The purpose of riding in an organized group
instead of an undisciplined pack is to provide
the additional safety that a well-organized
group inherently generates.
This comes from within the group and from the
outside. When a group rides in an orderly
fashion, people don't get in each others way,
and the organization of the formation itself
discourages cars from attempting to cut in. I
have even seen trucks move to the far side of
their lane to minimize wind blast when they see
a well-ordered formation "single up" and move as
far away from the truck as their lane allows.
Once riding rules have been adopted by a
club, EVERYONE Riding with the SCRC is expected
to follow them. Anyone violating the rules, and
compromising everyone else's safety, will be
warned, and if their actions continue, will no
longer be welcome to ride with the club.
The following rules are compiled from a
number of sources. Most clubs that ride in
orderly formations follow similar rules. Details
may vary from one club to another, sometimes
because of the style of riding they do, or
sometimes because there are a number of
reasonable options, so they chose the one they
prefer.
NO ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION WHILE WE ARE RIDING
!!!
Formation Riding: Will be in a
standard State Patrol (staggered) formation. In
staggered formation, the bikes form two columns,
with the leader at the head of the left column,
so he will be able to view all bikes in the
formation in his/her rearview mirrors, and be
able to see around vehicles the group
approaches. The second bike will head the right
column, and will ride approximately 1 second
behind the leader (and in the opposite side of
the lane). The other riders will position their
bikes 2 seconds behind the bike directly in
front of them, which puts them 1 second behind
the diagonal bike. This formation allows each
rider sufficient safety space, and discourages
other vehicles from cutting into the line. The
last rider, or Tail Gunner, may ride on
whichever side of the lane he prefers. He will
have to change sides during the ride, based on
the situation at the moment.
Ride Leader: The Ride Leader must be
aware of the length of the columns, and must
gauge the passing of merges, highway entrances
and exits, etc., to allow for maximum safety and
keeping the group together. He must make sure
that he leaves enough time/space for the
formation to get into the appropriate lanes
before exits, etc. All directions come from the
Ride Leader. The Ride Leader makes all decisions
regarding lane changes, stopping for breaks and
fuel, closing of gaps, turning off at exits, any
concerns of what lies ahead, accepting/rejecting
radioed messages from other individuals, and so
on. No individual will assert himself
independently without direction from the Ride
Leader to do so.
Tail Gunner: The Tail Gunner serves as
the eyes of the Ride Leader. He watches the
formation, and informs the Ride Leader of any
potential problems within the group. He watches
other vehicles, and informs the Ride Leader (and
anyone else with radios) of hazardous conditions
approaching from the rear, such as vehicles
trying to cut into the formation and trucks
passing with potentially dangerous wind blasts.
He will watch for merging lanes, and will move
into a merging lane (or stay in a merging lane
just vacated by the group) in order to "close
the door" on other vehicles that may otherwise
find themselves trying to merge into the
formation. At the Ride Leaders request, the Tail
Gunner changes lanes before the formation, to
secure the lane so the formation can move into
it.
New Riders: The position of new
(inexperienced with GROUP riding) riders within
the group is significant. New riders should be
positioned as close to the front as possible.
Lane Changes: All lane changing starts
with a radio request from the Ride Leader to the
Tail Gunner. The Tail Gunner will (when it is
safe to do so) move into the requested lane and
will inform the Ride Leader when the lane is
clear.
At this point, the Ride Leader has three
options:
(A) Simple Lane Change: This is an ordinary
lane change, and can be used in most situations.
After the Tail Gunner has secured the new lane,
the Ride Leader will put on his directional
signal as an indication that he is about to
order a lane change. As each rider sees the
directional signal, he also turns his on, so the
riders following him get the signal. The leader
then initiates the change. All other riders
change lanes too. The important concept is that
NO ONE moves until the bike in front of him has
started moving.
(B) Block Lane Change: This can be used
interchangeably with the Simple Lane Change. It
requires a little more work, but it is well
worth the effort. Its quite impressive to watch,
and gives the riders a tremendous feeling of
"togetherness". This sounds a little
complicated, but is actually very simple to do.
After the Tail Gunner has secured the new lane,
the Ride Leader will put on his directional
signal as an indication that he is about to
order a lane change. As each rider sees the
directional signal, he also turns his on, so the
riders following him get the signal. The leader
then raises his left arm straight up. Each rider
repeats this signal. Then, as the leader lowers
his arm to point to the lane into which he is
moving, he actually initiates the change. All
other riders lower their arms at the same time
and change lanes too. This allows the entire
formation to move from one lane to another as a
single block.
(C) Rear Fill-in: This is sometimes necessary
if a long enough gap cannot be maintained in the
new lane, for example when trying to move from
the right lane to the center and vehicles from
the left lane keep cutting into the opening.
