Wanderers Key Riding Rules!

1. When riding with the Wanderers, we ask you to ride responsibly, for your own safety and the safety of those riding with you.
2. We ask that you keep up with the man in front, and ensure the man behind knows, where you are going at all times.
3. Because of this we don’t ask our marshals to go charging down the outside of the group, which can be un-safe at times.
4. The “Group Leader” and the “Back Door Man” control the group.

Below you will find our basic guide/rules, which we use for all our ride outs, in the UK and Europe. They are their for your safety and to ensure your enjoyment of our ride out. Should you have any questions, please ask Barry or David they are there to help.

Group Riding Guide

1. Don’t be frightened of group riding, it’s enjoyable, otherwise we wouldn’t do it! Group riding is done for companionship; it should never be allowed to develop into a competition and especially not into a race.
2. You remain responsible for your own safety while riding your bike, so don’t allow group riding to encourage you to do anything which is unsafe. Listen to the Group Leader’s briefing and try to remember at least the basics of the route and the location of any planned refreshment stops; this is information you will need if you do get separated.
3. Maintain all round vigilance, as you would normally do to ride safely. Other riders in the group could be a source of risk to you as well as other traffic, so keep your eyes peeled. Frequent rear observations are particularly important. Other road users can look upon groups of riders as an irritating obstruction and they may try to overtake the group aggressively.
4. Don’t allow yourself to ride faster than you can cope with safely just to avoid losing touch or a navigational turn; getting lost is much easier, quicker and less painful to recover from than an accident. The Group Leader and his Back Door Man will be constantly in touch with each other regarding the speed, as it can vary greatly at times between first and last bike believe it or not!
5. A staggered riding formation is often used on main roads and motorways because it allows the group to ride together safely. Each rider still has a two second gap behind the bike in front of them, each rider occupies half of the lane in a staggered position. It is not necessary or desirable to ride very close to your side of the lane. It’s not advisable to use the staggered riding formation on narrow country roads or on poor roads, (especially Italian mountain roads!) it is better to pick your own line around bends. Instead leave this to the likes of ROSSI, STONER and PERDOSSA please!
6. At roundabouts or junctions it is advantageous to close up into pairs, slightly staggered so when it’s your turn to pull out you can see both ways, pulling out quickly and safely, this also allows the group to keep its cohesion.
7. Drop Off – if you find yourself immediately behind the Group Leader at a turning point on the route you might be “dropped off” to act as a marker for the turn.  The Group Leader will indicate with an outstretched arm, pointing to where he would like you to stop. You must make your own assessment of whether it is safe to stop and if so where, the Group Leader is inviting you to do so by his arm signal, not ordering you. Normally the safest place to stop is at the nearside kerb, either well back from the junction or roundabout for a left hand turn or just beyond a right hand turn, where riders approaching the turn will be able to see you across the junction or roundabout. Sometimes, at complex or obscured junctions or roundabouts, the Group Leader might drop off more than one marker.
8. Rejoining Group after Drop Off – when you stop after being dropped off at a turning point you should wait until the Back Door Man approaches, he and partner should be noticeable by different coloured bibs, their windscreen could be marked too. When you see the Back Door Man approaching prepare to move off just in front of him; he will slow down, beep the horn and/or wave to alert you.
9. If you have a bike-to-bike radio, by all means enjoy chatting during the ride if you wish (unless the Group Leader asks you not to) but don’t prevent the Group Leader exchanging safety messages with his Back Door Man.
10. Group riding on motorways requires a different approach and needs everyone to try to keep up with the bike in front; the group needs to ride at a similar pace if not faster than most other traffic in order to be able to ride defensively, to avoid being at increased risk from other motorway users (this is especially true in Germany). If you don’t feel comfortable doing the pace the Group Leader is setting on a motorway you should consider leaving the group as soon as practicable and making your own way instead. Whilst the staggered group riding is advised, you should allow other motorway users to break into the group in order to change lanes, especially in order to enter or leave the motorway.
11. Overtaking on Motorways – although it is preferred that we keep our positions in the group whilst on the motorways, we will meet vehicles that are slower than us and will need to overtake them, follow the Group Leader and overtake as you draw closer to the vehicle. On occasions there might be heavy traffic, the Back Door Man will on pull out at the same time as the Group Leader on his request, this is to make the overtake manoeuver easier. LOOK OUT for him and move quickly, he is effectively holding up the traffic momentarily for you!
12. Mobile phone - it is advisable to carry a mobile phone and have at least the Group Leader and Back Door Man’s number, don’t forget to give them yours too! You might want to put the number of your holiday travel/medical insurance firm, breakdown recovery and consulate in your phone too.
13. Breakdown – if you breakdown on the road whilst in the group, the Back Door Man should see you, alert the Group Leader and stop. If you breakdown on the motorway, the Back Door Man should see you (another important reason why you should keep up with the group). The Back Door Man will alert the Group Leader and the group will stop at the next service station or motorway turn off and contact you via mobile phone. On the 2005 tour, a Winger stopped briefly on a German motorway to wait for others but was seen and ordered by the Police to move on, he later got lost in France! We stopped at the first exit we came to until he rejoined us…. he now lives in Bulgaria… lost forever!

MOST IMPORTANTLY ENJOY YOUR RIDE!