A Rider's Perspective - Why I Don't Group Ride

Hanging out with friends and taking in an event that is full of bikes, good food while meeting new people is always a blast. Often events try to turn all of this into a group ride—taking what was a really great time and turning it into a parade lap that ends in despair.

What defines a group ride?

In the simplest of terms, a group ride is when two or more people ride together. Why more than two? Generally two riders can stay within sight, can easily be in the same skill category, and are usually well known friends or at least riding companions. It also follows the old adage—two is company and three is a crowd.

The group rides I stay away from are events that many clubs, organizations, and even riding forums put together. The ones where the skill level of the riders range from the complete novice to a former track day junkie turned supermoto street rider. For the latter, the pace is never fast enough and for the neophyte, the pace is always too fast. (However, the cause that these events support are worthy of our time and resources.)

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Why I hate group rides!

The number one reason is that they are the least safe riding environment and break almost every good riding habit with their staggered formations—too close following distance and an accordion effect to both acceleration and braking. Find two friends and try to walk in a staggered formation with your hands barely touching. Now walk fast or slow changing often and stop randomly; see if you can keep within touching distance and not run into each other. Go ahead I will wait here.

Wasn't so easy. Now do that with five other people (or 10 or 20 or 100) on motorcycles that accelerate at different rates, stop at different rates, and with riders who may not be able to ride at a slow speed without doing the duck walk.

Some group rides can be very well organized and run really well. You cannot control all of the riders all of the time. I have been passed in corners, almost run into from the back, got hit on the leg by a passing bike, and crashed during group rides. Most of these were impatient riders who grabbed a bunch of throttle on the straights because the group was too slow for their taste. These invariably were the same riders who made 14 corrections at the next turn and had to practically stop to negotiate a left-right-left "S" bend.

I crashed on a group ride

I've had two motorcycle accidents during my riding career that resulted in an injury or a demolished motorcycle. One was caused by poor road conditions in cold weather, the other was on a group ride. The ride was very well organized when we started. People were grouped by skill level and ride leaders were clearly identified, routes were chosen and reviewed. Everything went well until we stopped for a break. The fast guys were antsy, the slow people were slow, and the bulk of the riders were hot and tired, and we were barely half way done. The other problem with large groups is you underestimate the time it takes to travel. So instead of 30 minutes, it took an hour and a half to reach the stop point.