Never look around you cycling in a group
This clip shows just how chaotic looking around you in a group is and just how much damage it can do.
This clip from the recent OVO Energy Women’s Tour in Britain shows why you should never go to the front of a group and start looking around.
You should definitely never do it when the group is under pressure.
We’ve seen it countless times; riders going to the front of training groups, sportive groups and even in racing bunches and then looking around for no apparent reason.
Often those on or near the front are simply looking for their buddies.
Very experienced riders will of course look around them if they are leading out somebody or guiding a team mate through the bunch.
But they will take very quick glances to the side; the kind that won’t compromise their own safety or the safety of those around them.
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And if they are looking behind, they will place their hand on the shoulder of the rider next to them. That ensures they won’t starting wobbling and veering all over the place the moment they look over their shoulder.
If you start looking around for more than the briefest moment, your position on the road changes.
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You’ll start veering left or right and even slowing down. You won’t realise it at the time but it causes chaos in a group and is really dangerous.
In this clip, one of the riders on the front in a black or dark grey jersey starts looking all around her; repeated, slow, all over the place looking around.
She begins to fall back into the head of the bunch – hurtling towards the finish – and also veering to her left.
Her movement causes a wave back through the peloton. That wave of movement concludes with two riders being run into the side of the road and falling.
Marianne Vos was one of them. She fell hard and broke her collarbone while the rider who caused the incident rode on untroubled.
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