Group Ride Basics

Going on solo rides is always fun and gives you more freedom- you decide where to stop, when to ride, what speed to maintain and so on. Being a part of group ride gives you some freedom but has its own advantage – one main reason safety in numbers. Another advantage is that you will have that many more hands to call for help if at all there is some problem.

Being a part of a group ride for the first time maybe overwhelming because of the total number of riders present. However, if you do know the basics of the group and get to know each other, the entire journey becomes memorable.

A group ride has a defined formation and there are some basic hand signals that needs to be learnt. Let us see what the group ride basics are.

Rider Positions

In any group, there are certain rider positions that play a vital role – Lead and Sweep. Lead is the rider who goes in front and this rider decides the route and the riding formation. Lead is incharge of initiating any form of hand or leg signals which will alert all the other riders that are part of the group. The most experienced rider in the group is the Sweep. He/she ensures that no rider is left behind The Sweep is also occasionally the fastest rider in the group.

Riding Formation

There are totally 3 formations which the Lead can choose to follow: Staggered, Single File, Box.

Staggered

This is the most common riding formation. The lead takes the first spot (nearer to the median of the road). The second person will be diagonally behind (to the left) of the lead. The third person will be diagonally behind to the right of the second rider (and behind the lead) and so on, like a zig zag shape.

Each rider should be able to see two things. I, as a rider, should be able to see the person who is ahead of me and I should be able to see his/her helmet in his/her mirror. I should also be able to see the person diagonally behind me in my rear view mirror. Only when there are 2 or more than 2 lanes, this formation is followed. If there are only 2 lanes, ride on the left lane. If there are three or more lanes, ride in the middle lane. This establishes dominance of the group on the road. Of course, this lane preference is country specific. What I have described above is India specific.

Single File

Like ants, one person rides directly behind the other. When on a single lane or double laned road, this formation is preferred.

If double lane road, we take the left lane.

Box

This is a rarely used formation. Riders will form a square shape, riding parallelly to each other.

How fast should the group go?

The group is as fast as the slowest rider in the group. One would think that the person coming in the last is the slowest rider (who is the Sweep) but that is not the case. The tail is usually the most experienced and occasionally the fastest in the group. There can be multiple groups in one big convoy, one group riding fast, One group riding slow and so on. However, each of the group will usually be following the same set of rules as above.

Hand Signals

Shown below is the standard set of hand signals

From my personal experience, as you continue to be part of a group ride with the same set of riders, over a period of time, usage of hand signals will reduce. Why? As you are riding with the same set of riders, you get to “feel” and maybe even forsee how they will react and you will also do the same. Only in emergency situations does the hand signal become mandatory.