Post by scootingranny on Jun 30, 2008 12:55:08 GMT -5
Ok, this may be lengthy because this was my first group ride. I drove the cage to the town where a friend lives and rode her spare scoot which was a brand new black TNG with only 100 miles on it. It was a fun scooter!
We originally met at a scooter shop where James Megellas, a decorated veteran of WWII was there to talk to us and sign a copy of his book for those who bought one. He was a very interesting guy. Weblink:
allthewayto.wordpress.com/about/
Another gentleman who was a member of the Danish Royal Guard during WWII was brought by his daughter (who is a scoot-rider) and talking to him was wonderful as it was my first opportunity to talk to someone who was on the receiving end of German occupation. His story warrants a book, too. He walked up to Meggie (as he likes to be called) and shook his hand, saying he'd always wanted to personally shake the hand of a GI who had been there because when they saw the stars and stripes march into his town, he knew that things were going to be all right. It was a very touching moment.
The ride itself consisted of 8 scooters and started about 3 o'clock during some really wonderful weather (temps in high 80s, overcast with no rain and not much wind). During the majority of the ride I was getting used to the different feel of the throttle on my friend's scoot and trying feverishly to remember the rules of Group Riding 101. I was a bit slower than most of the other riders who had been on these group rides before, but no one pressured me to go faster than I felt comfortable about. My first mistake was getting in the line 4th from the lead instead of at the back of the pack where beginning group riders are supposed to be. For some reason I thought that beginners are to be at the front of the pack but when I got home and re-read the rules I saw that I should have been at the back of the pack.
The leader missed a turn but it was a good miss because we went down some roads with some really great scenery that included some s-turns which were kinda kool. I didn't accelerate as fast out of the curves as I usually do because I wasn't quite used to the throttle on my friend's scoot but it was still fun. I dropped back to 6th in line with just one other scooter behind me and then the last rider who was the "tailgunner" was my friend's husband. He was riding a Harley and was a good tailgunner.
At the beginning of the ride, we were in a right turn lane only and were getting ready to merge into traffic on the cross street when a brand new black Expedition veered over into our lane right in the middle of our formation. No turn signal, no warning. He just wanted to get ahead of the last three scoots so that he could get into the right turn only lane. Jerk.
We were almost at the restuarant (about a 25 mile ride) when I almost got rear-ended. Not by a car but by the fellow scooter behind me. This group had been doing some "rolling stops" instead of complete stops at some stop signs. I have never done a "rolling stop" and didn't really feel comfortable with them. Therefore, I was not good at it. I did try it at some stop signs in a residential neighborhood in order to keep up with the group, but I just don't feel my balance and concentration are right to fully look both ways while doing a rolling stop. Anyway, we were on a small two lane country road which intersected a four lane divided highway with a large median separating them. The country road had a stop sign before you crossed each direction of traffic. I had never been down this road before and was not familiar with how fast cars drove down the highway, etc and just did not feel good at all about doing a rolling stop there. So, I came to a full stop in order to make sure my crossing would be safe and unhurried. The scoot behind me was following directly behind me and not staggered as he should have been. He had to do a quick stop behind me as I came to a complete stop and as I looked in the rear view mirror, my heart skipped a couple of beats (if not stopped totally!) I could just envision him plowing into me, throwing me into the lane of traffic and worst of all, tearing up my friend's new scoot. Later the tailgunner told me the other scoot rider was at fault for not being staggered, for not giving me enough room and for not anticipating that I might do a complete stop at this type of intersection instead of doing a rolling stop like most of the other riders.
The second incident was with this same rider and came at another stop sign just a little while later as we were getting to the lunch stop. We were doing a left hand turn and I pulled up to the stop sign on the left side of the lane. He pulled up next to me on the right side of the lane. I checked oncoming traffic (another 2 lane road with no stop sign for oncoming traffic) and then took off. He took off at exactly the same time which forced me to have to do a very tight turn in order to stay on my side of the yellow stripe yet give him enough room that he didn't end up in the gutter on the side of the road or crash into me (there was no shoulder on that part of the road as it was a very small 2 lane country road). By that time I was kinda hacked off.
