Rye & District Wheelers

Club run etiquette

“The Club welcomes riders of all abilities and caters for their needs accordingly”.

The club run is the key activity of the club giving members the opportunity to
share together, as a club, their enthusiasm for cycling.

In order to meet the needs of all members, the club will actively organise rides outside of the club runs so as to develop specific aspects of cycling i.e. training runs, chain gangs, tours, etc. The club will of course continue to participate in competitive and semi competitive events, separate to club runs i.e. time trials, road races, reliability runs, sportives, audax, etc.

The club run is:-

Sociable, healthy, fun – an escape from daily routine. A pleasant way to spend a few hours. A gentle work out. A great way to enjoy cycling with fellow cyclists.

The club run is not:-

A race. A training session. Something to be endured.

Organisation

Club runs are organised so as to enable all members to get as close to their ideal ride as possible and are structured into groups to enable riders to ride as close to their ideal pace as possible

3 groups:

• Group A: Strong racers 18 – 20 mph
• Group B: Racers and strong day riders 16 – 18 mph
• Group C: Casual riders

NB. The club will actively seek to recruit riders for all three groups (A, B and C).

Club Run Principles

Key principles:

• No riding off the front
• Nobody gets dropped
• No rider gets left to ride on his own without discussion/agreement

Always make sure that riders leaving the group are happy to find their way home
If riders fall behind – the group must wait to enable people to rejoin, recover and ride at a comfortable pace.

During the course of the ride there may be sprints for signs/hills. If so, again the ride must regroup, allow for recovery and ride on as a group.

At start of the ride:

• Clearly identify groups and which riders belong to which group ,
• agree location(s) of stops and routes.

NB locations of stops must not be changed mid ride unless extreme circumstances e.g. weather change – in which case stop changes must be clearly communicated to the whole group.

If there are not enough riders to make up the three groups – agree how the groups are to be combined and the pace to be ridden.

At the stop:

• Ensure that all riders have arrived safely and agree approach for ride home i.e. if faster riders want to up the pace and end the ride in a sprint or if riders need to be home early and leave the group, they should make the other riders aware of their intentions.

At the end of the ride:

• If the ride ends in a sprint or at a faster pace, if at all possible riders should regroup at the finish to end the ride sociably and having made sure that all have finished safely.

Link to pdf version