Open for discussion and posted in the Bunch Ride Finder Forum, ‘orrsome153′ give his personal view as to why he thinks Bunch Rides are better than racing:
“Non regulated riding”
by orrsome153 on Sun Feb 07, 2010 4:26 pm
I am fortunate to live on the Tweed/Gold Coast. We have many,many bunches. I am also a licence holder for Cycling Australia. Whilst I participate and enjoy the odd club race that can not compete with bunch rides. My reason for saying that is over regulation. I know club racing has it great points, well orgainised, support, competition and the great atmosphere. What club riding does have is freedom. All bunch rides have their unwritten rules tht is a given. In the main though they are just plain good manners and safety. What I believe they have over orgainised/sanctioned cycling is the freedom they offer. In the main you can jump on or off when ever you feel like it, there are no fee’s, rules or commissairs. I have found that there is a bunch for every one, the social rider, competitive rider or the person wanting to get a little fitter. There are no trophies, prize money or press releases and all the rides I have participated are welcoming and friendly.
I believe there is far too much regulation in our lives and when I want to get away from all that and go for a ride the last thing I want is another set of rules telling me how far, how fast or what grade I have to ride in. Some of the bunches I ride with always stop for the slower riders others expect you to do your best and if you can’t hang on well…bad luck. This is what I like. Cycling Australia and Cycling QLD have these draconian rules that tell you what races you can compete in, when you can ride club races and for that priviledge they charge you a small fortune. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy our club races immensley but regulation is realy dampening the fun as it is with most sports.
So I urge of you who enjoy their bunch rides to stick to the road RULES (I suppose we have to tolerate them) so the drivers of this world appreciate how much fun we are having and instead of whinging to anyone who will listen will sell the car and buy a bike. Ride on.
So what do you think?
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To add to my comment last Year. Yesterday’s club race was a little disappointing. Chasing my bunch and well and truly out of the money I happened upon the grade in front and I was then joined by the grade below me. A group of C and D graders who’s race was well and truly over decided to form a bunch with some others from B grade to make our ride home a little more enjoyable only to be blocked by an over zealous com who made us ride in our individual grades as per the “rule”. So that 1 C grade rider on my own, 5 D grade riders and 2 A grade riders all riding at least 500m apart all the way home. Then he proceeded to block our path by driving his car dangerously close so we could not ride together or suddenly slamming the brakes on. Is it any wonder there are many more people who choose to joined bunch rides than fork out their hard earned to ride in CA club races. Is it not about enjoying the ride. All that fuss over a club race. You have got to be kidding.
Dear orrsome 153. Racing is different to bunch riding as you may observe by watching the major tours and any other race.
Racing is also much safer because bunches comprise all sorts of rider with unknown skills. If you are not able to see the difference,please stick to bunch riding.
I agree Ken racing is different. I like bunches for that very fact, they can be at time chaotic and yes they do have all manner of riders of various ability. They are unpredictable. Racing is great. I enjoy the odd race but the bunch is where it is at for me. Sometimes in the bunch people try to keep up with the quicker people and get dropped. Other times the quicker people wait for the slower riders. There are no uniforms nor are there any need to be a member of something. I am very committed to encouraging more and more bunches on the roads. This will make cyclist more and more visible. In the main most cyclist are well behaved but there are times when people do stupid things, no one is going to stop that but that is not often. More bunches give cyclist more power to reclaim the streets. I don’t beleive we have conform to some body/orgainisation all the time. If people want to get out there in a bunch and have a ride more power to them. If they don’t feel compelled to join a club so be it. There are far too many bodies regulating all we do so riding your bike should not be something you have to do under a plethora of rules. Road rules aside which are there to protect all road users, let people be and enjoy there riding and if the bunch has a sprint to the next light pole for grand prize of a coffee or a beer fantastic or a KOM just for bragging right unreal, more power to them. Man a little kaos is OK. There is going to be accidents, can’t stop that but the freedom of riding with a bunch of mates is got to be a good thing. Bring on the bunch no membership card required. Prize smiles all round.