Yet once again, I’m going to stick my opinion where some of you won’t like it. Such is life for an editor. With the editorial position comes an opportunity (some would say an obligation) to share sometimes unpopular and passion-provoking opinions. We’re finding that some of you find the magazine more interesting when we do, and we invite your responses (editor@gwrra.org).
This month’s topic: I don’t enjoy organized “team” riding. While group rides are fun, and I’ve seen “team” riding done extremely well by some groups, close-order riding is not for everyone, and it’s definitely not for me. I do like riding with other people, but just not in tight, controlled formations.
GWRRA has its own GWRRA Team Riding Manual. It’s excellent, and I recommend you be very familiar with it before embarking on a “team” ride. See your Educator or contact Home Office for a copy. It describes how a well-briefed, well-practiced team should enter traffic, pass traffic, change lanes, stop at and depart from traffic lights, turn at intersections, and deal with changing highway conditions. There’s also a copy of Team Riding Hand Signals for communicating with non-CB-equipped riders, as well as a copy of the T-CLOCK inspection all riders should use prior to any ride.
The booklet distinguishes between mass riding, leisure riding and team riding. Mass riding is “a group going down the road doing its own thing, with no one paying any attention to the group as a whole.” Leisure riding is “traveling with a group of people you know…[wherein] some ground rules have been set, and everyone agrees to abide by them.”
Team riding is a group of several Gold Wings or other CB-equipped motorcycles (no more than five per team), riding under good conditions at one-second staggered positions and two-second intervals, with an assigned Team Point (front rider) and Team Captain (back rider) taking joint responsibility for team safety.
My personal concerns with “team” riding fall into four general categories.
1. Limitations of my own. Can I guarantee I’ll be 100-percent accurate on maintaining steady speed and interval? Can I be sure I’ll always hear and respond correctly to the instructions of the Team Point or Team Captain?
2. Limitations of other riders. There are good riders and not-so-good riders. I’ve tried riding in close formation with the latter; it’s not fun. Likewise, I’d hate to impose my limitations on others.
3. Limitations of other highway users. Highway use is heavier, and speeds, legal and illegal, have increased dramatically in the past two decades. Last-minute exit and lane-change decisions are increasingly abrupt, often due to inattention and distractions. Mentally, many drivers still don’t “see” motorcycles.
4. The unexpected. Animals appear out of nowhere. Vehicles violate our right of way. Pavement quality goes to pot. Blowouts occur. Junk falls off trucks. When normal situations go sour, changing our speeds or our direction are our best defense. But in close proximity to other motorcycles, abrupt braking, sudden acceleration or swerving could have dire results.
Then too, something happens when riders become part of a group. “Sticking together” grows beyond its actual importance. If you’ve ever accelerated through a yellow light rather than get separated from the group, you know what I mean. There’s also a tendency to depend on the Team Point and the Team Captain for right decisions.
Am I the only one to find the team riding way of passing other traffic (as a unit) on multi-lane highways to be unnecessarily complicated, time-consuming, and disruptive to the normal flow of traffic? The procedure (in light traffic) is as follows.
Step One: The Team Point informs the Team Captain of the need to move into another lane. Only the Team Captain should acknowledge this transmission. Step Two: The Team Captain announces when it is safe to make the lane change. Step Three: Each team member makes a head check to confirm the lane is secure, then the group moves into the new lane as a unit following the Team Point. Drill teams spend hours practicing synchronized movements executed by CB cue; do team riders have the same practiced proficiency?
In heavy traffic, the procedure is even more complex. Steps One & Two are the same as before, but note the change. Step Three: Each team member makes a head check to confirm the lane is secure, then each rider in succession, from the rear to the front, following the Team Captain’s lead, moves into the new lane. The Team Point is the last to move. Can most riders effectively divide their attention between what’s ahead and what’s behind, and predicate their lane change timing on when (and where) the bike behind them moves? I understand the theory behind these maneuvers—to protect the team from other vehicles breaking up or endangering the formation. But is a maneuver to block traffic that is moving up fast behind the group prudent and considerate? At mid-maneuver, even if only briefly, two lanes become blocked by large motorcycles. Given today’s speeds and drivers’ attitudes, will they happily brake as the Wings rearrange themselves?
I present these questions hoping that meaningful rider education discussions will ensue in GWRRA Chapters around the country. Maybe I’m not the only one who’s uncomfortable with “team” riding. Are we unwittingly driving participants away because they don’t want to be the odd ones out?

