Worst rideout ever

[BanannaMan]

Worst rideout ever...... but I still had a good day.

I have been riding with 2 groups for a while.
One I head up here in Virginia and one with some mates from North Carolina.
Saturday was the NC group's first rideout of the season.
Don't know what has happened to the people there. I know them all and I like them all as people but they have become...idiots on bikes.

To make a long story short...with a group of 12 bikes going on a 150 mile ride...6 bikes got lost in the first 39 miles. (including me)
Like most there, I rode 100 miles just to reach the meet up spot.
The ride leader was the only one who knew the route and they riding like like it was a trackday with no one stopping at the turns or bothering to stop and wait for those caught behind in traffic on the steep mountain passes.

After getting around a group of cars that had been slowing us up, another rider and I rode and rode but never came up on the group (turning or waiting) till we figured (by looking at a map) we had obviously gone too far. They would have had to have turned off.
So we waited 30 mins or so for the 4 behind us to catch up but they never showed. So we rode back the way we came for another 30 mins to try and find them. Still no sign of any bikes so the other fellow headed home.
I continued on back the same way wehad come and finally met 2 of the bikes about 25 miles east of where I had last seen them on a ride that had been headed west. (???) I waved for them to turn around but they kept going. Perhaps they were taking their own ride. Never saw the other 2 bikes...or the first 6 again.

I was really proud of myself...
The fellow with me was right going off when we stopped to wait for the other bikes. LOL
A few short years ago I would have been more than a bit upset myself and proabably ranting and raving but saturday...it really didn't seem bother me at all.
I knew a better road to ride and a place that served better food...all between me and home.

So although I rode most of the day alone (300 miles) in the mountains...I really had blast!!!
I felt so good I decided to take on Route 40, the road I crashed on last July.
Was great to finally get over that. Had been avoiding riding there since.
It is a challenging road .... even on a good day, but did just fine.

So... I've decided not to go riding with the NC group again....their rides have been deteriorating towards this for a year of more.
No time to stop, take pics, talk, etc. on the rides and very little time to eat (usually lousy food). Now they can't even be ar$ed to wait long enough for all the bikes to follow the route.

Of course they will still be welcome on my rides...but I can't see wasting time trying to ride with them.

What would you do???
I think it's time to cut them loose....

Loosing 6 out of 12 riders .....that's a disgrace.

Originally Posted by BanannaMan

Loosing 6 out of 12 riders .....that's a disgrace.

That's almost exactly what happened on the last Ecosse rideout! Only takes one guy not to mark his junction and then everybody just Pied Piper's off into the distance...

Anyway, I say talk to them first, then cut them loose

[Lissa]

Glad you had a good ride, B-man

People not marking junctions really annoys me. It's not hard, is it? We've sat at a junction for up to 20 minutes on a really big rideout when people are very spread out, but it's what you do. Stay til the TEC appears, or you get a call saying you can move on for whatever reason.

Or you can always share the route before and people can take responsibility for themselves, novel I know

This is why I generally like to do my group riding in small groups (1-5) bikes with guys I generally know, bigger rideouts with all that marking kind of thing are good once in a while, but it can spoil the flow a little sometimes, I enjoy to do 2-3 like that a year.

Good to hear that you had some nice roads, it could also be that everyones trying to get rid of their pent up riding frustration after a winter off the bike.

[timwilky]

I usually ride with small groups 2 to 5 people, with some I am slow, to others I am fast (even though I know I am slow) and take the lead.

usually there is only I who knows where we are going. I tell them the route, in one ear and out of the other. My general rule when doing this is just to keep riding it is the job of second place to keep me in sight, however if I am turning off. I will wait until I see second place and know he has seen me before I make the turn.

Daft thing is I have an autocom and a 2 way and a few others have similar set up but we tend not to use them unless on full chat day out when you could get a fair few miles between riders

[flymo]

all sounds a bit too organised for my liking to be honest. get maps, share routes and either ride together or meet at the destination

Sorry if I'm breaking some long established secret protocol here but I would be a total rideout newbie

[Paul the 6th]

interestingly enough, some of the best rides I've done have been unplanned/spur of the moment/getting lost rides, where suddenly I'm not watching the clock or the weather, just driving down a road with no idea where I'm going... but it doesnt matter.

I should really get lost more often

*googles Appalachia*

Want to swap countries?! Please say yes.

[flymo]

Originally Posted by Magnum

*googles Appalachia*

Want to swap countries?! Please say yes.

What, and leave Romford? are you insane?

[SoulKiss]

Originally Posted by flymo

What, and leave Romford? are you insane?

Its the fact that when he Googles Romford, BanannaMan will be too busy being amazed that there are actually people out there that make some of his neighbours look civilised.............