Ride Leaders Checklist
Guidance on how to safely lead a group ride.
Leading Group Rides
Here’s some guidance on leading rides. It’s not difficult to act as leader, but your life and everyone else’s will be a lot easier (and safer) if all riders are familiar with a few guidelines.
- Introduce yourself as Ride Leader for the session.
- Explain the nature of the ride: pace, rough distance/route, and remind everyone that the club ride is a social ride, with no riders to be dropped. The club offers a range of competitive rides and events but this isn’t one of them.
- Check ride numbers: if more than 12 then split into two groups.
- Do you know who all the riders in the group are? If not ask their names, whether they are Venta members, and if they’ve ridden on a similar style of group ride before.
- Ask specifically if there are any riders under 18, or with health problems etc. Club policy is that under 18s should not be left alone on rides, and under 16s do not attend without the company of a parent or guardian unless specific permission has been sought from the Club Secretary. If they need to abandon etc. then the ride (or a number of riders) may need to stay with them until they are collected by a parent (good practice would be to identify newer or younger riders and ask another experienced rider to chat to and show them ropes for a few miles).
- Ask if anyone has any questions!