StropeSled

Now that riding season is almost here, I thought I would give everyone a reminder to keep everyone safe.

Guys, on a group ride, its your responsibility to make sure you know where the rider behind you is. You dont have to baby sit but....

1. If its your ride (you're a leader) you HAVE TO wait at a turning point for the group before you turn so they can see you. Not after you turn, dont THAN pull into a parking lot and wait, do it on the side of the road or slow down on the straight before you get there.

2. If youre towards the back, always give a thumbs up or thumbs down to the leader at the turning point when he looks back, sometimes its hard to count heads so if you're one of the last two look back, make sure everyone has caught up and give a thumbs up so we can continue.

3. If you are in the middle of the pack, dont go balls out trying to catch the front, there is a reason you got left behind so you wont catch them, so try and slow it down a little on the straights and just look in your mirror, if you see the guy behind you, ok, open it up... but try and always look back to make sure he is ok.

4. If you go through a sharp turn that ****ed you up... IT WILL mess someone else up, so if you just went through that OH SH!T moment, chill out for a sec and look back, make sure the rider behind you made it, he will look for the next guy.

5. If you say you are leading a Med or Med/Slow ride, MAKE IT THAT!!! people will show up on your ride expecting a speed, if you leave them, they have no clue where to go, dont know the road and so on. If you wanted to go faster, should have posted up a faster ride.

6. Its easy to get carried away trying to catch the front... STOP THAT SH!T. like i said before, you wont, if you could have you would have never lost them, so ride your own ride and try and make sure everyone is ok.

7. If you come to a stop, and you have to wait more than 5min for a rider, dont call him... turn the f*ck around or send a scout. Thats the way it works, calling someone to see if they are ok doesnt work if hes in the woods somewhere now does it.

8. NEVER, EVER brake off from the group without telling someone, i dont care if your bladder is about to explode or your mom just died and you got the call via your blue tooth or what ever, tell someone, that way we dont spend half the day looking for your body in the woods.

9. If you have a problem, FLAG a fellow rider down, dont just pull over like you want to look around, point at something, Gas tank = no gas, do the cut of throat thing if the bike is dead... do something so they know its the bike and not you having a heart attack or something else.

10. If you can feel a fellow rider on your ass in a corner, or every time you look back he is a foot off your tire, wave him by... i dont give a sh!t how much faster you can go or if you are holding back today... let him go by, you are f*cking up his ride. So dont try and prove something!!!

11. If you are being held up by someone, try and let them know you are there... NO, do not beep your horn mid corner, but maybe in a straight away, and if you do pass, make sure you make the pass safely!

12. Unless i know you and have done other rides with you, GET THE F*CK OFF MY ASS... if im holding you back pass me, but if we are 4 deep youre not going to pass all 4 of us, so just drop the f*ck back.

13. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RIDER BEHIND YOU!!! ALWAYS, so you should know who is behind you, and he will know who is behind him, thats how smooth group rides work!

14. If your not fast in the corner dont go balls out in the straight.

That is all....
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PatR1ck07

oh, dont forget...

When riding in Staggered Formation. DONT FREAK THE FUCK OUT if it the formation gets messed up...

Also, when riding in a group. Dont do stupid shit to get the rest of the group pulled over!

A good leader wont speed off and expect people to catch up and stay at their pace. That is if they are doing anything fast.

USE THE BUDDY SYSTEM if you have enough people.

It also helps if you can invest in a Chatterbox as well... Since not a lot of people can do sign language, and the only sign language people know is lol.

Ok, that all i can think of... haha....

r6on1

I don't think that everyone has the time to remember 14 different rules when they are riding, but it a nice list to go off of. Bottom line, down put anyone in danger, ride in YOUR comfort zone, don't be an idiot.. That's my opinion anyways.

Ninja05Girl636

Most of "the rules" are pretty much common sense/common courtesy. So there really isn't much to remember.

But like you were saying... Just ride safe! Don't be stupid.

PatR1ck07

for some of us thats easier said then done!

r6on1

there was about seven of us that went for a ride on sunday, it was an awesome ride, but one of the guys who met up with us went down in a corner, just took it too wide. he is okay, and the bike isn't too bad, but it is pretty scraped up. Just brings up a good point, if you are hittin twisties that you aren't familiar with or are riding with faster riders, don't push yourself. just ride in your comfort zone. who cares if you are last, it's not a race.

Transported

The catching up with the ride leaders isn't a hard-and-fast rule. Often, the first few riders will have an easy pass of some cagers and then the following riders will have a delay to make their pass. They can often make up the time.

But, if they have to kill themselves to catch up, then yeah, there's most likely a reason they were dropped.

On a related matter, smart riders will haul through the fun twisties and then let off on the boring straights to allow those separated to catch back up and also to not be so conspicuous to the police.

r6on1

oh yeah, i know when we go for rides, the fast riders will kind of take off and then slow back down after the fun is over. You have to make sure everyone made it through the corners, i don't to be the one to have a friend back in the ditch because i didn't wait.

wsurc51

Jesus, you guys have a lot of rules....

MichelinMan

Just ride safe and have fun.

TraumaHawk