Ben and Jerrys Ride Report

[Ninjajim]

I had a good ride for the most part on the way up. I did have to move my way up in the pack. I hope I was not one of the rule breakers. I know for a fact that I never pass on the right, but in a staggered pace I assume the whole lane is mine left and right if need be. There were too many riders in my blind spots. None of those riders were NESR guys, but it had it's creepy moments.

Who ever was on the yellow SV650 in the front of the pack get Props from me. The lean angle that you were laying out on our ride north was sick!

[Kenn157]

I had a good ride for the most part on the way up. I did have to move my way up in the pack. I hope I was not one of the rule breakers. I know for a fact that I never pass on the right, but in a staggered pace I assume the whole lane is mine left and right if need be. There were too many riders in my blind spots. None of those riders were NESR guys, but it had it's creepy moments.

Who ever was on the yellow SV650 in the front of the pack get Props from me. The lean angle that you were laying out on our ride north was sick!

That was me!! LOL! Wait, mine is blue and white.. SFV650

[Kenn157]

I had a good ride for the most part on the way up. I did have to move my way up in the pack. I hope I was not one of the rule breakers. I know for a fact that I never pass on the right, but in a staggered pace I assume the whole lane is mine left and right if need be. There were too many riders in my blind spots. None of those riders were NESR guys, but it had it's creepy moments.

Who ever was on the yellow SV650 in the front of the pack get Props from me. The lean angle that you were laying out on our ride north was sick!

So many of the times I looked in mirrors and the guy was gone, turned back and he's right there, I stared down and he fell back. Then did it again, and again, and again. Sorry but it fuckin drove me crazy. I have no idea who he was.

[G21forme]

Sounds like the ducati D-bags that showed up for the ride to the races a few months ago showed up pulling their tricks. I remember the kid on the yellow duc and someone riding a red 1098 that took me all of one mile to realize I wanted to be as far away from him as I could get and people say gsxr riders are sketchy. I don't blame you guys for bailing out as I would have done the same if a ride had that many retards.

[dontpanic]

Dave-

Thanks for a fabulous ride! What a day!! Magnificent twisties! A most excellent time. (I saw little or no squidly behavior, personally….)

Ken / Dave / Jim / Frank: Sorry for holding you up on the slab. I had a blast for the first hour, but then the sweat started the sunscreen running into my eyes, and they started to swell up. Not too long after that, my nose clogged up and I started having trouble breathing. Then about ten minutes later, the biggest bug I’ve ever encountered decided to invite himself onto my faceshield, and covered the entire thing. Cripes!

After I waived you on, I found a gas station and cleaned up. After a benadryl, one Advil, a liter of Gatorade, and half an hour, I was ready to ride again. Man!! I practically took a shower in the rest room.

Thanks again! Great time all around… except for that bug.

[R1]

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Anytime I have needed to pass in a large group I have always done so when thgroup was stopped. I have had a bad experience in a small group of about 7 that changed the way I ride completely.



To me if you don't know the staggered rule and single file regardless of group size you have no business attending.



Now in the case of trusted riding buddies. Hooliganry is expected and even encouraged. The only rule I use is if you run because you did something stupid and get caught for it. Expect a punch in the head when I see you and open your wallet to pay halfthe ticket. Other than that I ride safely anwhere I go



and I do consider my wheelies safe

I would also like to add that when I attended the Curtis ribs ride I did wheelie every chance I had. I at any point I felt it was inappropriate or even dangerous I did not. I also appologized for the one time it appeared I made someone nervous and they said it was fine and that it wasn't the wheelie that they were trying to move back in the group to get by a friend.

I would also like to add that everyone must SAY when they don't feel comfortable. I myself will continue to ride the way I do unless it's a problem.

Just remember if you approach someone with a bad attitude you just might not accomplish anything.

[DaveZX6r]

Dave-

Thanks for a fabulous ride! What a day!! Magnificent twisties! A most excellent time. (I saw little or no squidly behavior, personally….)

Ken / Dave / Jim / Frank: Sorry for holding you up on the slab. I had a blast for the first hour, but then the sweat started the sunscreen running into my eyes, and they started to swell up. Not too long after that, my nose clogged up and I started having trouble breathing. Then about ten minutes later, the biggest bug I’ve ever encountered decided to invite himself onto my faceshield, and covered the entire thing. Cripes!

