I definitely agree with your tip about advanced group rides and beginners. Not a good idea at all. Fortunately for me when I started cycling, there was a weekend group that did recovery-paced rides and they were all very helpful in giving tips and advice that not only helped me learn group ride etiquette, but how to change gears properly when climbing, the difference between grinding a big gear and spinning a small gear etc... If you can find a group like that when you're starting out, it'll be very beneficial. Please don't go on your first group ride with an advanced group doing a drop ride, because you're going to get dropped and they really aren't trying to teach you how to ride your bike on one of those types of rides.
Another not to do is wearing earbuds in a group ride. A lot of warnings of hazards are given verbally and you won’t be able to hear them. Might not hear an approaching car from the rear either.
Man I appreciate what you say here. The one thing that bothers me in today's ride, differing in etiquette over 20 years ago, is riders taking up the whole lane, actually seen in this video a lot, but could be no traffic and I'm fine with that. IMO, been riding my whole life, 40 years in groups, Long pulls (team time trial style) and a signal pace line creates the least amount of animosity among motorists. Nothing wrong with a section of quiet road and taking the lane but it should be done with thought to not agro motorists. On our rides there is always a guy out in the road for some reason blocking traffic, ticking people off. It makes me nuts :)
Hi Deno. I appreciate your passion and sentiment. That is a pet peeve of mone along with the random cyclist who drifts into a lane for no apparent reason only to ignite a chorus of "CAR BACK!" The route we ride is a suburban area where there is literally no traffic at 7am. There are two rural passes where it's single lane but even in that instance it is rare to have a car come by. So we do take care. I do organize and run my own rides occasionally and I operate with that same mindset. South Florida has always had these huge pelotons and the coexistence with motorists has gotten better.
We cant do local climb rides in groups, way too many riders get out in the road, and or swerve. Now the locals hate bikes up there. Ive always made a point of not riding with dangerous riders on motorcycles, now with roadbike group rides I ride with dangerous riders every time. They cant turn well, cant stop quick, cant ride smooth, cant ride downhill its too scary....................they know how to pedal hard.
Excellent video. A tip I learned early on in my cycling was to learn to ride rollers. It was invaluable, it smoothed out the pedal stroke, quieted the upper body and maintain a straight line. 🚴🏾♂️🚴🏻♀️🚴🚴🏻♀️🚴🚴🏾♂️
Good points all, and an important video. I cringe when I see people use TT bars in a group ride and hate to have to ask the ride leader to say that these are no-no in pace lines. And it bugs me when people don’t point out road hazards, which is a big responsibility in this potholed corner of the world. Maybe that’s why nobody dares take selfies. 😂
Great video and excellent points! The one thing that I see frequently is excessive coasting versus changing gears, adjusting cadence. If coasting was a measurable stat, there would be some big time winners out there.
I am LOL'n at coasting as a measurable stat. For real. A few years ago there was this push gor high cadence and I think too many people have bought in to it as opposed to keeping proper tension on the drivetrain. Preciate your insight👍🏾
I especially hate the excessive-freewheeling guy in front of me who does not know how to do steady spins or sustained spins on his pedals. Now, I am starting to think that my decision to stick to solo rides is preferable.
Don't ride off the front when there are only two of you and not wait for your cycling partner! Call out potholes and debris if you are on the front. Don't make it a race if your partner rides up beside you, thinking that he or she is going to pass you! Don't run stop signs and red lights out of the fear that you will be caught at those points by your cycling partner. Yes, there is a person that I know of that does this! Define the ride, respect the riders or riders with you. Don't ride like you own the road. Cars and Trucks will quickly let you know that you don't own the road. Be smart about your riding. If you are the person that I am speaking of in this commentary, you'll lose riding partners faster than dropping a hot rock. No one wants to ride with the guy with a consistent chip on his shoulder. This is why I pick and choose who I will ride with. When I want to hammer, I do it solo. When I want to hammer with a group, I also choose that group of folks carefully! Be safe out there roadies!
