Mar 20 2008
Save The Horseplay…
Buffoonery, clowning, fooling around, high jinks, romping, roughhousing… all terms used to define horseplay. Horseplay can be had in a lot of places but I think we can all agree that road biking, escpecially a group ride, should not be one of them.
We all have a lot of fun on rides and we all joke around. Maybe you have seen someone take it too far… I know I have. Fortunately, I’ve never seen anyone get hurt but my friend, Jeff, emailed this week with a different story:
“Yesterday, I rode with a group ride and crashed hard when one of the guys started goofing off with his friend. He reached off his bars and gave his buddy a “push” up a small incline, lost control himself, swerved out of line and I was right behind him. He took out my front wheel at about 18mph and I hit hard. Then, had a guy crash up over and ride/ flip right over me. 
Between the two of us, it was blood, ripped clothes and about $1200 damage to our bikes and gear… all because someone was screwing off with his friend.”
My friend, Jeff, makes a good point. It’s a group ride. Riders should be focused, hands on the bars and even if you have the bike handling skills to screw around… maybe others in the group don’t have what it takes to get out of your way.
Has this ever happened to you? Your thoughts?
Watch this video and see what happens to cyclists who screw around:
I’ve never seen anyone screwing around in a group. Our group has a lot of fun, but we all know what not to do. Even when we’ve picked up other groups on rides, we’ve been lucky to hook up with good riders who like to have fun, but know the rules of the road too. I’m sorry that your friend got hurt.
wow what a video!
we clown endlessly, but no pushing and constant interruptions if something to be aware of (blind turn, etc!)
how is Mac?
Yeah, no room for that on group rides. They are sketchy as it is without the goofing off.
I was on one group ride in which a couple people(guests) felt they were better than everyone else and kept breaking the line with sprints and cutting in the middle.
The leader explained the dynamics of the line to them and they paid no head until one of them clipped the front wheel of another rider. Both went down really hard and lots of damage was done.
Needless to say they were never welcome back.