Good Advice on Group Rides from RoadRUNNER Magazine
http://www.roadrunner.travel/2013/12...etition-place/
"If you participate in group motorcycle rides often enough, chances are you’ll
eventually encounter the rider I’ll call 'over-confident Carl.' Carl is sure
that he is the best, most experienced, and handsomest rider in the group (the
world?) and feels the need to prove that point with his riding style. He will
either insist on leading the group outright or start somewhere farther back, get
bored, and execute a dangerous series of passing maneuvers so that he can
properly obliterate the posted speed limits from the front of the pack. At
lunch, he will 'jokingly' poke fun at other riders’ choices of bikes, gear, or
riding styles. He will then regale the group with stories about his epic racing
career (generally spanning the ages from 12-14) and blame his failure to go pro
on some latent injury. The afternoon ride will be similar, with excessive
speeds, suspect cornering skills, and, in general, lots of unnecessary risk.
Riding with Carl is one of the surest ways to ruin an otherwise promising day
in the saddle. The best thing to do when you’re riding with someone like this is
to let him go on ahead, ride your own ride, and hope nothing bad happens while
he’s reliving his racing career on your tour. The worst thing to do is to get
suckered into an ego competition that has you trying to one-up each other both
with your stories and on the road. Don’t fall for it; if you do you’ve just
become Carl. Refuse to stoop to his level, the road is no place for an ego and
it’s no place to prove a point of any kind. Trying to keep up with someone who’s
riding too aggressively for asphalt populated by minivans, dump trucks, and
pedestrians is a recipe for a lot of regrets. It’s just not worth it.
Competition belongs on the track, let’s all commit to keeping it there."
