Friends For Life Bike Rally - A Benefit for the Toronto People With AIDS Foundation

Group riding etiquette

Stay smooth and be predictable. Always ride in a straight and steady line. Pedal continuously in a cadence and speed that is consistent with the riders in front of you. If you have to slow your speed, do it by soft pedalling or gently moving into the wind rather than braking. If you have to brake, don’t clench the brakes, but rather “caress the rims” with them - try to pedal through your braking to keep it gradual.

Look ahead and keep focused. Do not fixate on the rear wheel directly in front of you - if something happens up ahead, you won’t be able to react in time. Instead, keep your eyes on the road ahead of the riders in front of you - look “through” the middle of their backs and anticipate any changes in direction or pace.

Be polite and communicate. Signal and call out any turns and obstacles coming up ahead that may affect the group.

Maintain the group pace. If the pace is too slow or too fast for you, leave and ride on your own, or find another group to ride with. Riding with a group means riding the consensus pace - not showing off.

Back to top. 

Drafting technique

When drafting, don’t ride directly behind the wheel in front of you. Although you can rub shoulders and even wheels from the side and stay upright, touching a wheel directly in front of you will send you to the pavement. So ride behind and just off to the side. Don’t creep up and overlap wheels with the rider in front of you unless you really trust them. If they move to the side to avoid something, you might collide.

If there is room to do so, you should ride on the side away from the wind, as that’s where you’ll get the best draft. Experiment with positioning to get a feel for where the “sweet spot” is behind the wheel.

The secret to riding close is to develop a sense of where your front wheel ends, so that you can relax and focus on the road ahead rather than worrying about touching wheels. This skill takes time and practice to develop, so take it easy.

Relax, think “smooth” - and don’t forget to breathe! Your elbows should remain slightly bent, and your shoulders loose in order to soak up any bumps from road (or even other riders). Keep your cadence high, and pedal in smooth circles by pulling your cranks up and forward on the upstroke instead of just pushing down on each stroke. Try to close gaps in front of you by gradually increasing your leg speed rather than switching into a bigger gear.

Don’t clench the handlebars — this strains wrists, wastes precious energy and makes the bike “twitchy”. Control the direction of the bike by leaning your body rather than “steering”. The only time you should firmly grip the handlebars is if your front wheel is about to make contact with an obstacle, such as a pothole (or another wheel).

When cornering, follow the line of the rider in front of you. Leave more room and adjust your speed before cornering, instead of braking during the turn. Look though the turn to where you want to go, rather than a curb you’re avoiding (this applies to maneuvering around obstacles too).

On downhills, the leader should pedal though the descent to keep his/her speed up, or else the riders behind will catch up too quickly in the increased slipstream. All riders in the group should leave more space between them on downhills.

On uphills, do not ride directly behind other riders — if they get out of the saddle, they may drop back into your wheel. Keep this in mind if you yourself are climbing and want to stand up - be smooth and watch out for riders behind you.

Back to top.

Paceline riding

Turns at the front range in duration from 10 seconds to several minutes, depending on pace, conditions and your energy level. At a higher speed, in windy conditions or hilly terrain the pulls should be shorter in order for the group to be efficient.

Do not hog the front. The biggest mistake beginners make is pulling too long. This taxes the muscles and slows the group down — counter to the purpose of drafting.

Another common mistake is accelerating when you reach the front. This forces the rider behind you to also accelerate to close the gap, which disrupts the pace of the whole group. Before you go to the front, check the speed on your computer and maintain that. If you want to pick up the pace (and if the group can keep up), do it gradually after easing into the front.

If you are tired, don’t stay at the front — just pull off right away and let the next person though. You can also stay at the back of a group and let the other riders rotate in front of you.

When you are ready to pull off:

• shoulder-check to ensure the road is clear behind you
• signal by flicking your elbow to the side you will move to
• move smoothly to the windward side, about a shoulder’s width - do not stop pedalling until you are clear of the rider behind you (in beginner groups, the second rider may call out “clear” when the leader is clear of him/her)
• drop back to the end of the line by soft-pedalling, staying close to the other riders to protect them from the wind
• when you are even with the last person, begin to accelerate (in beginner groups, the last rider may call out “last” to indicate the rider dropping back should now pick up speed)
• shoulder-check (just to make no one new has tagged on) and move diagonally into the draft behind the last wheel.

In a strong headwind or crosswind (but not on a busy road) riders may start a rotating paceline, where each rider pulls off to the windward side as soon as they reach the front. This is a great way to keep the pace steady (and looks cool).

If done safely, paceline riding is a great way to spend time with fellow cyclists, increase fitness, improve bike-handling skills and get to where you’re going fast. So keep it steady and remember — relax!

Back to top.