If you are a ride leader, save this date and time: Saturday, January 27, 2018 - 12pm. (Location will be provided later.)
Florida Bicycle Association (FBA) is sending one of their own, Mary Beth Garcia, to teach enhanced skills for ride leaders. The course is free, but
you must be an FBA member in order to participate (only $25 membership fee, plus they are our voice in Tallahassee-well worth the cost if you are not currently a member). This is not required of ride leaders, but it is my hope that you will take advantage of this opportunity to fine-tune your ride leader skills, and take what you learn back to your ride to make it a safer experience for all participants.
The course will cover:
* Florida laws and bike safety in relation to those laws
* The challenges of riding in groups
* Communication skills
* Assessing the ability of riders who are new to the group
* How to offer tips to riders in an unoffensive manner
* How to help inexperienced riders who are all speed but little skill
* Paceline etiquette, rotation, double lines, paceline safety, hand signals, music in pacelines
* Assessing injuries and concussions. When not to offer medications such as Advil, benadryl, etc. When to call 911. Securing the scene.
* When it is appropriate to move an injured rider
* Encountering children on the road and their unpredictable behavior
* Distractions in pacelines such as chatting. How to coach better behaviours.
* How to safely drink in a paceline
* How to handle weather, wind and road conditions
The above training will take 2-3 hours and be followed by 1 hour on the road. If you are interested in this additional training, please contact either
ridedirector@nfbc.us or
membership@nfbc.us and provide your name and contact info (phone and email address).
Next year, FBA hopes to train selected individuals within the club so that those people can teach the general membership these skills. But in the meantime, you, as a ride leader, can learn these skills and teach your ride participants how to be better and safer riders on the road.