Maggie valley June 2019

[1K9]

you did great in that torrential rain Rick, you graduated to a hard core bike rider in Talahina

What I did was freeze my *ss off. Not happening again. There are better roads north of Talihina near Havana 309 north in Magazine State Park and north of that. That's where we need to go next.

 

[mexican]

What I did was freeze my *ss off. Not happening again. There are better roads north of Talihina near Havana 309 north in Magazine State Park and north of that. That's where we need to go next.

That was the plan before the sky fell

 

[rng3]

One rider should (last one in group) wait (safely) at any turns for anyone seperated from the group and so on until all are together again, having the lead rider(road captain) stop then take over the group again can be done but a lot safer using the last man method,
If a large group split into small groups no more than six, a lot easier to control and safer, the idea of a million Rockets riding down the road reminds me of the Simpson episode with the Harley riders look at me--look at me -vroom vroom.
Nothing worse then having 20-30 eiders pull into a gas station then about 30-45min later they finally leave far too much riding time lost.
If riding in a large or for that matter any group the most important thing to do is have a safety meeting with all riders present before taking off.

eiders?
Could not agree more about the safety meeting. Way too many things can go wrong without one, and a lot can be avoided with one.
Last year I rode with a couple different groups, none had a safety meeting or even really explained where they were going.
On the one the Road Captain just rode as fast as he could down roads he has known for all his life and it was just follow me. You got there if you got there. After lunch told them I would go my own way home. Won't do that again.
Another group of about 12 riders and one rider towards the end of the pack just decided to go home so split off when the other bikes were out of sight without telling anyone so the end of the group just followed him.
Eventually the rear group stopped, had to turn around and try to catch up to the real group. The last rider of the real group had pulled off the road to wait for them putting himself at risk.
When the tail group arrived for lunch they were confronted in the parking lot by one of the women in the lead group who was beside herself because she had to wait 10 minutes (gasp) in the parking lot.
The weather was nice, the roads were good but was not a good time in the end.
Having said that if there are 30 Rockets together in one spot I'd like to ride in that group of 30 at least for a short while and then perhaps break up into smaller groups or go our own ways.
There is some great information in "Proficient Motorcycle Riding" on group riding.
Rick

 

[TheKid]

Learn to use hand signals, at least for me. I don't hear very well. Ask @ski .

 

[1K9]

eiders?
Could not agree more about the safety meeting. Way too many things can go wrong without one, and a lot can be avoided with one.
Last year I rode with a couple different groups, none had a safety meeting or even really explained where they were going.
On the one the Road Captain just rode as fast as he could down roads he has known for all his life and it was just follow me. You got there if you got there. After lunch told them I would go my own way home. Won't do that again.
Another group of about 12 riders and one rider towards the end of the pack just decided to go home so split off when the other bikes were out of sight without telling anyone so the end of the group just followed him.
Eventually the rear group stopped, had to turn around and try to catch up to the real group. The last rider of the real group had pulled off the road to wait for them putting himself at risk.
When the tail group arrived for lunch they were confronted in the parking lot by one of the women in the lead group who was beside herself because she had to wait 10 minutes (gasp) in the parking lot.
The weather was nice, the roads were good but was not a good time in the end.
Having said that if there are 30 Rockets together in one spot I'd like to ride in that group of 30 at least for a short while and then perhaps break up into smaller groups or go our own ways.
There is some great information in "Proficient Motorcycle Riding" on group riding.
Rick

Ride with Jay and Wendy and you will be safeguarded from that crap. They guard the front and the back.

I rode with Dr.D leading and he made sure we were all and one at every turn. He stops after a while to see if the pack is happy with his speed.

If you ride behind Fred and Melissa, she keeps and eye on the slow folks.

If you ride behind Morris or Steve they will get lost in the curves but stop at the turns and wait for me. Thank you.

If you ride with Wells he will ride slow, specially in the fog if he knows I'm in the pack

If you ride behind Scott or Dave you will get and riding class. You will be shown how to enter and exit turns progressively increasing the speed. Thank you

Certainly the skippers meeting is a good idea. If you see a new rider joining the pack ask them about their comfort zone.

I never dive, surf or windsurf alone. Ride alone but rather ride with company. It is much more fun and safer for all.

 

[TheKid]

Dave won't be happy until he finds an old gravel road with the promise of a goat sitting alone!

 

[Dr.D]

Thanks for the kind words Rick.

If I lead I get out ahead a little bit but I’ll wait till the group reforms before turns or to much distance is gained. It makes time for burn outs and wheelies.

I rode with a few Harley’s one time that were to green and slow to ride with again. One was a relative of my wife so I hung in there most of the day. After lunch I made up some story about having to go a different route and let them go on their way. They were so afraid of the hills the ladies on the back would not mount till they got out of our driveway and once wouldn’t ride down the parking lot at lunch. Never seen anything like that in my life.

 

[1K9]

Thanks for the kind words Rick.

If I lead I get out ahead a little bit but I’ll wait till the group reforms before turns or to much distance is gained. It makes time for burn outs and wheelies.

I rode with a few Harley’s one time that were to green and slow to ride with again. One was a relative of my wife so I hung in there most of the day. After lunch I made up some story about having to go a different route and let them go on their way. They were so afraid of the hills the ladies on the back would not mount till they got out of our driveway and once wouldn’t ride down the parking lot at lunch. Never seen anything like that in my life.

Overloaded motorcycles, not well tuned. A little preload would have fixed that. Next time bring the convertible for the girls. BTW I found a site for Harley Dark Siders! There were some Harley downhill sliders too.

 

[Tripps]

Amigo
To me, ya looked like Santa between two kids looking for presents.

The belly is ready, just waiting for the hair to turn white

 

[sonny]

Well getting a bit closer to this run and wife said "No way are you going without some new clothes" Hate shopping with a passion. Spent the day shopping and biting my bottom lip. New pants and this time Levies. Have not bought Levies in over 30 years. My god they got some funny looking ShI4 now days. Skinny jeans Did find some relax fit 550. Fit better than wrangles sold at Walmart. Two years ago bought some new clothes and this time pretty much figured out i have lost a few since then. 36 waist vice 42. Even the Carhartt T-shirts went down to XL vice 2X. Got to looking and figured some of my jeans with holes in them might be worth some money. They sell pants in worse shape than mine for good money. Who in their right mind would buy pants with holes in them Spend most of my time working or riding but today's shopping experience was enlightening to say the least. Excited about this run not even.