There is a big difference for me between riding with one - three friends and offering to lead a bigger open ride with people I have not met/ridden with. Strangers may not already know that I am a "f@(*tard", but my friends already appreciate me for that quality.
aschendel:
I almost can't believe you think there is no peer pressure on MSTA rides. Every ride I've ever been on had recognizable peer pressure at some level... Do you bunch up behind the people waiting for a clear lane to pass? Do you make sure that people have a route sheet and can really follow them? Does everyone know all of your expectations throughout the ride and are you sure they are fully capable of meeting them? Can you put peer pressure on yourself when riding alone? Have you ever thought "I bet I can make that corner going 10mph faster..."?
That isn't really what I want to talk about though. I think as people lead more and more rides they begin to appreciate the unique challenges that being the leader brings. I've had 4 people crash "behind" me and while I wasn't on their bike making their decisions - the decisions I made and those that they made, combined with circumstances both in and out of our control, still haunt me. You don't want to be scraping your friends (or their friends, or their father-in-law from out of town on a borrowed bike) up, and you sure don't want your friends to have to scrape you up either, so be vigilant. Do everything that you can to ensure people you ride with really are comfortable "riding their own ride". I think that starts with acknowledging that peer pressure shows up for every ride, sometimes it gets there late, but it's always there.
Followers, Leaders and Peers all need to play an active role; and if you chose to ignore signs of people making bad decisions, sooner or later it will catch up with them -- and you.
a.s.
pkpk:
I don't really agree that peer pressure is part of group riding. But then I only rode Hope's Cave Tour ride last year where everyone gave each other space and respect.
10-15 years ago (sorry, here comes the old man again), we never really fretted about peer pressure. Everyone knew where/who they were riding with and we didn't really fixate on worrying about what others thought. Any crashes were usually by guys who eventually went to the race track. The group rides were all about having fun any we usually laughed about the occasional brain farts that led to someone messing up a corner.
Greg:
--- Quote from: pkpk on July 16, 2013, 09:52:27 PM ---I don't really agree that peer pressure is part of group riding. But then I only rode Hope's Cave Tour ride last year where everyone gave each other space and respect.
10-15 years ago (sorry, here comes the old man again), we never really fretted about peer pressure. Everyone knew where/who they were riding with and we didn't really fixate on worrying about what others thought. Any crashes were usually by guys who eventually went to the race track. The group rides were all about having fun any we usually laughed about the occasional brain farts that led to someone messing up a corner.
--- End quote ---
Me thinks you are viewing the past through rose colored glasses. I suspect many of these same concerns (I wouldn't call it "peer pressure" though) were thought about then, there just wasn't this easy a venue to discuss them.
pkpk:
Well we had our pre ride parking lot meeting that reminded everyone to ride their own ride. That would be the point where people were already deciding whom to ride with. One thing I can say that is different now versus then is we would stagger the start with each cluster leaving at their own leisure and not one big long train out of the parking lot. But outside of that early pre-ride stuff, there was no fixation on peer pressure (that I know of) the rest of the day. But maybe that's just me.
I also think there was a broader age range, skill level and even bike type back then. There were older riders on luxo-touring rigs and sportbikes, young riders on sportbikes and rat bikes that we all wondered if they would make it through the whole ride and newbies on cruisers. Rose colored glasses, maybe but it just didn't seem like there were any need for peer pressure. The newbies on cruisers knew they were not going to keep up with anyone with advanced skill levels (and they never tried.)