I just experienced a horrible group ride. I rode with 3 others from PA to FL and from the start, the other 3 rode in a tight group...way too tight. They were weaving in and out of cars at 90+ mph. I chose to stay back a distance from them, as I didn't like what I was seeing. I saw that they had no concern for me falling back when they weaved their way into clear road and I decided not to even try to stay with them. The first time they stopped to wait for me, I told them to continue on and not to worry about me with future stops. I did catch up to them many times along the way, as one of them was on a Sportster with a 2 gallon tank and for some ungodly reason, by luck of the draw, I ended up at the same exit and gas station as them on every second gas stop for them. Then they would lose me again, only for me to find them again around 160 miles down the road. Also, the guy with the Sportster ran out of gas twice on the trip, which caused me to catch up then also. These guys were just not safe riders and did not use their heads under any circumstances.
To make matters worse, they did not have their bikes maintained and ready to go for the trip. The Sportster had a completely bald rear tire, and one of the other bikes had no rear lights at all and one front turn signal out. They wanted to continue on the in rain, at night, even though I urged them to stop riding with a bald tire and no rear lamps. The leader of the pack said it was okay to ride without rear lights as long as he stayed in 2nd position and stayed to the right of the highway. I finally stopped and got a room for the night, and those "wingnuts" continued on. Of course, to round things out, the leader kept bragging to me that he had 41,000 miles on his bike and he had never cleaned it yet. I was very glad that they decided to continue on without me. I was only planning to ride as far as Jacksonville with them and then I had my own plans in FL anyway, so splitting off south of Savanna, GA was no big deal to me at all. I was more than happy to make the ride home on my own.
More goodies to point out. We left PA with temps in the 30's and one guy had grown out of his leather jacket and had to leave it open the entire trip. He had everything with him in 2 small throw over saddlebags. The guy on the Sportster had nothing but a backpack he wore. Only one of the three had any money with them, so they passed around the one guy's credit card everytime we stopped for gas and he was ending up paying for all 3 of them for everything. When they wanted to sneak all 4 of us into one motel room, I got my own room. I noticed that what they had packed in the throw over saddlebags and the backpack was a huge assortment of candy. So much for a packing list! It was truly like riding with Larry, his brother Daryl, and his other brother Daryl. Keep in mind that this wasn't a quick trip they had planned. I spoke to them a few days ago and they had continued on to New Orleans, and were last in the Houston, TX area, so they have a major trip in getting back to Pittsburgh ahead.
I feel bad posting this about them, but I'm guessing the chances of them ending up reading this on this forum are quite slim. I had been wanting to take a ride to FL and the one guy announced at a HOG meeting that he was riding to FL if anyone wanted to ride along, so I thought this would be a good thing...having someone to ride with. Perhaps my standards are set too high, but I don't think so. I stayed at $30 to $40/night motels, as I am more concerned about being able to park my bike directly outside my door than having great accomodations on a bike trip. It's not like I was looking to stay at the Hilton or do anything even mildly extravagant. But safely returning home was priority number one, and making sure I have a change of clothes and food available aren't far behind. I guess I need to evaluate more closely who I ride with in the future.
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Topic: Group riding tips......... (Read 4158 times)