I agree. Both riding in groups and riding solo have their places. I have done week long trips where riding with friends in a group is great at first but near the end of the week you just want some alone time. My last trip was solo and I was missing having friends around. This year we have a few group rides planned as well as a 2 week trip with just the ol lady and I on our bikes. I am looking foward to each of them.

 

At this point in my biking career, I prefer to ride alone. I am getting to the point where I ride in the daily rush hour traffic and scrape metal on the twistys. As I get more experience, I'll try group riding some time in the future but for now I love the solitude and setting my own pace. And I hate to stop except to get gas.

 

While I enjoy the camaraderie of groups, I prefer to ride either in a small group (1 to 4) of other bikers or solo with my wife riding passenger. I have seen several times in groups where some of the riders will try to run up between the staggered formations or can’t decide if they want to be to the right or to the left or try to run side by side…

 

I prefer small groups of guys I ride with that I know, know how to ride. I dont mind large groups for rallies, etc. its kind of fun. But I have neded up alone on my last two long rides.

 

The good thing about riding alone is your the boss and you go at your own speed.I gotta be honest though as long as I'm riding I do'nt mind if I'm alone or with other riders as long as I'm riding.

 

Took my first good road trip yesterday. Did the Cassody biker breakfast run, wich, if your in Kansas anywhere, you've probably heard of or been too. First sunday of every month. Anyway, it was awsome. Better than I had imagined. Met up with my bud and his wife just befor 8 am. Was about a 2 hour ride. The air was 40 degrees when we left but we were all decked out in full leathers. (Chaps, guantlets, jackets, thongs......err too much info, back to the story) Hit Eureka, Ks around 9 am wich is sorta the half way point. Started catching up to more bikers from there. By the time we got to KS 77 to turn north to Cassody, I couldnt see where the bikers began and where they ended. Im just guestimating there was somewhere between 75 and 100 bikes in the group. Roaring thunder from hell!!!! I got a morning wood from it that Smiling Bob from the Enzyte commercials woulda cried over! Rolled into Cassody just after 10 am and it was wall to wall bikes. In the thousands best I can figure. Every type of bike, from rice burners and crotch rockets to Gold Wings and Harleys. Custom choppers, hot chicks, venders, dyno tester booth, all kinds of stuff. Met some very cool people. It was fun to just sit down and shoot the **** with bikers from all over. Very good atmosphere. And the bikes just kept rolling in the whole time we were there. Headed back out sometime after noon. Was nearly 80 degrees by then and I had stripped off the jacket and strapped on the back of the bike. (Kept the vest on cause its easier to clean bugs off than my shirt is.) Took it easy on the way home and just sat back and cruised and enjoyed the sun. Got a retarded looking sunburn on my forhead thanks to my bandana and sunglasses! Wife is repulsed by me now. I have an excuse to go ride next weekend minus the bandana!
So, from all this I got both worlds. Rode with just one other (my buddy and his wife on thier hog) and he holds his line really good so its like riding by myself. And then rode with a HUGE pack wich was alot of fun as well. I liked riding with all the other guys for a while but I really liked being just two of us on the road too. In my opinion: big packs are fun as long as its not an all day ride. For a little while is ok. When its just me or me and my friend, I got to see alot more and relax more. I just wish I had a video of the ride with all of them. As far as I could see ahead and behind was nothing but bikes and roaring thunder! What an awsome end to a weekend.

 

Ragin, sounds like a great day. D'ya take any pics? Keep us in mind when you're lookin' at those chicks in bikinis.

 

I agree with the predominant sentiment here. I have ridden in very large groups, medium sized groups, and very small groups. I enjoy them both, but for a long trip, I prefer riding with the same close circle of foks that I've been best friends with for years. I have been riding (and diving, skydiving, shooting, hiking, etc.) for years with my wife, two other couples and my youngest brother. We've literally had each others' lives in each others' hands hundreds of feet under water and thousands of feet in the air, so Im positive I can trust them on the ground. Because we are all very close friends, and have done things together for so long, we are also very much in tune with one another's habits, knowing right away how the others will react to certain situations. I would rather travel with those six people than alone, that's for sure. We all share similar riding styles (flat out), and the same general taste in entertainment.

A few years ago, we rode to DC for the Run to the Wall with a larger group, and we were very disappointed in the result - too many unnecessary delays, too many poor riders, too many poorly maintained bikes. Just starting out, we had a guy that ran over his own foot at a gas station, breaking it (I still don't know how, from a physics perspective, this is even possible). We had another guy ride into the guy next to him because he wasn't paying attention. We later found out that he had a suspended drivers' license. One other annoyance was that the ride captain had a penchant for traveling exactly the speed limit, and no more. He would also have a habit of taking the group into the passing lane, only to sit next to a semi doing the same speed - very frustrating to say the least. Every stop for gas (which happened every 75 miles) turned into an hour long affair, as everyone lounged around, or lounged around and bitched. I certainly am one to stop and smell the roses, but a highway rest area is not the place to do that.

By far, though, the biggest headache arose from the many mechanical problems that were encountered (and which added a collective 8 hours of BS to the trip). Now, don't get me wrong, I have zero problem at all stopping for bikes or cars that have problems (I'm one of those that always stops for vehicles pulled over on the highway), but when bikes have those problems because of lack of any maintenance at all, or unbelievably poor and incompetent home-brew maintenance, and it happens 12 times along a ride from Northern Indiana to DC, I get a bit perturbed. Baling wire is NOT an appropriate long term solution to a missing bolt, and will not make your riding companions love you when your bike breaks down for the 10th time in 600 miles. The problem was made worse by the particular rider, who refused to put his ride on the chase trailer that the ride captain insisted on bringing. The suggestion to put it on the trailer was made after breakdown number 6 (that time it was a thrown drive belt)), and was rejected by the rider because "This bike will never ride on a trailer" (despite his complete lack of any mechanical ability, and total reliance on the rest of us to fix his bike for him). That, to say the least, got maddening. The extent of my patience wore very, very thin.

So I suppose this is a long way to say that I'll ride with my dive buddies this year, rather than a bigger group (and look at all of that pent up angst associated with that trip!). Since we're leaving the wives at home, I suspect it will be a great ride (accompanied, of course, by a tour of all of the strip joints in the greater midwest (any suggestions between Indiana and D.C.?)). We've told a few others in our local Rolling Thunder Chapter when we're leaving, but that if they want to come with, they'll have to put up with 1) high speed, 2) hot women, and 3) absolutely positively NO BITCHING! We will appoint a Ride Executioner to deal with those who can't deal with rules 1-3!

Brien Cr

 

I sometimes enjoy to ride with a group of about 5 friends but mostly, I prefer to go solo! That's when I can really clear my head and get some good quality alone time. I like going where I want, when I want and at my pace. I don't mean to sound anti-social but I grew up on bikes and never really had anyone to ride with so that was always "My Time" and I sure do value it. Course if'n I broke down a couple hundred miles from home, I might sang a different tune.

 

No I didnt take any pictures. The thought never even crossed my mind till I got there and saw all the bikes. Next month I will be taking a camera for sure!