Being a Road Captain last year must have caused me to look at things a bit differently so I'll share some of that with you.

As with most things there are many ways to do it. Group riding is one thing that needs control and planning so everyone has some idea what the others are doing and where they are. Most of the group will not ride together enough so they can be comfortable with the reactions of the rider in front, back or beside them on every ride so Chapter 1277 uses a stagger formation.

An experience of my own I would like to share was coming home from the 2000 rally in Milwaukee. We were riding our normal stagger formation in the center lane. A car was passing us in the left lane. The car was running about 75 mph with 7 bikes following it in the formation below.  

 The group of bikes was only about 1 bike length behind the car. I don't know if the bikes were with the car or not since they continued to follow it out of sight, even when the middle lane cleared. There was only about 3 feet between the bikes front to back and the cluster passed in such a tight formation I can't tell you the color of one of the bikes. I suspect these bikers ride together often and they are familiar with each other's reactions. Thinking back several things strike me.

1. Safety - What if one bike broke, hit something on the road or the car slowed suddenly? Is that enough reaction time?

2. Intensity - How could they enjoy the ride? If they look away they could be into the bike in front of them before they look back. To ride intense like that eventually wears on ones concentration.

3. The Look - Well I have to say it did look pretty cool, but so does "Base Jumping". The problem is I don't remember anything about what they looked like - maybe that was their point.

4. Chapter 1277 - As I understand it, our goals are to ride safe and have fun - right? So let's relax and spread out a bit so we have time to look around. Give onlookers a chance to check out our motorcycles. Do our best so we can make it safely home to ride the next day.

1. All the riders on the side with the gap could advance one spot, by very cautiously passing the staggered rider. This is preferred for several reasons one of which, the riders can maintain the same side of the lane they had at the beginning.

2. All the riders behind the gap can carefully switch sides of the lane.

Using the one and two second method gives a greater distance between motorcycles as the speed increases to help match the reaction time needed.

There should be a minimum of 1 second from the front of your motorcycle to the back of the next staggered motorcycle. There should also be a minimum of 2 seconds from the front of your bike to the rear of the motorcycle directly in front of you. So if the staggered bike in front of you falls back 4 seconds from the staggered bike in front of them (bike directly in front of you) that puts you at least 5 seconds behind the motorcycle directly in front of you.

This stagger formation leaves the area beside your motorcycle open for you to swerve into if needed to avoid a hazard. Everyone should be watching out for the safety of other riders but it is your responsibility to stay out of the safety zone beside the rider staggered in front of you. I think we all know who wins when a rear tire and a front tire contact - rear tire wins.

If you have to slow quickly, try to maintain your position in the lane, if it is safe to do so, because the staggered rider behind you may not slow as quickly and may need to borrow the lane beside you for a moment. Do not make a habit of using the safety zone beside the staggered rider in front of you. Some riders may run over a hazard instead of swerving because they didn't want to risk clipping the rider behind them - they should feel confident that the safety zone would be clear when they need it.

Fall in line toward the back half of the group if you want to avoid riders that tend to ride too close. For some unknown reason the front 1/3 of the group tends to ride tighter than the 1 - 2 second rule. Maybe they're in a hurry to get going and that's why they jump in line faster and mostly end up toward the front.

Jim Hoff

1/6/01

H.O.G. Chapter 1277

Muncie, Indiana