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Riding alone, you can do as you like. Riding in a group, the person behind you is trusting you with their front wheel, and the person in front of you is trusting you not to run into them. Everything on this page comes down to that. None of it is hard. All of it matters. I put this list together from twelve years of club rides and one memorable pileup in 1993 that nobody was hurt in, thank goodness, and that everybody learned from.  -- Hubert

BEFORE YOU COME

What to carry

• A spare tube, a patch kit, tire levers and a pump, and the know-how to use them. If you don't know how, ask on a C ride. Somebody will show you, gladly.
• Two full water bottles. Three on a hot day.
• Something to eat. A banana, a granola bar, a peanut butter sandwich in wax paper.
• Money for the cafe, and change for the pay phone.
• An index card in your seat bag with your name, who to call, and any medicine you take.

IN THE GROUP

• Hold your line. Ride a straight, steady path. No sudden swerves, even around a pothole. Point it out, call it, and ease around it.
• No sudden braking. Slow down gradually, and say so.
• Don't overlap wheels. Keep your front wheel behind the back wheel of the rider ahead, never beside it. If they move over, you go down. It's the most common way group riders fall.
• Look ahead, past the rider in front of you, not at their back wheel.
• Stand up carefully. When you get out of the saddle on a hill, your bike drops back a little. Give the rider behind you room, or warn them.
• Two abreast only on quiet roads, and single up the moment someone calls "Car back."
• Stop together, start together. At a stop sign, everybody stops. Then we go when it's clear for all of us, not one at a time.

The calls

Hand signals: left arm straight out for a left turn. For a right turn, either the right arm straight out or the left arm bent up at the elbow. Left arm down, palm back, for slowing or stopping.

PACE LINES (THE A RIDE)

A pace line is a single file of riders close together, each one sheltered from the wind by the rider ahead. The rider at the front does the work for a while, then moves over, eases off, and lets the line roll past, and tucks back in at the end. Done well, a group goes faster together than any one of them could alone. Done badly, it's how people end up in the ditch. Before you try one, ride a few times at the back of the A ride and watch. When you get to the front:

• Keep the same speed the line was going. Don't jump on the pedals because it's your turn to shine.
• Pull for as long as you can hold the pace, then get off the front before you're spent, not after.
• Check behind you before you move over.
• If you're tired, sit at the back and skip your turn. Nobody minds. Say so.

THE B RIDE PROMISE

OUT IN THE COUNTRY

• Farm equipment. In the fall, the county roads belong to the harvest. Combines and grain wagons are wide, slow and hard to see around, and the farmers driving them are working long days on a deadline. Single up, get well over, and if a combine needs the whole road, get off on the shoulder and let it by. Wave. They're our neighbors, and they share these roads with us all year.
• Gravel. Where a paved road meets a gravel one, there's often loose stone spread across the corner. Slow down before the turn, not in it.
• Dogs. Most farm dogs give up at the edge of the yard. If one doesn't, don't kick at it. Call to the other riders, then either ride steadily on, or stop, get off, and keep your bike between you and the dog until it loses interest.
• Wind. This is Iowa. On an out-and-back route, the wind will be in your face both directions. We can't explain it either. Save something for the ride home.

AT THE STOPS

• Get all the way off the road, bikes and all. Don't block the cafe door or the sidewalk.
• Be polite. Thank the waitress and tip her well. Thirty sweaty cyclists showing up at once is a lot.
• Pick up your wrappers. Leave every town a little better than we found it.
• Count heads before we leave. The leader will, but you count too.

WEATHER

• Lightning: If you see it or hear thunder, the ride is over. Get off the bike and get to real shelter, a building, not a tree. We'll come get you.
• Heat: Drink every fifteen minutes whether you feel like it or not. If you feel dizzy, stop and tell someone.
• Cold: Fall mornings start in the forties. Wear layers you can take off and stuff in a pocket.
• Dusk: If there is any chance you'll be out near sundown, bring a headlight and a red taillight. October evenings come early.

That's it. Ride predictably, talk to each other, be kind to drivers, and wear your helmet. (I did warn you.) See you Saturday.

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