Just completed the Hong Kong Cyclothon - 50 KM Sunday and saw a lot of unnecessary incidents during the ride. Even though the organizers had a mandatory safety orientation and assessment test prior to the event, I feel your presentation definitely hits home 👍👍👍
Back in the old days, when I was a young man, our club (Montrose cycle club) had a coach and we learned riding pace lines and how to draft another rider safely. This is one skill everyone needs to learn before doing a group ride. I find no videos on RUclips on this subject. Every new cyclist assumes riding a wheel is riding directly behind someone’s wheel as close as they can get. As we know this is a recipe for a bad crash. Another thing I see in group rides, even advanced group rides is the guy who over laps wheels, or rides up between two other cyclists super close. These guys think they are riding in the Tour de France or something. The other over confident riders are the ones who sit up with ‘no hands’ on the bars, and take off their arm warmers in the middle of the pack. Do that at the back of the pack, or at the next stop light. Anyway, more tips not mention in your video. One more thing, when the pack stops for a red light. Riders at the back need to pay attention for this. I had a friend rammed from the rear from a cyclist at full speed, while the pack was stopped. He suffered broken ribs, a puncture lung, and a torn arm muscle. He was choking to death on his own blood. He almost died. He underwent years of PT. He never got back on his bike again. He is still in constant pain from his injuries. All an affordable situation. 😢
We have some gals, one in particular, cannot ride in a paceline, she is scared to death and too old to learn now. No one can say anything, if they do she is combative and says its all good. 22mph she drifts 25' off the rider ahead, then sprints to catch up, all the way. She pulls out in front of speeding cars. She insist on riding up front so everyone behind her is playing slinky. It makes riding solo seem attractive.
I've seen some very poor riding skills in group club and charity rides. Causes many avoidable dangerous situations and accidents. Some just can't hold their line. Some brake too hard and often when it wasn't necessary upsetting the group. Ride in the back until you get a lot of experience riding shoulder to shoulder and wheel near wheel.
Bro I'm so looking forward to CCL3. Since my morning park rides and spinning went away, my fitness has fallen off so hard that I feel like it's almost appropriate to make a from-scratch vlog or something to motivate myself to get back on the saddle. Either haven't had time to ride or haven't been able to time up the group rides to participate. Most annoying and demoralizing thing for me on group rides is the acceleration extremes. Ideally you want to keep acceleration as close to zero as possible. But people are too eager with how they go hard and then brake. I only drop a wheel if I know the group is going to slow... like why knock myself out and be in a rush to stop? But instead of working with me, people will just jump and then they slow and I have to brake instead of having that zone to close. I noticed that when I was the most fit and riding with a/b that I would keep getting knocked back like this. Sucks being twice the weight of everyone else. Anyway, all these little things could just be addressed with a pre-ride briefing. This way you know when people are being dicks after they do them anyway.
Hey Luis, great video i enjoyed watching it. I would love to see a video where you talk about your experience as a black cyclist in an almost exclusively all white sport. Why do you think its so rare to see black cyclists and what do you think we can do as a community to include more people in the beauty that is cycling? I think the main factor is cost of course, but anything else you can give input on from your perspective? Please send me the link if you've already made a video about this!
If I have to slightly reduce speed because the rider in front of me, slows slightly, I'll just use my rear brake, so the rider behind me sees the calipers move. Riders who see "noobs" do silly things, tend to always ride in front him.........Don't be "THAT GUY". If you are a noob, and you get advice, don't get upset. Everybody starts out Green.
A technique taught at the Walden school of cycling many years ago is to keep pedaling (at least soft pedaling) if you need to apply rear brake to modulate pace in a group. This makes the braking action far less jerky, and helps keep the rear wheel from locking up. Super handy technique on loose stuff, wet leaves, and rainy rides as well.
Word up Luis , about the selfies I don’t do that if I’m going to film at all on my phone, I’m filming the group in front of me or the riders in front of me as I’m in the back at a slower speed. One thing that I try not to do and you mentioned it when there’s debris or the quintessential manhole cover that’s everywhere or a stick. Is that riders like you mentioned overreact today’s modern road bikes or even my road bike with 25 mm tires should be able to ride over something that’s not too rough, it should be able to handle it. I do it I never overreact to anything and I see Cyclist or riders over here in Miami do that and the road bikes are quite capable of handling little imperfections like that not talking about a nasty pothole or a big branch or a bottle or something like that I also ride a mountain bike even before I got into road biking so I got the skills so I’m one if I ever showed up to one of the group rides in your neck of the woods I won’t be over reacting to anything another thing too, is when I’m getting a drink of water. If it all possible, people should put their hands on the tops and not on the hoods if possible it adds more stability. Maybe you might overreact to something if you have one hand on the bars in the wider the bars, the more leveraging you can quickly get Squirrley on something maybe something you ride over so I was taught this just to keep it on the tops, and I’m quite comfortable with taking a drink while my eyes are focus straightahead taking a bottle out of the cage and putting it in. It’s just like touching our belly button with our finger through our shirts and not even looking at our belly button. That’s the way we should be when it comes to taking a drink or reaching for a Bottle. . Thanks for the good tutorials. Very educational an informative !
