Tour Guidelines

Hosting a Ride

One of the unique features of the Durham Cycling club is that every member host’s at least one ride during the riding season. This creates a diversity of rides and allows everyone to fully participate in the club. The following set of guidelines is presented so that all club members have a clear understanding of a tour host’s responsibilities.

Before the ride:

Create a new ride or reuse one of your old rides. The “maps” page is an excellent resource for ride ideas. If you need additional help email the tour director eric.cycling@gmail.com

Choose a starting point that has sufficient parking and, if possible, washrooms.

Starting time guidelines are 9 to 10 am in spring and fall, 8 to 9 am in summer.

In general ride length should be low starting in the spring and gradually lengthen as we get into summer.

Pick an empty spot on the ride schedule and submit your ride to the tour director. Include length of ride, time of departure, start location and rest or lunch stop. The tour director will then post your ride to the schedule.

Create a route map and/or turn directions, this can be anything from hand drawn to computer created. If you have a cell phone include your number. Ideally cut and paste the cell phone list from the Durham Cycling web site and print on your document.

Print/photocopy enough copies for all the anticipated participants on the ride. Participation level has reached as high as 42 riders in early spring rides but usually 30 copies is sufficient.

If possible the route should be driven/ridden prior to the event to check for road closures or problems.

During the ride:

Ask for help from other members to lead, sweep, regroup, etc. The veteran club members are always willing to help!

If you have a cellphone please make sure it is charged and turned on.

One of our motto’s is that no one gets left behind on a Durham Cycling club ride. Therefore one of the prime responsibilities of a tour leader (or a collaborator) is to “sweep” so no one is stranded with a flat, mechanical difficulty, accident or because they can’t keep up with the group.  It is the responsibility of the tour leader to make sure everyone gets back to the start point safely. In extreme situations this can include providing or arranging transportation for bike and rider.

To keep control of the group it is advisable to indicate on the route map regroup stops so the group doesn’t get too spread out.

If a rider advises you that they are taking a different route, they take on sole responsibility to get where they are going to.

If a rider decides to take a different route they must let the tour host know.

After a ride:

Post a review of the ride on crank chatter.