Riding with a Community Cycling Group

Would you believe that a community cycling group could confidently handle a multi-lane challenge? This post follows up on a previous one for a recreational bicycle club . As it turned out, a local community riding group, Bike Together Waltham, was planning to use the same route segment. Here is a satellite view of the route —

and here it is in Google Maps.

Preparation

I was more than a little surprised! Bike Together Waltham his is a motley crew of cyclists including one or two still in middle school. But I saw an opportunity.  A group ride can show how a challenge is manageable, and reasonably safe.

I reached out to Saul Blumenthal, a leader in Bike Together Waltham, and invited him to ride with me so he could later coach the group. He took up my invitation.

Here is video which Saul and I recorded of our ride. 

Saul is a CyclingSavvy graduate. He understands lane use and lane position. Though our ride was early on a Sunday morning, with light traffic, we did encounter a couple challenges beyond the ones in my previous video — notably a traffic signal that was not working, and a vehicle that had to change lanes to overtake us.

The community cycling group takes on the challenge

Three days after the demo ride, the group rode the challenging stretch as part of an evening ride at dusk.  Saul gave appropriate instructions at the start and during the ride. The group understood my unusual lane choice. Everyone had lights, with one exception which I’ll get to later. The group rode double file when controlling the travel lane, and mostly held together. All in all, I think that the ride went well.

It can’t be expected that an informal community cycling group ride will display the order and discipline of a French randonnée or CyclingSavvy urban riding practice. But it is in the nature of the learning experience that not everything is perfect. This group impressed me well with how it handled the challenge.

Saul shot video of the group ride. I’d like you to note what you think went well and what might have gone better. I have some debriefing comments following the video, which you may compare with your observations.

It was not perfect, but all in all…

OK, A few things might have worked better. I shared the following notes on the community cycling group’s chat after the ride and got a positive reception:

• One boy (yellow shirt, gray helmet) appeared to be about 10 years old. He had good bike handling skills and endurance, but no lights, as I realized near the end of the ride.. “Frog lights” attach with rubber straps and cost only a couple of dollars each. 
  I rode for decades in Boston-area traffic with small battery and generator lights with incandescent bulbs, no brighter than these. My lights, aimed level, worked fine to alert other road users when streetlights and urban light pollution revaled the road to me. My friend Pam Murray rents frog lightse lights before evening rides which she organizes, and refunds the rental if riders return the lights at the end of the ride. I donated a few of them to the group.
  
• On the other hand, one rider had very bright headlight in flash mode and aimed level, a glare hazard. You can see it in Saul’s rear view at 0:58 in the video and then see the headlight’s beam reflecting off the back of a rider ahead.
  
• A couple riders stayed close to the right-side lane line when we were in the leftmost lane. Being a bit farther into the lane would have placed them farther from high-speed motor traffic. The lane was plenty wide to allow riding double-file without crowding the right edge. I am wondering whether the habit of edge riding had ingrained itself with these riders to the extent that they didn’t realize that the edge in this case was on the left!
  
• At the end of the bridge, the group merged from the front rather than using the “got your back” techniques, where the sweep starts to change lanes first. Making this technique work requires more preparation so everyone knows to do this. It wasn’t a problem in this case, but a more compact and orderly lane change is less disruptive and creates a better impression.
  
• I am confident enough about young people riding with their parents. I wouldn’t coach them to ride a route segment like this alone.
  
• It could have worked better to split the group into two in advance of the climb in this segment, given the number of riders and that a group of three (including me) was slower than others and formed a second group.

Can a community cycling group manage?

No bike ride is completely without risk, or goes perfectly as planned. Taking on challenges is the way to expand horizons.  I have seen a significant uptick in the challenges which Bike Together Waltham will take on, and in meeting them. My ride with this community cycling group was a learning experience, for the group, and for me.