Ride Waiver
bit.ly/VCDCwaiver
All riders, including pillions, must sign the waiver prior to each ride. You can have them scan this QR code or send them to bit.ly/VCDCwaiver.
Safety Briefing
Please give the briefing before each ride.
Even if you think most of the group has been on group rides before, please give at least an abbreviated briefing. Why? We want VCDC to be a safe and welcoming for everyone, and that means giving new or less experienced group riders the support they need to feel comfortable. Also, you never know what they heard or didn't hear last time. And you may have some particular features of your ride you want them to know about.
Script
This script is intended to make it easy for you remember everything. You certainly do not need to read it verbatim.
Introductions
- Introduce yourself and any sweepers or blockers.
- Let people know if you are on comms, and that we use Sena Mesh 2.0 channel 1.
Ride Waiver
- "All riders must complete the waiver, even if you have completed it for previous rides."
Helmets
- "Helmets are required for all riders."
- "Other gear is your own choice, but we recommend an armored jacket, gloves, close-toed shoes or boots, and long pants."
Staggered Formation
"We ride in staggered formation so that people have room to brake and maneuver, but we stay together and cars cannot come in and break up the group. It works like this:" [Getting riders to demonstrate is recommended]
- "I will ride in the left 1/3 of the lane."
- "The next rider will ride in the right 1/3 of the lane, about 1 second behind me."
- "The rest of the group follows the same pattern and tries to maintain a consistent speed."
- "If for any reason someone leaves formation, everyone moves up by criss-crossing into the next vacant staggered position." [Demonstrate]
- "This way you aren't zooming past someone in their lane unexpectedly."
- [If you have blockers] "Blockers will have to come in and out of formation which can cause vacancies like this. Please let them in when they rejoin the group; they aren't always able to return to where they came from."
Hand Signals
"We use some hand and foot signals to give each other information. When you see these, typically you will repeat them to people behind you."
- "You can just use your turn signals to indicate an upcoming turn, but vintage bikes may need to use hand signals. It can also be useful to emphasize information about an upcoming turn." [Demonstrate]
Stop Signs
- "This signal means stop." [Demonstrate]
- "When we come to a stop sign, we all resume moving as one unit; do not stop and break up the group. A blocker may block the intersection if necessary, but usually traffic will wait for the group to pass through."
Hazards
- "You can use a foot to point out road hazards to riders behind you."
- "Just for actual hazards, not for every little thing."
- "If we need to go single file to get around something, I will put up one finger, and put up two to let you know to return to standard formation."
- "This means your turn signal is still on." [Demonstrate]
- "This means slow down." [Demonstrate]
- "This means speed up." [Demonstrate]
- "In the event of a breakdown, we will stop and make sure you are not hurt or in trouble, but the ride will continue without you once we know you are OK, so please have a backup plan to call your insurance or tow company."
- Give an overview of the ride: length, lunch and gas stops, total ride time, etc.
- You may want to ask slower bikes (50cc, for example) to ride in front, helping to keep you from losing them at the back. You may want to ask 2-strokes to ride in back so they do not fumigate other riders.
- "Any questions?"