Riders who forget they were fledglings once, crack me up too.

 

Poor newbs, but hey, they have to learn somewhere. Been too long for me, I forgot what it's like to be new. I do feel for the new guys though, they want to hang out but they are so nervous about embarrassing themselves, I think the nervousness hampers their abilities sometimes.

 

No doubt. A few years ago I saw a stupid and unskilled moron bring down 10 people in a toy run horseing around. Since then, I avoid them. I have a couple of close friends I've known and ridden with for 25 years, otherwise I avoid groups of any sort. You have no idea who you are riding with. When I bought my bike, it was 3 yrs old with 5k miles. I'm approaching 40k now. That means the previous owner road in a year about what I do every month, month and a half. Even a good rider cannot maintain their skill level reading the forums. You have to ride. You northern folk know how awkward those first few rides of the year feel when you de-mothball the machine. Down here, the weather permits year round riding, so nobody has an excuse for getting stale. Ride like you're invisible!

 

Me too. I would rather keep my riding buddies in front of me

 

I've always been the Road Captain when leading the group rides. I always schedule an "interview" with newbies by asking them tons of questions then we go out on a ride together as I let this newbie lead me so I can observe, study and see what type of a rider he or she is then we go over the corrections as needed to ensure he or she needs to understand and improve his or her riding skills before we go out on a group ride. I can either tell them that they can come or not depending on their attitude or egoism.

I am known to be very stern with the newbies before we start riding is to cruise nicely and enjoy the scenarios cause I do not want to spend my time in the emergency room helping my fellow brothers or sisters. One f*#ked up ride or close call, I tell them to get out of my group ride and go home by themselves whether they like it or not.

Tough ****,

Thorey

 

Cool...what kind of scenarios do you setup to test and evaluate them?

 

Could be a situation the guy did not want to get lost.

 

I like to be first or last. Last does not bother me at all since I will keep up. I hate riding with newbees.

 

Our riding group president rides like an azzclown. When riding staggered, i like to be in the curb third of the lane, just my preference. He thinks it's funny to ride between me and the grass. he also rides within 6 inches of the guy in front of him. I often wonder when he's going to crash the whole group. I finally had enough and started riding in the back. He dropped back beside me and started his usual between me and the grass junk. I slowed down again. at the next stop he wasked what was wrong so I unloaded on him, told him he wasn't safe and I wasn't playing with him anymore. He doesn't ride near me anymore. i ride happier. Almost every ohter person in the group has now told him the same thing. He doesn't ride with us very much anymore.

Bub

 

Hate gaps! Gaps=Bad.