Want to revive this discussion. One thing I've really enjoyed in the past is a road cycling trip/holiday where you ride a route (like Cape Town to PE) with a group over a number of days. We have always done this with support. And have had a car driving behind us. The purpose of the car was to warn motorists of the cyclists ahead and to warn us of passing vehicles. In order to warn the cyclists we had a simple code: -one hoot means a single car is passing -two hoots means a larger vehicle or multiple cars are passing -holding in the hooter means get off the road asap We have also learnt that on roads which have a combination of being very narrow (with no shoulder) and having very limited line of sight (windy- as is the road curves a lot not the weather condition) the support vehicle only served to frustrate other motorists and caused more problems than it solved. In such cases we preferred to rather ride single file and use our ears as much as our eyes. We avoid such roads again. On weekend club group rides I have not experienced any communication between the support car and the riders - it is basically there to help people who have had problems and to force cars to pass wider. Interested to hear any lesson learnt in terms of the what the role is of a support vehicle? And what are some important do's and don'ts for the support vehicle? Also what are the reasons for not wanting a support vehicle at all?
