Riding in a Group
Added on Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 by Carole Nash Editor
Riding in a Group
Some of the best times to be had on a bike are when you ride out with your mates, but riding with a group of other bikes can pose some new potential hazards compared with riding alone.
If all the riders adopt their usual road positioning, they end up riding line astern which reduces the view ahead as well as available braking distance. Far better for the bikes to be staggered across the road - if the rider in front is staying to the left of the carriageway, you keep mainly to the right.
That way you can see further in front of you and have extra space alongside the preceding bike to stop in. You have to accept too that you will only ride as fast as the slowest rider - pressuring someone to go faster than they’re comfortable with is a certain way to cause an accident. And after you’ve overtaken a car, swing over to the kerb side to allow extra room if the bike following you has also overtaken.
