First a bit of housekeeping.
Preface:
I originally posted this blog a few years ago. Just a few days after an eventful day out in summer with around a dozen folk I had never met whom advertised it on a public facebook group. It was originally intended to be written in the form of a third party looking from the outside, into a ride that had more drama than your average MTB ride. When I introduced this blog post to the group in question, there was a bit of backlash, as it came across as potentially very critical for a few individuals. No names, dates and locations were never mentioned so as to be as ambiguous as possible regarding potential embarrassment or perceived "attacks" on the actions of any individuals. Only the facts as I saw them were present. People that didn't even actually read it decided to weigh in with their "informed opinions" on my supposed intentions, causing a huge (but mostly productive) debate on a popular public forum (now disbanded). I withdrew it and spoke with some of the people concerned and we all agreed that as a broad stroke, that most of my points were valid when looked at objectively. Since then, I have befriended some excellent people that were involved, listened to their views on what unfolded on the day and concluded that despite the initial problems with any personal affront age that I should not roll-back on any opinions written in the blog. Anyway, here is the infamous entry from that fated day. Please let me know if you can relate to anything within. There may even be something in there that might help you organise your rides better?
It's a bit wordy, but please stick with it.
What is your responsibility when riding with a group? Or when you're out on the trail in general? These are subjective questions I know, and with a plethora of answers available depending on circumstance. For me its been the basis for a few good discussions with other riders. But to some, the answers are more absolute.
I've had fairly heated discussions with mates that are of the opinion that they wouldn't give even an inner tube to another rider outside their group and are of the "Mount Everest expedition" type mindset that you take responsibility for your own actions and "Hell mend ye" if you come a cropper.
I partly think this attitude (not specifically in this case) is a product of a bit of Alpha Male behaviour in that every man should [be able] to fend for himself, with a "you let this happen" or "you're not prepared" outlook or even a chance to say or think along the lines of "you shouldn't be here if you can't look after yourself" attitude, which of course could be true on occasion, but the less experienced or simply the most enthusiastic of us may in fact not know any better or genuinely don't think "it" will happen to us.
Both almost forgivable mindsets if the consequences are not serious.
But there is also the (highly subscribed) rider that sits in the "someone else will have it" camp. I don't want to dwell on him, we all know who that guy is...
So the reason I'm writing this is that I turned up to a ride that was advertised on a facebook page for MTBers in my area. I only knew one of the dozen or so names that were listed as attending, so firstly I thought about going along to meet some new people. I know the route well, the weather looked good, so what could go wrong? Secondly, being a Mountain Bike Leader I was curious as to the way the ride was advertised: One rider taking responsibility for the ride (a 25 km route with over 700 m climbing) and limiting the numbers to 12 so that it was "more manageable"
My curiosity was triggered by this sole statement if I'm honest. A fully trained and qualified MBL working inside their remit is probably working with around half this many riders out into terrain of this type and I'm sure if you ask the first one you bump into if they stretch that often? The answer will almost certainly be no.
During this article, I'm not looking to call anyone out, cast aspersions or knock individuals for decisions they have made. I truly believe that these guys were simply advertising a fun day out for like minded people. No names, routes or details specific to anyone's roles will be eluded to and I'll be as general as I can be whilst nailing a few specifics to make the point.
"I twisted my ankle on YOUR ride, now I'm off work therefore..."
In these litigious days, if you arrange a publicly advertised gathering of people in the context of an activity where there is a high likely-hood of an incident, you'd better be the best on the spot assessor of your groups ability. Further to that a dynamite dynamic risk assessor and generally be willing to have yourself held to account for any type of responsibility that anyone wants to saddle you with after the fact.
There is a million miles of daylight between asking someone to come on a ride with you and telling people that you will "lead" them on one, especially when it's aimed at (and open to) a large group of people that you don't really know anything about.
The ride was advertised as being led over 31 miles and 3-4 hours. The actual ride was around 25 kilometres and by the time the days drama unfolded the ride time was almost 6 hours. So pretty much half the distance and double the time as it turns out. Details like distance, terrain and actual aggregate climbing are absolutely essential to both route organisation and the well-being of the group from a something as simple as nutritional standpoint.
Everyone needs to know what they are getting into and of course to be confident that you do too. I'm not suggesting that recreational group riders should always make actual route-cards an indulge in lots of heavy admin, but a solid understanding of the significant features and challenges within any route is the starting point for any ride and every consideration that follows.
Who's the first aider in the group, what emergency equipment does the group have? All very boring yes, but this stuff takes 2 minutes and if the shit hits the fan you'll be prepared.