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Mike Wright
Executive Director • Gold Wing Road Riders Association

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This month I embark on the risky business of disagreeing with portions of our illustrious editor’s opinion. (See “Headlight,” page four.) I recognize I am at an extreme disadvantage, attempting to battle wits with a wordsmith of his stature, but throwing caution to the wind, I think his opinion deserves a challenge, so here goes.
The subject of group riding has been debated since dirt. In my mind, the question has always been: Which is better, everyone riding as a group or everyone riding as individuals? Unity can mean safety as opposed to riding alone. I estimate seven out of ten motorcycle accidents with serious injuries or deaths reported to me by our membership involved individuals riding apart from groups. Apparently some aspect of riding in groups improves one’s safety, and statistics or not, there’s something to be said for that! I believe most riders in a group tend to be more observant and alert if someone else in the group errs in judgement or maneuvers in a manner that requires adjustment.
To some extent, Nick’s questioning of team riding techniques goes beyond the topic of safety, extending into the heart of GWRRA’s social structure. Many have the need to be a part of a group to share with, and to rely on for protection, solace, instruction, security and safety. Nick’s article poses the question of individualism versus companionship among motorcyclists. What would a dinner ride be without meeting and riding together as a group? What would a weekend leaf ride be without sharing the colors and the beauty?
In our earlier days of riding, I doubt if Judy & I would have participated as much as we did if it were not for group riding and being with our friends. We shared the good times and the bad, sunshine and storms, cold and heat, etc. Not only were these rides more meaningful because we shared them, but I believe they were safer because of it.
I recognize there are also negatives to group or team riding, and there are times I would prefer to ride alone as opposed to with a slow-moving threesome or fivesome. No system is perfect, but if people are going to ride together, there needs to be a process with structure, consistency and awareness. Many of the best minds in GWRRA’s Rider Education division have spent uncounted hours debating, suggesting, revising and compromising to come up with the contents of the GWRRA Team Riding Manual and the Road Captain’s Course to better prepare riders to do battle on the highways and byways of our world. These systems are far better than ramshackling down the highways with spacing anywhere from one second to five minutes.
As a former MSF instructor, I strongly agree with the importance of being prepared to manage the risk of riding. We enjoy an extreme sport that carries with it risk and responsibility, and it’s our job to reduce risk to an absolute minimum whether alone or with a group. Nick mentions the “unexpected” yellow lights, animals, items falling off the back of trucks, etc., all realities of riding a motorcycle with or without a group. The challenge is how we prepare for these risks. SIPDE (Scan-Identify-Predict-Decide-Execute) should be the focus of all riders and, in my mind, twenty pairs of eyes are better than one or two. Can we control the deer that bolts out from the side of the road or the dog chasing a rabbit out of the woods? No, but in my group riding experience, most threats such as these were often spotted by someone in the group in time to predict, decide and execute.
Will Nick’s article generate worthwhile discussion and conversation or heated arguments? Will it cause Chapters to decide that everyone should ride on their own instead of as a group? I don’t think that’s an improvement either from a safety point of view or from a social one.
Does the safety of a group depend on the skill level of those within the group? You bet, but here again, education, education, and more education is critical. Going over the rules of the road prior to the ride, making sure everyone understands the dependency upon each other in formation, knowing when to split off into single file or into individual units and how to regroup thereafter—these all must be taught. Each rider in a group has to recognize his or her own skill level and limitations.
Group riding needs to be performed in the safest possible manner while protecting the integrity of the group. The best way to accomplish this is for our Educators to continue their efforts to educate all Chapter participants. There are several meetings’ worth of subject matter in the GWRRA Team Riding Manual and the Road Captain’s Course that ought to be studied, discussed and presented. Educators should continue to share this education until everyone in the Chapter understands the theory and execution of its techniques.
As the manual says, “…group riding is a team effort. To be safe, you must rely on the cooperation of all riders in that group. If you are new to this form of riding, study the techniques before your first group ride. You will find that a group ride can be most enjoyable.” In its closing paragraphs, the manual also says, “Have consideration for your own capabilities, skills, health, physical fitness, and feelings. Never drive beyond your comfort level! Enjoy your team riding…and be careful!”
Nobody expects everyone in GWRRA to have the same comfort and skill levels. When I was riding with our Chapter, we always told everyone our destination and the route we’d be riding before we left the parking lot. This way, those who weren’t comfortable with group riding could meet us at the destination and we could enjoy their company, too.
So while our illustrious editor raises some interesting points, let me be the first to say I don’t share his concerns myself. I enjoy riding with a group that is informed (well trained), disciplined (considerate of others), attentive (SIPDE), and responsible (managing risk).
So, Nick, we’ll meet you at the Dairy Queen! Have a nice ride and don’t forget, it’s your turn to buy!

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