Personally, I think you have to be more careful on group rides.

 

I certainly think they have the potential to be more dangerous than riding by yourself, but a lot if that depends on who's in the riding group. I did it a couple times during my Harley days, and never really enjoyed it.

 

No problemo Harley is working on a solution ?

Group Ride Cruise Control System

 

Riding with your buddies who own bikes is great fun. Riding with strangers not so much, but just take more care - like being in peak traffic. My alertness is high during such occasions, until you get to know them.

Don't attempt to keep up when you feel pressured to do so. That is a sure recipe for disaster.
Keep a safe distance until you get to know your fellow riders.

It's fun getting together with like minded people who share the same pursuit.

 

Riding with friends, albeit with different skill levels is one thing. You know each other and most likely know each others skill levels and adjust your rides accordingly. Group rides with strangers can be very dangerous. As Brockie above mentioned, people will try to keep up when they feel pressured to do so. This can go wrong really fast. I've seen far too many wrecks from group rides to the point where there was one at every group ride I joined. That's when I stopped with the group rides and just ride with a small group of guys and gals that I've met over the years.

The camaraderie that comes from hanging with other like minded people is great fun but my days of showing up at group rides with strangers is over.

 

Some depends on the ride leader especially when newer riders are involved.
I'm done with group rides after two with the same leader ...on the second one I told them clearly I won't lead but I'll show you the roads in PA.

Arrogant ass riding a non-stock bike that couldn't get by a gas station.
First crash the rider wouldn't listen to advice online that he was not ready to move from a 250 something to a 600cc within 3 months.
Tried to keep up with two guys who knew the roads....he was very lucky as he low sided at speed and ended with his nose 12" from the butt end of a guard rail.
Too new to know not to try and keep up ....

Same lead ...takes off with his "good friend" who is riding a very new FJR. Now an FJR on PA twisties is not ideal. Leader says "I looked in my rear view mirror and saw him pinwheeling into the bushes.'

Two rides, two crashes....quite enough of that nonsense and what really put me off,.,,wanted to know where he could buy beer.

•••

I like to ride in pairs with comms on. It's enjoyable and adds to the ride....swap stories, figure out what to eat, how is fuel ....we found a neat solution....front rider watches for road hazards...tail rider navigates and advises the lead where to turn and when.

Splits the work and we had a hoot scaring drivers on the very twisty Port Albernie road with far too many blind corners. Kid on the fast bike would get by a car or two...Dad on the mule could pass safely on the blind corners thanks to kids heads up. >

I do find chatting a positive contribution instead of hand signals. But groups?? naaaaaah.

 

At NEVA or similar events I limit the group to no more then 5 bikes total. 3 is better. We mostly know each other and the riding styles (should be kind of matched) and go moderate speeds and normally predominately on remote roads.

For longer distance trips 2 or maybe 3 riders is ideal I think. Large groups and riding in formation, based on past experience, I will not do.

 

I lump group rides into 2 categories: Large & Small

When I first started riding, I took advantage of any excuse to ride. And that included a few charity rides, most of which including 50-100 bikes. I quickly realized these were not my kind of riding. 90% cruisers (some of whom actively ignored me on my Honda Nighthawk), sub-30 mph speeds on any road with a curve, always having to be concerned about the skill level of the riders around me, free-flowing beer and/or regular bar stops...none of that interests me. I stopped doing them for several years, then a buddy convinced me to try one he organized last year. Within 5 miles, 2 riders were doing wheelies in opposing traffic -- uh, not the type of riders I want to associate with, so I zigged when they zagged and did my own thing for the rest of the day.

On the other hand, my brother and I organize an annual small-group ride of 5-8 riders. Most are people we know and trust. I find those a bit more enjoyable. Even so, I typically find myself as the leader (based on riding experience and road familiarization), and spend much of the day checking my mirrors to make sure everyone's still with us.

Over a decade of riding, I've found I enjoy it most when I'm alone. I've done some riding -- both locally and on a week-long tour -- with a competent friend and, while he's a great guy, I still found the loss of freedom to stop/go when I wanted and to pick the pace I was most comfortable with detracted from the experience.

 

, I still found the loss of freedom to stop/go when I wanted and to pick the pace

My son was on a fast bike and liked to ride hard and of course was in heaven in BC and PA .....so we would set a distance on the comms...maybe 20 km and he would zoom on ahead at his pace then wait for me. Only failed once and that was epic.

 

Only failed once and that was epic.

You can't say something like that and then not tell the story!

:mod2_nono:

 

I have been in group rides up to about 30 people .. mostly off duty NYPD. I didnt find it inherently dangerous. For me it was the opposite. We reached cruising speed and just kind of chilled.

Having said that .. I didnt enjoy them. I like going out with a few guys and ripping in up but I think I have the bladder the size of a shot glass and I want to be able to signal a stop when I have to go!!!

Large group rides were to mission driven for me. When I go out, if there is a left turn that needs exploring I want to be able to be flexible. I have found more cool stuff getting lost or just following the GPS wherever it might go and large group rides dont allow for that.

