12 Motorcyclists Talk about Their Riding Groups

Riding groups bring their own benefits and challenges.  Different interests, riding experience and personalities create interesting and ever changing group dynamics.

While riding is lots of fun, when choosing riding groups, safety must be the #1 priority.

How many groups do you ride with? Are they formal or informal groups? Who leads them and how trained are they in managing group rides?

Here’s how these experienced Motorcycle Mojo fans responded.

12 Riders talk about their Riding Groups

1. Kevin G.  The odd group charity ride. Only other “group riding” is with 1 group of 4 other friends – long time friends – and really keeping the entire group together on the road is like trying to herd cats. Different riding preferences make a tight unified group impractical, unsafe and probably less enjoyable for all. We all manage to arrive at the same destination though.

2. Linda Y.  Diane and I usually ride just the two of us. On occasion we ride with two other friends.

3. Ursula B.  I usually ride with two or three friends. I am not sure how I would do with more because I avoided big rides. ( a bit afraid of others skill levels )

4. Rick E.  I ride with the best, All Canadian Riders Club ( ACRC )….friendly group and truly All Canadian !!.. Road captains with 50 years riding experience. Safety is the main thing, we have no more than 7 in a group

5. Malcolm K.  The only larger group rides I participate in are with the ST-Owners group. Most from this group are like me (older), have 10’s of thousands of km of riding experience and have a similar riding style. Our rides are to a destination to have lunch, which usually ends up being in the 400 to 500 km range by the time I get home in time for dinner. Not sure how much training the leaders have, but I have never had cause to worry on any of our rides.Smaller group rides are with 2 or 3 close friends. These rides tend to be longer touring types of rides of two or more days. I have been riding with these same guys for over 30 years and when we are together it is almost like a solo ride, except the leader is the one with the route in mind.

6. Donna R.  I rarely ride in groups any more. When I do it’s usually when I plan one.

7. Marc O.  depends on type of road as well, smaller is better on secondary roads, we just plan for meets with others at some place that serves food. We’re sort of an “Eating club, with a biking disorder”

8. Tim D. CMC 023, Again, safety is the main thing, 6-8 in a group depending on how many are riding

9. Don E. I really only ride with one group; friends. Although I am a serving military man, I cannot join clubs because I want to ride with people I know and trust. People that I can easily talk to about the ride, the riding techniques we use and how to improve them. We always come home safe because we ride like a unit. I know when and how lane changes, turns, stops and starts will go with friends. In a large group, you wont have that luxury.

10. Barb S.  ride with two groups CMC – formal riding group with trained road captains, and OSR – informal

11. Brian L.  I had that bike in 1979. It was a cool bike and medaled in the ISDT too.

12. Marc O.  I ride with the Defenders (Chapter 15, Truro NS) and we have all levels of riders and we ease any newcomer in slowly by breaking off into smaller groups if needed.

Do you ride with groups?  How do you decide which ones to join?