Newsletter

June 2010

Mike/Pam/Lucky Jastram

GWRRA Team Riding  -  It really works.

On May 1, all three of us attended the Chapter H (Houma) Progressive Dinner Ride.

What a great time. 

As most of you know, the Houma Shriners with their beautiful green and YELLOW

motorcycles usually lead the ride blocking all traffic as we travel down the roads in the Houma area.  I happened to be standing near the Chapter H organizers when at 8:55 they  learned that the shriners were not coming.  The ride started at 9:00.  With a large number of motorcycles going to four different locations, I thought to myself, this could be a problem. 

Merlin Mayon, Chapter H Educator, starting securing rides leaders while Bernie Benoit, Chapter Director, took an accurate count of the bikes.  With 40 bikes being the total, Merlin appointed 5 road captains with 8 bikes per group.  Some road captains were from Chapter H, but not all.  (I happened to lead the second group – a good group to lead since I put me at the front of the line at each eating location). 

It was amazing how smooth the ride went, but I guess it shouldn’t have been.  With all the training and riding as a group, all riders were on the same page.  Of course not all 40 bikers were GWRRA members, but all they had to do is follow the rest of the group.  The groups of 8 were a mixture of riders, not all from their regular riding partners.  The road captains merely had to manage their group. With CB radios, there was continual communication between groups even though they were not always visible to each other.  I can’t say enough about the importance of having a CB radio when riding with groups or even just one other biker. 

GWRRA always stresses doing things the same way from chapter to chapter from district to district from region to region and you know it works so well.  I know we have all seen or even ridden with other large groups of motorcycles riding as a large mass.  Total confusion.  If a signal light changes red, hold on because they are going to run that light.  The fear of being separated (no CB) causes some very unsafe riding.

To all those who helped with the actual ride   

GREAT JOB