GROUP RIDING AROUND CAGES

I love to ride. The only thing I like better than going on a ride is when I do it with friends. When we do it as friends it is considered a group. The first time I went on a group ride was when I attended my first H.O.G. Rally which was the 2010 Nevada State Rally. I was a little apprehensive at first. I wasn’t sure what I was getting into when we lined up to go to Scotties Castle. I can’t remember exactly where I was in the formation; I was in the fourth or sixth position. That seems to be where I feel comfortable even today. This was a huge group as many of them are when you ride in a rally group. What a sight to see when you look in your mirror and see all of those bikes behind you. The next day I ended up in the back of another large group which was interesting. I quickly found out what the “rubber band” effect was all about. It seems that as soon as you catch up, you need to slow down, and then speed back up only to slow down again. It was no fun and let’s face it, that is why we ride, to have fun and that is why I like to ride up front.

I received a copy of an article that was printed in the H.O.G. National magazine. In the article, it talked about group riding. Let’s face it. We all like to ride with a group. It is more enjoyable and then when we get to our destination, we have others to share the experience with. Anyway, the article talks about a group ride that had only 15 bikes. They were on a long and winding mountain (two lane) road and were doing about 10-15 miles under the speed limit. I am sure this was an enjoyable speed for the riders, but the cars that were stuck behind this string of bikes got madder and madder with each passing mile.

There are a couple of things we can do to help alleviate these types of problems. In this situation, it would be good if the group would split up to give cages a chance to pass and pull back in without causing harm to anybody. Of course, this could still cause problems with traffic. Sometimes people just get into too big a hurry.

The second thing that could be done is at the beginning of the ride, the Ride Captain could split the group into 3 groups of 5 bikes each. Each group would have a leader that would set the pace. The group could start out every 30 seconds and that way still is close to each other. If the space between the groups does close and the groups look like one group, it would be the group leader’s responsibility to slow down just a little. This way, if the ride does encounter a long mountainous road or city traffic, the groups could ensure there is enough distance between them so cars could pass with ease and without being intimidated.

I don’t think this would be a bad practice to incorporate into our rides. Give it some thought and let me know what you think. Until next time, Happy riding and be Safe.

SUHOG Safety Officer