08-16-2016, 12:10 PM
Wow. Another high quality thread/discussion with polite, insightful responses. 
Prior to me coming here I was checking a thread on another site to see how it was going. Was already deleted by the moderator because the subject matter drove members over the edge in their responses and well, the thread being deleted says it all.
I voted Wanderer. I have a trip coming up. I have a general idea of how I'm going to ride. It's approx. 800 miles round trip. Undecided if I'm going clockwise or counterclockwise and I'm 2 days out from launch. That's also how my last 1200 mile trip went.
I LIKE riding alone. It frees me of ALL responsibility such as scheduled gas/food stops/set miles or target miles/destination per day and so forth. I also like CAMPING off the bike, which here out west gives me even MORE freedom because of all the public-lands. Starting to get dark? No problem just start looking for a quiet place off the side of the road.
I don't GROUP ride. Don't like it for any number of reasons. I Have the opportunity to participate in many group rides during the season. Never have gone on one.
I do ride with a small CREW. 3 friends who have a long history of riding. Two who between them have close to 70 years of riding experience and 40+ different bikes under them. In the past two years all four of us have been on the road together twice. most of the time we number 2-3. As of this year I've been spending time with my daughter riding, usually with one of the crew so no more than 3 of us out and about. mostly on back roads with little traffic on the weekends.
On a side note, Ulvetanna wrote " People need one another, but not for validation. That's a psychological phenomenon, very similar to peer pressure." One of my riding buddies is a psychiatrist with 30 years in the business. Occasionally he will speak of something he sees a lot of in his profession, that of people letting others opinions and certain possessions of theirs define (validate if you will) them. On occasions when he see's a rider on a certain brand, with the bikes brand name or initials on the riders boots, jeans, T-shirt, head scarf, jacket, sunglasses, wallet, phone cover etc. he will remark "that boy has been defined".
Prior to me coming here I was checking a thread on another site to see how it was going. Was already deleted by the moderator because the subject matter drove members over the edge in their responses and well, the thread being deleted says it all.
I voted Wanderer. I have a trip coming up. I have a general idea of how I'm going to ride. It's approx. 800 miles round trip. Undecided if I'm going clockwise or counterclockwise and I'm 2 days out from launch. That's also how my last 1200 mile trip went.
I LIKE riding alone. It frees me of ALL responsibility such as scheduled gas/food stops/set miles or target miles/destination per day and so forth. I also like CAMPING off the bike, which here out west gives me even MORE freedom because of all the public-lands. Starting to get dark? No problem just start looking for a quiet place off the side of the road.
I don't GROUP ride. Don't like it for any number of reasons. I Have the opportunity to participate in many group rides during the season. Never have gone on one.
I do ride with a small CREW. 3 friends who have a long history of riding. Two who between them have close to 70 years of riding experience and 40+ different bikes under them. In the past two years all four of us have been on the road together twice. most of the time we number 2-3. As of this year I've been spending time with my daughter riding, usually with one of the crew so no more than 3 of us out and about. mostly on back roads with little traffic on the weekends.
On a side note, Ulvetanna wrote " People need one another, but not for validation. That's a psychological phenomenon, very similar to peer pressure." One of my riding buddies is a psychiatrist with 30 years in the business. Occasionally he will speak of something he sees a lot of in his profession, that of people letting others opinions and certain possessions of theirs define (validate if you will) them. On occasions when he see's a rider on a certain brand, with the bikes brand name or initials on the riders boots, jeans, T-shirt, head scarf, jacket, sunglasses, wallet, phone cover etc. he will remark "that boy has been defined".