I recently moved to Miami and i am struggling to find a group ride any suggestions. I just watch your video on the darkstar bike build and it reminded me of a bike i owned in the UK it also had tapered tubes it was a Bates BAR frame.
Yeah, as Marc said plenty of groups. Mack Cycling and Fitness has rides. Also many groups launch from Key Biscayne around 7am most days. Google South Florida Cycling and you'll get a lot.
It can be an issue. When I lead a group, we switch to single file, announce and then pass on the left. We also have to speed up a bit to get it done. Cooperation from the group being passed is required... so hopefully ego's aren't triggered and they scoot right and let us through.
I am a 71 year old Black man that rides. I have a question for you. I work out in the gym, should I do leg workout the day of or the day before I go on my bike ride?
It's not safety related, but try to guage how much chat is going on in the group and fit with it. Don't be the one who everyone wants to tell to shut up already. Especially when climbing.
let's dig in,so some folks will need to duck..First of all, learn how to ride,learn how to keep your line, and learn how to take evasive action/stop...Secondly..How do you have a $10,000 bike yet you are 250-400 lbs? Evidently, you invested more in the bike than your own fitness and health, so it's going to take much more to develop your skills. Aside from your weight, everyone should be cleared by their doctors to ride so there's no one having a serious health emergency and you never informed anyone. Pull out that stoopid phone to take pics and videos,and watch yourself get banned from any rides. I am not about to get into a crash because someone wants to have a photoshoot ,conversations, or play Call Of Duty while they are riding. Personally, I see a LOT of crashes lately because people are purposely bumping, shoving, and just making excessive contact. See, if there's no consequences some folks continue to do infantile things. When I was riding mountain bikes rides or even some tours, there would be some clowns who wanted to be crude, rude ,and obnoxious, so we took precautions. In other words, bring all that negative energy and try to be a bully,and expect to meet Jesus, if need be. Stay in your line, do not touch me, do not bump me, and respect the group or get handled. Now let's watch Luis do his winter training so that him and his team will be ready for the Spring Classics, then the Tour.
@@thegoodwheel I do not accept poor behavior from adults who should have home training. There's one person on a bike ,so there's no actual reason for touching, nor anything except incidental contact. I remember reading what Major Taylor said, who remains one of the most prolific Black cyclists in history. He said in Europe people would spit on him, shove him, berate/threaten him, and even at least once while he was riding, he got punched in his face.
I definitely agree with your tip about advanced group rides and beginners. Not a good idea at all. Fortunately for me when I started cycling, there was a weekend group that did recovery-paced rides and they were all very helpful in giving tips and advice that not only helped me learn group ride etiquette, but how to change gears properly when climbing, the difference between grinding a big gear and spinning a small gear etc... If you can find a group like that when you're starting out, it'll be very beneficial. Please don't go on your first group ride with an advanced group doing a drop ride, because you're going to get dropped and they really aren't trying to teach you how to ride your bike on one of those types of rides.
Well said!
Another not to do is wearing earbuds in a group ride. A lot of warnings of hazards are given verbally and you won’t be able to hear them. Might not hear an approaching car from the rear either.
Man I appreciate what you say here. The one thing that bothers me in today's ride, differing in etiquette over 20 years ago, is riders taking up the whole lane, actually seen in this video a lot, but could be no traffic and I'm fine with that. IMO, been riding my whole life, 40 years in groups, Long pulls (team time trial style) and a signal pace line creates the least amount of animosity among motorists. Nothing wrong with a section of quiet road and taking the lane but it should be done with thought to not agro motorists. On our rides there is always a guy out in the road for some reason blocking traffic, ticking people off. It makes me nuts :)
Hi Deno. I appreciate your passion and sentiment.