After the Tail Gunner has secured the new lane,
the leader (usually at the suggestion of the
Tail Gunner) will call for the group to fill in
the space from the rear. He signals this by
raising his hand to shoulder height and
"pushing" it towards the new lane. All riders
repeat the signal, and the last bikes move into
the space in the new lane ahead of the Tail
Gunner, then the next-to-last bikes move in
ahead of those, and so on until the Ride Leader
finally moves into the space ahead of the entire
formation.
Emergencies: In the unlikely event of
an emergency condition, the Ride Leader will
make every attempt to move the formation to the
shoulder in an orderly manner. If a bike breaks
down, let the rider move to the right. DO NOT
STOP. The Tail Gunner will stop with the problem
bike. The Ride Leader will lead the group to a
safe stopping place.
Hand Signals: Each rider (and
passenger) should duplicate all hand signals
given by the rider in front of him, so that the
signals get passed all the way to the back of
the formation. The following signals are used in
addition to the standard (right turn, left turn
slow /stop) hand signals.
Block Lane Change: The leader (after
having the Tail Gunner secure the lane) raises
his left arm straight up. Each rider repeats
this signal. Then, as the leader lowers his arm
to point to the lane into which he is moving, he
actually initiates the change. All other riders
lower their arms at the same time and change
lanes too.
Fill in from rear: After having the
Tail Gunner secure the lane and putting on his
directional signal (which is repeated by each
rider), the Ride Leader raises his left hand to
his shoulder and "pushes" his open hand toward
the lane into which he wants to move. This
signal is repeated by all riders, and each rider
in turn, rearmost first, moves into the space
ahead of the riders behind them.
Single up: When conditions warrant
single file (narrow road, anticipated wind-blast
from trucks, obstruction, pedestrians, etc.) the
Ride Leader will raise his left hand straight
up, holding up just his index finger. All other
riders will repeat this, and the two columns
will merge into one.
Staggered Formation: After singling
up, when single file is no longer necessary, the
Ride Leader will raise his left hand with thumb
and pinky out, other fingers closed, rotating
his wrist back and forth (indicating left,
right, left, right). All other riders will
repeat this and resume staggered formation.
Tighten Formation: When the Ride
Leader feels that the formation should be
tighter (bikes closer together) (usually after
being informed by the Tail Gunner), he raises
his left hand with fingers spread wide and
repeatedly closes them into a fist. All other
riders repeat this and close up all unnecessary
space in the formation.
Road Hazard: This is the one signal
that can be initiated by ANYONE. Anyone seeing a
hazardous condition on the road surface (road
kill, oil, gravel, significant pot hole, etc.)
will point at it. All following riders will
repeat this, and all riders will avoid the
hazard.
Riding Rules provided by:
Marc "Merlin"
Mauss
Coram (Long Island), NY
MSF instructor
PGRNY State Safety Officer
More Hand Signals with images (Thanks to
Ann Arbor HOG!)
GROUP RIDING GUIDELINES
by Greg "Dragon" Love SCRC N. Carolina State
Officer VERY GOOD GROUP RIDING DOCUMENT, PLEASE
READ! (PDF Doc)
PROPER SPACING
Just for the official record... here is the
correct distance for a 1-second gap at 75MPH
75M/hr x 5280 ft/mi x 1hr/60 min x 1 min/60
seconds
This calculation yields the equivalent feet per
second you are traveling at 75 MPH. This is
exactly 110 feet!!!!!!!!!!!
If most cruisers are about 8 feet long - that's
close to 14 bike lengths...
Can you imagine how much more comfortable you
would be with 110 feet? When riding staggered,
the next rider would be 220 feet behind you!!!
The rule of thumb is - 1 second to the rider in
front/behind of you on the other side of the
lane, 2 seconds to the next rider in your part
of the lane, forward or back". The actual gap
distance will change as your road speed changes:
30 mph - 44 feet = 1 second
40 mph - 59 feet = 1 second
50 mph - 73 feet = 1 second
60 mph - 88 feet = 1 second
70 mph - 103 feet = 1 second
75 mph - 110 feet = 1 second
This is really not that difficult. You would
never follow anybody in a CAR at 8 feet at 75
MPH and have a prayer of not making a mistake,
so why anyone would ride motorcycles that way?
If you were staggered, the person behind you
would be 16 feet off your bumper. That's a
recipe for disaster...
Think about it... Ride Safe!
VANISHING POINT TECHNIQUE FOR CURVES:
http://cbr.netlore.org/vanish.html
WIND
CHILL CALCULATOR
OFFICERS PRE-RIDE CHECKLIST
