Leading, maintaining, safety and responsibility of all riders.

Cruiser ride safety issues
What are some of the safety issues facing our cruiser rides?
• Leading a ride safely
• Maintaining flow
• Courteous behavior toward the surroundings
• Sub group leaders
• Rear tail guard.
• Personal responsibility
I’ve been on quite a few types of rides, cruiser, social, recreational, fitness and training. I’ve found that the training riders use some good methods of communicating to the group about danger, hazards, group movement, and course changes. All of these elements exist within ALL types of cycling.
One of the coolest most attractive aspects of Cruiser Rides is the social aspect and the freedom people feel when they are surrounded by other people riding their bikes as well. They are doing one of their favorite past times with about 10 or 100 to 300 other people that are sharing the time and space together with each rider. As with all rides, if a few responsible people take initiative to help keep the other safe and being positive, a cruiser ride could be even more enjoyable for riders of all experience levels.
With the exception of Cruiser Ride leaders using Soul Cycles to lead bikers down a path with music like a Pied Piper, Cruiser Ride leaders look just like every other bike rider in the group. Some of the helpful things I’ve seen ride leaders do in the past
1. Use Soul Cycles or other type of bike audio system to lead the ride with music.
2. Use walkie talkies to keep in close communication with lead rider and Rear Tail guard rider that brings up the rear of the ride. – this helps with pacing, hazards ahead on the road, and getting through stop lights safely.
3. Ride leaders can also verbally address encouraged behavior on the ride which will discourage people to go crazy and be disturbing to other people on the street or destructive to property.
4. Sub group leaders could carry walkie talkies to help hold groups up at stop lights and keep groups in contact should groups break up due to traffic or other delays.
5. The “Real Tail Guard” AKA “The Tail Gunner” (from the famed WW2 B-17 Gun turret position) can help slower riders keep up pace in the back of the group.
6. Personal responsibility. The safety of a Cruiser Ride comes down to the personal choices and actions of its participants. If a ride has one person that acts irresponsibly and no one around says anything, the actions will continue. The government and police encourage Critical Mass riders to “Police themselves”. Cruiser Riders should always be responsible for their actions but unfortunately some people are not. The only way good positive Cruiser Riders can prevent these unfortunate incidents from occurring is to hold them accountable and speak up about it.

Like any sports team, all of these positions in a Cruiser ride play an important role in maintain safety, positive moving flow for a cruiser ride making rides safer and more fun for everyone.