Chain Gang advice sought

pilot_pete

Hi all you experienced chain gangers!

Looking to start a regular winter chain gang in my local club and looking for hints and tips from the experienced amongst you out there.

It will be in the dark, and the obvious stuff has been thought about, like trying to use street lit roads as much as possible, wider the better so as not to hold up traffic, with few potholes (dream on I know!). Everyone would be using lights, I reckon two rear red each (flashing) and a front to be seen by as a minimum. Anyone with an £800 Lupine can stay on the front! I think country lanes are out (Cheshire) as the roads are just too bad.

I am planning to run a practice ride during daylight on good quiet roads with a briefing beforehand to make sure we are all singing from the same song sheet. It is a 7.5 mile flat loop and the emphasis will be on group riding skills and safety at about 15mph average speed for the first loop or so, gradually increasing it as riders get more confident to a maximum of about 18mph average lap for the practice session. Probably no more than 4 laps for the session.

So, what I am after are your 'top 10' tips regarding chain ganging. I plan to hold a short briefing before the off to clarify the plan, responsibilities, techniques and answer questions. I am off to work now, so forgive me if I don't respond today, but look forward to your replies after watching the TofB tomorrow.....!

Thanks in advance

PP

smidsy

Top 10 tips.

1. Do not do it at night.
2. refer to 1.
3. repeat until you reach number 10.

shockedsoshocked

^ Can't echo this advice enough! Chaingangs should be done during the day purely for safety reasons. A chaingang used to be run at night round here until someone had put railway sleepers across the road and brought everyone down. Head down + arses in air + no light and you've got a recipe for crashes.

Herbsman

Pilot Pete wrote:

Everyone would be using lights, I reckon two rear red each (flashing)

Are you serious?

Tom Butcher

We have our chaingangs at night with no problems - but we use a lit route so all you need are LEDs to be seen. From starting it up maybe 5 years ago when we had 6-7 turning up we now get 50-60 riders split over 3 groups on the Tuesday and maybe 30-40 over 2 groups on the Thursday. Fast group will average 25-26mph and the slowest group 16-17mph and wait for anyone that is struggling.

My tips would be :
Lit roads - I've done chaingangs on unlit roads and for me they don't work.
Forget about rules about lights or anything else - if someone turns up with one LED or no lights that's their lookout - personally I prefer to be seen.
If people jump red lights or jump in front of cars at roundabouts etc have a word there and then - you might get some abuse for it but it just establishes what the norm is for that ride.
Try and encourage through and off - if people get tired later on fair enough but in my experience chaingangs work better if they at least start off like that - I know others on here disagree.

dawebbo

Flashing rear lights are a nightmare for the rider behind, especially the really bright ones - you can't see fk all. Set to constant.

pilot_pete

Thanks for your input. Hadn't thought about the flashing light issue....that is the sort of thing which will help to get it right first time, so thank you. I don't see a big problem with chain ganging in the dark on suitable roads which have been ridden during daylight and are familiar.

A chaingang used to be run at night round here until someone had put railway sleepers across the road and brought everyone down.

Well, i fail to see how you can account for criminal activity like that. It would be the same as never doing another club run because some idiot had once thrown tacks on the road before you passed.

Any other issues?

PP

smidsy

Pilot Pete wrote:

Thanks for your input. Hadn't thought about the flashing light issue....that is the sort of thing which will help to get it right first time, so thank you. I don't see a big problem with chain ganging in the dark on suitable roads which have been ridden during daylight and are familiar. YOU may know the road but the other traffic may not. If we have to point out the dangers invovled in night riding to you then TBH we are wasting our breath.

A chaingang used to be run at night round here until someone had put railway sleepers across the road and brought everyone down.

Well, i fail to see how you can account for criminal activity like that. It would be the same as never doing another club run because some idiot had once thrown tacks on the road before you passed.
except that in the day you would have seen the obstruction much earlier and most likely avoided hitting it.

Any other issues? Too many to mention and as we have already established you will ignore them anyway.PP

fish156

If your lights aren't good enough to see hazards ahead, then your lights simply aren't up to the job of training at night, solo or chaingang. Fit suitable lights and it's not a problem.

Some rear lights (e.g. Mars 3.0) have a "scrolling" mode. One LED is always on so the following rider doesn't get blinded by the on-off, but from a distance is as noticeable as a flashing light.

rozzer32

A chaingang at night :shock:

I'd start a thread asking the best road rash treatments in advance.

MikeWW

We run what we call a little ring chain gang in the winter but run differently to the Summer Wednesday night bash
30 sec efforts on the front but keeping the speed down to 23-24 mph
Peel off kerb side so single rider is protected by the bunch
Shorter lap say 4 x 6 miles rather than the one big loop
Make sure rear lights are not too bright

Above works pretty well but certainly wouldn't fancy the balls out stuff on a daytime bash

pilot_pete

Thanks for your input smidsy, your 'useful' comments have been noted and you needn't waste any more of your time. Your opinion is clear and noted, others seem to happily run such a ride, such as MikeWW whose input is also greatly received. I also like the idea of the single rider being on the inside...hadn't thought of that.

PP

ric/rstsport

closed road circuit or similar?

pilot_pete

Ric/RSTSport wrote:

closed road circuit or similar?

That would be nice, but no. Lit roads predominantly, all main roads, not country lanes. Only unlit section is very wide single carriageway.

PP

TRbike

Try to find a industrial estate.. They are usually lit at night but very quiet traffic wise in the evenings.

Most have a 'circuit' you can use that doesn't involve leaving the estate.