The best leadership is when a group almost doesn’t notice that they are being led, they’re just enjoying a pleasant ride together in good humour and talking to each other. And not having to think about where they’re going at the junction or what’s happening with the ride. Leadership is not about being a dictator: cyclists are notoriously resistant to being told what to do and a mutinous group is rarely an enjoyable or safe experience. Consult with, or float ideas with other experienced riders on the ride but actually be prepared to make and communicate clearly to all any decisions that do need to be made. Encourage the discussion of all en-route experiences of near misses or potentially dangerous riding or vehicle driving behaviours across the group immediately after they happen, especially if there are inexperienced riders in the group, such that incident de-briefing and learning form a natural part of the club riding experience.
Be familiar with the Club’s rider guidance above. Try to follow it yourself and encourage others to do so. In particular, note the guidance about pre-empting situations of conflict with vehicle drivers and about avoiding the escalation of conflict. Safety, not anyone’s pride, is your paramount concern as ride leader.
Know the route. There is little worse than everyone stopping and arguing at every junction, or the group splitting and going off in different directions possibly missing the cafe or ending up miles from anywhere. You can decide to change the mapped route if you want to, but you need to know in advance of junctions in which direction the group is intending to cycle and either be at the front to show which way you’re headed or be close enough to get the message through to those at the front.
Watch everything and everybody. Is everyone together? Periodically you just need to count and check - the bigger the group the easier it is not to notice that someone is missing.
Risk of ice? A lane in such a state is dangerous and you should change route? A new rider who’s struggling to keep up or not being befriended by anyone? An experienced rider having an off-day? A rider having bike problems? A Strong rider sprinting off ahead, splitting the group and annoying everyone? Someone riding unsafely? People doubling up when it’s not safe to do so, or sometimes singling up when better not to? People in any ‘brisk’ group who ought to consider switching to the ‘gentle’ group at the cafe or vice versa?
Observation is 75% of leading. Doesn’t mean you have to shout at people or publicly draw attention to their issues or any inappropriate behaviour. Quiet respectful words, checking they’re OK, making suggestions or appealing to them to help you make the ride work for everyone are usually better, although there may be times when you need to be assertive.
Specific responsibilities regarding inexperienced, unconfident, or young riders. It is the Club’s Rides Organiser’s responsibility to assess a new young rider’s capability and experience before deciding which if any of the club rides is most appropriate for an U18 rider to ride, and to tell a Ride Leader of any U18 rider in their group, what assessment has been made about them, and that Parental Consent has been properly obtained. Ride Leaders should sometimes and where practical consider putting experienced riders either alongside an U18 or other inexperienced rider, or ‘sandwiching’ them if single file riding. However, it should be emphasised that side by side or close riding on steep descents is not recommended. Ride Leaders should during a ride consider if they or other riders in their group are riding at so fast a speed that it presents a danger if ridden at by the least experienced in the group. If so, the Ride Leader should either ask the inexperienced rider(s) to hold back or ask that the ride pace be slowed appropriately
Make and communicate decisions, or accept decisions proposed by others. It’s nearly always better for there to be clarity rather than confusion. During a ride the Ride Leader should if practical shout warnings to all riders of any approaching hazards known to him/her, and to encourage all riders to do the same. This is especially important when there are less experienced, confident or young riders in a group. If someone punctures not far before the cafe or the end of the ride, it’s perfectly OK for you to identify one or two of the riders to stay and help and let the others go on. If a rider who knows their way around and is mechanically competent wants to fall behind and ride at their own pace or charge ahead because they need to get back, it’s also perfectly OK for that to happen. If a few miles before the end of the ride, you know that people will start breaking off to their own homes or splitting up into lots of differently paced sub-groups, then at some junction where the group is still all together, say that this is the end of the all-together ride; riders can then say their farewells to each other and do their own thing without feeling guilty or confused about what’s happening. It’s always better to be ahead of what’s happening on the ground, or going to happen, and to communicate clearly to the group what is happening and why - otherwise it can look and feel as though the ride is just falling apart.
Keep the group together as much as possible. It’s a club ride not a training regime so the reality is that almost no one will ride at their ideal pace, and the pace will be determined by slowest and not the fastest riders on any given day. Stronger riders can take longer turns at the front, can be reminded to wait at summits to re-group, can be asked to support a weaker rider through a ride, can do an extra circuit somewhere and catch up, etc. Use junctions, tops and bottoms of hills as re-grouping opportunities. There may be occasions when the best way for a large group to stay together is, paradoxically, to break into two groups, so long as any sub-group know what it is doing and why and ideally this sub-group has its own leader. A sub-group can be as small as just one weak rider alongside an allocated stronger rider to help them get them to the cafe or home at a pace which they’re comfortable with and which doesn’t spoil everyone else’s ride. As before, observing, thinking, suggesting, deciding and communicating are all part of keeping a group together.