CTC Cambridge

Friday 22 May 2026 

Purpose of this document

This document is aimed at CTC Cambridge ride leaders: it is intended to highlight the key risk mitigation advice for keeping our rides safe and enjoyable based on current best practice. Ride leading is about more than just following a planned route and this document aims to highlight the wider duty of care that ride leading involves.

Individual riders are responsible for their own health and safety on the ride and they are expected to assist the ride leader by following the leader's instructions and by following our Guidance for riders. In this context, the ride leader has a duty of care towards the riders and is responsible for the general conduct of the ride; for managing the group if anything goes wrong during a ride and when dealing with any emergencies.

This document describes the main generic control measures that should be used by all ride leaders and riders to mitigate against the risks and hazards that can occur on our group rides. The guidance in this document should be sufficient for all our regular group rides. Ride leaders and riders should also use a dynamic risk assessment throughout the ride to mitigate hazards as they arise.

Ride leaders may need to consider creating a custom risk assessment with additional control measures for specific rides that have additional risks or hazards, e.g. rides that are longer than usual, or at night-time. Ride leaders should contact the runs secretary for advice on whether additional control measures are likely to be needed.

A more detailed assessment of potential risks and associated control measures to mitigate against those risks is provided in the Risk assessment table for led rides (pdf).

The risk assessment should be used in conjunction with Guidance for leaders.

General guidance and risk control measures for all rides

1. The route for the ride should be chosen to create a safe and enjoyable ride - routes should use a mix of quiet roads, cycle paths and bridleways as far as possible and avoid busy main roads.
2. The ride leader should circulate an email prior to the ride describing the route, likely weather conditions and any known hazards. This might not be necessary or done routinely for shorter rides.
3. The ride leader should provide a short pre-ride briefing to all riders at the start of the ride. See Pre-ride briefing guidelines for some suggested content.
4. Our rides make no special provision for children so some extra rules apply.
5. The ride leader should moderate the pace of the ride to keep the riders together. This is particularly important if the route has not been published beforehand. A backmarker should be appointed, especially if there are 8 or more riders.
6. Larger groups should be split and ride separately in which case the leader should appoint a deputy leader for the second group.
7. The ride leader should manage the group on busy roads to reduce potential conflicts with motor traffic (e.g. split into smaller groups or pull over to allow cars to pass).
8. The ride leader should moderate the speed at any difficult sections, allow plenty of time at obstacles such as footbridges and wait at busy road crossings to allow time for all cyclists to cross safely.
9. In places where the space is shared between pedestrians and cyclists the ride leader should moderate the speed and encourage good behaviour by riders to mitigate the risk of conflicts on these sections.
10. The ride can be cancelled or shortened 'on the day' if needed. Rides can also be cancelled in advance if bad weather is forecast.