The club always rides on the road in staggered formation. The ride captain rides in front with a bright yellow bib, close to the RHS of the lane. At a following distance of 1 second, the next rider rides in the same lane, but close to the LHS so that he is not directly in line with the rider in front.
Then the pattern continues, with each rider 2 seconds behind the rider in the same path as them, but only one second behind the rider in the other path.
We do this so that each rider has enough stopping distance in front of them, and no bike to the side so that they can swerve when necessary. And the whole group does not become too spread out.
The rider at the back often also wears a bib so that the ride captain can see that the whole group is together.
When we enter a pass, the bikes spread out a bit so that they can use the whole width of the road to negotiate turns.
Nobody overtakes the ride captain.
