Firstly, this probably isn't the place for this. Capt'n, is there any mileage in a forum catagory for this, or maybe it would fit into another catagory (with some tweeking)??

So.

Group riding is a funny old game, especially with a large group of 'individuals' (normal group riding would be with 'like minded' riders so escentially a smoother opperation) and getting it right is something that doesn't <probably> happen very often.

Before the weekend I gave alot of thought to this, and to be honest I had some concerns regarding how riders would react/behave. Some riders like to go 'all out', some don't and getting a happy balance isn't easy with guys you know, let alone 20 riders you hardly know!!

One of the big concerns to me was overtaking within a group (not everyone has experience of group riding, not everyone likes it!) it puts a huge amount of stress on everyone if overtaking is going on within the group, and is the most dangerous activity for group riding. Normally (as a group) we (the few groups that I ever ride with) would agree a road/section where guys could have a 'blast', and this works well as long as you have RV points setup. There is one guy in my circle of friends who is the most selfish rider around - so we let him lead <read:bu99er off) and the second rider takes over. We never let him ride in the pack, nice bloke but a twxt on a bike.

Another concern is group breakup, with 20 bikes and say 100meters between each bike that's a 2km line of bikes, overtakes have to be considered with the variables of a 2km vehicle! Road junctions can be the end of the single group in a second (as we saw in Ambleside on Saturday). There are a number of ways to keep the group together;

1. Drop Off. This worked very well over the weekend. For those who don't understand it, it is very simple. The leader leads. At a junction/turn/roundabout the leader 'drops off ' the second bike with a signal (in experienced groups the second rider would naturally drop off without a signal), in our case a 'point to the ground' similar to a turn signal but with the arm at 45 degrees to the horizontal (pointing down). The second bike waits at the junction until all the othe bikes are through then falls in at the back. In our case (because of steveD's beacon, sorry jacket) we had an easily to spot sweeper, so the 'dropped off' rider would fall in just in front of Steve. Steve had full knowledge of the route and experience of the roads so could deal with any breakup.
2. Leading from the back. This is a great method but requires all riders to have good observation. It's a simple rule - keep the guy behind you in your mirrors, if you loose him for a couple of minutes slow down until he catches up, eventually you would stop and turn back if needed. The advantage of this is that it keeps the group together, and rides at the pace set by the slowest rider. This is the favoured method by the IAM and is the same method instructed in BikeSafe
3. Everyone knows the route. Simple, you ride, you stop at a designated place (cafe, lay by etc). normally you put the fastest bike at the font and everyone has a blast! The downside of this is that when something happens it will take time for other riders to realise and turn round.
4. Ride Alone. Personally, this is my ride of choice. It requires you to be self sufficient, and make sure someone knows where you are going and what time you'll return/check in.

Pace. How do you set the right pace? the larger the group then the slower the lead pace should be. On Saturday I set a pace of between 30 and 40mph. I was concerned that it was maybe too slow for some but the feedback I got was possitive, in fact as the sweeper was keeping a similar speed it suggested to me that it was about right.

The loneliness of command. Being at the front, you kinda miss out on the antics within the group. I would suggest that for long trips over multiple days the lead should be distributed, even if the lead and the sweeper swapped places.

Preparation. OK, for a successfull ride the prep work is important. You need to scope out the road, route potential proble areas (like where the group could get broken up) and to ensure that all the bikes/riders would make it through the terrain - some machines do thing better than others. So having a 'by pass' is a good idea. On long routes, a 'get out early' or 'quick extension' is required to reduce or fill the day. On Saturday we had these and the route was amended to cater for the lost time we encountered.

RV Points. Although I never briefed this (actually I though it was self explanitory) having a meeting place that is well documented/advised (in the case of the weekend there was map & GPS references give out in advance) is a good way of regrouping should things go wrong. When the drop off system fell down on Saturday, the RV point allowed us all to get back together.

Risk Assesment. This was something I never considered (as I'd already stated that it was every man /woman for him/her self) but after speaking to Steve it's worth considering this for any forum organised ride-outs where there are a large number of bikes. There are some very good reasons for this and I'm sure steved will be happy to discuss them.

I've learned a few things about organising and leading a group ride over the last few weeks, I'm sure that you guys from within the group can add some observations & feedback - good and bad

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Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.