I didnt find them dangerous .. Just boring .. so no large groups for me.

When I had my Triumph T100 I would sometimes meet with 2 or 3 other triumph riders and that was fun and that is about the outside group size I will engage in.

 

Google "Drop and Sweep"
Scroll down to Uncle Phil.
He gives a very good explanation of what I believe is a pretty darn good group-ride system.

 

I learned this very system while joining club adventure trailrides many years ago. It was used as an inclusive way of scouting a forest or property for an upcoming enduro or hare scramble. I used it myself for disorganised trailrides and road adventure rides. It works.
Direct link: Uncle Phil - Group Ride?

 

There is a group I ride with nearly every Wednesday evening (during DST). We meet at a country store at 4PM and are usually home at 10PM. We have a dinner somewhere and typically put on 150-200 miles. Good guys, good riders, adults. The group often splits up into two groups based on pace but we know which restaurant so we meet there. These rides have been going on for about 20 years, I've been doing them about 10. It has become a regular part of our schedules and in turn we don't put off riding for little reasons.

As for longer rides, I tend to do a couple of 10 day rides a year. Often enough I go with 2 or 3 other people I know. We decide each morning which town we will be sleeping in. Some days we split up. It has become a lot easier and less confining with the smart phone era.

Then there are the specialty group rides. I have missed the last few years but the Moto Mele is a invitational 3 day ride for old bikes. Some are shinny, some rely on twisted wires. It is great fun and dueling with late 60's technology is a hoot.

 

I have found more cool stuff getting lost or just following the GPS wherever it might go

I use the Scenic app for navigation on rides, and one of my favorite things to do is pick a Point A and Point B, then allow Scenic to choose he 'Curvy' route. It's helped me discover great roads literally within 10 minutes of home that I either never knew existed, or had ridden by hundreds of times without ever exploring.

 

Group rides? Maybe 3 or 4 buddies but large group rides, hell no.

 

I do the same with Tom-Tom app....love it ..discover places and still get to my destination...

Only failed once and that was epic.

You can't say something like that and then not tell the story!

wondered if that would get a rise

The very short version is we both missed a turn up near lilooet BC and he ended up going the wrong way out into BC native reserve wilderness chasing down a gas station that was closed. Bears, deer, gravel switchbacks ( on an FZ8 with street tires ).

Meanwhile I went on to our destination getting more and more worried and ended up calling the Mounties to have an eye out as kid is a type one diabetic....so I was a bit concerned tho I knew he had all his supplies with him.

Come 10 pm his call finally shows up on my phone....what a wave of relief. He was 60 km south having finally backtracked to the missed turn in the near dark with loads of critters about. He stayed overnight there and I got to ride BC99 back down to meet him in the morning ( one of the finest motorcycle routes evah ). He had quite the adventure to relate.

So we made a few new rules...this was in 2015.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/w8nAPy3PetxdYyt38

In June this year I rode the area solo and saw how easy the confusion happened....the turn is not obvious and even when I was there taking a photo there was a pair on a tourer poring over their GPS and a couple of vehicles with maps out.
I could also see the switchbacks going up the mountain on the other side of the river where he had headed.
All was well that ended well and we had a good trip ( that all happened the first day after we flew the bikes to Vancouver airport )

Take away...have an agreed meet point at end of day and make sure it's remembered ( Kenz forgot our destination for the night as well tho that really did not matter ).

 

wondered if that would get a rise

https://photos.app.goo.gl/w8nAPy3PetxdYyt38

Thank you for not leaving us hanging. That was a good story. Glad it had a happy ending.

Also, your old-timey photos in full gear are hilarious.

 

Thank my kid for that - just had to stop at Sturgess for souvenirs.

 

For me, a group ride is 2 or 3 people.. and I'm very selective about who those 2 or 3 people are.. Thats it.. I don't like and will flat out avoid riding with larger groups.. I've ridden with much larger groups 10+ quite a bit in the past with my riding club and charity rides.. No more..

 

I came back a couple of weeks ago from a small group tour up to Sault Ste Marie and around lake Superior.

The good about touring in a group:

It's nice to have someone to talk to about what you've seen along a leg of the trip.

It's nice to have someone to have supper and breakfast with, and drink a few bevvies at night.

Having someone to help find/pick some sights to see along the way.

The bad:

One guy always rushing me to get my gear on and get going from stops. It takes me a little longer, with having to put in my earplugs, remove and replace my glasses after putting on my helmet, work my hands into my snug race gloves. He was riding a Harley and wearing less gear.

Not getting to pick the route myself. My usual mode of navigation is pretty random, and I'll head off down whatever road catches my attention as we go. Having said that, our goal was mostly to stay near the lake, so there are limited navigation choices in areas.

Not getting to pick when to hit the road in the morning, or when to stop to take breaks, myself. I tend to stop briefly fairly often. Helps get the kinks out of my back and gives the butt a break. Apparently the guys I was with had less seat discomfort issues than I did.

