BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Setting expectations in advance is helpful...if you're planning on a "keep up with traffic, and pretend we're in Idaho with regards to stop signs and traffic lights" ride, just let people know in advance.

Set rules for regrouping; like, for example regroup at the top of hills or at any turns.

Cue sheets are good...people can always refer to them later if/when they want to ride the route themselves, even if they're just planning to follow the leader.

Determine break/rest points in advance, and put 'em on the cue sheet, or at least let people know where the planned stop(s) are.

If you have people of widely divergent abilities, such that regrouping at regular points is onerous, think about splitting it into two rides. Having at least one other person along who knows the route and can take over if needed is really helpful.

Maybe get someone else who knows your route to ride sweep (follow behind everyone), so they can make sure that everyone's okay, and so that all your riders know that there's someone with a clue behind them.

Check out some of the city rides, like the Tazza d'Oro Team Caffeine/Decaf rides, or the Major Taylor club rides. That'll give you a good feel for group ride dynamics, plus you can ask the group leaders for advice first-hand.

Dan makes some good points.

Keep it modest. What may be a short ride for you might be the longest ride someone has ever done. You can expand people's horizons later.

Do the Decaf ride, not the Caffeine ride.

Accommodate the various abilities by being prepared to have a couple leaders. That way the faster folks can speed off, but the slower folks aren't stuck on their own, or feeling like they are slowing people down. If you get up to 12 riders, you may even want to consider having a sweeper, too.

Example: a few years ago, I led (well, co-led) the group ride to the movie in the park. First thing we did was to provide to different rides, one easy, one a bit more challenging, and then had several "leaders" sprinkled throughout the groups. The slower group (my group) got kinda strung out, but with a few folks mingling, everyone felt comfortable, I think.

Decide beforehand if you will wait at the top of a climb for the entire group. I'd suggest if you have varying abilities that you always wait. And wait at red lights.

Also, especially if riding in the city, stick to relatively quiet or wide roads, otherwise folks are stuck just riding in a paceline with no opportunities for social interaction.

If you have two widely disparate groups of abilities, you could go up Mt Washington. One group by road and one by incline. Regroup at the top.

Pretty much everything you can do has been covered by those who've already responded. Here's something else that may help though...

As a first-time ride leader last year, I experienced the same questions. I'm the Team Decaf Weekend leader and I can tell you that each time we rode (only 7 rides last year), I experienced a different type of ride group.

Sometimes we had an exceptionally slow person (the toughest problem), sometimes a group of 5 or so friends would show up to join us (this helped keep everyone together), and sometimes we had a few too-fast-for-the-main group of riders come along (these riders always found their own way after 5 miles or so - we never saw them again).

Roll with the punches and be patient with the slow people. From your post, I got the impression that you have routes, but if you want a copy of the Team Decaf cue sheets, let me know. I have 8 or 9 routes that all start at Taza D'Oro in Highland Park. Many of the ride routes travel through Oakland, possibly past your University, so they could easily be used from a different starting point. They're all set up to start and stop at the same place, so starting the ride loop anywhere along the map works. All pdfs.

In the spring/summer/fall, I post the rides on the Bike Pgh calendar and the Wheelmen calendar. I also a one-page website where I post the map for the upcoming ride 2 weeks in advance. I haven't planned my opening day this year, so nothing is in place now. The website is here: Team Decaf Weekend.

I must give credit to John Strait - he's the Team Decaf leader, every Tuesday. He created the Team Decaf brand and all of the maps. They are nice. His rides have had as many as 50 people, especially around Bike Fest. All are listed as C rides, but B riders can just move faster through them. There are plenty of optional hills and extra distances for faster riders. That helps too, because the slower riders take a shorter route that reconnects them with the faster groups.

html for the link above, if needed:

http://www.direct-axis.net/team_decaf/

I think a destination always help, no matter what the size of the ride. If it's a big ride maybe you hit the dirt road in Bagdad or something like that. But even for a short city ride maybe ride to the Strip or Spak Bros. A tour of PGH coffee shops would be incredible.

Basically it breaks the ride up a bit and gives you some goals.

Great suggestions so far, thanks everyone.

Decaf, the cue sheets would be very helpful if you don't mind!

wildeyedboy [at] g mail {dot} com

I'll be sure to come along for one of you guyses rides once they start, also.

Echoing Chris' thoughts, when I lived in a city with 15-20 group rides every week, I almost exclusively chose those with some sort of food component. Dinner rides, dessert rides, coffee rides, donut rides, winery rides... bike somewhere, eat/drink/socialize, bike back -- sometimes on a different route, sometimes on the same one. The ride home is often much slower than the one on the way there. I liked them because there was more of a social component. You can sit and chat on a bike, but usually only with one person at a time. If you are sitting around a table, there can be more of a group discussion/vibe. Since your ride(s) are for new grad students, I'm guessing they would benefit from that.