Passes & Canyons Blog

Riding with strangers calls for discussion so you’ll each know what to expect.

I’d never spent significant time riding with people I didn’t know, until I took part on a media tour put on by EagleRider, a major motorcycle rental outfit that also offers tours. When you ride with the usual bunch of guys you pretty much know what to expect. With strangers, I found, it’s a whole new ball game.

The EagleRider tour leaders made it clear that we were to ride in double-file staggered formation, which builds in extra space for safety and visibility. When I ride with the OFMC we are not the model of safety because only some of us adhere to the staggered formation concept. Doing demo rides, on the other hand, the ride leaders make it absolutely clear that you will ride in formation and not change the line-up or you will not be allowed any more demo rides.

The 18 media members on this tour consisted primarily of a variety of Europeans, one Canadian, one Australian, and three Americans. Considering that nearly all the riders on this tour were professional motorcycle writers or photographers, who understand the safety issues, I expected strict adherence to the formation. I was in for a surprise.

The first situation that threw me was the two Dutch folks on the tour. An older fellow and a young woman, they work for the same outfit and he stayed on her tail the entire time. The ride leader would take the inside track, the young woman would follow to her right, and the guy would do whatever he wanted to do. Mostly he rode extremely close behind her, but on occasion he would move to the left where I would have expected him to be all the time.

So if you’re the person immediately behind him, what do you do? If you stay where you theoretically ought to be, you then have three bikes in a row in the right-hand track. If you stay to the left, what do you do at those times when he moves left? If you shift to the right, then everyone behind you has to shift as well to stay in formation and that alone can be hazardous.

I chose, those times I was immediately behind him, to stay left at all times. It just seemed to make the most sense. And I did eventually figure out that he had a video camera mounted on his bike and he was filming her. At least that helped to make some sense of his actions.

Squeezing From Behind
Then there was another of the Europeans who stayed in formation but was always close enough behind me that I could see him in my peripheral vision. I purposely kept a good distance between me and the bike ahead but he was always right there. Sometimes he would even pass me and soon after wave for me to repass him. I kept wondering why he didn’t back off and I figured he kept wondering why I didn’t close up.

I mentioned it at one point to another rider who told me that guy’s magazine is focused on speed and running in tight groups. OK, I get it. So I just did my best not to get right behind the Dutch or right in front of him. But sometimes it was unavoidable.

Another thing that threw me was the fellow who would on occasion just pass me and maybe one or two other riders. I finally asked him if there was something I was doing that troubled him, and should I be reading between the lines to recognize some mistake I was making. No, he responded, he just didn’t think it was smart for everyone to stay in the exact same formation all the time because that has a tendency to lull you into complacency. He liked to mix things up. And hey, thanks for asking rather than just getting angry or annoyed.

I can go with that reasoning, especially since it is focused on safety. As for the young woman being filmed, I don’t care, I don’t want anybody on my tail like that. I wouldn’t have wanted to be her. As for riding tight in general, I know the European countries have far more rigorous skill and training requirements for motorcyclists than we do. And they do ride close together, sometimes at amazingly high speeds.

Meanwhile, I guess I won’t be so hard on the OFMC. It’s not like they’re pros or anything.

Biker Quote for Today

You’re most likely to have an accident in the first year of riding because of inexperience, and after two years of riding because you think you know everything.