The post I just read about poser behavior ignited a memory I had last october. It is not that the guys were poser or not, I frankly don't care as long as you ride. BMW, Honda, makes no difference to me. it reminded me about the ride. share your insight on the following:

The bikes that showed up were awesome, and lots of them, but the run was from bar to bar, which is fine, but with 2-3 hour stops at the bar I thought was not such a good idea. The organization said there will be a dinner and a raffle for a custom bobber at the end. 100.00 bucks a ticket, if I win I sell the bobber an pay off by bike. ON top of the 25. 00 I just paid for the poker run. I said ok, I'm in. It is for a good cuase, Families of deceased firemen.
Now dont get me wrong, I'm POLISH/IRISH, I drink, and at times too much, but I never drink while riding. So I stuck it out, we started out and our 1st stretch was about 25 miles with Police escort, Kind of cool. the 2nd was about 15 miles and another bar stop. The 3rd was about 15 miles and the 4th and 5th were only 5 minutes apart.
between the 4th and 5th I went to the store to buy a pack of heat rods and saw two guys on the way back to the bar right up this caravns ***, like their front tire was inches away and they were reving the pissout of their super moded bikes, the lady pulled over and they gave her the finger. Thought that was a bit strange. However, I did talk to some really nice folks and saw some really great bikes, but I thought we would be riding most of the time with short break for **** and quick smoke. MOst of the people I spoke with were giving up becuase of the ride intervals and leaving. THe guys that were not giving up were getting cranked, have it hoss, but I will keep back 100ft when riding with you.
SO we get back to the KoC hall parking lot and dinner is going to be served. A bag of chips and a couple of stale pre-made burgers, no fixings, just burger with a massive bottle of Ketchup next to the hotel pan of lamo burgers. TO top that off, at this point I was like; wow I waited all day for this, I could have put 3-400 miles on the new scoot and rode to the cape, got some fried clams and rode back to the house and went to the bar down the street and tied one on.
THe host of the ride who was hammered, could not even read the tickets, I did not win, did not expect to, but thought to my self are all of these events like this?

What have your experiences been?

 

This is the exact reason I avoid these types of things. I prefer to ride.....

 

Most poker runs suck. My group always ends up with orphans that want to ride with us for some reason and I don't like new people that f-up the chemistry and the flow of our small group.

 

The best runs for me were the big escorted charity rides. No drunks until after, fun to blow through lights and some vendors to wander through or check out while waiting to find I did not win anything.

The Miracle Ride in Indianapolis was my favorite with a poker run Saturday where you left with your own group at your own pace over a 2 hour period. Sunday was the escorted ride with a lap around the Indy Motor Speedway.

But I quit doing those 5 - 6 years ago......prefer to go where we want to go on any day we are blessed to ride. I was roped into one bar-to-bar-to-bar ride 10 years ago and swore that off. I don't like to drink and ride.

 

most poker runs i have been on are pretty much the same thing you experienced. $25 hands, short hops between bars with half of everyone there 3 sheets to the wind by the 2nd stop, people riding like jackwagons the whole way, and the end IF there is anything to eat is usually not very good. very few have i ever been on where there are nice long rides between stops and good bbq at the end.

i remember this one ride i was on. nice long ride with about 100 bikes or so. anyways, we were coming to a stoplight and there was a right turn. the light turned green for the other traffic, a nice big old buick was in the lane i needed right as i was about to make the turn so i stopped. the guy directly behind me about put his front wheel up my *** because i didn't turn and started yelling & giving me & chit about it. saying because we were in a group we had the right of way. i don't care if he was right or not there was no way i was going to take on a car just because i was supposed to have the right away. that big *** car sure wasn't going to stop for us. so i told the guy behind me to f'off & if he had a death wish to go ahead & get in front of me. now i usually ride with just a couple of close friends or by myself because of experiences like that.

 

Had Good and Bad experiences on group rides .. Are no rules that say can't pull out if not comfortable with the ride or it's destinations ..

 

Not into poker runs. May do a ride for against child abuse or a breast cancer fund raiser and even the occasional falling hero ride. Don't get me wrong, but I am not into the bar hopping and hanging out. I ride and when I ride, I like to try and put over 250 miles and over each and every time I am riding. Anyway, the more I drink, the more I drink.

 

I've given up on poker runs. A riding buddy of mine was t-boned last year on a run. He was pulling into a spot and the clown hit him broadside. Really messed him up. Again it was one of those runs where every stop was a bar. Screw that, I don't need the aggravation. We now ride as small group and don't welcome too many strangers.

 

I've never been on a poker run and the more I read about them, the more it sounds like it just wouldn't be for me and my wife.

We do like large, organized and ESCORTED rides. We were married on 9/11 so we have a tradition of doing a 9/11 ride on our anniversary put on by the Red Knights. We do a breast cancer ride and rides for abused kids... again, big and escorted for us is a must.

Sounds like the poker run you were in just totally sucked (unless you are into getting hammered while riding, then I guess it would have been AWESOME)...

 

Poker Run's are the work of the devil and should be avoided at all costs! Damn bikers.