How to Organize a Ride in Way Too Many Steps

To be honest, we never thought it would end. The rain. For those of you who don't know, I live in Colorado where the natives like to brag about 300+ days of sunshine a year. Well, we're probably not going to meet that goal this year. The only two days in May (2015) that didn't have precipitation in one form or another (yes, it snowed and hailed) was the last weekend of the month - this past Saturday and Sunday.

But, now riding season is [officially] upon us. And with riding season [hopefully] there will be more posts to this blog.

Let's begin the summer riding season with a post I've had toiling around in the back of my head for a few years now. Actually, the idea came to me from another local rider who sent me a PM on a local riding forum asking me how to organize a ride. First, some background: we always had a local noob ride that unofficially kicked off the riding season by taking veteran riders and putting them in riding groups with newbies. Now, those noobs could be new to riding, new to sportbikes, new to Colorado or just new to canyon carving. Regardless, it became somewhat of a tradition and was, until he moved, put together by one of our local riders.

After he moved no one took up the mantle and I kind of liked the idea of the seasonal starter ride so I gave it a little twist of my own and made it happen. I'm also a military veteran and while I never organized convoys personally, I was a part of many of them over the years and I took those successes as well as the ever necessary After Action Review (or, AAR) and applied them to herding cats sportbike riders.

The first thing I did was change the scope of the ride from the annual Noob Ride to the annual Seasonal Kick-Off ride.

Why? Because we had habit of attracting sixty to 100 experienced riders and 8 to 10 noobs on the traditional Noob Rides. In my opinion the ride itself had morphed from a new rider mentorship ride to a bunch of friends getting out together before the responsibilities of summer life (mowing lawns, vacations, children being home, etc) started upsetting everyone's schedules. Plus, after winter we were all eager to be on two wheels and see old faces.

So, how did I do it? That's what we're all here for isn't it? How do you organize a ride?

Well, it's actually pretty simple. Or not simple, depending on how you look at such tasks. For me it was simple.

The first thing you need to know is your audience. That is, what kind of riding are you planning on doing? Are you cruising along, surfing the asphalt, breaking the sound barrier or out to enjoy the scenery? As any reader of this blog will already know, I ride a sportbike so this How-to will be geared towards sportbikes, but should be applicable to any style of riding. Will you be riding with your regular group where you all know each other's skill sets or will you be riding with unknowns, new riders, squids or other purveyors of chaos?

These are important considerations when planning a ride. If the riders you plan on attracting are regulars - people you've ridden with regularly - less planning needs to go into the starting point, finishing point and route. Chances are you already know it by heart. But, if you're going to be attracting a hodgepodge of riders, more planning needs to go into considered and implemented.

The second thing you should know is your route. This includes starting points, ending points and any rest stops along the way.

Starting Points, or Staging Areas:

Anywhere can be a starting point but here we usually start at a neutral location that has easy access to gas and caffeine, maybe some food as well. In general we pick a gas station near where our real riding will begin. Sometimes it's a coffee place near a gas station, but it's almost always near a gas station. We do not start at bars. This ensures everyone has a chance to fuel up before the ride begins, add some wake-me-up juice to their system and grab a quick bite to eat if they haven't already.

Ending Points:

This one is a little more ambiguous. An ending point can be anywhere. At the same location as the starting point, at a person's home, at a restaurant or another specific location. Many times our ending points are in the same location as our starting points with 300 miles in-between. Sometimes they're on the other side of the state or at a half-way point where the group will grab a bite to eat and people will be on their own from there to split off into smaller groups, go home or go on solo rides. Again, knowing your audience comes into play here. Do you normally ride in a group from start to finish? Do you typically ride from pub to pub to pub or some other string of stops along the way? Do you ride with an official organization that mandates all riders start and finish together? These are things that need to be considered when planning an ending point. Heck, there's been plenty of times where the official ending point was nothing more than a park-n-ride or a intersection where most people would then pick their own way home.

The [Actual] Route:

This is the tricky part and where knowing your audience really becomes a factor. Are you cruisers out for a ride? Are you kneedraggers looking for that thrill? Is your intent to get from Point-A to Point-B or is your intent to explore, to hit as many turns as possible or to wear the chicken strips off the rubber? These are the things that need to be considered.

For us, we're sportbike riders, so we typically plan our rides along twisty roads with little to no traffic. We also have to consider that sportbikes aren't terribly comfortable for sitting in hours on end. So, we take a lot of stops to got off and stretch legs. Is there a gas station for refueling? Bathrooms? At least some sort of scenery? Do you need to consider cell phone service? Living in Colorado we know not every inch of the mountains and valleys are covered by the mobile carrier maps, whether they're red, blue, yellow or magenta. And living in the southwest as I do, we know that sometimes you can get out into the middle of nowhere where the chance of a passerby is slim if there's an emergency and the cell phones won't get signal. Just be aware of local service coverage maps when planning out your routes.

Other considerations to make are weather (is there a high mountain pass? Is snow possible?), construction zones, known hot spots for speed traps?

HWY 128 in Utah

It helps to go over the route with everyone before the ride begins just in case someone falls out or has mechanical problems [but to be fair, that's what the sweep is for]. Leads and sweeps should be very familiar with the route in case the group gets separated somehow. They should also know about any stopping/resting points where the group can reform if necessary.

Size Matters: 

Not the size of your engine or the size of your saddle, but the size of your group. Are you organizing a ride for 3 people or thirty? Are you expecting a turnout of your most trusted compatriots or is it an open call ride? Should you consider capping the ride's numbers?

