Outlaw's "Group Riding Dynamics" article

[R90srider]

Gary's article for our June newsletter was excellent. Hopefully all of us will not only read, but also study and thoroughly understand what Gary had to say about group riding dynamics. Riding with a group of friends is truly a different experience than riding solo. Even riding with only one other friend is a group ride.

Riding in concert with the group is truly a safety issue and when all cooperate, the pleasure of riding with a group of friends is greatly enhanced. Even one person riding in the middle of his or her lane (even worse if wandering from one track to the other) will disrupt the ride of every one else riding behind them because of lost visibility and distance separation. Additionally the leaders can not see what is going on behind that person.

Thank you Gary for giving this important subject so much good thought and explaining it so all of us can take the information to heart and help break our old bad riding habits. We definitely need to be more considerate of our fellow riders and retrain ourselves to ride this way even when riding solo.

[Gator]

Great article Gary. I wish everyone who rides a motocycle could read it. Following a set of rules when riding in a group not only makes the ride a lot safer but increases the enjoyment of the ride for everyon in the group. And as you said following these rules and executing riding maneuvers consistently helps them to become second nature. I'm sure that I as well as some of our members and friends have been guilty of riding at times in a manner that may have caused others in a group some anxiety. Most of the time it may just be inexperience as with a new rider or lack of attention with more experienced riders. No matter which, it can causes problems on the ride. Thanks for writing this article. I hope we can all learn from it keep focused on the lessons we learned while on the road. Ride safe
Gatorl

[Vance]

I agree too Outlaw...great article. In fact, I must give kudos to all who contributed to the newsletterthis month! Once again J.J. did a masterful job of putting ittogether and Steve's article about the AAA ride was "priceless". Thanks everybody!

[Florida Bob]

Very good stuff!!

Gary your article was very well thought out. We all understand that our sport has certain risks. Anything we can do to improve the odds is very benefical.

In my small group here in Florida, our leader always makes passes in the high 90 mph range. Now I understand why

Thanks again and ride safe.

[catchmeifyoucan]

Gary's Group Dynamics article was super. However, I personally disagree with one suggestion. He says to wave your arm to notify the rider behind you to slow down. I find this is confusing b/c usually waving your arm is used to identify a hazard IN the road or even stretching or maybe a LEO. I prefer to flash my brakes so the rider behind me will know that I am definitely slowing down and possible going to be braking. This is much more visible and safer than waving an arm in my opinion.

Just my own personal preference but one that I prefer the rider in front of me to use.

Thanks for writing such a good article. And also thanks to Jamie for a super newsletter.

Lenn