The Problems With Big Groups

Maintaining the integrity of the group becomes increasingly difficult as the number of riders increases. There are are over 100 club members who have identified themselves as Gliders. In reality, we have a core group of regular riders that numbers about a dozen, another group of you that show up once or twice a month, and the silent majority who wish they could come out and ride. So it is not surprising when we get over 20 riders for a Gliders ride.

Large groups present several problems. The most obvious is the difficulty in communicating information about riders in trouble to the front of the group. It is real easy for the front fifteen or so riders to go on charging down the road while five or ten are caught in limbo, trying to decide whether to support the rider in trouble and lose the group, or try and catch back on.

Large groups also increase danger. It is not possible to communicate road hazards to the back, so when you see one while in the front you are seeing something someone will almost certainly hit. The dynamics of large group operations mean that it is much more likely that you will have a "pileup" type crash; a small slowdown at the front builds up to a much larger, hard braking event at the back.