Ride Leaders

Planning your ride is they key to everything. Things you need to consider are:
  • Starting point

Our standard starting points are

  • McDonalds, Clyde Road, Berwick
  • Jeffrey Honda, Burwood Highway, Ferntree Gully
  • Shell Service Station, Todd Road, Port Melbourne (at the beginning of the West Gate Bridge, south side)
  • The Pelican Cafe, Sth Gippsland Hwy, Tooradin (first cafe on the left over the Bridge)
  • McDonalds, Old Princes Hwy, in Pakenham Township

Your destination (i.e. lunch break) will generally determine your starting point. An example would be starting at Tooradin for a destination like Inverloch.

Starting times for Sunday rides are 9.00am and for Wednesday rides 9.30am. Riders will generally start to assemble from 8.30am.

  • Morning Tea

Cafe's and Bakery's are great places for morning tea. Usually stop about an hour and a quarter after start. It is a good idea to have the owners phone number so you can call ahead to let them know about how many to expect. Depending on how many you have for the ride allow about half an hour for morning tea.

  • Lunch

Allow about an hour for lunch. If you like, arrange a group booking at a venue such as a pub, but people usually like to make their own arrangements. Let people know when you will be moving out and make sure they have fuelled up for the afternoon leg.

  • Afternoon Tea (or ride finish)

It is a good choice to finish the ride in the same area you started. For instance, starting at Berwick, you could finish at Pakenham or Lang Lang if you go south or back at Berwick if you go north. If you start at Todd Road, then you would consider a round trip and finishing in the east, such as Healesville, Emerald or Berwick or just doing a big loop and finishing back at Todd Road.

  • Fuel Stops and Type of fuel available

It is more common these days to have bikes that need to run on premium fuel. So finding fuel stops where this is available should form part of your ride planning. Fortunately, this fuel is becoming more widely available so figuring it into your plans should not be difficult. Also, as some bikes have a lower fuel range, making sure fuel is available at each break is important

  • Comfort stops

We are all human and need to stop from time to time to rest the bum and empty the bladder

  • Road conditions

Mostly, pick made roads for road bikes. The all road bikes like V-Stroms and BMW GS's can cope with gravel, but most road bikes like to stay on the tarmac (or at least the riders do).

  • Length of the ride

A good ride length would be between 300 klm and 350 klm. This depends on what you want to do along the way, like stop at scenic points or if there will be an activity such as a BBQ. Some ride leaders like to do longer rides, so a ride in excess of 400 klm is not unheard of. It depends on where you want to go.

 
Things for the Ride Leader to take into consideration, before commencing a ride!
Pre Ride
It is important that you pre-ride your ride if you can. This will help you get the timing right, check out road conditions, help you find refreshment spots and toilets and get a feeling for the ride in general. You may pick a road in your planning, but when pre riding find that it is closed, or gravel. Or it may be covered in loose screenings from road works, or there may be road works. Also, some of the C class roads can be narrow and in a state of bad repair. A pre ride will help you locate these things on your route.
 
On the Day
Before you start the ride, you will conduct a Riders Briefing. It is at this that you will let your fellow riders know where you are going, where the stops are, where the fuel is, about how long the ride is, who the Tail End Charlie is. You will explain the corner marking system and the Buddy System. You will get the riders to fill in the ride Sheet with their details such as name and emergency contact number.
 
Buddy System
The buddy system is designed to account for each rider at each stop. Before starting the ride, "buddy up" with someone else and at each stop make sure your buddy is present. If not, then let the ride leader know. It may be that they have pulled out of the ride but the buddy system will make sure everyone is accounted for during the ride.
 
Things To Consider
We can't tell riders how to ride. It is expected that all Riders be appropriately licenced and that their bike is fully registered and roadworthy. Also on the day there maybe riders new to the club and/or new to riding a bike, then someone needs tobe assigned to befriend that person and make them feel welcome and secure. It is recommended that riders be insured, in the event of an incident it is expected that arrangements will be made under the terms of their registration and insurance.

If you are new to riding, just restarting after a long break from riding or just want to see a different point of view to how others behave in a group ride situation, then there is a good article at this link, goto here.

Our Corner marking system