Group rides and potholes: proper etiquette

[Saab2000]

So tonight I am riding on the Founders ride in Grand Rapids, MI. I have more than 36 hours at my very own house and head out for the ride. 8 miles to the brewery, 50 mile ride, 8 miles home. Hills, stop sign sprints, the usual chest beating, knuckle dragging, lie telling, etc.

There is a semi-regular dude who is about 60 years old and I hope I ride as well as he does when I'm 60. But he's also a serious douchebag. Still a high school jock type. Too cool for everyone else. Does his own thing.

E.g. - We're all stopped at a local boating store that has a faucet and we're all filling up our bottles 'cuz it's literally 90ºF and humid as hell and we're all dehydrated a bit. Everyone has two large bottles. He is riding with one 'regular' bottle and says he has enough. No fill-up. Keep in mind we're doing 50+ miles, hard and it's 90º+F. Gotta be careful in this weather.

Anyway, while we're filling up, Denny (we'll call him that 'cuz that's what he calls himself) decides he's gonna pretend he's grinding curbs or whatever on his Fuji. Ends up on his back, rolling around with his 17 lb bike still attached to both feet. I am barely able to contain myself with rage and hillariousness while everyone else asks if he's OK (he is).

So we continue.

Denny does his own thing, specifically never calling out any potholes or gravel or anything. No sweat. I'm not a lightweight dude, but not heavy on the bike and I pride myself in my bike handling skills. Knock on wood, I don't fall off much and I am pretty adept at most of what the biking world can hand out.

So Denny rolls around a massive 15" pothole which is about 5" deep and at the last second never points it out. Normally I'm ahead of the game and know what's coming. He never points it out. I am able to get the front Nucleon over it but the rear hits it with the force of two Sumo competitors colliding at full force. Thankfully no pinch flat!! Thank you Veloflex tubulars!!!

But my beloved Nucleon is torqued. I can feel it in the imperfect braking surface.

We stop and I check. I think I can fix the out of true part. It's not really out of round. But the braking surface is now not perfectly flat. I can feel it. I hit hard and would have thrown a bottle had I not caught it with my leg and the top tube.

Abnormally for Michigan, this road was basically pretty good, but with this one renegade pothole and one douchebag rider who wouldn't lead the group around it, but instead led everyone right over it and I took the brunt of it.

I hope I can fix the wheel. I probably can make it about 99% as good as new. They are tough wheels.

Anyway, for a long-winded post, what do you folks do on group rides. I have always assumed that part of the group dynamic is looking out for each other. Yeah, we're all competitive and shit, but in the end safety is not part of that equation. One would hope that even arch rivals point out road hazards to each other and led the legs decide.

Many of you are from different parts of the country. What goes on in California and Massachusetts and Connecticut and Florida and wherever else we ride?

Sorry for the long rant. Had to get it out. I got the BB creak fixed, but I don't have time for the wheel. It'll have to wait and I'll have to rip off part of a glued Veloflex Carbon to fix this mofo. Pisses me off 'cuz it could have been avoided if the lead douchebag had had half a brain......

rant done. Look out for each other. It's good for all of us.

[maunahaole]

You are being surprisingly cool about this. Denny is a hazard and should be avoided. Running a paceline through a pothole is a total asshole maneuver and could end up with the whole line collapsing when the noob decides to grab his brakes in the middle of the pack.

[AntLockyer]

MY response to hitting the pothole would have been.

"Why aren't you warning people about potholes" Then see how it played out. I suspect it would have ended with him being an asshole and me knocking his mouth loose.

[frenk]

When a sketchy rider is in front of me, I usually move slightly sideways (obviously without overlapping wheels) so that I can see the road in front.
Does not avoid every problem but reduces the risk.

[Chooey]

I have a thought that I need to get out of my head, i.e. lead Denny right into the next big pothole; the bigger the better! Now that's out of the way, is it possible to avoid drafting the sketchy rider as closely as you would with those you're more confident/familiar with? I've been in situations where I'd rather loose some benefits of the draft, and leave a larger gap. I know it's not always possible, but where/when you can, it may allow you to watch their front wheel, and occassionally scan up the road for potential hazards?

[TTBS]

Follow Denny to the front and show him how its done properly. If he doesn't get it from your display of proper etiquette, tell him what he is doing wrong. If he ignores you, isolate him from the bunch. Don't let him spoil your rides.

[cs124]

Hook him into the gutter next time you see him.

[M_A_Martin]

Unless it was a rouge pot hole that was lurking unseen in the wilderness until Denny was directly on top of it then it jumped out in front of him and it was all he could do to save himself let alone warn others of the impending danger, suggest to Denny that if he's in the lead and can't lead a paceline around a pothole properly, perhaps he shouldn't ride on the front. If he wasn't lead rider, then someone did the same to him...and it's a group issue.


Maybe the dude needs to wear glasses when he rides?

[SteveP]

i would tell him face to face one time
if it happened again i would lead the mf into the biggest hole you could find.

if he cant ride in a group he shouldnt ride in a group.
you have to watch out for each other.

[roseyscot]

at the local tuesday night smackdown ride, my friend told the obviously sketchy rider (who everyone was avoiding) "don't take this the wrong way, but please don't ride near me." sure enough the guy caused a crash right at the end of the ride when he tried to move from right to left with folks sprinting behind him.

you need to identify the sketchy/bad riders and make a point of either educating them, avoiding them, or, joining with others to tell them they are not welcome if they do not take to your educating. last resort, if the ride is made up of primarily unsafe riders, find a new ride.

[El Chaba]

I don't care how long some people have ridden...or how many races they have won....some people will NEVER be cyclists....Like others have said, you've got to point that crap out. I remember seeing Max Sciandri on the Tour coverage some years ago...He had been sent up front to ride tempo....and for the longest time, he was constantly pointing things out as the roads were a little sketchy. Was there ever a guy cooler than Max Sciandri?

[ergott]

Sounds anti-social, but I avoid riding with people like that in the first place. You are lucky it was just a wheel. People like that can take down a line. I'd rather ride solo.

Let him know how you feel and never ride with him again. There's nothing worse than a nervous pace-line.

-Eric

[Chooey]

Was there ever a guy cooler than Max Sciandri?

Max Sciandri - not only cool and gracious - raced a MX Leader too!

[twowheels]

every tuesday night worlds ride has at least one.

of course he should have pointed it out. but he probably wasn't looking ahead and only saw it at the last minute.

sorry about the wheel. it'll probably never be the same again without a new rim .

[giordana93]

every tuesday night worlds ride has at least one.

of course he should have pointed it out. but he probably wasn't looking ahead and only saw it at the last minute.

sorry about the wheel. it'll probably never be the same again without a new rim .

this is right on. I used to ride with a guy who went through FRONT wheels (handbuilt OP's not boutique) faster than anyone I knew goes through rears. he was just a magnet for pot holes and rode straight into them. you had to drift outside his draft and watch for yourself. so, good advice to try and say something non-confrontational, but may not go very far. now that you're getting fit, you need to start practicing your evil-but-subtle paceline techniques, like surging just a bit as soon as he slows down after a pull when you're on his wheel, letting a gap open up before closing it quickly at the back when he's on your wheel, attacking him after he does a long pull...that kind of fun torture. 'course, then his head will just be dragging that bit more when he's supposed to be looking ahead. . .