How To Get Invited out to a Private Ride

[PoppaNoDoz]

You may be a new member, perhaps you've been here a while and you keep asking yourself "does anyone on this forum actually ride? If they do, I don't see a whole lot of stuff about their rides posted." Well my friend, you are in luck, we DO ride - lots of us ride lots and lots and lots of miles. Some of us are putting down over 500 miles on our sportbikes in a given weekend.

Still, you may be wondering "if all this riding is going on why am I not seeing it?"

Well, friend, it's simple. We don't know you and we haven't decided whether or not to invite you to a ride or not. You may be a great guy or gal, but frankly this is the internet and odds are REALLY good that SOME of you reading this right now are exactly the kind of people we want to avoid.

• How to tell if we don't want you - are you one of those:
• People who can't seem to find the proper gear to wear to a ride
• People who show up high to a ride
• People who show up drunk to a ride
• People who think a ride with friends is a race and are super excited to prove how fast they are - whether it kills you, them, or someone else doesn't matter
• People who don't seem capable of shutting the fck up about the ride, the route, where they went and what happened when they got there
• People generally drama prone or otherwise immature

So - you may be asking yourself "How do I show that I am NOT that type of person?" Here are some tips:

• Show up at open rides, the ones that are announced
• Don't be an asshole when you get there, enjoy the ride, have fun, smile a lot and introduce yourself
• Don't feel the need to announce to the entire world the route, the speed and your awesome chicken strip inducing corner exit speeds

Other ways include:

• Show up at meet and greets
• Be wearing a modicum of gear when you get there
• Don't be an asshole, enjoy the company, have fun
• Don't feel the need to announce how fast you are, how awesome a rider you are, and how you're absolutely, positively NOT a cop

Also consider:

• NOT doing dumb shit on the board
• NOT griping about your girlfriend, boyfriend, tranny, midget, whatever that has now left you and moved on to greener pastures - that's YOUR problem, friend, we don't care
• NOT bitching about stupid shit that doesn't matter
• NOT being a drama queen
• NOT being a hater / pansy / delicate little flower we all have to worry about offending
• NOT Declaring to everyone that you're new in town, looking for the hotspots to ride and stunt and you're absolutely, positively NOT a cop

I hope this helps - enjoy your time here and with any luck we'll see you on the road . . . or never hear from you again.

[Drewster]

good post

[HeWhoIs]

NOT Declaring to everyone that you're new in town, looking for the hotspots to ride and stunt and you're absolutely, positively NOT a cop

I'll add to the open ride list my opinions:

• Don't complain that the ride is starting too early in the day, or that it's on Saturday instead of Sunday, or that it's heading north instead of west, or whatever else you wish it would be instead of what it actually is.
• Don't get mad when you show up 5 minutes late and everyone is already gone
• Don't complain after the ride about the pace being too slow when the ride was announced on the board as being slow.
• Don't show up with bald tires. Bald heads are fine though
• Don't show up with an illegal bike (no plate, not registered, no headlight, etc)

[weekendwarrior]

All these rules make me ineligible to attend any private rides.

This is great info though. Nobody wants to pick up body parts as part of their rides.

BE SAFE.... BE SMART....

[TBGixxer]

I agree, good post. Sounds like I'd fit in I'm waiting until my bike is fixed so the wife and I can ride together with you guys then we'll start getting out and about. Looking forward to it.

[NyMo]

PND you literally made me spit up my water reading this tooo FUCKING funny..... Round of applause for the man who has single handly tripled BICs yearly sales.....

[PoppaNoDoz]

I'll add to the open ride list my opinions:

• Don't complain that the ride is starting too early in the day, or that it's on Saturday instead of Sunday, or that it's heading north instead of west, or whatever else you wish it would be instead of what it actually is.
• Don't get mad when you show up 5 minutes late and everyone is already gone
• Don't complain after the ride about the pace being too slow when the ride was announced on the board as being slow.
• Don't show up with bald tires. Bald heads are fine though
• Don't show up with an illegal bike (no plate, not registered, no headlight, etc)

Don't walk around at rest breaks declaring "you guys are all slow, I barely made it out of first gear in some of those turns" We're not racing you - @sshole.

