There are some extremely challenging roads out there.
2. It is all too easy to get sucked in, overcook a bend, run wide etc. Play the long ball and remember
that we have days of bends and twisties, don’t play “percentage shots”, don’t take silly risks, don’t
ride on someone else’s back wheel - because over that distance, mistakes will almost certainly be
punished.
3. Keep it smooth and progressive – use the whole time to improve your riding.
4. For maximum safety and enjoyment of twisty sections, it is better if we are spread out and not
riding too close to each other.
5. Drive on the right! Obvious - but remember it first thing in the morning, after coffee stops, when
joining a major road from minor roads.
6. At a junction, remember that the traffic that threatens you most is coming from your left as you
pull out. Look both ways repeatedly and be extra vigilant.
7. Travel at your own pace. There is no pressure. The object is to arrive safe and sound and relaxed.
If you are not comfortable with the pace, slow down and fall back.
8. Overtaking within the Group is permitted for the reasons given later. Do not interpret an overtake
as a challenge to race, as a rebuke or as an insult. Use indicators when overtaking within the Group
9. Stop if you are feeling tired. Everyone gets tired spells from time to time and may relax their pace
for a while.
10. Spread out! Being bunched or too close to each other causes unnecessary danger when overtaking.
It also means that to maintain a view, we have to be “out of position” and therefore not gaining as
much from the ride as we would by having our own space for correct lines to be taken.
Do everything you can to space out- otherwise we travel in convoy which is both dangerous and
boring.
Solve the spacing issue by either
A. slowing down for a moment and allow a gap to open up between you and the person ahead.
B. overtake when appropriate if the person is front is travelling at a slower pace
C. don’t try to keep up or to ride beyond your ability; don’t compete - it will end in tears and
twisted metal.
11. Don’t get sucked into riding too fast - trying to, or feeling obliged to keep up with the person in
front. Spreading out is the best, even if that means that we are miles apart.
12. Overtake briskly! Avoid ponderous overtaking on motorways and avoid overtaking while bunched
up. I have seen cars who were frustrated by unnecessarily slow overtaking by a group of our bikes.
Either overtake singly or do it more quickly.
13. Overtake other bikes within the group by all means but don’t carve people up, don’t take
someone’s space or line for a “cheap” overtake. Do it in a safe place, use an indicator ALWAYS
when overtaking a group member. Don’t get competitive about it - in fact wave people through
from time to time just to defuse such competitiveness!
14. Don’t follow blindly into an overtake without riding for yourself.
15. Don’t stop in silly places like at the exit of a lay-by, on hard shoulders or too near to the exit of a
roundabout. Regroup in a safe place. For example, if the lead bike stops near a junction (in order
to be visible to the rest of the Group), consider stopping in front of the lead bike rather than
behind, so as not to be too near the junction.
16. Please use common sense and try to do everything to minimize delays. For example if you need
fuel, try either to move up through the field towards the front so that you can refuel before the back
marker even knows you are stopped, or else refuel during a coffee stop or lunch break. Remember
that if the back marker passes you, you are on your own.
Ultimately the whole group will have to move at the pace of the slowest person (ie the person who
for whatever reason goes slowest - perhaps starts last, stops for fuel at a bad time etc.
17. Speed limits: Town signs are used in France as speed limit signs -the town sign with the name
crossed out is the end of speed limit- 50 kph = 30 mph approx so please observe all these limits.
In Belgium, orange “townland names” are sometimes seen and these I believe are not speed limits.
A different coloured town sign should be obeyed though
18. The diamond signs in France - (white core with yellow surround) mean that you have priority on
that road or until you see the same sign with a line through it – which means that you do NOT have
priority. The bizarre bit is that even if you are on what appears to be the bigger road, if you do not
have priority, a car exiting from a side road can drive out in front of you with impunity- so be
aware! Also look for the solid stop lines at joining junctions.
Also see: Back Marker System