As well as getting this across clearly in advertising a ride, you have to reiterate these details on the day as you make an assessment of the group and the prevailing conditions. Ideally while you're still in the car park and have the ear of anyone who may have questions or concerns.
Address the group, tell them your thoughts on the day ahead, who's in charge (IC), who's your potential second in charge (2IC) Do you have your groups contact details, emergency details, allergies, medical conditions, local MRT details, the location of nearby medical resources? Who's the first aider in the group, what emergency equipment does the group have? All very boring yes, but this stuff takes 5 minutes and if the shit hits the fan you'll be prepared for it.
Regretfully none of this happened on this ride. We just rolled off in a spread out group into a route that only 3-4 of the group had confessed having ever done. I was literally talking to someone, turned around and the group mostly gone and were underway. Speeding off down the local cycle path into the countryside.
At one point in the ride above, there was a huge split in the group. Intentionally splitting groups can be good and even necessary to make a ride work.
We're a good rule of thumb in context. If you're going to go the wrong way, go the wrong way uphill. If you ride a kilometer of downhill and have to go back up when you've discovered you've gone wrong. Well, you can guess where the mood of the group will end up.
The above happened during this ride. As a leader, you have to break the ride down and try to snuff out these potential glitches. If people want to go off and enjoy the enjoyable, then don't nessesarily hold them back, but prescribe them limits. Give them guidance and make sure they don't compromise themselves or anyone else by heading off-piste or on in a direction that will cause problems.
Simple things like "stop at the gate" or "stop at the tree line" can work just fine. OK, so they may not listen properly, or even see the landmark you're talking about, but you're giving yourself the best chance of finding them where you need them to be.
At one point in the ride above, there was a huge split in the group. Now, intentionally splitting groups can be good and even necessary to make a ride work. Sometimes it may be only safe and pragmatic thing to do, but of course you need another strong and responsible person to make sure that you can rely on this person to take all the precautions that you would. This however was an unintentional split between the lead rider and the last riders.
A small group that had one rider struggling with a healing long term injury regularly stopping to rest. Turns out the organisers knew of this injury, knew it was an issue for the rider but chose to have them along regardless.
This gap at times was around 800-900m occasionally in line of sight and occasionally out of sight, with one rider branching off to take on a DH section that seen him climb another 200m and go over 1km off the imagined route. This rider was completely capable and at ease with this, but if this was my ride I would have preferred him to stay with a group I was leading?
These are things that we just don't ordinarily consider a hazard in normal life but can turn into a problem on a long ride.
Anything could happen to him away on his solo excursion. Indeed when the ride regrouped at the foot of the hill he went up, no-one really knew if he was down in front of us, had passed us or if he was still to arrive. There was no meeting point and he left from the rear of the group. With no phone numbers and with intermittent phone coverage, any way to call back to the group or to have them stop or come to assist could have been limited should there have been an incident?
It's worth mentioning that just before this point there was a potentially dangerous incident with a rider that had a total crash of energy and started exhibiting symptoms of hypoglycaemia or a "sugar crash" It turns out that the rider knew about this and had experienced it previously, as did others in the group. But again, it was not addressed in the context of anyone noting this for safety. It was an extremely hot day and considering the exposure on the route, some dehydration was also manifesting. This incident also happened to occur at the absolute furthest away from "civilization" that it was possible to be on that day.
Even the rider in question was unsure of their condition (only a recent thing for them) therefore not equipped to deal with it. Again to reiterate. These are things that we just don't ordinarily consider a hazard in normal life but can turn into a problem on a long ride. We administered the proper care and started to manage this rider. Now moving along the ride with the previously mentioned rider with the compromised ankle.
So imagine the picture at this point: You have 12 riders, spread over around 1-2km of trails at the furthest point from help. No shared route plan, no shared contact details, no plans for a re-group with 2 riders already having had a potentially serious problem, It's now 25 degrees, you've climbed over 700m and at this point everyone is complaining about "being knackered" some in jest, but the general chat is about some levels of genuine fatigue and apprehension for the coming 4km descent ahead.
"So now is the time to take on a 450m technical descent at 50kph right?"
I guess we can never know what all of the contributing factors were on the 3 crashes and 2 serious injuries that this group of riders sustained on the short blast to the end of the ride. In brief, 2 riders crashed in a "shared incident" Each rider sustained some nasty forearm rash and the most unfortunate of the pair had his shoulder dislocate.
Thankfully it went back in OK, almost by itself and he made it back down the hill in significant pain. Afterwards he found out that he had in fact dislocated his shoulder and broken some ribs. Thankfully the entire planet managed to avoid his head, so luckily no risk of concussion. An injury like a dislocation is always looked at rather les seriously than say, a broken bone. But the risk of stretching, stressed and trapping ligaments, nerves and blood vessels is very real. Serious permanent damage can be done if this is dealt with in a hurry or without experience or knowledge. This chap was very lucky.
