matty
Border raider.
Did that in history Norther people was UNION and Southern people was CONSIDERATE. LOL!.
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Riding in Groups
- Thread starter klaviator
- Start date
It wouldn't be difficult around where I live, the bikes I hear go by on the main road every day are 90% Harleys... the problem is they do the TT Racer thing - tavern to tavern - and though I don't mind stopping for a beer while out, I'm not down with a smoke-filled bar while doing it and a large percentage of them smoke (at least in my area). However, I could easily stay with at least half of them or more...Find some Harley folks
JimVonBaden
Kool Aid!
Fixed!
Ride to eat perhaps?
Not always. One of the guys who regularly rides with us has a real interesting story about a "Harley" ride he went on. It basically involved stopping about every 10 minutes. He has since sold his Harley. I have had great people to ride with. I'm not sure why I don't have those group ride horror stories to tell like some people do. I used to ride a lot with the HSTA which has riders from all over and had almost all good experiences. Before that I lived in SoCal and had great group riding experiences riding with the local sport bike riders.
Yeah, food involved would make for a clean atmosphere.
JimVonBaden
Kool Aid!
There are always exceptions.
kickstandsup
Why not?
Funny you mention the HSTA. Back in 1991, I bought a VFR with the intent of "sport touring" and found my local HSTA group about a year later. By 95, there were about 6-7 of us that rode, did track days and traveled together regularly. That lasted about 7-8 years until we almost all, myself included, moved. Good riders, self sufficient, brought new ideas to the table, perfectly maintained bikes, ATGATT. Every Wed there would be an email discussion on the best weekend riding day and suggested routes. All on time, ready to go. It was awesome.
Never had that before...or since. I've come to realize that, for me at least, that period was the anomaly to an otherwise mostly solo (or 2-up) riding career. I like the "idea" of a group ride, but the reality, like many have pointed out, can be very frustrating.
Now that I try to document my travels through pictures, even one other rider can hinder that. Even when someone says, "no problem, stop as often as you want" I feel pressure to not do that. On me, I know, but real nonetheless. I don't want to hold someone up or ruin their ride.
"Destination events" kinda work for me...ride there any way you'd like, with folks at the destination to "hang." No muss, no fuss.
I agree!!!
kickstandsup
Why not?
There's one other thing about group rides...alcohol.
I like a beer/wine/cocktail at the end of the day, after the bike is put away. I simply do not want to be around anyone who gets on a bike after having one or two at lunch.
That's a regular occurrence with the "clubs" near me, even ones you would not expect. All I can do is scratch my head when I see folks sitting around in their Klim/Aerostich/Enduroguard kit having a beer, then getting on a new K1600 to wobble on down the road.
Certainly their choice, but no thank you very much.
I like a beer/wine/cocktail at the end of the day, after the bike is put away. I simply do not want to be around anyone who gets on a bike after having one or two at lunch.
That's a regular occurrence with the "clubs" near me, even ones you would not expect. All I can do is scratch my head when I see folks sitting around in their Klim/Aerostich/Enduroguard kit having a beer, then getting on a new K1600 to wobble on down the road.
Certainly their choice, but no thank you very much.
I have rarely ever seen anyone drink during a ride. In few cases where they have its been maybe one beer at lunch. After the ride at dinner is a different story but the days ride is done by then. But that has been my experience. I know that drinking alcohol is common on many club rides. I don't do club rides.
LIke George Thorogood, I normally ride alone, with nobody else!
But, a few times a year I do ride with a few groups, mostly folks I've been riding with for 20+ years. We all know each other, we all know the expectations, and on any given ride, the order falls in pretty naturally. We normally ride with the fastest guy leading, and then the order falls in order of speediness. That way everyone enjoys the ride at their pace. At every intersection, the leader stops and lets the group collect before we move on, and we rarely wait more than a minute or two for tail end Charlie. On the twistier stuff where people spread out a little more, the leader will slow way down on the longer straights to again allow the group to collect some. Gas/food/water/whizz stops every two hours or so, more often if it's really hot.
EDIT: None of our guys drink and ride, but back at the hotel after the riding's done? Ho boy, look out!
But, a few times a year I do ride with a few groups, mostly folks I've been riding with for 20+ years. We all know each other, we all know the expectations, and on any given ride, the order falls in pretty naturally. We normally ride with the fastest guy leading, and then the order falls in order of speediness. That way everyone enjoys the ride at their pace. At every intersection, the leader stops and lets the group collect before we move on, and we rarely wait more than a minute or two for tail end Charlie. On the twistier stuff where people spread out a little more, the leader will slow way down on the longer straights to again allow the group to collect some. Gas/food/water/whizz stops every two hours or so, more often if it's really hot.