When we stopped for lunch, I pulled the tailgunner aside to talk to him and he agreed on both issues that this guy wasn't following proper group riding rules. It helped my confidence but made me very wary of this rider (who was not a new rider). I finally came to the conclusion that maybe he just didn't like to be the last scoot in the group so as we left after lunch, I purposefully took the last position next to the tailgunner in order to stay out of his way. On the ride back I noticed he still was not riding in a staggered formation but instead was riding behind my friend and it seemed to me that he was riding closer than the recommended space.
As the ride ended and group riders started going their separate directions, I pulled up next to my friend as we stopped at a red light (since this "dangerous" rider was not using the staggered formation, I just scooted by him and up next to her) to talk to her for a second. As we took off, that placed me in the right side of the lane and this time he did stay in the left portion of the lane as it pretty much "forced" him to be in a staggered position. Further on down the road, the group changed into the left lane and as I did the "head check" to change into that left lane, this guy was speeding up in the left portion of the lane so that I felt uncomfortable pulling over to the left lane in front of him as he was not far behind my bumper (or so it seemed to me). I speeded up more than I wanted to in order to change lanes in front of him. He then got into the far left turning lane, signaled he was headed home and left. The rest of the ride was uneventful as the group had narrowed down to just five of us at that time.
Now I realize part of this problem may be that I wasn't fast enough for this guy but I was trying to keep proper distance with the scoot in front of me, be aware of new surroundings and yet keep up with the group. I hope I am invited back to ride again because I did enjoy every other aspect of the ride. Met some really nice people that I'd like to know better and enjoyed driving in new areas (the lunch was pretty good, too).
I did enjoy the ride and want to group ride again. I will just make sure I stay at the back of the pack.
So for those of you out there who have yet to experience a group ride, I highly encourage you to try it. I learned some things during the ride and am looking forward to the next one.
We originally met at a scooter shop where James Megellas, a decorated veteran of WWII was there to talk to us and sign a copy of his book for those who bought one. He was a very interesting guy. Weblink:
allthewayto.wordpress.com/about/
Another gentleman who was a member of the Danish Royal Guard during WWII was brought by his daughter (who is a scoot-rider) and talking to him was wonderful as it was my first opportunity to talk to someone who was on the receiving end of German occupation. His story warrants a book, too. He walked up to Meggie (as he likes to be called) and shook his hand, saying he'd always wanted to personally shake the hand of a GI who had been there because when they saw the stars and stripes march into his town, he knew that things were going to be all right. It was a very touching moment.
The ride itself consisted of 8 scooters and started about 3 o'clock during some really wonderful weather (temps in high 80s, overcast with no rain and not much wind). During the majority of the ride I was getting used to the different feel of the throttle on my friend's scoot and trying feverishly to remember the rules of Group Riding 101. I was a bit slower than most of the other riders who had been on these group rides before, but no one pressured me to go faster than I felt comfortable about. My first mistake was getting in the line 4th from the lead instead of at the back of the pack where beginning group riders are supposed to be. For some reason I thought that beginners are to be at the front of the pack but when I got home and re-read the rules I saw that I should have been at the back of the pack.
The leader missed a turn but it was a good miss because we went down some roads with some really great scenery that included some s-turns which were kinda kool. I didn't accelerate as fast out of the curves as I usually do because I wasn't quite used to the throttle on my friend's scoot but it was still fun. I dropped back to 6th in line with just one other scooter behind me and then the last rider who was the "tailgunner" was my friend's husband. He was riding a Harley and was a good tailgunner.
