I lead newbie road rides monthly. Alot of good points have already been mentioned but one I speak about is although I realize people join a club to socialize on our newbie rides I request let's keep the chatting down to a minimum until we reach the coffee stop. Paying attention to the road and road conditions is very important and if chatting, you can't hear the front riders call out hazards. Also, I remind the newbies to repeat a hazard call. In other words if the person in front say "glass right!" you say "Glass right!" as well all the way down the line. Nothing worse then the front riders calling out and no one behind says a thing. The last riders will never know what hit them until its too late. Also this way the newbies are watching arm signals etc.

As to the chatting in a group thing, just recently one of my club riders experienced a bad fall. Riding in a group of about 15, she was second to last. The front riders call out a "channel cut" in the road, but the warning was not repeated. She was chatting and not watching, hit the channel cut and went down, hard. She fracturered her hip. Having had a bad fall myself I'm not one that likes to chat on rides. I want to ride and concentrate on
the road. Newbies need to know there is a time and place for everything. Riding is serious business.

I also ask that newbies (and I 'm assuming we mean newly expereienced riders not someone new to club riding) not pace-line or wheel suck. Pacelining is an art and not for the inexperienced. Riding side by side is OK if the road or bike lane can accomodate, otherwise single file.