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Hog chapter dissapointing

dogdad

Active Member
Well, I joined the local Hog Chapter and went on a ride. Needless to say,,I won't ride again with them. About 25 riders took part. Safety meeting in the beginning and the instructions/directions were given. We are told we will be doing the speed limit and when we get on the interstate we will be getting in the far left hand lane(fast lane). So we take off and down a road the light turns yellow, so I stop as well as the 7 bikes behind me. The rest go on as we will catch up. One of the members calls out to me as to know if I know where I'm going,,,and I nod yes as I have been on this route a few times.
So we get on the interstate and I DO AS THE ROAD CAPTAIN SAYS TO DO in the safety meeting. Far left hand lane on the interstate and I do 65 in a 60 as I feel being in the fast lane not to be a good idea,,,,but I didn't want to be told later that I didn't follow the road ways. Well we had a little ways to go before we got to our exit,,,and here comes the guy that questioned me ,,passes me up in a much quicker speed , so I get behind him and follow. Well we come to a red light and he says to me," you're going to slow,, you're in the fast lane, and i wasn't sure if you knew the exit"... Well O K ,,so we get on a two lane 55 speed limit highway , catch up with the rest of the pack and off we go. Well we are doing 75 on a 55 limit. So I signaled to those behind me to pass and My girl friend and I just rode by ourselves. Just me,,not my kind of group.
On another note,,,,we just had our state Hog Rally here in Louisiana and I must say ,,it was lame, dissapointing,,,,few vendors , very little food to choose from and not much going on. Glad I used someones arm band to see the vendors and not spend $90 to get into nothing. There was more going on at the local HD dealership there in Hammond. JMO
 
Dogdad: I agree with you. The group rides are to artificial in too many ways with too many peeps wanting to be the "leader". Very plastic in my opinion. Not my style either. I will ride with and perfer a group of friends anyday. :s
 
Boy! I am in a good HOG chapter....we ride pretty well together with some RC's run a little faster than others. But on the whole a good riding group.

Still have the old politics but you will have that with any group...I just :):) to all...
 
I believe in the national Hog, but since I don't care for large group rides, I didn't join the local group.:bigsmiley25:
 
We haven't been to any large rallies... considering the Maine chapter rally in July though, not for the group rides as I'm not into that but for the people/bike watching. Should be a good place to see some awsome rides if nothing else. We'll see how it goes...
 
Re: Hog chapter disappointing

I have been a member of a local HOG chapter for about 7 years now. We have a great group of people and do a lot of chapter events but I seldom do large rides (3 in 7 years) because I do not like riding in large groups. I prefer small groups of 3 or 4 with people I know. When I attend a chapter event, my wife and I usually ride there alone and meet everyone and have a good time :)

So don't give up on the HOG chapter, just avoid the large group rides.
 
Re: Hog chapter disappointing

That's a bummer. I must be really lucky, our local HOG chapter is a blast to ride with.

Very safety conscious and we are turning over road captains very well and I haven't seen anyone "want" to be first. Our road captains go through a lot of training and our head road captain is top notch. You have to want to do a good job and we support the road captains and each other. If the road captains are good and everyone follows them it's a lot safer. Of course, like everything in life some are better than others. By the time we get to the lunch destination I'm always hungry and getting there in one piece is a goal.

Another plus is we always know well in advance where we are headed for lunch so there's no "where do you want to go?, I don't know where do you want to go? Oh, I don't like this or that, so then where do you want to go? I don't care...yeah right! Now, that drives me nuts and that seems to happen often with the buddy rides.

Group riding isn't everyone's cup o tea.

I like to mix it up and go with freinds, by myself and with the Chapter but I have to admit, I always feel safer when riding with our chapter. But if I want to be in complete control, I go solo.
 
I DO AS THE ROAD CAPTAIN SAYS TO DO in the safety meeting.
You sound like an intelligent rider. I quit being a road captain for a Hog
chapter over just the opposite. I believe in obeying the law to the letter
when riding in a group. We always had at least 25 +/- and they either
road too slow or side by side or wouldn't go single file when you threw
a hand up for it, backing cars up, you get the idea. Anyway, I don't ride
that way, so I quit, and your right, it's better to ride with two or three
of your friends who you can trust, or ride alone. jmo

 
I have ridden with many charity group function rides where you don't know MOST of the riders and AT THESE, there isn't a riders meeting that DID WHAT WAS SUGGESTED!!! I'M LUCKY TO BE ALIVE because of the IDIOTS that ride on-over-in-between and just plain ARE NOT SAFE TO RIDE WITH...... SHOW-OFFS and INCONSIDERATE of others.

NOW MIND YOU I can MARCH and CHEW gum at the same time and pride myself on GOOD riding skills...BUT,,, I HAVE DONE SILLY, DUMB THINGS ALSO....

PREVENTATIVE skills, in my book, are the most needed when GROUP RIDES are done by MASSES of BIKERS and EVERY ONE doing it THEIR WAY.....

I found the OYSTER RUN here in Washington State that MAY start out with MANY small groups of riders PLANNING to ride together and coming from all parts of the country,,,,, IT turns INTO an IMPOSSIBLE "to keep your group together" the closer you get tho the final destination...

RIDER GROUPS and SINGLE RIDERS are SO MANY , and BUNCH UP on the freeways into a MASS of ONE GROUP no matter how good the WORST-BEST rider OF your group is.... It becomes impossible to keep together..

IN MY GROUP of 8, and was SUGGESTED EARLIER, to go single at THAT point (too crowded) and get together at the final stopping place...IF you can find THEM...

The Oyster Run (a sun. event), usually has a continuous filing of bikes all day long and may number 15/20,000 bikes in the days event..... Bikes all converging at the same ONE place ANACORTES Wa. where the town is shut down to cars and the back half of town STRICTLY to accommodate the MASS of BIKES....

I started riding on this run YEARS AGO and RODE with a group of BANDITOS who ORGANIZED their ride around and thru small towns and ended up at the main function in Anacortes. These were the MOST FUN rides, BEFORE the RUN became TOO LARGE.... I remember THIS group ESCORTED by the police and we NEVER had to stop for cross traffic. (COP escorted maybe caus" banditos you think?) THIS escort made the ride a little safer than todays MASSES...

The BANDITOS ride started with about 150 bikes back? then and worked its way up to 2,500 at the LAST year I wanted to ride it. (yes, and it was escorted by the police) this was the last year planned by the BANDITOS....

I DO ENJOY THE HIGH I GET FROM ALL THOES BIKES!!!!! but on the UNPLANNED RIDES, MANY of the bikes seem to RACE,PASS and NO RULES,, NO care for SAFETY.. and seems to get WORSE every year. sirens going all the time.

YOU can take a great RIDE and RUIN IT by a few who JUST don't THINK.....

REMEMBER ALL the signs along the highways in SD Sturgis area,,,,,

THINK.....

signed....BUBBIE
 
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