LAREDO CYCLING CLUB

Thank you so much for attending This year’s world wide Ride of silence We at Laredo cycling club deeply appreciate your assistance to this important cycling event . Your energy and enthusiasm truly made the ride a success. Special thanks and Appreciation to the Laredo Police Department for their professionalism and safety provide during, before and after the event. Muchas Gracias 🙏

Feel free to view our event photos and share your highlights using

Free family cycling event. Tomorrow Wednesday May 20th

Laredo Cycling Club to host Ride of Silence event
Click the link in the comments 👇️

The dangers of wearing earphones or out of ear headphones on bicycle rides.

Wearing out-of-ear (open-ear or bone-conduction) headphones during a cycling group ride introduces several safety risks, primarily involving reduced situational awareness and distraction.
While these designs are safer than in-ear earbuds because they allow ambient noise to pass through, they still impede hearing necessary cues and disrupt group cohesion.

Auditory masking: At higher volumes, music can drown out the sound of approaching vehicles, electric cars, or wind noise, particularly at higher speeds.

• Slowed reaction time: Studies have shown that listening to music, even with open-ear options, can subtly impair the ability to identify where sounds are coming from and reduce reaction times to auditory signals.

Increased Risk of
Collisions

• Inattentional Blindness: Your focus might be on the audio, causing you to miss visual cues on the road, such as abrupt slowing by the group.
• Unpredictable Movement: If you do not hear a rider passing or a warning call, you might make a sudden, unexpected move, leading to a collision with other cyclists.

For the safety of every cyclist, We highly encourage everyone to avoid riding with any type of earphones during group rides

F. B.

Please use Hand signals:
-Four fingers up like an indicator to show an obstacle on your left or right.
-Motion your arm behind your back if a rider needs to move in.
-Double flick of the elbow if you're about to stand on the pedals.

If someone gets dropped from your group ride, the strongest rider failed. Not the weakest.

Strava and racing culture have convinced riders that the group ride is where you prove your worth. It’s where you prove you can put your ego aside.

The function of a group ride is simple: it’s one unit, limited by its weakest link.

Everyone gets home. Everyone gets better. That’s the point.

These are our Roadman club rules for Saturday morning spins in Dublin.

Not exhaustive, but they’re what keeps twenty riders safe at 30 + km/h:

- Don’t be late. You’re one part of twenty.

- Bring spares. Tube, CO2, tyre levers. If you puncture and can’t fix it, someone waits.

- Arrive with a bike in good working order. Squealing brakes and skipping gears become everyone’s problem five kilometres in.

- When someone punctures: Make sure they have spares. Maybe one person waits to assist, the rest ride on for a few kilometres and then double back. Keeps everyone warm.

- Hold your line through the corner. No wobbling.

- Don’t half-wheel when on the front. Maintain the speed, don’t increase it. Stronger? Ride longer, not faster.

- No freewheeling while on the front. Ride solid tempo so those behind aren’t coasting.

- Don’t change up riders in the pace line coming over a brow of a hill.

- Hand signals: Four fingers up like an indicator to show an obstacle on your left or right. Motion your arm behind your back if a rider needs to move in. Double flick of the elbow if you’re about to stand on the pedals.

- If you’re taking your hands off the bars, move to the side or the back. Don’t bring the group down if you crash.

- Snot rockets? Move to the side. No one needs friendly fire.

- No shouting “stopping, slowing, hole.” The goal is a calm group.

- Bring an extra layer to put on after the café stop. Your core temperature drops the second you stop.

These are ours. Not exhaustive.

What are the unwritten rules of your group ride that I’ve missed?

Drop them below.