GGCC have nominated road captains and group leaders on each club run.
Robert Hamilton, Mark Gallagher, Chris Ditchfield, Michael McPartlin and Ian Linden are GGCC's Road Captains and are fully responsible for the club in its entirety and its members along with the Club Captain on club rides.
The Road Captains and Group Leaders of which there are many, are headed up and led by a number of our more experienced members.
Road Captains and Group leaders will be there to make sure that each club ride is carried out in a safe and enjoyable way. The aim is to let each rider get the most from the run they are on.
The leaders have agreed they will take responsibility for a group and support the members they are riding with and carry out certain tasks during a club run.
Below are an example of some of the areas where a group leader will assist;
- New riders should be allocated a buddy for their first run and spend time at the back of the group for the first part of the ride to observe and understand how the group are riding before getting involved in the middle of the bunch.
- Encourage riders to step up a group if they are clearly capable of riding in a faster group.
- Group leaders to set their bike computer to show the average speed of the run from the green to make sure the group is riding at the pace it should.
- GGCC ask that riders should take the guidance of the group leaders. After all they are taking the time to support the club ride.
- The main points of how that group will ride should be re-iterated before the start of each section. This will help when riders change groups during a cub run.
- Ensure the group leaders are identified at the start of each run as well as each section.
- At the start of every club run the format of the ride including the route, stopping points and any relevant points that may differ from previous rides should be explained.
- The riders in a group, should they wish, can have the chance to sprint for 30 signs. As long as this is communicated clearly and carried out in a safe way.
- When a new rider joins a club run they should be given instruction on how the group ride using the GGCC rotation (anti-clockwise). Riders in their group should be patient and allow the new riders time to adopt group-riding skills.
- Group leaders should take the time to explain why the groups ride in that particular way. i.e. do not half wheel to reduce the risk of crashing, also Rotations are carried out to share the workload across the group.
- 2 group leaders (if possible) should be allocated to each group. This will help with keeping all the riders together.
- Every member should be aware that the group leaders communicate various messages during a club ride to the rest of the riders to make sure the safety of the run is a priority.
- All the communication to riders should be carried out in a clear and constructive manner.
- Shouts and hand signals need to be repeated up or down each group. You should not assume that everyone has heard the shout within a group.
- Always leave a safe gap between each group. If the bunch of riders finds itself catching the group in front then the leader should make their group slow down to maintain a safe distance.
- Group leaders and other riders should always have the confidence to share their knowledge and pass instructions to maintain the smooth running of the group.
- To reduce the waiting time at meeting points, the race pace group can set off when the next group arrives at the meeting points and so on. This will help the riders in each group from cooling down too much between efforts.
- Riders should not pull through too fast or too slow when rotating. The group leaders should make sure the riders are rotating smoothly and safely.
- During the winter months, GGCC riders are encouraged to ride with mudguards. If a rider doesn’t use mudguards, other riders are entitled to ask them to ride at the back of the bunch.
- Tri bars and Time Trial bikes are not to be used on club rides as these bikes are not suitable for group riding.
- Riders are encouraged to always ride on the hoods or the drops when in a group. Riding on the tops are not advised due to the increase of time it can take to apply the brakes should and obstacle or incident crop up
- Group leaders are encouraged to share their mobile number between the other leaders.
- The same ride format should be carried out across each group. This will support riders as they move from one paced group to another.
All of the above points will ensure there is consistency across all of the groups so moving up or down is a seamless transition. As a club we will continue to provide a safe and enjoyable cycling environment for various rider abilities.
If we can all help each other on a club run it will make sure we all have an enjoyable and safe cycle.