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Now that I've got you in here[sm=pimp.gif]
Just wondering how many of you out there, have either ended up road captain of a group ride or took on the responsibility full-time. Had the responsibility myself for a couple of years and would really like to know if you actually enjoy the ride more or less. I really like to be the Tail Ender you actually set the pace for the entire ride if you have a good road captain and if you think it is appropriate to cut the group size down to 4 bikes per-unit. If you only have 6 total would be no question in my mind, if you have more than that. And how many of you guys actually plan group rides. When I was stationed on the West Coast. There was 6 of us that rode religiously together and we would plan, The ride a couple days in advance so do you like it or not and or how do you feel about group rides altogether

 

I don't like group rides, but when I do, I like being in back. I feel more comfortable in keeping my distance from other people, sometimes bikers don't quite understand personal space that well.

I guess the other thing is I ride my bike everyday, so if I am gonna hang out with my buddies, I'd just assume be the designated driver inmy car so they all can get drunk.

 

I will only ride with people I have known for a long time and prefer to ride with just 1 other friend ... 2 max. Made the mistake of riding with a coworker and he did not understand riding with others. Stayed in my blind spot and took curves way to wide. Scared the crap outta me ... not that I was gonna crash but that he was.

 

it is very much true hitting the road with a small group makes for a more enjoyable day as long as the group is well trusted and has equal skill level and the use of basic hand signals , makes it's a breeze. It was in large group rides where it is necessary to take time to shake down some riders skill level to find out where they need to be positioned in the group a common occurrence for us was have guys who just rotated into the area and wanted to know where is the best place to do a little leaning and those friends of friends who just got invited at the last minute that make for a long day , BUT group rides in small groups with guys or girls you trust is the best ride of all especially where there's a sense of comradery of friendship. This can't be beat in a trusted group

 

I take the lead a good amount, its usually who ever picked to route or knows the roads best, and sometimes it changes over the course of the ride. Most of the time the guys i am riding with are people i ride with a lot. every so often we get a pretty large group (10 or more) and its a little weird cause i don't know everyone, and i don't know how they ride.

when we get booking on back roads the gaps grow to almost 50 yards because of difference in speeds and for safety, in that situation "leader" is a pretty loose term since its whoever wants to ride the fastest, but we all know the roads and end up in the same spot so it doesn't matter. I always prefer at least one riding buddy cause i am scared of what will happen if i go down and wind up in a ditch somewhere.

 

We have a group of about 30 people here in Austin that do lunches, dinners, lots of group rides and we take turns setting up the rides. Whoever sets it up leads. If we have large groups we break off into smaller groups with the fastest group leading etc.

 

I've did the bigger group ride...i think the most i ever rode with was 6 including myself...i usually just rode with 1 of my 3 usual riding buddies. 2 of them i could outride easily because of a few hundred miles of training and coaching from the third...you can already guess which riding partner was the best to ride with

 

i perfer riding last. i make sure that other riders arent getting left behind and i can also watch the new riders and give them technique tips. also i have extreme patience so if someone acts a fool towards the bikes if im last i can handle it instead of letting someone else loose their cool and make us all look bad. not to mention i dont like being chased through the corners

 

I like to lead the group...that way I get to decide where we end up so the ride is less likely to suck for me.

 

We have a group of 30-40 bikes every Monday in the summertime in Oshkosh. We have one person that GPSs the route in advance and rides it so we know if there is any bad areas for the ride. He usually leads the way. Someone else from the Cycle shop he works at, usually takes the rear and makes sure no one lags behind. We find the faster more knowledgable riders stick to the front, and the newer riders tend to stay to the back. I usually ride where my friends are cuz I trust them more then some riders I do not know.
LJ