After I waived you on, I found a gas station and cleaned up. After a benadryl, one Advil, a liter of Gatorade, and half an hour, I was ready to ride again. Man!! I practically took a shower in the rest room.

Thanks again! Great time all around… except for that bug.

Holy crap man! You should have flagged us down not just told us to go ahead. You shouldn't have had to suffer thru that by yourself. If that ever happens again don't just wave us on, let us know!

[Kenn157]

Holy crap man! You should have flagged us down not just told us to go ahead. You shouldn't have had to suffer thru that by yourself. If that ever happens again don't just wave us on, let us know!

wtf!

[TuonoMark]

When we went from Ben and Jerry's to the floating bridge I was about 8 bikes back from Dave. I was riding with TuonoMark and we kept wondering why the guys in front of us couldn't keep it staggered.

Dave will tell you - I am the stagger Nazi. I just don't understand why people repeatedly want to ride up the ass of the rider in front of them. I can understand at speed if you're not comfortable and need to use the whole lane but you shouldn't be able to touch the ass of the bike in front of you when doing so.

[e30addict]

I'm not the one who said something to Dave but I would bet I know who the complaint was on.

There's one or two people who show up on the Seacoast rides who I really wouldn't want to ride with otherwise. It's a trust/comfort issue for me.

As much as they piss me off they're not going to ruin some great rides for me, so I still show up.

Thanks again Dave for another good one.

[Wanderer]

Bah, I dont know what you are all complaining about. Its always smooth going where I am

Although watching the stagger-switch snake its way down the line is kind of amusing

[Ninjajim]

Dave will tell you - I am the stagger Nazi. I just don't understand why people repeatedly want to ride up the ass of the rider in front of them. I can understand at speed if you're not comfortable and need to use the whole lane but you shouldn't be able to touch the ass of the bike in front of you when doing so.

I agree that the stagger is always important, but I do expect to have my whole lane left and right if I need it. Durring highly bumpy sections it is nice to be able to move left and right without a bike in my blind spots. As the pace picked up in the corners the front group handled it well using their whole lanes with plenty of space, but as I looked in my mirror I could see bikes right next to one another.

Note... Rides with 30 people are very dangerous once the pace reaches the B pace range. I still had alot of fun, but I would have felt better in a smaller group.

[DucDave]

At speed and on twisties the Stagger rule is not the preferred formation. Anything over 50 and you need to allow 3 seconds between you and the bike in front. At 60 mph you cover about 88 feet in a second. That means in 2 seconds you are traveling 176 feet and in 3 seconds you go 264 feet. Granted, a group this large will spread out over a pretty fair distance. So what???

From the MSF Group Ride Suggestions

Ride in formation. The staggered riding formation (see diagram below) allows a proper space cushion between motorcycles so that each rider has enough time and space to maneuver and to react to hazards. The leader rides in the left third of the lane, while the next rider stays at least one second behind in the right third of the lane; the rest of the group follows the same pattern.

A single-file formation is preferred on a curvy road, under conditions of poor visibility or poor road surfaces, entering/leaving highways, or other situations where an increased space cushion or maneuvering room is needed.

Avoid side-by-side formations, as they reduce the space cushion. If you suddenly needed to swerve to avoid a hazard, you would not have room to do so. You don’t want handlebars to get entangled.

Periodically check the riders following in your rear view mirror. If you see a rider falling behind, slow down so they may catch up. If all the riders in the group use this technique, the group should be able to maintain a fairly steady speed without pressure to ride too fast to catch up.

I appoligize to those who were uncomfortable or unhappy with the pace, the distance, lack of food or anything else that made this ride less than perfect. Please make it a point to let me know during the ride if there is something I can do to make it better...

These rides tend to be large groups. We all need to be courteous and willing to let others know if they are doing something that makes you uncomfortable. Or let me know and I'd be happy to have a conversation with someone else.

On Sunday I felt a rider behind me wasn't giving me enough space and indicated so. No drama and no problem! He appreciated the notice, smiled, gave me a thumbs up and all was good!

