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04/22/09 |
         
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Setting up a Group RideNot too long ago I volunteered to set up a group ride for a motorcycle group that I am a member. As a construction materials and geotechnical engineer, I probably over-thought the whole group ride thing. But, I got to see a lot of good, bad and ugly roads. I did something good for the club. And, if you like this page, then I will have done something good for the general riding community.
I did an exhaustive search of the internet, and one of the things I found out was that there was very little information on what works and does not work for a group ride. My goal was to have a safe, fun, and interesting ride for a full spectrum of riders. Our group includes sport touring bikes who like twisties, and trikes that are out for a casual day of pleasure. The age of our group ranges from mid-thirties to upper seventies. This was a challenge. Here is the approach I took.
1. I knew the general group demographics. Age, bikes, ridings styles. Had I not been on a number of Saturday afternoon rides after the club meeting, I probably would have tried to find out a little about the group demographics.
2. Then I tried to find a route that that had (a) good surface, (b) a blend of sweepers, twisties, hills, and straight stretches. I visited the LaCrosse area about five times riding different area roads. As I road them, I rated them with the Asphalt-PASER Rating system from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. I knew our group would not want to bounce along half destroyed pavement, so I choose a minimum rating of five (5) as acceptable for inclusion in the route.
3. Pick a circular route. In the planning, I put an emphasis on trying to only make right-hand turns. With 40-50 riders, I did not want to have the dynamic of riders crossing traffic, if I could help it. As it turned out, we had to cross traffic on one significant occasion. We crossed again later in the route, but it was a lesser traveled road.
4. Allow for rest stop / bio-breaks. With a morning ride after breakfast and coffee, I wanted to have a pit stop planned for one hour into the ride. If not for the riders, at least for me. So, I picked Grand Dad Bluff. It is a scenic location with just enough parking for 40+ bikes. I called the park commission to verify the park would be open the restrooms available. On my pre-rides, the restrooms were not open, but fortunately the parks commission opened them up a couple weeks ahead of our ride.
5. [under construction]
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This site was last updated 04/22/09 |