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Choose your biking buddies carefully

happy

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Some 15 years ago I learned another lesson through 3 friends.
They arranged to bike to Northern Thailand near Burma together.

But during the trip the eldest biker developed a disdain for one of the 3 and he cajoled the other and abandoned the talkative one during the trip.
Without a modern GPS or handy, the abandoned biker made it back home while worrying about what happened to the other two who hid behind a petrol station. Sadly such people exist. It was a dangerous country, btw.

In this story, it is important to choose your biking friends carefully during a trip because your life may depend on it.

(I am none of the 3 mentioned)
 
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Though bikeless, I've been slowly growing my riding posse, and recognize that I might be moving between two or three groups because of differing interests (which will likely impact the destination/goal of the trip). So far, I have a few coworkers, and two outsider groups. There are coworkers with whom I would not associate with outside of the workplace, and in my biking world, the same tenet applies. Its nice to have company, but its very important to have the right company. Just like friends, I guess, choose wisely here too.
 
Though bikeless, I've been slowly growing my riding posse, and recognize that I might be moving between two or three groups because of differing interests (which will likely impact the destination/goal of the trip). So far, I have a few coworkers, and two outsider groups. There are coworkers with whom I would not associate with outside of the workplace, and in my biking world, the same tenet applies. Its nice to have company, but its very important to have the right company. Just like friends, I guess, choose wisely here too.

Yes, wise words indeed.
Choose wisely.

Not all minds think alike, only fools...
 
Though bikeless, I've been slowly growing my riding posse, and recognize that I might be moving between two or three groups because of differing interests (which will likely impact the destination/goal of the trip). So far, I have a few coworkers, and two outsider groups. There are coworkers with whom I would not associate with outside of the workplace, and in my biking world, the same tenet applies. Its nice to have company, but its very important to have the right company. Just like friends, I guess, choose wisely here too.
That's why my riding partner is also my best mate and also my wife
 
I had to declined an invitation to joint a neighbor and also a member of HondaTwins member to ride due to my ride skills(lack of). I did not want to be presured into something that I am not ready for and uncomfortable with...
 
Well I rode with my buddy Jim (met him here), and everything was awesome. So, you know, sometimes it's fine. Only trouble is he seems too busy to ride lately. Hopefully he'll get back on the bike soon.
 
It's hard to determine how people are gonna react in unknown situations. I've been in the middle of several roadtrips that were "altered" by personality conflicts, bad weather and jerks!
 
Whom ever you ride with take note of their skills. If you are leading, ride to the skill level of the weakest rider. If you are riding with people that demonstrate a higher skill level, make yourself stay within your skill level. By all means stretch yourself and learn, but don't get sucked into a crash doing it. I have seen that happen more than once.
 
The best way is to
1. Give the waypoints to stop and meet.
2. If there are forks in the the route, be sure to stop and signal to the group
3. Go at your OWN SPEED
4. Meet up and stop to take breaks together, it is not a race.
5. Take care of the weaker riders (those who are newbies, but not the slower ones, they may prefer to go slow)
6. Always be in a group mentality. Else don't go in a group
7. Don't try to show off.... they may say nice things at your funeral, they may not.
:p
 
That's why my riding partner is also my best mate and also my wife
snap.I to go with my wife.
I once went for a ride with a co worker and his mates.
I just got back into biking ,I only had an old GT500 suzuki 90mph flat but these guys had much bigger bikes and more modern.
by the time I met up with them and stop to take my hat off they then said right we're off..they did this twice so the last stop they did the same.
so I told them to sling their hooks to put it lightly I'm off to the other way so f*** you.
got to work the next monday morning he came to me to apologise I told him never again and you and your mates were lucky I didn't thump you one.
you wouldn't hit the 3 of us I said I would..
I'd hit the biggest the hardest 1st etc. he just laugh so I planted one on him so now who's laughing!!I said.
if I did that now in work I be dismissed!
ahh when we were young eh!!
 
Back when both my sons owned bikes (both rode Harleys), I'd sometimes ride with them. Usually, though, I ride by myself. I figure if I wanted to socialize, I'd just get somebody to drive me to a bar or I'd go visit friends, instead of riding. Can't ride with my wife - she'd rather have teeth pulled than ride pillion, and doesn't ride herself. All of which works for me. I find the solitude refreshing after 25+ years of crowded office and cubie work.
 
