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Its only march and i've already heard about an accident and read about another one in the paper.
There are a bunch of us that have ridden together and know eachothers style and speed . There are also quite a few that are new, some new to group riding, some new to the group and some that are new to the sport altogether.
----- Ride your own ride. You have heard it a thousand times, what does it mean? Even in a group you are responsible for your self and your actions. Don't ride over your ability just to keep up. If you feel that the guy behind you is to close to you, don't push it, pull aside and let him get infront of you this way here you won't feel pressured and you can actually enjoy the ride instead of shitting in your pants when you lock it up in the corner cause you went in to hot trying to keep up.
We all come from different ability levels. from newbie to racer. People aren't going to razz you if you couldn't "keep up" , its not a race, its a ride on the street among friends. Who by the way would much rather wait a few minutes for you at the next stop light than have to call an ambulance and a tow truck, and ruin th erest of the day.
------ when in a group you are also responsible for those behind you. If we come to a stopsign or signal light and the road changes I.e. left or right turn. and you don't see the 3 riders behind you, stop and wait, due to the fact that you saw the group infront of you take the left, you can lead the 3 behind you once they show up. if this prerpetuates down the line, there will be a bike waiting at the next interchange for the 4 of you, then at the next for the 5 of you and so on.....
If you pull up to the group infront and there is a problem and you don't want them to take of, start beeping the horn it will get their attention not to take off.
there is a topic around here somewhere on group riding. please read that if you haven't already.
as a side note, if you bring along a buddy for the ride that isn't in the group, either tell him or her to read this stuff, or atleast fill him or her in on it.
We don't usually go over "rules and regulations" on every group ride as most of us know eachother and have riden together . so if you have questions . ask them either here or at the start of the ride. we have all been the new guy one time or another, every group is different. ask questions to avoid a problem.
see you all out on the road