RIDE the line the group is riding. If the entire group goes to the yellow line and then dives single file to the white line you are acting like a total tool by riding RIGHT beside someone into a turn. It says "I don't care about you as a rider, your comfort or safety zone, I am just making a point and the point is that I can be a jerk."

[Ubiquitous_E_R]

x 1000

good post!
...because it's true. it isn't that none of us ride!
i know you and i have had the conversations before.

most of that made me laugh my ass off!!!

[PoorBoyBrian]

quality post Poppa! i think you should stickey this in the ride section so that new people can see it.

[vfrsam]

wow do people really show up drunk and high with no gear?

[PoppaNoDoz]

I've thrown people off my rides before - back when I announced rides on the internet. "hey everyone, I'll be at this spot on sunday" sort of thing. Yeah, drunk, hungover, high, stupid, inconsiderate, ego-ed out of their mind, no gear, bald tires, tires running on about 10lbs of pressure, guys holding weed, guys with outstanding warrants.

Ultimately this is a form of high intensity self actualization - some people get that, some don't.

[ApogeeNow]

Nice post poppa!

I'll add to the open ride list my opinions:

• Don't complain that the ride is starting too early in the day, or that it's on Saturday instead of Sunday, or that it's heading north instead of west, or whatever else you wish it would be instead of what it actually is.
• Don't get mad when you show up 5 minutes late and everyone is already gone
• Don't complain after the ride about the pace being too slow when the ride was announced on the board as being slow.
• Don't show up with bald tires. Bald heads are fine though
• Don't show up with an illegal bike (no plate, not registered, no headlight, etc)

Good stuff!

All these rules make me ineligible to attend any private rides.

BE SAFE.... BE SMART....

Yes, need I remind you that simple leather gloves are not really considered gear, when it's 30 degrees outside.
(It didn't, however, slow you down, btw you were also late! )

[camel]

That was good. Also why i ride by myself 99% of the time. Because of the people that show up you just never know.

[all in]

Wow I get invited on private rides must be a pity thing lol

[pyroman1]

quality post Poppa! i think you should stickey this in the ride section so that new people can see it.

Agreed.

[thatsbs]

good post. I dont show up with gear to rides 'cause I dont have the money for any right now, but I also dont push myself to keep up with others and act like an asshole without gear.

p.s. looking forward to getting gear and pushing myself and bike a little more and having even more fun with y'all.

[bmay1]

i ride alone, yeahhhhhh with nobody else...you know when i ride alone, i prefer to be by mysellllllffff.

someday i'll get off my fat ass and start attending some open rides. i only know a few folks here in lakeland with sport bikes, but never ride out with'em. i hit the road with my old man and his harley and go to the rustbucket swap meet in webster fl. and while im not out to break any land speed records, getting passed by fuel tankers in the middle of the green swamp really aint my speed either.

[Reckless01]

LOL A lot of those reasons are why I stopped doing public rides. No offense, and even when I posted the "rules" and who I wanted and didn't want I got grief about it. I was a picky leader, or w/e it was. I just wanted to make sure that the people I went with were the people I'd want riding a 400+ lb projectile anywhere near me!

I still ride, I am more of the laid back, "want to have fun and not race around at 100+MPH everywhere we go" kinda dude! I very much enjoy the rides put on by PND, it was a blast to ride with those guys, I have ridden with others to include HeWhoIs (GREAT laid back ride leader BTW!)

I was the guy who was too selective when it came to invitees to my rides. People at one point got upset that I was being so selective. But when I go into a turn, I want to know with a pretty high % of certainty that I'm not gonna get 6 o'clocked by some fucking dildo who went in too fast and now made me pay for his fuck up!

Good post PND!

[matthewR1]

Me and my guys were just talking about this Yesterday and how we would like to get others on our rides but its Simply just NOT worth it...whenever we tried it wound up Back firing! we acctuly leave some "Family" behind if we can lol!

i dont get around enough to speek for alot of Riders on this forum or any forum,but you can almost tell witch people are Group riding Friendly...LoL

GREAT POST! this might wake some Guys UP!

[voodoo]

Post of the year brother...

Bravo!!!