That is a pet peeve of mone along with the random cyclist who drifts into a lane for no apparent reason only to ignite a chorus of "CAR BACK!"
The route we ride is a suburban area where there is literally no traffic at 7am. There are two rural passes where it's single lane but even in that instance it is rare to have a car come by. So we do take care.
I do organize and run my own rides occasionally and I operate with that same mindset.
South Florida has always had these huge pelotons and the coexistence with motorists has gotten better.
Yeah there is a guy on our group rides that does that too.
We cant do local climb rides in groups, way too many riders get out in the road, and or swerve.
Now the locals hate bikes up there.
Ive always made a point of not riding with dangerous riders on motorcycles, now with roadbike group rides I ride with dangerous riders every time. They cant turn well, cant stop quick, cant ride smooth, cant ride downhill its too scary....................they know how to pedal hard.
Excellent video. A tip I learned early on in my cycling was to learn to ride rollers. It was invaluable, it smoothed out the pedal stroke, quieted the upper body and maintain a straight line. 🚴🏾♂️🚴🏻♀️🚴🚴🏻♀️🚴🚴🏾♂️
Agreed! Thanks for sharing👍🏾
We here in Seattle with Cascade Bicycle Club discourage selfies or phone use when riding. A biggie is no passing on the right!
Thanks for sharing👍🏾
Good points all, and an important video. I cringe when I see people use TT bars in a group ride and hate to have to ask the ride leader to say that these are no-no in pace lines. And it bugs me when people don’t point out road hazards, which is a big responsibility in this potholed corner of the world. Maybe that’s why nobody dares take selfies. 😂
Thx for the reminders for the skills updates. So crucial to keep everyone safe. ❤❤
Thanks for watching👍🏾
Great video and excellent points! The one thing that I see frequently is excessive coasting versus changing gears, adjusting cadence. If coasting was a measurable stat, there would be some big time winners out there.
I am LOL'n at coasting as a measurable stat. For real. A few years ago there was this push gor high cadence and I think too many people have bought in to it as opposed to keeping proper tension on the drivetrain.
Preciate your insight👍🏾
This is why riding solo is my thing. I hate group rides.
I especially hate the excessive-freewheeling guy in front of me who does not know how to do steady spins or sustained spins on his pedals. Now, I am starting to think that my decision to stick to solo rides is preferable.
EXACTLY!! That’s why I only ride solo, tryed group rides twice and it honestly takes the enjoyment out of it
Learn hand signals to warn others and understand others’ warnings about physical obstacles on the road.
Don't ride off the front when there are only two of you and not wait for your cycling partner! Call out potholes and debris if you are on the front. Don't make it a race if your partner rides up beside you, thinking that he or she is going to pass you! Don't run stop signs and red lights out of the fear that you will be caught at those points by your cycling partner. Yes, there is a person that I know of that does this! Define the ride, respect the riders or riders with you. Don't ride like you own the road. Cars and Trucks will quickly let you know that you don't own the road. Be smart about your riding. If you are the person that I am speaking of in this commentary, you'll lose riding partners faster than dropping a hot rock. No one wants to ride with the guy with a consistent chip on his shoulder. This is why I pick and choose who I will ride with. When I want to hammer, I do it solo. When I want to hammer with a group, I also choose that group of folks carefully!
Be safe out there roadies!
Just completed the Hong Kong Cyclothon - 50 KM Sunday and saw a lot of unnecessary incidents during the ride. Even though the organizers had a mandatory safety orientation and assessment test prior to the event, I feel your presentation definitely hits home 👍👍👍
Thank you for sharing that👍🏾
Back in the old days, when I was a young man, our club (Montrose cycle club) had a coach and we learned riding pace lines and how to draft another rider safely. This is one skill everyone needs to learn before doing a group ride. I find no videos on RUclips on this subject. Every new cyclist assumes riding a wheel is riding directly behind someone’s wheel as close as they can get. As we know this is a recipe for a bad crash. Another thing I see in group rides, even advanced group rides is the guy who over laps wheels, or rides up between two other cyclists super close. These guys think they are riding in the Tour de France or something. The other over confident riders are the ones who sit up with ‘no hands’ on the bars, and take off their arm warmers in the middle of the pack. Do that at the back of the pack, or at the next stop light. Anyway, more tips not mention in your video. One more thing, when the pack stops for a red light. Riders at the back need to pay attention for this. I had a friend rammed from the rear from a cyclist at full speed, while the pack was stopped. He suffered broken ribs, a puncture lung, and a torn arm muscle. He was choking to death on his own blood. He almost died. He underwent years of PT. He never got back on his bike again. He is still in constant pain from his injuries. All an affordable situation. 😢
Another great video! You are so efficient with people's time in presenting the material. I can easily recommend your videos to newer cyclists. 👍
Thank you. I am so happy to hear that👍🏾
I ride with downtube shifters so I have no problems with my bottle
We have some gals, one in particular, cannot ride in a paceline, she is scared to death and too old to learn now.
