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This
is the second in a
series of talks regarding Group Riding. For the upcoming BMMC
breakfast meetings, you can expect to get a short message from me
or another Ride Captain.
The BMMC
Riders Guide pamphlet that was created in 2007 is a great
document and I certainly hope that you have a copy, have read it,
and have it available for reference. It covers so much ground,
however, that it can be difficult to keep it all correctly in
mind. Just as airline and corporate pilots must undergo refresher
training regularly – Recurrent Training, it’s called – to be
reminded of information they already know, so also may we benefit
from being reminded of what’s contained within the Guide. You
unlikely will be hearing much, if any, new information, but rather
a revisiting and emphasizing of what you already know.
The topic for today is passing:
Imagine that you are the Lead rider of a group comprised of ten
motorcycles enjoying an outing toward Wickenburg on Highway 74,
between I-17 and Highway 60. You come upon a slower vehicle ahead
and decide to pass. Estimate – using a scale of 1 to 10, with 10
being a sure bet and 1 being an impossibility – how likely it is
that all ten bikes will be able to pass this vehicle “together,”
i.e., while retaining their routine 1-second/2-second group
spacing intervals.
I’ll bet you came up with a pretty low number, right? It’s
unlikely that all members of the group can get around this vehicle
together, one right after the other. Almost certainly an
approaching vehicle will appear in the opposite lane and/or a
solid yellow line will appear in the right lane and/or a vehicle
coming on like a bat out of hell – trying to pass the entire group
in one mad rush – will suddenly loom up in your mirror and these
types of occurrences will cause the next rider in the group to
delay his or her pass.
It is the recognition of this likelihood that requires passing
during a group ride to be an individual action, not a group
action. When the rider ahead of you makes the pass – preceded, of
course, by a turn signal, a head check, and a hand signal – this
is your indication to momentarily assume the lead position: Switch
from the right third of the lane to the left third of the lane. In
this position, now it is time to assess whether or not it is
appropriate for you, also, to make your pass. If it looks good
ahead and behind – no oncoming cars, no solid yellow line in your
lane, the vehicle you are following not about to turn, no vehicle
passing you by surprise – then you, too, can do the turn signal,
head check, and hand signal prerequisites and make your own pass,
followed by resuming the proper spacing interval and stagger on
the riders ahead.
There is an impact on the group that remains behind you when
passing correctly. Namely, all riders following the “passer” will
need to switch lane thirds every time a pass takes place! When
Rider A in the left third of the lane passes, now the next person,
Rider B, needs to slide over from the right third to the left
third as he or she assumes the temporary lead position. Following
riders must also switch lanes to retain the staggered formation.
Unless this re-stagger is accomplished, safety is compromised due
to the fact that Rider C now has only a one-second interval behind
Rider B, both of whom are in the left third of the lane.
Obviously, this re-staggering would not need to occur if Rider B
remained in the right third of the lane and made his/her pass from
there. But how can that be?! There is no way – unless one has a
strong death-wish! – that a pass can be properly evaluated and
executed when riding in any position other than as close to the
centerline as safety allows.
Some of you may be thinking that all of this re-staggering, this
switching of lane thirds whenever anyone passes, is an unnecessary
pain and difficult to do. Au contraire! It’s fun! It’s neat to
watch, too! Plus, there are a maximum of ten bikes to consider!
Due to the nature of staggered formation riding, no one is riding
beside you so switching from outer to inner lane third, or vice
versa, to re-stagger is easy: Just make a quick head check and do
it! There’s no need for turn signal nor hand signal.
Let’s suppose, just for discussion purposes, that there really is
a long, straight, stretch with no oncoming or passing traffic for
miles and miles and no solid yellow line on your side. A bird’s
eye view – imagining that the right road edge represents the
ground surface – would show the group of motorcycles looking like
a snake slithering over a log in its path. Both the front end and
the tail end of the snake would be flat against the ground with
just one section at a time humped up over the log.
Since the probability of all group members getting around without
some delay is small, it is incumbent upon the Leader to maintain a
pace that allows the group to re-form once all are past the slower
vehicle. For the Leader to make his/her pass and then to slow to a
crawl is not a bright idea! That’s a good way to incite road rage
in the fellow who just got passed and who now must slow down due
to the crazy motorcyclists in front of him! No, instead, the
Leader needs to keep up a pace slightly faster than the passed
vehicle – 5 mph or so – but not so fast that the tail end of the
group needs to work too hard to re-join.
Also, make darn sure that at the end of your own pass you do not
dive back into the right lane too soon! Not only does this tend to
aggravate the person who was just passed but also it leaves too
little room for the rider behind you who may, correctly, have made
his/her own pass right after yours and is in the passing lane at
the same time as you, two seconds behind. To avoid “Dive Bombing”
back in too soon, wait until you can see the entire front end of
the vehicle in your right mirror (without moving your head too
much), then repeat the turn signal, head check, and hand signal
before pulling back in.
(Hint: When your left hand returns to the handle bar grip after
completing the hand signal, that is an excellent time to cancel
the turn signal.)
By the way, if ever you are caught in a situation wherein you need
to return to the right lane sooner than you anticipated – one of
those “Oh S**t! moments – and hence cannot leave enough room for
the rider behind you, the safe procedure is to drift into the
right third of the lane, regardless of the stagger ahead, to leave
more room for the following rider to get safely back into the
right lane. Only when all are safely out of the passing lane can
the necessary shifting be done to re-establish the proper spacing
and stagger.
The discussion thus far began from the assumption that we were on
Highway 74 heading west to Highway 60: A two-lane road most of the
way. What about when the group is on a divided highway or freeway
with at least two, if not more, lanes going in the same direction?
Should we still pass individually?
Should we? Yes. Must we? No.
On a big freeway, it is difficult to resist the urge to swing out
into the lane to your left when the bike ahead does so if there
isn’t a vehicle in sight behind in that lane for miles. Is this a
really bad act to take? Is it horrible for the group to, nearly
simultaneously, swing into the adjacent lane and then, as a group,
pass the slower car ahead?
No, it’s not horrible, not unsafe, not “bad.” It’s not illegal if
there are no vehicles being blocked by your action. But what is
the advantage of doing it? I really don’t see any. On the other
hand, the disadvantage of doing it is the danger of negative
transfer, of practicing bad habits that will not be safe and
proper when on two-lane roads.
The bottom line? No BMMC Ride Captain should get upset when group
riders swing out early for a pass on a multiple-lane road…so long
as they don’t do it as a blocking maneuver for a vehicle behind
them in that lane. But if the RC observes the same thing on a
two-lane road, then the offending rider(s) will likely be hearing
from the Lead or Sweep at the next stop.
To summarize…
When riding in a group, make every pass your own,
individual, action. |