Yeah, cones on a stick.....it is a metaphor to remind everyone that sometimes we should leave critical evauluation, training and testing our skills at home. Go out and simply ride completely within our limits.
I was sitting at breakfast this morning with a new friend of mine and the issue of riding with someone that had to always evaluate skills and turn every ride into a lesson came up. The comment was made that it just wasn't fun and sometimes just riding should be the goal. It actually stuck a nerve and I decided I might explore that comment in a written perspective just to first ground myself with the statement and to share it with others as well.
Let me go first in the fact that it just might be possible that I can fall into this category for some people. I know that I don't ride every ride as a lesson and when I ride alone or with others that I ride with a lot I don't tend to worry about it or even take inventory of things that could be better. But, throw me into a larger group with new individuals and one based off of the site I maintain and I do turn on certain parts of my "coaching" brain. Since I've completed my MSF RiderCoach training I have seriously learned the lesson of what over-coaching can do, so I do know I've backed off a bit in that respect, but introspection is always a good thing, yes?
That being said when on a group ride we all need to be aware of what the limit for the group should be and then not force others into the role of being a coach or offering advice by not pushing that limit. The vast majority of crashes on group rides comes from inattention or an attitude that the limit isn't being pushed, in reality when the incident is reviewed the reduction of speed would have always allowed more time and space to have avoided the situation (of course there are always plenty of more variable, but nothing can be controlled more by a rider than speed.) The burden of reduced speed should not always be placed on the actual rider who crashed or even the newest rider, when we enter into a group ride we all need to back things down to a common denominator. On SouthWestRides.com we always support the "Leave No Rider Behind" philosophy, that put simply means that others will always wait up and not force a rider to keep up, but in reality all riders need to balance their skills with the people they are riding with and not get near pushing their own limits. Sometimes that means a reduction of riding to 2/10ths of ones ability. I've been there on a group ride and even then still needed to wait up for another rider.
As with anything in life a balance needs to be achieved, but only if all riders in the group enter into a shared responsibility for all riders will safety become a priority without any individuals being forced into playing the role of "coach." Trust me when I say that being a coach all the time isn't fun, just as being coached all the time obviously isn't fun.
So, next time you feel the need to push yourself to learn, do it by yourself, or with someone with whom you want to be coached.
But, when you head out for a group ride with new individuals make sure everyone is on the same page in regards to pacing, top speed, stops and destinations so that no one has to coached or be a coach. After all, shouldn't rides be fun for everyone?
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