No one can say anything, if they do she is combative and says its all good.
22mph she drifts 25' off the rider ahead, then sprints to catch up, all the way. She pulls out
in front of speeding cars.
She insist on riding up front so everyone behind her is playing slinky. It makes riding solo seem attractive.
I've seen some very poor riding skills in group club and charity rides. Causes many avoidable dangerous situations and accidents. Some just can't hold their line. Some brake too hard and often when it wasn't necessary upsetting the group. Ride in the back until you get a lot of experience riding shoulder to shoulder and wheel near wheel.
Thanks for sharing👍🏾
Bro I'm so looking forward to CCL3. Since my morning park rides and spinning went away, my fitness has fallen off so hard that I feel like it's almost appropriate to make a from-scratch vlog or something to motivate myself to get back on the saddle. Either haven't had time to ride or haven't been able to time up the group rides to participate.
Most annoying and demoralizing thing for me on group rides is the acceleration extremes. Ideally you want to keep acceleration as close to zero as possible. But people are too eager with how they go hard and then brake. I only drop a wheel if I know the group is going to slow... like why knock myself out and be in a rush to stop? But instead of working with me, people will just jump and then they slow and I have to brake instead of having that zone to close. I noticed that when I was the most fit and riding with a/b that I would keep getting knocked back like this. Sucks being twice the weight of everyone else.
Anyway, all these little things could just be addressed with a pre-ride briefing. This way you know when people are being dicks after they do them anyway.
Hey Marc. I think a vlog of ypur comeback would be awesome. Let's get out there👍🏾
Beautiful weather there! Still raining here in the UK.
It is nice. This time of year, we get the best cycling weather. 👍🏾
Hey Luis, great video i enjoyed watching it. I would love to see a video where you talk about your experience as a black cyclist in an almost exclusively all white sport. Why do you think its so rare to see black cyclists and what do you think we can do as a community to include more people in the beauty that is cycling? I think the main factor is cost of course, but anything else you can give input on from your perspective? Please send me the link if you've already made a video about this!
Hi there! Thanks for watching. I haven't made a video dealing with that subject, but I appreciate the suggestion.
If I have to slightly reduce speed because the rider in front of me, slows slightly, I'll just use my rear brake, so the rider behind me sees the calipers move. Riders who see "noobs" do silly things, tend to always ride in front him.........Don't be "THAT GUY". If you are a noob, and you get advice, don't get upset. Everybody starts out Green.
A technique taught at the Walden school of cycling many years ago is to keep pedaling (at least soft pedaling) if you need to apply rear brake to modulate pace in a group. This makes the braking action far less jerky, and helps keep the rear wheel from locking up. Super handy technique on loose stuff, wet leaves, and rainy rides as well.
Nice tip! Thanks for sharing👍🏾
Nice shirt!
Thanks Nate!
