Group Ride and the Blind Overtake
Six riders set off on a Sunday loop along a two-lane mountain road with a 6.5 m carriageway, a double solid yellow centre line and a guardrail above a 60 m drop. You are third in the line. The leader has 15 years of experience and rides a 1000 cc adventure bike; the rider directly ahead of you is in his second season. A six-axle tipper truck is climbing at 25 km/h ahead, and 120 m further on the road bends blind to the right with sight distance of about 90 m. The rider ahead pulls out to overtake and keys his radio: “Clear, follow me, go go go.” Your mirror shows the two riders behind closing up. There is a cyclist in dark clothing on the shoulder 40 m ahead and light rain has just started, darkening the asphalt. The group's lunch stop is 25 km away and the leader has already said he does not want to be late.
1. State your decision and what you do with the controls and the radio in the next five seconds.
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Decision: I do not go.
The overtake needs the whole approach to the bend to be clear, and you can only see 90 m into a blind right-hander. Closing speeds make it worse: the truck is doing 25 km/h, so a motorcycle at 60 km/h closes at 35 km/h and needs roughly 8–10 seconds of clear road to pass and return - far more than the 90 m of sight gives you. Add the double solid yellow line, which prohibits crossing, the fresh rain on asphalt that has been dry for days (the most slippery moment of a rain shower), and a cyclist in dark clothing on the shoulder who may wobble at exactly the wrong moment.
Controls: hold your speed or ease off slightly, stay in your lane, and open the gap to the rider ahead from about 2 s to 3–4 s so you are not occupying the space he is about to re-enter.
Radio: answer immediately and unambiguously - “I'm not going, I'm holding behind the truck, go without me.” A clear refusal stops the next rider from following you into the gap.
2. The rider ahead commits anyway and an oncoming car appears round the bend. What do you do, and what must you not do?
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What you do: stay in your own lane, brake firmly but smoothly, and create space rather than join the problem. If the overtaking rider needs room to abort, the last thing he needs is a second motorcycle beside him or in the oncoming lane. Slow enough that you can stop if he loses control and comes back across your path; move as far right in your lane as the cyclist and the road edge safely allow, but do not swerve into the cyclist.
What you must not do: follow him out, flash your lights into the oncoming driver's eyes, or swerve into the oncoming lane to “make room” - that turns one bad decision into a head-on collision involving you.
Afterwards: if there is a crash, stop, secure the scene, put out warning, call 122 and 120, and give first aid only within your competence. Give your account to police factually - including that the manoeuvre was made on a solid line and into a blind bend.
3. At the lunch stop the leader says the group must stay together and that refusing to overtake was “riding scared”. How do you handle this, on the road and in the conversation?
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On the road first: nothing in the conversation changes your riding. You ride your own sight distance and your own line, and you let the group pull ahead. A simple, pre-agreed rule solves the whole problem - everyone regroups at fixed points (the lunch stop, the next junction, the next village sign) rather than maintaining visual contact. “We meet there” removes the pressure that produces bad overtakes.
In the conversation: keep it private and non-accusatory, because a public challenge makes people defend their decision. Talk about the road, not the man: “Ninety metres of sight into a blind bend isn't enough for a pass, and the line was solid. I'll ride my own pace and meet you at the stops.”
If the group cannot accept that, the honest answer is to ride alone or find another group. The obligation is to come home, not to keep up; “riding scared” is just a label for risk assessment that the faster rider did not do. Being courteous means giving others room and not blocking them - not matching their mistakes.