These considerations are important because they change how the ride should be handled. Does the number of riders change group dynamics? Do you have to plan for leaders and sweeps for a number of groups or just one fairly large one? Do you have enough people willing to play the role of leaders and sweeps? With more casual riding [read: cruising] having one large group might be feasible, but with sportbikes, not everyone rides at the same pace. This means, unless the ride is specifically targeted to a skill level you have to plan for that rider who wants to ride triple digits the entire time and that rider who just clocked their first hundred miles. With my rides, if it turns out we have over 15 people interested we generally break into smaller groups, each with their own leads and sweeps. 

I once planned a ride that had nearly 100 people show up. We broke down into eight separate groups, each with a lead, a sweep and each group based on the tempo the group wanted to ride. The faster group, obviously, went first, then the more moderately paced groups and finally the noobs whose leaders and sweeps were experienced riders. We even had enough women riders that they had their own group.

With the greater number of groups staging starting times becomes necessary. First group, then give a few minutes. Second group, then give a few minutes. Third group and so on. This gives the groups enough time to put some space between themselves so they do not end up merging into one larger group. This also gives any group that was stopped by a red light or two a chance to get going before the next group gets stopped or the two groups become a cluster f....

Cash is King:

This isn't something you can require your individual members to bring, but it's always a good reminder. Sometimes you get out into the rural areas and restaurants or gas stations may not accept debit or credit cards. Perhaps they just don't have a reliable internet service or maybe they're locally owned and don't want to pay the credit card company their 15% [or whatever the convenience fee is at the time you're reading this]. So, it's a good idea to remind people to bring a few bucks in cash, just in case.

Get the Word Out:

Message boards, social media and newsletters have made this pretty easy these days, so I won't get into too much detail here other than to say give your prospective riders enough time to plan for the day. Maybe they have to take the day off of work or put off a honey-do task; perhaps there's a few other events going on that day and they need time to make other arrangements. The simple matter is, people have lives and those lives, sometimes, take precedence over riding motorcycles. 

Becky [here] organized this ride

Blasphemy you say! Well, maybe, but it happens. The kids have little league, families come to town, or you go out of town. Life happens whether you plan for it or not. Unless you have a standing Saturday at 8am ride reservation with your regular riders group, give people enough time to make arrangements if needed. I suggest at least six weeks notice, but I've seen large turnouts with as little as a few days. This also goes back to knowing your audience. Are they just looking for someone to send out the "Avengers Assemble" command, are they used to meeting every Thursday evening at 5:30 or are they wild cats that need herding?

Also, as anyone who has been paying attention already knows, law enforcement knows how to use the internet, too. We take the extra added precaution of not sharing the route on social media or forums. The ride organizer usually shares the route with the leads and sweeps at her own discretion or waits until ride day to let everyone in on the plan. Hopefully this keeps the small town cops and state patrols from setting up speed traps along our expected path.

KSU:

If there's anything a regular rider knows it's that getting riders to ride is impossible. Sure, they all say they want to ride, but conversations start, socializing begins and suddenly you're way off schedule. That 8am KSU [kick stands up, for you laymen] has now turned into 8;45 with no indication you'll even be on your bike by 9;30.

Due to this, the ride organizer needs to be firm: KSU is KSU. If you planned on being on the road by 8am or 9am or 10pm, be firm with that time. That means the safety brief needs to be done beforehand, that the leaders and sweeps are matched up and set-up for riders to fall in and everyone needs to be fueled up already. 

Nanny State:

This shouldn't have to be said, but it needs to be said. No matter how dumb you think the person next to you is, someone else is dumber.

The ride organizer may consider making additional requirements for the ride. I bring this up due to a situation we had the first year I organized the above mentioned Noob Ride. While we were in the staging area socializing as the clock ticked towards KSU time, a local police officer parked in the parking lot of the gas station and just sort of hung out. He didn't harass anyone or start checking IDs or anything, he just sat there after getting his coffee and doughnut (okay, I guessed there) inside. 

Fast forward a half hour or so and we're leaving: group 1, group 2, group 3, etc. I think it was group 4 out of 5 that the police officer pulled over. Now, technically the officer can't pull over a group, but when he flashed his lights the lead pulled off to the side of the road and the rest of the group followed. They hadn't done anything wrong and the lead had no expectation of trouble. Except one rider. This guy took off and the officer called state patrol to go after him. 

Actual Photo of the Stop

Apparently the local officer had been in his car scanning plates. He discovered the rider who ran wasn't currently registered and, as it turned out, this rider didn't have his motorcycle endorsement on his license as well. And, it also turned out, the rider didn't have insurance. Now, the rider took it upon himself to show up and try to ride in the group while not being legal and that was his choice. However, he caused and entire group to be pulled over as well as misrepresented sportbike riders as targets for local police. Forever more he was persona non grata with our group.

So, this is up to the ride organizer, but you can require everyone be tagged and licensed properly or they're not allowed on the ride. I put this rule on all my ride announcements so there's no misconception at the staging areas. If I notice no tags or out of date tags I tell them they can't come. Sometimes they throw a fit and sometimes their friends throw a fit, but they always leave. 

And on a final note [finally!], the ride organizer has a decision to make. Which group to ride with? Does she or he go first, go in the middle somewhere or go last? Personally, I prefer to go last. I see each group off and join the last group or the next to last group depending on the skill levels involved. As the ride organizer I feel it's my responsibility to be the ultimate sweep, the ride sweep, if you will. This, of course, does not apply in smaller rides where the organizer will most likely be the lead rider, setting the pace and route.

Did I miss anything? Leave a comment below.