Whilst I enjoy riding with my wife I have to admit that I also enjoy my trips away on my own . I can then ride where and when I like and at what ever pace suits my current mood. Making comfort stops when I want and only when I want is a bonus.
Another enjoyable part of my solo trips is arriving back home and seeing my wife again.
 
and he cajoled the other and abandoned the talkative one during the trip.
... the other two who hid behind a petrol station.
...
(I am none of the 3 mentioned)

not adjusted to your lingo, that first made me frown a bit about the 'cajoling' :D

if you are not of the three mentioned, were you the first guy perhaps? The one responsible for the cajoling?

Edit: reread it and there were only three...

THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE! KRCCSSHHH!!!
 
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I've led several group rides, and followed many of the same rules that happy posted earlier. Group riding takes a lot of preparation on the part of the leader, and a different kind of skill for those in the group.

I'm getting more cautious in my group riding now. I still end up leading group rides, but I like to limit those to 3-4 riders, and usually only to those that I know their skill level beforehand.

Last June, I was scheduled to do a group SS1000 ride. There was going to be about 25 riders going. I bailed and did it the day before by myself. The thought of riding at about 90 mph in only half the lane and one second spacing from the person in the other half of the lane, and two seconds from the rider directly in front of me for that long in the day was just too scary. I wasn't too happy with the idea of riding at the speeds they were obviously going to do. Group riding can end up with you riding in ways you'd not do on your own, solely because of the peer pressure. (BTW, they finished 3 hours faster...and I was going 5-7 mph over the speed limit the entire way.)

One thing no one has mentioned, is the adhoc group riding I encounter on my commuting in the "summer" months here in Seattle. I doubt this happens in drier areas because everyone rides all year long and the novelty of riding is not as great. Here though, when the temperature hits 50F and the day is supposed to be dry, the garage queens come out like an insect hatch. They are everywhere. The riders are more involved in looking for another motorcycle rider to wave at...no matter how far away the bike is...than they are in the traffic they are in. And if they see you going the same way as you are...they want to join up with you. :rolleyes: They haven't been on a bike in 9 or 10 months! Yet they want to be a second or so behind me! I don't know them! I didn't ask for them to ride that close to me! And I've had some decide that because I wasn't going as fast as they wanted to go...and I was obviously using only half the lane...they would pass without any kind of warning in that open space. What if I moved over?

Sometimes you can't pick your biking "buddies"... As much as I like riding in warm dry weather, I'm almost more comfortable riding in the cold and wet because I know that the other bikers out there will know what they're doing.

Chris
 
in the summer we host the hrc club rides, and i sometime set, the routes and lead them, or herd them down the road. you put twenty people together with diffident riding skills it can get wild. dale
 
The hardest friends to find and keep are the ones that ride responsibly and at the same pace. I have practically given up with this. In the years of riding, I only trust a handful of people I would ride with in a group...and most of them if not all do, or have done trackdays.

A good majority of my friends that ride motorcycles either race them or do trackdays. A lot of them have sworn off street riding.

I no longer do group rides with strangers. The adage of "less is more" is so true. I have seen large group rides have more accidents than the handful of trusting riders. When I do ride with an unknown group, I tend to sweep.
 
Back when both my sons owned bikes (both rode Harleys), I'd sometimes ride with them. Usually, though, I ride by myself. I figure if I wanted to socialize, I'd just get somebody to drive me to a bar or I'd go visit friends, instead of riding. Can't ride with my wife - she'd rather have teeth pulled than ride pillion, and doesn't ride herself. All of which works for me. I find the solitude refreshing after 25+ years of crowded office and cubie work.

I like the solitude of riding alone too...If you want to stop, you stop; Left instead of right? Tehn left it is...
 
I like to ride alone and I also like to ride with a few trusted friends.
I do see that many of them are not as safety conscious as me.
Many of them will just stop their bikes by the side of the road (still on the tarmac) at unsafe corners or road sections.
When I tell them, they say I am too careful.

Well, I will always head to a shadowed spot (if too sunny) or a safe spot (out of traffic and in plain sight).
I have been riding for more than 20 years and I survived.
:p
And please.....don't say older means wiser. Many of the bikers I know, are way over 50s and they still think they own the roads. They do not realise that trucks have gotten bigger and drivers have gotten more careless.
 
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