08-27-2018, 11:33 PM
I tend to agree that the whole pack riding thing is a bit of an unstable situation that doesn't make the road a better place. Either they're going too slow, or going entirely too fast, and as some of you have pointed out they're dangerous or outright impossible to overtake, and universally make the cars they overtake far too nervous for their own good.
I also agree, however, that if you encounter a pack, the inherent instability of the situation dictates that you should, in fact, give them distance and patiently wait for a safe opportunity to get around them. Case in point: there was a video I watched recently of a motovlogger on his Grom getting caught behind one of these packs. The riders in the back of the pack behaved, without mincing words, like children about the whole affair, and simply couldn't stand the fact that the little grom had come up behind them. This is one of the cases where the pack was going entirely too slow for the road they were on, given the average speed of all the other vehicles on that road. The Grom rider also bevhaved like a complete bell-end and made the oft-maligned mistake of attempting to pass and even merge into the group, complaining the whole time as if he had no choice. He did, in fact, have a choice. He could have simply pulled off on a viewing area, had a stretch for about 5 minutes, and returned to his ride, having given the belligerent pack a wide bit of breathing room. It's true that it isn't fair that he has to stop and do that, but it's also true that there's literally no other way to safely handle that situation.
I guess what i'm getting at about pack riding is that the people doing it probably shouldn't be, but the people who encounter them have no justification for their behavior either.
I also agree, however, that if you encounter a pack, the inherent instability of the situation dictates that you should, in fact, give them distance and patiently wait for a safe opportunity to get around them. Case in point: there was a video I watched recently of a motovlogger on his Grom getting caught behind one of these packs. The riders in the back of the pack behaved, without mincing words, like children about the whole affair, and simply couldn't stand the fact that the little grom had come up behind them. This is one of the cases where the pack was going entirely too slow for the road they were on, given the average speed of all the other vehicles on that road. The Grom rider also bevhaved like a complete bell-end and made the oft-maligned mistake of attempting to pass and even merge into the group, complaining the whole time as if he had no choice. He did, in fact, have a choice. He could have simply pulled off on a viewing area, had a stretch for about 5 minutes, and returned to his ride, having given the belligerent pack a wide bit of breathing room. It's true that it isn't fair that he has to stop and do that, but it's also true that there's literally no other way to safely handle that situation.
I guess what i'm getting at about pack riding is that the people doing it probably shouldn't be, but the people who encounter them have no justification for their behavior either.