Riding with The Fridays

Group riding etiquette

Much of this will be covered in the pre-ride safety talk, but please familiarise yourself with the below.

• Call out signals and warnings (left, right, glass, potholes, bollards etc)

• Bunch up at traffic lights and be prepared to move off quickly

• Look over your shoulder before veering off your line

• No undertaking

• Don’t disappear without telling anyone

• No flashing or super bright lights please

• Tail End Charlies will help with mechanicals - but make a start if you have one

• Waymarkers - the riders who stand at a junction and point the way for riders following, as directed by the ride leader (more here)

• Don’t ride in front of the ride leader

• No music out loud and we would also advise against using headphones

• Please check your tyres before the ride

Signals and warnings

Communication on a group ride is crucial. But on a night ride, you can't see arm signals, so we shout out warnings to each other instead. This may seen a little strange at first, but you will soon get used to it.

Here are the main vocal call-out signals used on the The Friday Night Ride. We go over these (and others peculiar to the night's route) during the interactive safety talk before every ride. Learn them ahead of time so you can join in!

• BUMP❗there is a bump

• HOLE❗there is a pothole

• GROOVE❗there is a groove, tramline etc

• BOLLARDS❗there are bollards or similar hazards

• GLASS❗there is glass in the road

• LEFT❗turning left

• RIGHT❗turning right

• EASY❗slowing down

• STOPPING❗stopping

And finally...

​Remember you will be missing a night's sleep. You are likely to feel tired at times during the ride, but you will soon get over it if you pedal a bit faster, or chat to one of your fellow riders.

By the end of the ride you are likely to feel sleepy. For this very reason all our rides go to destinations that people can easily get trains home from. Don't whatever you do drive home. It is just not worth the risk.