leader stays and "marks" the junction if required by the leader, and waits until tail end charlie comes along. Marker then joins the ride ahead of tail end charlie and can then make there way back towards the front if they so desire. Meantime, next rider behind the leader marks the next junction, and so on....