[Doc]

Dave will tell you - I am the stagger Nazi. I just don't understand why people repeatedly want to ride up the ass of the rider in front of them. I can understand at speed if you're not comfortable and need to use the whole lane but you shouldn't be able to touch the ass of the bike in front of you when doing so.

Soooo.... Our spacing was good right?

[Doc]

Having never been on one of Daves rides (and only riding for a short 40 miles or so) I felt people spaced out quite fine when the pace picked up.
It was when we slowed back down and people stayed in the middle of the lane or didn't get into a correct stagger that was the only "problem" I saw and it certainly did not ruin the AWESOME experience of being on a DucDave ride!

[DucDave]

Having never been on one of Daves rides (and only riding for a short 40 miles or so) I felt people spaced out quite fine when the pace picked up.
It was when we slowed back down and people stayed in the middle of the lane or didn't get into a correct stagger that was the only "problem" I saw and it certainly did not ruin the AWESOME experience of being on a DucDave ride!

Thanks Doc! And coming from you as a MSF Instructor thats appreciated! One of these days I'm gonna bring a small group and meet up with you and the VT contingent!!! Maybe make Ericjets coffeehouse a meeting place and take if from there!

[Kenn157]

Thanks Doc! And coming from you as a MSF Instructor thats appreciated! One of these days I'm gonna bring a small group and meet up with you and the VT contingent!!! Maybe make Ericjets coffeehouse a meeting place and take if from there!

If and when you do Dave, I would love to attend

[Doc]

I remembered. Eric's is in Bristol.

[wego72587]

I would like to apologize for being the jackass that showed up at the very last second to a group ride that was twice the size I thought it would be. I literally got there, signed the waiver and then we headed out. I didn't hear any of the rules and I apologize if I broke any. For the most part though it was a fantastic ride. For a group that large I was surprised that we didn't have any real problems. The only downer was the no food (didn't eat breakfast ). I was hoping for some kind of a hot dog or something, but they only had popcorn, one of the only foods that I hate, haha. Anyways, I just wanted to thank everyone that went on the ride; I knew no one there but I still felt like part of the group. This is my first riding season, and this was my first big ride. I must say I loved every second of it.....at least on the way up, the way back I was tired and starving (I had a small cup of chunky monkey holding me over the 100+ miles home). Thanks again everyone, hope to see you all on the next ride!

PS. DucDave, I took some pictures but have no place to host them. Let me know if you want them and I'll e-mail 'em to you.

[e30addict]

I appoligize to those who were uncomfortable or unhappy with the pace, the distance, lack of food or anything else that made this ride less than perfect. Please make it a point to let me know during the ride if there is something I can do to make it better...

These rides tend to be large groups. We all need to be courteous and willing to let others know if they are doing something that makes you uncomfortable. Or let me know and I'd be happy to have a conversation with someone else.

No worries. It's a large group and it's never going to go perfect. I think this thread turned into a general venting session for some of us.

We tend to nit pick things to death sometimes. It's still an awesome ride and a ton of fun to be able to do them.

On a personal note regarding the guys I don't trust; I just make sure to give them waaay more room than someone I can rely on more not to do something I'm not expected.

Rest assured if someone rides up beside me and I didn't see them coming they're going to get an ear full.

It seems most of the issues occur at the beginning as everyone starts to sort out he's going to do what. I haven't really had/seen any issues once the pace picks up and we stretch out more single file. My .02 again

[e30addict]

It was when we slowed back down and people stayed in the middle of the lane or didn't get into a correct stagger that was the only "problem" I saw and it certainly did not ruin the AWESOME experience of being on a DucDave ride!

Totally agree. More nit picking than something really dangerous.

[TuonoMark]

We tend to nit pick things to death sometimes. It's still an awesome ride and a ton of fun to be able to do them.

All of DucDave's rides are awesome! If you haven't been on one, you are missing out!

[Kenn157]

All of DucDave's rides are awesome! If you haven't been on one, you are missing out!

[Cheese]

It's advertisements like this that makes participation 3 - 4 dozen riders. What ever happened to that guy that leads slow in the big green Kermit suit?

[R1]

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It's advertisements like this that makes participation 3 - 4 dozen riders. What ever happened to that guy that leads slow in the big green Kermit suit?

I heard he learned how to wheelie and hasn't been the same since