Message From the President – Ride Leaders? Insurance?

Did you ever wonder why a Ride Leader is required for White Clay Bicycle Club rides?

A Ride Leader is a person who has attended a WCBC Ride Leader Training session.  Training Sessions are led by the WCBC Ride Captain, are offered a couple or few times each year, and cover rider safety, along with rules of the road and certain other aspects of group riding.  The Club has determined that those members leading Club rides need to know and understand this information before taking cyclists out on the roads or trails.  A training session includes a few hours of classroom training followed by a ride to further reinforce what has been taught.  

In order for a WCBC ride to be considered a Club-led ride, it must be led by a Ride Leader.  In order for a participant to be considered as being on the Club-led ride, he or she must ride with a group led by a Ride Leader.  If a participant begins with the group, but then decides to ride off ahead of the group, then that person is no longer with the group and are on their own.  

Before you ride off on your own, please consider all of the ramifications of doing so.  I’ll explain.

Did you know that as a member of the WCBC, you have supplemental health insurance on Club-led rides?  You have a supplemental health insurance policy, secondary to your primary health insurance, that will provide some coverage should you become injured while riding on a Club-led ride provided you are a current member of WCBC.

Something that you might not have considered…even though you may have started out with a Ride Leader’s group, if during the course of the ride you decide to ride off the front of the group and go on your own, you will no longer be covered by secondary insurance because you left a WCBC-led ride.  Even signing the Ride Waiver (which is a must) prior to the start of the ride, does not provide for secondary health insurance if you leave the group.

The reason that you are not covered if you decide to ride off the front and away from the group is that you are no longer under the supervision of the Ride Leader.  When leading a group, the Ride Leader can make sure that the group is riding safely, that it is traveling at a speed that is appropriate for the roads and roadway conditions, that members are riding in an appropriate location on the road, that the group is traveling through intersections in a safe manner, etc.  When you ride off the front, the Ride Leader can no longer make sure that you are cycling safely and as such can no longer be responsible for you.

Again, for your protection as well as peace of mind for the Ride Leader – please consider all of the consequences before riding off of the front of a Club-led ride.