How Many "Lone Wolves" here?

[jmk713]

Alone 99% of the time. Wife goes along once in a while; but only if it's warm and sunny.
I do go on one toy run a year with a chapter of a local club.
Did a large group ride (500+ bikes) a month after 9-11. That was a great ride...everyone "behaved"; and the ride was publicised enough that every small town we rode through had people standing along the road side to support us.

[sinolav]

I've done some group riding, however I mostly ride solo, unless my wife comes along.

[Whopper]

Mostly solo...did the Trail of Tears ride, that part that passed through Alabama, one year. Too many bikes with too many people of way too varrying skill level. I'll stick to solo or very small groups of people I know.

ditto that

[street bob]

Like most, I ride alone most of the time. My wife and I ride together alot more these days and we enjoy it being just us two. We do like to ride with groups in rallies and poker runs. I like the brotherhood of riding but am leary of getting to colse to people whom I've never ridden with before.
Either way for me, I just love to ride my bike.

[09 Classicman]

I've only ridden with a group a few times, HOG ride and dealer rides, and I didn't like it. I don't like that much structure. The wife and I prefer to go our own way, do our own thing. With our work schedules, the weekends are about the only time we have to be together, so we prefer them to be alone with the bike. We don't ever drink alcohol while on the bike, we stay right near the speed limit, and if we spot something interesting along the way, we like the freedom to just stop a check it out. I am kind of anti-social anyways. You know the saying: The more people I meet, the more I like my dogs!

[83XLX]

Originally Posted by Whopper

...did the Trail of Tears ride, that part that passed through Alabama, one year. Too many bikes with too many people of way too varrying skill level...

I've done that ride the last 5 or 6 years and lived to tell about it.

You're right - there are some squirrelly riders that show up. If I find myself near one, I find a new spot farther behind them. That way, if they go down, I have room to avoid running over them.

[CrossBonesRick]

I prefer to ride alone. The only time I ride with a group is during the annual toy ride in October here in my city. Other than that I know where I want to go, how fast and if I want to stop for lunch or choose to stop to streach my legs. I just like it better when I am on my own.

[sofia91]

While riding alone is a blast, I find that riding in the right group of two to five bikes is even better. On the few occasions that I have ridden in bigger groups, I echo most of the remarks already posted. It's hard to get all the riding styles to match, stop signs and merges can be a pain, who wants to stop for how often and how long,etc. etc. And, as a member of a larger pack you miss a lot because you need to watch spacing more carefully. It's one thing to dawdle when only one or two of you will then have to catch up, and quite another when there's 15 guys behind you.

My wife pilots her own trike, and some of our best rides are weekend rides to nowhere when we just hop on the bikes and put on 100+ miles without out going more than 35 miles from home (there's lots of super back roads in our area). We can crank it out or justs noodle around depending on our whims. Most excellent.

Final comment has to be though that lone wolf ride or group ride, it beats no ride.

[unclepsycho]

I know poker runs are different, and I make a point of going on at least 1 or 2 during the summer, but one in particular, a couple years ago, sticks in my mind.

We had a rider in our group of about 10 or 12 bikes that didnt like to ride over 45 to 50. we set out on the poker run route and got onto the coast hwy-1 behind a camper that had no clue we were there. after a few miles of 15-20, I was turning into a psycho on 2-wheels and started doing wheelies to get his attention, if he would just look in the mirror. I was getting mad as ever... other groups were stacking up behind us and finally.. that idiot pulled over...... I cranked on the throttle flipped off the idiot as we went by and headed for open road. we got to a long stretch.,.. hit 90 mph.. to heck with the slow riders...(they kept up) at the end of the stretch I looked in the mirror...and that was the coolest thing I ever saw... nothing but bikes for over a mile...we rolled into the next poker run stop and flooded that little town. Everything was perfectly coryographed... no one ran into anyone...everyone just found a place to park... the local cop went berzerk and thought he had to direct traffic, which then became a mess.. it was a funny thing to watch.... I hollered out..."traffic was fine till that cop showed up!!" he looked around got pissed got back in his car and left.... we applauded... got on our bikes... a few at a time... and continued on our way. It was a fun day.