road captain

road captain (plural road captains)

1. The captain of a bicycle racing team, who sets the pace.
   • 2012, John Deering, Bradley Wiggins: Tour de Force, →ISBN:

     Brad finished sixteenth in the individual pursuit and then a wonderful fourth in the points race behind the man who would one day be his road captain at Team Sky, Mick Rogers.

   • 2012, Bradley Wiggins, Bradley Wiggins: My Time: An Autobiography, →ISBN, page 206:

     Our road captain Mick Rogers took it straight up to 450 and sat at that. So the feeling was: this is getting hard, we're on a really solid tempo here.

   • 2015, David Millar, The Racer: Life on the Road as a Pro Cyclist, →ISBN:

     My role within the team has become more and more that of a road captain as the years have gone by.

2. (motorcycle club) An experienced rider who organizes and marshals the motorcycle club on the road.
   • 1991, Daniel R. Wolf, The Rebels: A Brotherhood of Outlaw Bikers, →ISBN, page 221:

     At the head of the Rebel column is the road captain, who acts as the chief executive while the club is on the road. He sets the speed at which the club travels. The road captain must have a sound knowledge of how the members' hogs will perform under varying road conditions and be able to coordinate long bike formations that may stretch out for a half-mile.

   • 1991, Daniel R. Wolf, The Rebels: A Brotherhood of Outlaw Bikers, →ISBN, page 221:

     The president rides adjacent to, and to the right side of, the road captain. The 'prez' and 'captain' are followed by the other members of the executive. Next in the column ride the rest of the patch holders, followed by the strikers, friends of the club, and assorted guests. At the rear of the column ride the two assistant road captains.

   • 1993 May, Jay Hice, “Leader of the Pack”, in American Motorcyclist, volume 47, number 5, page 19:

     Try to lead no more than 10 motorcycles. If you're a novice at the role of road captain, six bikes is the optimum size.

   • 2009, Dwain M. DeVille, The Biker's Guide to Business, →ISBN, page 193:

     When riding, I refuse to follow any road captain who changes direction at the drop of a hat, turning this way or that with little or no rhyme or reason.

3. (more generally) One who is in charge of a group while it is travelling or patrolling a road
   • 1980, Air Force Driver - Volumes 14-16, page 65:

     Other officers could include the ' road captain, the dirt captain, and the safety director. These three would have duties as follows: The road captain would be the man in charge when the group is on a road trip.

   • 2012, Jean de Wavrin, Edward L. C. P. Hardy, William Hardy, A Collection of the Chronicles and Ancient Histories of Great Britain, Now Called England, →ISBN, page 368:

     On the side of the Burgundians an old road captain, called Le Breton d'Aily, was killed; and after these things had happened they returned to Sir [John] of Luxembourg at the camp before Araines.

   • 2015, Tessa G. Diphoorn, Twilight Policing: Private Security and Violence in Urban South Africa, →ISBN:

     Each collective was steered by an individual or a few prominent memberes. Companies refer to these persons as "road captains" or "psych drivers."

4. (figuratively) A leader who steers or directs a group.
   • 2006, Bill Welte -, Real Victory for Real Life, →ISBN:

     We are to take up the shield of faith—to daily walk in the faith and trust that God knows what's best for us. He is the ultimate road captain that has the best route for our lives mapped up.

   • 2008, Thomas M. Kitts, Ray Davies: Not Like Everybody Else, →ISBN, page 57:

     This would tax the strongest of friendships, and the Kinks were more musical partners than friends or even brothers in Ray and Dave's case. Furthermore, Ray, the musical leader, was frequently aloof, moody, or just reticent, hardly qualities of a solid road captain.

   • 2009, Dwain M. DeVille, The Biker's Guide to Business, →ISBN, page 193:

     Unfortunately, I've often walked into the offices of my client companies and heard horror stories of teams that felt like they were being forced to follow a poor road captain when their bosses pulled them in one direction or another depending on the latest book they'd read.

5. (historical) A person who has official responsibility for maintaining a section of road.
   • 1979, Wanda M. Ellis, Court records, CTN 24, Blue County Choctaw Nation, page 69:

     James Fry and Henry Perkins were appointed road captains to call out the people and work on the road from Thompson's cow pens to Boggy Depot.

   • 1998, William David McCain, The Journal of Mississippi History - Volume 60, page 61:

     The ad hoc citizens' road committee divided the county's four beats into special road sections and then appointed "road captains" for each of these sections.

   • 2007, Margaret Maron, Winter's Child, →ISBN:

     “Us Knotts, we've been keeping up this road for over a hundred years,” he said, waving away the extra biscuit Doris tried to press on him. “My granddaddy was a road captain back 'fore nineteen-hundred." "What was that?" asked Seth's daughter Jessica. "Means being in charge of a stretch of road. When my pa was a boy, he used to go help Grampa lay off his mile."