EDIT: None of our guys drink and ride, but back at the hotel after the riding's done? Ho boy, look out!
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Mostly I ride by myself, occasionally with a riding buddy when we have a chance. A few years ago via meetup.com I found a group of 3 or 4 locals and we had a few nice morning rides but it didn't last unfortunately; we all showed up with bikes in good condition, ready to ride, gassed up together before heading out- that was pretty nice.
As above, not going to ride with anyone who's drinking and riding...
As above, not going to ride with anyone who's drinking and riding...
skibum69
Well-known member
Reminds me of a group ride at the ADV CroMag rally 2011. There were a bunch of us for this offroad ride and one guy was a n00b with a piece of shit KLR that kept breaking down. We were in Vermont post hurricane Irene with lots of damage. We finally got to a massive wash and cost see the concrete abutment of a brigade 1/4 mile away but from where we were we couldn't see if we could get out. We decided to turn around and not risk being dead ended. Seeing as KLR boy lived in the neighbourhood we told him he had to walk out, we weren't going to mess with his bike any more. e rode 9 miles in 8 hours!
I've done group rides in the past. Any more, I don't really like to ride any kind of a long ride with someone I don't know. Do "they" do regular maintenance so their bike doesn't break down? I'm almost anal about maintenance! Ride too fast or too slow? I don't putt putt along but I try to stay below triple digits. Drink too much at lunch? I do occasionally drink 1 beer with a meal. Know how to ride? I do. Need to stop every 15 minutes for one reason or another? I stop for food, gas and every so often to check the map if in a new area. Years ago I backed off to only riding small group rides with people I had ridden with at various times before the entire group rode together. Now a days I pretty much ride with just my wife. Every now and then 1 or maybe 2 others will join us but 95% of the time it's just the 2 of us. We make a plan and usually stick to it! Our average day rides are normally around 200 miles with as little pavement as possible. Lunch is often the destination then return home by a different route. This makes for an enjoyable, stress free (mostly) ride experience, which is why I ride.
Punkinhead
Well-known member
The key is NEVER CHANGE THE DEFAULT TEXT COLOR! Some of us use the light theme that has a white background so white text won't work either. Just leave the default text color alone and the software will make it white for dark theme users and black for light theme users. I wish the admins had a way to disable the ability for people to change text colors.
Reminds me of the shorter rides I set up before I moved to the longer week/10 days format. I'd get google maps up and eyes closed randomly pick a spot in the state I wanted to ride in. Would try again if I clicked on something horrible ie a city. Then I'd plan an interesting route and ride there, search around for interesting stuff. Turns out even nowhere has stuff to see 👍
I did another group ride last Saturday. We had nine bikes at the start but lost a few after lunch. I had never ridden with 2 of the riders and we had bikes ranging from 200 to 1250cc. It was a great time with no issues except one mix up which resulted in having to wait for around 6 or 7 minutes. The ride was way more fun than if I have just ridden the route by myself. I even got to ride a new Tiger 660 sport! Details are all in my ride report here: https://advbikes.com/threads/alabama-its-not-like-they-said.980/
Franko58
New member
The group rides would work out better if riders were given a trip sheet.
Have suggested routes on it. Name and address of stopping places.
A phone number for a chase vehicle.
Trying to keep up with some ride leaders, at times is impossible.
They will pull out into traffic that doesn't have enough room for all bikes to get in.
Then those left behind only had the name of the next stop. Not even what town it was in.
That ride didn't go well.
I F'ed up. While waiting for some riders who had pronlems starting bikes, I put my side stand down to wait.
It is hidden by the left cylinder.
As we pulled away, I grounded it out on the gentle left turn and high sided.
Everyone rode past, even the ones we had to wait for to get their bike started.
WE got righted, assessed damage, then tried to catch the group.
No Dice. All we had was a name on a list. No town.
Last group ride for me. It was advertised as a Poker Run.
Have suggested routes on it. Name and address of stopping places.
A phone number for a chase vehicle.
Trying to keep up with some ride leaders, at times is impossible.
They will pull out into traffic that doesn't have enough room for all bikes to get in.
Then those left behind only had the name of the next stop. Not even what town it was in.
That ride didn't go well.
I F'ed up. While waiting for some riders who had pronlems starting bikes, I put my side stand down to wait.
It is hidden by the left cylinder.
As we pulled away, I grounded it out on the gentle left turn and high sided.
Everyone rode past, even the ones we had to wait for to get their bike started.
WE got righted, assessed damage, then tried to catch the group.
No Dice. All we had was a name on a list. No town.
Last group ride for me. It was advertised as a Poker Run.