Good Advice

I received an email this morning advising me :

"As we are expecting very cold weather we recommend you wear appropriate warm clothing and have a hearty breakfast before leaving home."

My response was :

"We are all adults - if we cannot dress ourselves appropriately I wonder whether we are competent enough to be in charge of a bicycle.

If you do feel that this sort of email is necessary perhaps you should also remind everyone every time you send out a route email to make sure their bicycle is in good working order, that their tries are pumped up and in good condition, that they have a spare tube or equivalent and appropriate tools and are competent to use them, at the very least be capable of the most simple repairs on the road especially changing a tyre. That they have sufficient food and drink to see them through the ride. That they have told their families or significant others where they are going an what time they expect to return. That they have some money and/or a credit card with them. That they are fit and healthy enough to complete the ride at the pace that is expected. etc. My point is THIS ALL GOES WITHOUT SAYING.

Frankly I am dismayed that you think that this sort of advise is necessary rather than concentrate on stuff that really matters like rider etiquette and safe cycling. In the 20 years or so of cycling, I have seen more crashes (and serious ones at that) in the last three years in St Neots CC than I have in all the other years in training and racing. In the last two weeks since I have been back out I have seen some really poor riding. Not pointing out potholes and other hazards to the riders behind but then pointing out the tiniest crack in the tarmac, on approach to junctions riders at the front looking over their shoulders instead of concentrating on the road ahead putting themselves in a position to warn riders behind of any hazards ahead. Stopping unexpectedly and unnecessarily at junctions and roundabouts putting riders behind in danger. Riders in the middle of the bunch looking over their shoulders and shooting out into the oncoming lane - one day someone is going to end up dead on the lap of the oncoming driver. Riding three abreast on roads where it is dangerous to ride even two abreast. Club runs using long sections of road which are dangerous and given the number of quiet minor roads we could use, roads that are unnecessary"

Rather than send out emails, why not have a section of the website dedicated to club runs, so we can all just look at the website to get details of next week's route, rather than clog up everyone's inboxes with unnecessary emails.

If a bulk email is being sent out, please can you suppress the recipient list. Sending a bulk email out to everyone without suppressing the recipient list is bad practice and it makes public information which the club has no authority to make public as well as increasing the likelihood of an address falling in to the hands of spammers.

Sorry sir, I forgot my PE kit.

while i completely agree that everyone should take care (much higher care) when riding in a bunch, i think the email comment was just a friendly pointer that it's going to be cold with a light hearted comment.

again, agree that the email recipients should be kept hidden, but, it is only going out to club members, would home none of them are in the business of selling on email addresses.

posting it on the forum is fine but that relies on people going to find it, rather than them being told.

not sure that one plain text email a week 'clogs' up a mail box, i get a lot more, less interesting, larger mail on a daily basis!!

Justin wrote:

I received an email this morning advising me :

In the last two weeks since I have been back out I have seen some really poor riding. Not pointing out potholes and other hazards to the riders behind but then pointing out the tiniest crack in the tarmac, on approach to junctions riders at the front looking over their shoulders instead of concentrating on the road ahead putting themselves in a position to warn riders behind of any hazards ahead. Stopping unexpectedly and unnecessarily at junctions and roundabouts putting riders behind in danger. Riders in the middle of the bunch looking over their shoulders and shooting out into the oncoming lane - one day someone is going to end up dead on the lap of the oncoming driver. Riding three abreast on roads where it is dangerous to ride even two abreast. Club runs using long sections of road which are dangerous and given the number of quiet minor roads we could use, roads that are unnecessary"

Hi Justin,

Any chance you could speak up while we are riding rather than saying nothing while on the ride and then posting it up here?

Many of us don't have the experience that you do and would benefit from good advice while out riding.
Personally, I have thick skin and wouldn't be offended to be "told off" by a more experienced rider and would appreciate the advice.

The last (and only) person in the club I gave advice to suggesting that they rode in a manner which wasnt going to get someone seriously injured or killed. hasnt spoken to me since.

Di2vid wrote:

Sorry sir, I forgot my PE kit.

You'll just have to do it in your underpants then.

And on Sunday 10 extra mile before and after the club run, no coffee either!

If it happens again, they'll be a letter to your parents and detention for a week

mr_leemur wrote:

while i completely agree that everyone should take care (much higher care) when riding in a bunch, i think the email comment was just a friendly pointer that it's going to be cold with a light hearted comment.

again, agree that the email recipients should be kept hidden, but, it is only going out to club members, would home none of them are in the business of selling on email addresses.

posting it on the forum is fine but that relies on people going to find it, rather than them being told.

not sure that one plain text email a week 'clogs' up a mail box, i get a lot more, less interesting, larger mail on a daily basis!!

one man's light hearted joke is another man's insult. I am 43. I know when its cold. I know what to wear.

Its not about club members being involved in selling email addresses. Does every club member keep their antivirus, anti-malware software up to date?

its not that much of an effort to find the route on the website. I dont need spoon feeding.

Less interesting than telling you to wrap up cos its cold - now that would be difficult!

Justin wrote:

The last (and only) person in the club I gave advice to suggesting that they rode in a manner which wasnt going to get someone seriously injured or killed. hasnt spoken to me since.

And no, I wasnt rude about it

Justin wrote:

one man's light hearted joke is another man's insult. I am 43. I know when its cold. I know what to wear.

I too believe i'm old enough to decide, but maybe others feel they know how to ride a bike, and would be insulted at the insinuation that they didn't. matter of opinion.

Justin wrote:

Its not about club members being involved in selling email addresses. Does every club member keep their antivirus, anti-malware software up to date?

fair point, tend to forget about that, rarely use my laptop at home, and then only to strava, and at work I push it out from the server so know it's being updated, so tend to forget about it!!

Justin wrote:

its not that much of an effort to find the route on the website. I dont need spoon feeding.

some people just aren't inclined to use a web site or forum, where as if it's pushed to them with an email might be more of an insentive to go look. if it's a problem maybe there should be the facility to opt out of particular mails, personally i'd prefer they came to my inbox, even though i normally check the forum several times a day. again, it's an opinion

Justin wrote:

Justin wrote:

The last (and only) person in the club I gave advice to suggesting that they rode in a manner which wasnt going to get someone seriously injured or killed. hasnt spoken to me since.

And no, I wasnt rude about it

Do they still ride with the club?

Obviously it will get some peoples backs up, but so will posting complaints on the forum. If someone cant take advice in person, they are probably worse about taking it online! In fact, sometimes it worse in black and white as you have seen yourself. ( Clearly the email comment about wrapping up warm has rubbed you up the wrong way, would you have had the same reaction if someone said it to your face or would you have just assumed it was someone saying the bleeding obvious as a throw away comment? )

You don't necessarily have to single someone out - you could just shout out like "Single out..its too dangerous to ride 2 abreast on this road" etc

However, there has been an explosion in club members, which naturally means lots of new inexperienced riders who could do with learning from the "old hands" like yourself.

Geoff ( ), I am surprised you haven't waded into this one yet!!