Quote Originally Posted by Hornblower View Post
Big Dawg, try not to beat yourself up over this. I know you mentioned that several have "lost it" trying to follow you (I believe you mentioned 12). The reality is that the admonition to "ride your own speed" was brought up several times and, in this particular case, you made a special attempt to advise this rider after noticing he was struggling a bit in the corners. I don't know what else you could have done. The fact is that when you lead a group on a ride such as this, sooner or later, something is bound to happen. As a previous pastor of mine reminded us, it's the "nature of human nature" that often leads to problems. Personally, I appreciate your efforts to lead what I would call a reasonable, spirited ride. The larger issue here is how our group should handle future rides. Should there be a fast group separate from the "regular" group? Inevitably, there will be a rider who wants to be associated with the fast group whether he is fast or not. Therein lies the problem.
Hornblower, I just hate it when folks get themselves into trouble. When the Dark Side Riders had their rally at the same Hotel this past July, they had several groups. The biggest complaint was the people that signed up for the spirited rides that had no concept as to how to ride in the mountains much less, ride at a decent pace.There are a lot of Dark Side riders that I have work to stay with, and I love riding with them. For example, Hwy 28, the road out of Franklin, is a 55 mph posted limit, even when it gets twisty. I can't maintain 55 in a lot of those corners and most cars don't. A lot of the corners have yellow curve signs with a recommended speed on them but it doesn't mean that you are breaking the law if you go faster than the recommended speed. It is still a 55 MPH zone. The section of 28 where Dwight crashed was a 45 post limit. At 35 in the corners, with the wife on the back, I was dragging pegs. I guess we were getting away from him and he wanted to catch up to us. Sadly, had he waited 4 more corners, we would have been sitting at the stop sign.

Over the years, especially the last 30, I have ridden Harleys, cruisers, sport bikes(I have owned 6 Hayabusa's) and sport touring bikes in the mountains a lot. Three summers in a row, I went out West, to find and ride the twistiest roads in the country. I have attended several road racing schools and I went road racing for a while. I took my oldest son all the way to the AMA pro road racing circuit. To put things into perspective, Even when I'm on a crotch rocket, following him, after a couple of corners, he is out of sight. I am smart enough to know that I can't keep up with him, so we just regroup at the stop signs. I routinely ride with others who are faster than I am but thankfully I have never crashed following them. I know and understand my limits.

I recently bought a house in Franklin, NC so that it would be easier for me to keep bikes up there to ride. I still have several other bikes that I like to ride up there too. I have a ZG 1400 Kawasaki Concours, The Goldwing, and a Ninja 1000 and Yes, there have been a lot of guys go down following me. I can't explain it and don't understand why. I'm from Savannah, Georgia where everything is flat and straight. Around home, there is no challenge for riding a bike. I don't care about riding fast(in a straight line) I figured out a long time a go that you are an easy target if you do. If I did want to haul ass, I would get out on the interstate and blow it out. I enjoy the challenge of riding the mountain roads and showing folks around. I always preach, "ride your own ride" I have had friends get mad with me, saying that I was trying to run off and leave them, even with my wife on the back. I try to explain that I am riding my ride and I guarantee that I am more comfortable at my pace than they are at theirs. I love teaching folks how to ride the corners, and have successfully taught a large group how to relax, challenge a corner, be smooth, not scare the crap out of themselves and have fun. Then there are those who (think they) know how to do it and those who won't listen.

Having said all that, if you ever want a coach to help you improve your corner skills, I will be glad to share any information with you. Be safe and remember, RIDE YOUR RIDE. If you are not comfortable keeping up with the guy in front of you, then don't kill yourself trying