Word up Luis , about the selfies I don’t do that if I’m going to film at all on my phone, I’m filming the group in front of me or the riders in front of me as I’m in the back at a slower speed. One thing that I try not to do and you mentioned it when there’s debris or the quintessential manhole cover that’s everywhere or a stick. Is that riders like you mentioned overreact today’s modern road bikes or even my road bike with 25 mm tires should be able to ride over something that’s not too rough, it should be able to handle it. I do it I never overreact to anything and I see Cyclist or riders over here in Miami do that and the road bikes are quite capable of handling little imperfections like that not talking about a nasty pothole or a big branch or a bottle or something like that I also ride a mountain bike even before I got into road biking so I got the skills so I’m one if I ever showed up to one of the group rides in your neck of the woods I won’t be over reacting to anything another thing too, is when I’m getting a drink of water. If it all possible, people should put their hands on the tops and not on the hoods if possible it adds more stability. Maybe you might overreact to something if you have one hand on the bars in the wider the bars, the more leveraging you can quickly get Squirrley on something maybe something you ride over so I was taught this just to keep it on the tops, and I’m quite comfortable with taking a drink while my eyes are focus straightahead taking a bottle out of the cage and putting it in. It’s just like touching our belly button with our finger through our shirts and not even looking at our belly button. That’s the way we should be when it comes to taking a drink or reaching for a Bottle. . Thanks for the good tutorials. Very educational an informative !
Nice tips on here! Thanks for sharing👍🏾
Darn I signed up for a gravel ride that same day next time you do the cafecito ride Im in.
No worries. Good luck on the race👍🏾
Albuquerque can dream of having group rides!
Great video! I wish the local shops did something.
All rides start small and eventually grow if they are good👍🏾
I recently moved to Miami and i am struggling to find a group ride any suggestions.
I just watch your video on the darkstar bike build and it reminded me of a bike i owned in the UK it also had tapered tubes it was a Bates BAR frame.
Miami has Black Point Sharks, the Ziel group, the Rapha group, Mack Cycle beginner group, Go Rigo Go group... soooo many groups.
Yeah, as Marc said plenty of groups. Mack Cycling and Fitness has rides. Also many groups launch from Key Biscayne around 7am most days. Google South Florida Cycling and you'll get a lot.
Can you pls give your take on the claims of the trouble in the bike industry?
Thank you for the suggestion.
Hey Luis, I have a question. How does your group handle coming up on another group ride. Is there an instant challenge or not??
It can be an issue.
When I lead a group, we switch to single file, announce and then pass on the left. We also have to speed up a bit to get it done.
Cooperation from the group being passed is required... so hopefully ego's aren't triggered and they scoot right and let us through.
I am a 71 year old Black man that rides. I have a question for you. I work out in the gym, should I do leg workout the day of or the day before I go on my bike ride?
That is awesome Billy! Keep on riding. I have heard both approaches... and they both seem to work fine.
It's not safety related, but try to guage how much chat is going on in the group and fit with it. Don't be the one who everyone wants to tell to shut up already. Especially when climbing.
👏👏👏👍👍🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷🚴🏻♂️🚴🏻♂️🚴🏻♂️
👍🏾
Hah. Sounds like someone got under your skin. How are they still invited to the ride?
I sneak in... they don't know I am there
let's dig in,so some folks will need to duck..First of all, learn how to ride,learn how to keep your line, and learn how to take evasive action/stop...Secondly..How do you have a $10,000 bike yet you are 250-400 lbs? Evidently, you invested more in the bike than your own fitness and health, so it's going to take much more to develop your skills. Aside from your weight, everyone should be cleared by their doctors to ride so there's no one having a serious health emergency and you never informed anyone. Pull out that stoopid phone to take pics and videos,and watch yourself get banned from any rides. I am not about to get into a crash because someone wants to have a photoshoot ,conversations, or play Call Of Duty while they are riding. Personally, I see a LOT of crashes lately because people are purposely bumping, shoving, and just making excessive contact. See, if there's no consequences some folks continue to do infantile things. When I was riding mountain bikes rides or even some tours, there would be some clowns who wanted to be crude, rude ,and obnoxious, so we took precautions. In other words, bring all that negative energy and try to be a bully,and expect to meet Jesus, if need be. Stay in your line, do not touch me, do not bump me, and respect the group or get handled. Now let's watch Luis do his winter training so that him and his team will be ready for the Spring Classics, then the Tour.
Wooo, haymakers😂😂😂
I hear ya! Thanks for sharing👍🏾
@@thegoodwheel I do not accept poor behavior from adults who should have home training. There's one person on a bike ,so there's no actual reason for touching, nor anything except incidental contact. I remember reading what Major Taylor said, who remains one of the most prolific Black cyclists in history. He said in Europe people would spit on him, shove him, berate/threaten him, and even at least once while he was riding, he got punched in his face.