Tired of "belonging"

[Miks]

I sort of have this mentality...maybe just a selfish motive, but when I go riding, I am perfectly content with going it alone. At times I will ride with others, but it is because they know I have the good roads picked out, and it all falls into my schedule. When I say my schedule, I mean we will ride someplace, take a scenic photo or two, stop if something is interesting, and have a beer close to home before parting company.

I have tried a few group rides, I get tired of all the delays, the constant monitoring of the group so we all stay in the group, etc. I will do one of these on occasion, but I am not into these types of rides because it takes me away from the element of being on the bike and looking at the world and only having to pay attention to where the bike is going and what is ahead.

Fortunately my college roomate just bought a new Indian Chieftain, which he really likes to ride...after he got divorced and sold his BMW K1200Gt. Anyway, he is the "follower" type, so I just call, ask how many miles we should put on, and he is all in. We will stop for a beer on the way home, and call it a day. We once stopped at a place about 12 miles from home, had a beer and watched the poker run crowd stop in. They probably had put about 50 miles on the bikes, and were soaking up alcohol like prohibition was being re-instated the next day. Anyway, not my type of an idea for a ride, but the gang of bikers was about twenty bikes and they were having a good time by their standards.

Photo of the ride from yesterday.

[DaWadd]

Don't own chaps or a doo rag so I don't join any clubs.

[ReserveBum]

Great thread. I ride solo 99% of the time. Thought I was different but from the posts, I guess not. Like making my own destination, stops, and schedule. It does get occasionally concerning when I find myself in a place I probably should not be in and have no backup.
I do belong to a Legion Riders group but we only had two short rides last year. We do some fund raising through a winter comedy show but not a lot of other "Fund raising". Not too political (it cant be as we only have a few guys left who ride), but we do contribute monthly to various local and veterans causes. I did go to a "US Military Vets" meet but it was not for me....it is a MC and they were heavy into the "Fund Raising"

[choptop]

I have ridden w/a riding club since '02, I was kind of adopted on a ride before some people pulled away from the original club, who's ride I was on, and formed their own club. They have a clubhouse in the presidents garage, have quarterly meetings, elect officers, have rides every weekend in the summer and do a lot together as a club. I live 50 miles away from the Cities, Mn/St.Paul, 70 miles from the clubhouse and don't get to do as much w/them as I would like to and maybe that is a good thing. They are the better part of past middle age adolescences that enjoy partying and I know my limitations and could not keep up w/them. Over the last 9 years of the Creamery Party I have laid witness to how we are getting older, each year people sneak of to bed earlier whereas in the beginning we used to be at the camp fire till 3or4 in the morning.
I have never had a problem w/any of the nor visa versa as far as I know. prospects have a trial period and are voted on before becoming a member, if they are a good fit, yes, if not no.
I am not privy to everything that goes on but I know of a few personality conflicts that were nipped in the bud in order to keep peace in the club. I will be doing the Pa, 10 day ride w/ members from the club and Sturgis, it is always a good time.
Do not have a problem riding alone but would , for the most part, share the experience with another rider.

[wjduke]

I remember the best club was the old "Lower 40" club. They had only one rule; if you want to join fine, but don't bother us about it.
Most riders ride Harley's that explains the need for bar hoping.
Biking is like boating if your waiting for someone else to cast the lines off you'll never leave the dock!

How true this statement is. I ride mostly solo, but do have a good few friends with M&C109's that actually enjoy riding. It's very difficult to gather a few riders for a group ride. It's the only "group" I'd belong to....people I know, who are similar to me and my style.

[SoCal Rich]

I've been fortunate enough to find a group (not a club) via Meetup.com that has members from all walks and that have all different kinds of bikes. No group jackets, none of that crap. We enjoy each other's company, ride all over Socal almost every Sunday, and have fun acting sophomoric to relieve stress. They're into riding rather than drinking, unless of course we plan an overnight ride. Maybe you could find something like this on Meetup.

[Old Ryder]

I rode with a lot of my buddies back in my Harley days. Not any more. At least 95% of my riding is by myself and about 25% has the wife on the back. I stop when i like, sight see when I want to, get gas when I need it and I never hear anybody else complain about anything I do while I ride. My buddy Mark has a Versys and we travel well together as we are both respectful of each others needs and wishes. We both give a lot and demand and expect little---so we do very well together. We do a few trips every year and are considerate of each other.

We have done about a dozen or so trips with others and larger groups of 5 or more but never more than 8. I got more stories about those trips than I can begin to type about and if I were talking to you it would take days. We had a bike week experience in Daytona in 2013 with 4 (what we thought were close) Harley buddies and we declared 'NEVER AGAIN"! My other buddy Frank has a 750 Shadow. If I am not with Frank or Mark, then I am alone.

My time on my mota sickle is exactly that! It is about having fun---and when the fun stops being fun, then it ain't fun anymore!

[xgringo]

Back in the sixties I learned my lesson. I took my first motorcycle trip with a buddy from NJ to Moosehead Lake Maine. What a disaster!! Here I am fresh out of the service so sleeping out with or without a tent was what I expected along with living on canned raviolis and peanut butter sandwiches. This guy wanted his hot meals and I can still remember him repeating to me "do you know what I mean by a hot meal?" I'll also never forget checking into a motel while it was still light and him turning the tv to that wretched "come on down" game show.

My wife doesn't ride but we have recently started something that works well for us. She flies and I ride and we do our little vacation thing and I take a long way back. A very long way back as in central Mexico. We did Vegas in 2014 and Chicago in 2015. I mean how could I go all the way to Chicago and not go to Mazatlan for a photo op with my brand new F6B.

Enjoy!!

Tom

[grendl]

I dont think I was ever into the MC or Club thing. Most of my time on my bike(s) have been alone and they have been the enjoyable ones.
I have a few friends I ride with and every now and then I ride out with the GWRRA chapter but most of it is solo.
When I'm riding ,I dont need the politics of the club or group either personal or organizationally.
When I want to 'scrape the pegs' or just cruise along enjoying the scenery is always my choice for as long as I want to do either.I feel ya on the experience of hooking up with a group having breakfast or lunch /dinner then go home ! WTF I dont do 'block riding'. I dont want to drink or smoke -the ride is the object and the high..

[Dave Ritsema]

Never understood the need to be in an "MC". Don't feel the need to belong to something like that I guess. I also have no interest in the politics and having to live within someone's formal guidelines just to enjoy riding my motorcycle.
I have 4 or 5 friends that I ride with from time to time, works fine for me.