At the beginning of the ride, we were in a right turn lane only and were getting ready to merge into traffic on the cross street when a brand new black Expedition veered over into our lane right in the middle of our formation. No turn signal, no warning. He just wanted to get ahead of the last three scoots so that he could get into the right turn only lane. Jerk.
We were almost at the restuarant (about a 25 mile ride) when I almost got rear-ended. Not by a car but by the fellow scooter behind me. This group had been doing some "rolling stops" instead of complete stops at some stop signs. I have never done a "rolling stop" and didn't really feel comfortable with them. Therefore, I was not good at it. I did try it at some stop signs in a residential neighborhood in order to keep up with the group, but I just don't feel my balance and concentration are right to fully look both ways while doing a rolling stop. Anyway, we were on a small two lane country road which intersected a four lane divided highway with a large median separating them. The country road had a stop sign before you crossed each direction of traffic. I had never been down this road before and was not familiar with how fast cars drove down the highway, etc and just did not feel good at all about doing a rolling stop there. So, I came to a full stop in order to make sure my crossing would be safe and unhurried. The scoot behind me was following directly behind me and not staggered as he should have been. He had to do a quick stop behind me as I came to a complete stop and as I looked in the rear view mirror, my heart skipped a couple of beats (if not stopped totally!) I could just envision him plowing into me, throwing me into the lane of traffic and worst of all, tearing up my friend's new scoot. Later the tailgunner told me the other scoot rider was at fault for not being staggered, for not giving me enough room and for not anticipating that I might do a complete stop at this type of intersection instead of doing a rolling stop like most of the other riders.
The second incident was with this same rider and came at another stop sign just a little while later as we were getting to the lunch stop. We were doing a left hand turn and I pulled up to the stop sign on the left side of the lane. He pulled up next to me on the right side of the lane. I checked oncoming traffic (another 2 lane road with no stop sign for oncoming traffic) and then took off. He took off at exactly the same time which forced me to have to do a very tight turn in order to stay on my side of the yellow stripe yet give him enough room that he didn't end up in the gutter on the side of the road or crash into me (there was no shoulder on that part of the road as it was a very small 2 lane country road). By that time I was kinda hacked off.
When we stopped for lunch, I pulled the tailgunner aside to talk to him and he agreed on both issues that this guy wasn't following proper group riding rules. It helped my confidence but made me very wary of this rider (who was not a new rider). I finally came to the conclusion that maybe he just didn't like to be the last scoot in the group so as we left after lunch, I purposefully took the last position next to the tailgunner in order to stay out of his way. On the ride back I noticed he still was not riding in a staggered formation but instead was riding behind my friend and it seemed to me that he was riding closer than the recommended space.
As the ride ended and group riders started going their separate directions, I pulled up next to my friend as we stopped at a red light (since this "dangerous" rider was not using the staggered formation, I just scooted by him and up next to her) to talk to her for a second. As we took off, that placed me in the right side of the lane and this time he did stay in the left portion of the lane as it pretty much "forced" him to be in a staggered position. Further on down the road, the group changed into the left lane and as I did the "head check" to change into that left lane, this guy was speeding up in the left portion of the lane so that I felt uncomfortable pulling over to the left lane in front of him as he was not far behind my bumper (or so it seemed to me). I speeded up more than I wanted to in order to change lanes in front of him. He then got into the far left turning lane, signaled he was headed home and left. The rest of the ride was uneventful as the group had narrowed down to just five of us at that time.
Now I realize part of this problem may be that I wasn't fast enough for this guy but I was trying to keep proper distance with the scoot in front of me, be aware of new surroundings and yet keep up with the group. I hope I am invited back to ride again because I did enjoy every other aspect of the ride. Met some really nice people that I'd like to know better and enjoyed driving in new areas (the lunch was pretty good, too).
I did enjoy the ride and want to group ride again. I will just make sure I stay at the back of the pack.
So for those of you out there who have yet to experience a group ride, I highly encourage you to try it. I learned some things during the ride and am looking forward to the next one.
