I don't do parade rides. Never liked'em very much with so many people. I'm kinda feeling it for short road trips too. I ride to WV a couple times a summer just to ride those great roads down there. A few weekends ago, I organized 5 of us on 3 bikes for an overnighter. Less than 800 miles for a Saturday & Sunday. Then it got up to 5 bikes. Then somebody invited a guy I know, but don't ride with much. Then somebody else invited 2 relatives (each w/their own bike) whom I DIDN'T know, and had never ridden with. I finally said, "Please don't invite anybody else. This could be fun, or it could be a pain." Ended up 8 bikes and 11 people. The 2 I didn't know showed up late, and then they needed to gas up. I was a little put out by it all, but said "OK, we'll try it." Even after a "meeting" before we left (ride staggered, no gaps between bikes --- keep a nice tight group, your position in line now is your position for the whole ride, etc. I thought a meeting for people I didn't know was a good idea.) it was like I never said anything. Must've been the length of a football field between me & the 2nd bike. Maybe an 8th of a mile between me & the last bike. There were cars between us on interstates. I couldn't pass a truck, and get everybody around in 1 group. Drove me nuts. So, ANOTHER meeting at the 1st stop. It was better after that, but still big gaps between bikes. Then, there was that 1 guy who says, "Why are you going this way? Why don't you go that way? Google Maps says it's faster." For 2 days I heard that. I finally said "because it's my ride, and this is how I wanna go. You know how to get home from here if you like another way better." I'd pretty much had it up to here by then. I decided after that, I really like my own company! It's OK I guess, for a leisurely 200 mile Sunday, but I won't do it again on a longer overnight trip with interstates. Yesterday in the car, on a 2 lane, I passed (opposite direction) a group of 7, and it took only about 1 second for them to get past me. I thought, "I wanna ride with THOSE guys." OK. Rant over!

 

I feel your pain...I have a very small group of people I'll ride with. And sometimes THAT'S too large!

 

I haven't been on a group ride (yet) but I can imagine what a pain in the *** it must be for the organizer!
I go on a group golf trip every year that someone else organizes and I would NEVER think of complaining. He does the work and we reap the benefits.

 

Group rides can be fun with the right group, the ALR that I ride with is pretty well versed in group riding, but some of the charity runs I have done have been terrible. When touring and out for more than a day, I prefer to go solo.

 

Thanks for reinforcing why I no longer do group rides and I recall your frustration. Some people will just never get the group ride thing. I never will again..

 

Organizing a group ride never, ever passes my mind. I have about 3-4 guys I'd ride with, and like elPrez said, sometimes THATS too much!

 

understand what you are saying ...but what you are seeing is people who ride by themselves 99% of the time and who can not concentrate long enough to ride close in a pack ...so they tend to hang back to increase the distances,
this takes time and you must TRUST everyone in the group...everyone must be on the same page ...at all times !!!...you just have not found the right people to ride with yet ...once you do ...you will be part of that group that passed you ... "I thought, "I wanna ride with THOSE guys."
if you give up on everyone ....you will become one of them ...a Lone Wolf !!!
good luck !!!

 

Same here. There’s 3 guys I ride with all of the time. Local day rides and just a short weekend trip are great but I’m finding anything longer than that and two of the guys need to stop too many times and time is wasted at each stop. It’s annoying. After riding to TN last year and putting up with their ****, taking forever to get ready in the mornings and stuff, I realized they just aren’t cut out for a long bike trip.

My other friend will out-ride me so I know he’s good lol.

 

I gave up on group rides when a guy suddenly came up on my right side in the middle of a left hand 90* corner. If anything had happened he could have stuffed me into the grill of any on coming traffic.

So as far as group rides, it was one and done. Riding is/can be dangerous enough without people pulling stupid **** like that...

 

YZR, I don't like the big group charity rides because of the ebb & flow of speeding up & slowing down, there's always somebody who wants to ride BESIDE me (I don't do that), and there's always the group of crotch rockets that wanna ride wheelies for the entire ride. I found out that on a charity ride, the organizers can't dictate who can go or not go. So I don't do the big group rides anymore. You might like 'em. Alot of people do. Try one sometime, and you'll know. Other than my 2 or 3 buddies who actually know how to ride, I won't take a longer overnight trip again with a group of more than 3 or 4 of us.