Good and bad:

Sharing a room most nights with these guys who are both at least 10 years older than me. Sharing a room saved money, so that's good. OTOH, one of them had a prostate problem sending him to the bathroom several times a night, and the other snored.


The riding itself was fine, despite the disparities in bike styles. The guy on the Harley could really hustle it along a twisty road. Generally we kept to the same sort of pace I would normally keep. They are both experienced and sensible riders.

So, overall, it has its good and bad. Group riding cramps my style somewhat, so generally I think I prefer doing the riding part alone.

 

Group ride has advantages , but it could be more dangerous.
there are videos on you tube on how to prepare yourself, You need an experienced lead rider and a tale rider, you need to familiarize your self with hand signs and the role of group riding , you should also remember , different riders , different bike s, different skills.
in my opinion , group up to 4 riders is safer than bigger groups.
Ride safe/Ride long.:smile2:

 

I greatly enjoy brisk sporty rides with small groups of carefully selected pals. Strangers and large groups hell no.

Mobs are slow and no fun and stupid stuff tends to happen.


Anyway, when we ride, I almost always end up leading. (Turns out most people don't like navigating; I love it.) I wrote this article a little while back to articulate my approach:
https://www.theridingobsession.com/group-motorcycle-ride-leader/
No hand signals, no road captains, nothing much to remember and distract...

Here's how it works in action:
https://www.theridingobsession.com/northeast-kentucky-motorcycle-ride/

 

I'm quite happy to do group rides and try to be involved in one with 100+ bikes every year. The trick is to always ride your own ride. if someone wants to be an idiot, let them go, they're not your problem. If they're close enough to be your problem, make space. If the ride is well organised there will be corner markers and one or more sweep riders (tail end Charlie, or TEC), often with some form of communication between them. If it's a large group, a large proportion of people clearly aren't concerned with their own or anyone else's safety, and/or it's poorly organised, feel free to go do your own thing. Just make sure you TELL someone you're leaving the ride, preferably a sweep rider or the ride leader, so they don't think you've come unstuck out on the road somewhere. Your first obligation is to your own safety, never forget that. You are under no obligation to endure other people's stupidity or selfishness, feel free to leave them to it if necessary.

 

I prefer riding with a small group of friends than riding alone - friends to share experiences with when you stop or camp for the night, help if something goes wrong etc.

Big group rides are a bit of a mixed bag. I have been on some where there are people out to prove they are the new Valentino Rossi, riding too fast or too close. These are dangerous, scary, no fun at all. These bad experiences have mainly been the motorcycle brand name clubs, or advertised by poster at your local bike shop. Possibly these are the easily found landing place for the young and the restless.

Most bunch rides are well behaved, sensible adults but if you get a big enough bunch statistically it is more likely to include some of these riders. Big bunches I have ridden with in recent years are two charity events. The first >1000 bikes, widely advertised, short ride), and the other 200-300 bikes, longer ride, less advertised. The problem riders in the big ride are the aggressive, arrogant and impatient. In the smaller, less advertised ride mainly just well intentioned but unskilled. In both if I am near someone I would prefer not to ride with I just slow down, let them go their own way. After all, I am there to show support to the charity, not for a sporting ride. For the rest, just treat it like any ride in heavy traffic. Once you reach the destination it is great to check out all the bikes and meet the many (majority) other riders that you would be happy to have as ride companions.

 

Give an organized group ride a try before you let them all be labeled as dangerous. I've now got a great group of friends that I met on a series of week-long group rides, we're planning more group rides. Of course I've also been part of group rides that were basically mobs, but those were thankfully just day rides and as mentioned here already I was happy to let the overly boystrous (sp?) ones go.

Group rides are no different than any other extension of human nature - they need a leader, coordination and a positive group mentality in order to work. Together we stand...err, ride...

 

I'm a select group of friends or alone kind of guy. Last group ride I did was a 80 mile one way ride to get to the start. Rode a 60ish mile group ride where the first half was at a leisurely pace, but the leader was about 15 feet from the car blocking him from going fast. Then on the second half with no traffic, it was a road race. My instinct is to keep up. The Wee did great, but I noticed I was red lining 3rd going into turns and backed off. Once I backed off the race, I started having fun again.

 

I've got one other friend of fifty years whom I'll ride with infrequently. I grew up riding with him on bicycle rides and later mo'sikkelz. He now lives about a hundred miles away and has gravitated more toward sailboats, which are a lot like semi tractors: one hour under it for every hour in it. but we still get out for an afternoon a couple times a year.
I have been on a couple charity rides of 150+ bikes, and those were fun; police escort thru towns and riding a KZ750 surrounded by straight pipe Harleys and the whole mile-long entourage thundering along at 46 mph. Did a poker run once- "Man, who laid out this lame route; 11 miles of Interstate??" Skipped the whole awards-&-T shirt gathering at the end. ,
"Group rides" for me are more the spontaneous, unintentional type. Like rolling up to a one lane flagger-controlled construction site with two or three other bikes already in front and a 20mph pilot car leading the charge.

You go on ahead, Ii'll ride solo and we'll meet up at the grill for some fried cheese curds and bench racing.