Its called a Group Ride

There's a reason why we call it a group ride, and not a Lets race thru the hills and see if you can catch up ride.

What I like to see in a good group ride:

• first you start with a lead and sweep. Its the job of the leader to safely lead the group thru whatever course they decided to ride. The ride leader should be an experienced rider and familiar with the roads being ridden. This includes alerting the group to potential up coming hazards, by using universal hand signals. The lead stops the group at checkpoints (usually at course turnpoints) and waits for the sweep to give the thumb up before proceeding. The sweeper's job is to following the group and make sure that no rider is left behind. The sweeper should also be an experienced rider, familiar with the chosen path. The sweeper will also note any unsafe practices and offer suggestions to help the less experienced rider.
• Before the ride gets started, the group should discuss the path they will be taking, and go over basic safety concepts. They should dicuss the pace, following distance, road conditions / hazards, group position, and ride ego. These topics should also be discussed again during checkpoint rests.
• Riding in traffic: this area is a big pet peeve for me. The lead be like the mama duck, leading her ducklings. The lead must remember that he is now a part of a group, not just a solo rider in traffic. Weaving the group in and out of traffic is not a good idea. 99% of the time, that will on ly lead to confusion within the group and at some point, the group getting split up.

more to come, gotta work now!