His cohort in crashing opened up a nasty forearm cut where the soft tissue and fat could be seen. One of those really horrible looking ones. He actually went on to crash just 50m later on the same type of feature.
Things were getting really silly now...
Only at one point in the ride did I decide to advise caution. It was on the last part, the simplest, but also the fastest part of the ride. A simple grassy trail over 10m wide that narrowed into a loose single-track corner. Everyone heard me advise them to "slow down before the bend" advising that it was loose and that dog walkers and the public in general were likely to be around.
Despite this, one rider confessed to nearly hitting me when I started braking, narrowly avoiding an accident. You can do little more that address a simple hazard with simple precautions and advice on how to approach it, but if it goes unheeded then equally, there's nothing you can do.
Around one minute later at the bottom of the hill (and the end off the off-road part of the ride) The bulk of the group, including myself were congratulating themselves on a ride that at least "the unscathed" had enjoyed as a whole. I had just uttered my now familiar and probably annoying "Any one you walk away from is a good one" mantra when two of our group appeared and announced that one of the last riders down had took a tumble and a serious injury was suspected. His tumble occurred on exactly the stretch of trail I had previously advised caution on.
During the overtake of another rider, he had mis-judged the lay of the terrain and had a high speed crash that regretfully resulted in a suspected (later confirmed) broken collar bone. It's rarely that serious accidents (and by extension injuries) happen on the technical, steep stuff everyone is scared of, but more often the simpler but much faster terrain where increased focus, awareness and concentration are required.
Again, he was made comfortable and with no head injury, we were fortunate that we could walk him the relatively short distance to ambulance access.
I appreciate that different personalities react in different ways to different situations and of course by anyone's standards, this was a particularly feature packed ride.
Tackling technical and fast terrain that requires high levels of concentration after extreme amounts of sufferance and exertion is rarely a good idea for all but the most switched on and experienced of riders. Again though, I'll reiterate that I can't know this contributed to these accidents but as a another rule of thumb, don't leave the most extreme riding till last unless you have absolute confidence in the ability and readiness of your group.
In both of these cases (the dislocation and the break) they were dealt with in context of the the way the incidents presented themselves. Then just After the ride I discovered that 2 of the group were first aid trained. However there was little intervention by the group throughout all of these incidents taking place and no-one presented as having ancillary equipment, even appropriate first aid kits or relevant well practiced or refreshed skills to help with the situations.
Again, this is not a criticism but an observation as I appreciate that different personalities react in different ways to different situations but of course by anyone's standards, this was a particularly feature packed ride!
The 2 crash guys had to go to hospital, members of the group had to secure and move the vehicles that they brought when arriving for the ride alone. They had to have their gear and bikes dumped at local shops and are were off the bike for several months. They anded up off work, perhaps not earning and now their loved ones will most likely have to look after them to some extent. (try wiping your backside with your other hand for a month. It's not as easy as you might imagine) now most likely regretting actions that may (or may not) have been in their control. I think they were both preventable if I'm honest.
I'm not for a second saying that all of these events would not of happened had there been a better plan and a bit of dynamic management in place. But it couldn't of hurt. But similarly there should be no blame directed at anyone as of of course "shit happens" But I thought this might make for a bit of constructive reading for anyone who may be interested in such things.
"Be responsible even if you're not taking responsibility"
So in closing, yes, I would have given that rider at the top of the story my spare inner tube if they really needed it, because I have a back up and a patch kit as well as a few other tricks up my sleeve to get me through.
So what if he's not in my gang, it's the right thing to do. Just like I opened my first aid kit on this ride, had the right inventory and the correct knowledge to treat the injuries because It's a standard bit of riding kit for me. I had extra food and instant energy products that were specially chosen specifically with no nuts (the rider in question unbeknownst to me had a nut allergy) but it didn't matter as it was covered. And I also had the means to locate myself geographically, knew the MRT and local medical resource details, contacts and capabilities as well as having the confidence to rely on all of the above as an automatic tool to call on in any of the situations listed above.
Responsibility, organisation and a bit of foresight are not super-powers and they are different things to different people. But with a bit of all of these things, you can be the ultimate reassurance to your group. They will look to you with their questions, respect your answers and when push comes to shove most likely respond to your instructions.
The irony is that when you prepare properly and things are done well, they often won't be obvious or perhaps won't even show to anyone else. When you are confident and comfortable in your preparation, sure of your group dynamics and your potential scenarios for the activity ahead, the only thing other people will see is that everything just goes off without a hitch...! ...Usually. See you out there. Allan
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