Hugh Trenchard

A recent discussion about the ethics of using fenders on group rides has led me to think through a few of the various subtleties of the issue. Consider a few scenarios:

It’s January in Victoria, and you’ve been racing and training all year, summer and winter. It’s five degrees and sprinkling lightly and you show up at the bike shop to join the local winter hard corps for a soggy Sunday ride. You have dutifully affixed your fender with mudflap, as much of a pain as it was to assemble, and this time you have managed to avoid the incessant rubbing of fender against rubber that annoyed you endlessly last winter.

As the group sets out, you fall into a double paceline. You are all getting wet under the rain, but everyone has fenders with flaps and at least no one is getting sprayed in the face by Fenderless Joe. At least not at first. But twenty minutes pass and you’ve just taken a pull at the front with your two-up partner. You drop to the back – going “back for a smoke” as some would say – and lo and behold, yes, check it out, Fenderless Joe has latched on to the back somewhere along the way.

Actually, you don’t realize at first he has no fenders, but Fenderless Joe informs you of the fact and kindly opens a gap for you and allows you to slot in ahead of him. Oh well ok, you think, at least Fenderless Joe is aware of his rude fenderless nature and isn’t some sort of sociopath who will simply spray everyone in the face and not care a jot about it. Still it bugs you that he won’t be contributing to the paceline and gets a free ride the whole way, but you’d rather he sit at the back out of sight and of mind, and there you can forget about him.

But someone at the front ramps up the pace, and a split in the pack occurs. You’ve found yourself in the second group, but Fenderless Joe is strong and he passes from behind and you know he can take you straight across to the first group if you choose to get on his wheel. What do you do? Do you let him go because he is fenderless, treat him as a non-entity, or do you jump his wheel and let him pull you across and take the spray in the face? Besides, you can always shout at him after he takes you across. Let’s say you choose to take the wheel – what has happened now? By taking the benefit of his pull, have you waived your ethical right to complain about his being fenderless, or can you still in good conscience spit the sandgrits from his spray back at him or give him the evil eye beneath your mud-covered face and glasses?

Now consider you’re all riding along, moseying along fine and dandily; no one is really pushing too hard under the rain. Fenderless Joe is quiet at the back and not a worry at all – no one has yelled at him since he hasn’t been giving anyone the face spray. But look at it, yes, check it out, Fenderless Joe is moving up the outside of the group, even crosses the centreline so as not to spray anyone. how considerate, you think. Fenderless Joe passes everyone and is on a solo flyer out in front of the pack! The guys at the front don’t take the bait and Fenderless Joe gets far enough ahead that no one is getting sprayed. But your adrenaline spikes, and you think “that’s my wheel” and you head after him. Soon you latch his wheel and get a face full of muck, and in your mind you call him good for nothing for having no fender. But, did Fenderless Joe say you had to come after him? Again, what has happened here, have you now waived your ethical right to complain because you have joined him ahead of the main pack? You could have just treated him as an invisible ghost and let him ride ahead, after all.

…To be continued…

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 4th, 2009 at 8:49 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.