Proper planning plays a very important role to ensure a safe, interesting, and fun ride. If you are new to this or need assistance, please call any of the Road Captains listed in our newsletter or web site for advice in planning and leading your first ride.
The first thing in planning a ride is selecting a destination. For any destination you need to know that the business will be open and can handle the size of our group. If it is a restaurant, you should call to ensure they will be open, give them a head count, and the approximate time of our arrival. It would be a good idea to have a section of their parking set aside for the motorcycles if possible. If a restaurant, check to see if they could make separate checks for the meals. Once we have an exact count at our departure point, it helps to make a final call to the restaurant with updated numbers.
The next step is to plan and then pre-ride the route. Try to make it an interesting ride, not just down interstate or through town. During your pre-ride of the route, you need to check road conditions and determine which lanes you should use while leading the group. During your route check ride, try to find a good rest stop that might have more than one gas station and rest rooms to speed up the necessary “pit stops”.
You want this to be a fun and safe ride. While pre-riding the route you should take notes of your mileage at each turn point for your route sheet. It would be helpful to make a map of the route in case the group gets split up. Once you are happy with your route and have written your route sheet, you should email it to the other Road Captains to allow them to become familiar with it before ride day.