A suggestion! Relay on radios. Have leader / mid pack/ tail. All repeat turns. This way radio distance is no problem, and also you can confirm your tail knows. I’m part of a motorcycle group and we use this technique,

@timthetrailman4563

5 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching and the feedback. I like that idea.

Thanks for joining us the other night Tim! I was made admin of CCJ not long ago and had my first ride as a lead for our January ride through Cohutta/Big Frog Loop. Of course with our stock friendly rides a ton of people show up, and I had 30 vehicles to lead for my first go round 🤣 The Feb ride was mine to lead again up Tray and Charlie's Creek, we had 20 on that ride. Then just the other night with 18 of us. The more I do this, the more I much prefer a group of 4-8. The best tips I have found are to ALWAYS have a lead, middle relay, and a tail gunner that you can trust. As you heard on the radio, it can get to be a bit much, but I am sure to call out each and every turn as the lead. Then I wait for confirmation from the tail that they both heard it and when they make the turn. Another that we have tried before with large groups is to number all the rigs. That way if someone is having issues in a more technical section, or whatever may be the case, they can call out "hey 15 needs help" and it lets the other vehicles immediately surrounding them know they need to spot or whatever is needed. However for night rides the BIGGEST thing is for every single person to be responsible for the person behind them. If you cant see headlights behind you, get on the radio and let the group know you are stopping until they catch back up. Keep the great content coming man!

@timthetrailman4563

5 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching and the feedback. That is great points on all accounts. The larger the group the bigger the challenge to keep together. Thank you for letting me join the other night. I'll have a video up soon on that night ride.

Our rule of thumb is that if you can't see the person behind you, then slow down or stop until you see them. Communicate over the radio to make sure everyone is always in sight of someone else.

@timthetrailman4563

3 ай бұрын

That is a good time of thumb. This trip everyone not having a radio or good trail sense definitely was an exploited weak point

We were on the night ride you talked about and were in the group with you that got separated. We appreciate you taking the lead of this smaller group and getting us going again. It was a fun ride even though it ended up being a little different than planned. We look forward to the next one.

@timthetrailman4563

5 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching. It was a good ride. I'm glad that everyone had a good time in spite of getting separated. I look forward to more rids with everyone. Day or night rides are a great time.

First, all drivers must have radios. so communication can flow both direction. I found myself trailing behind on a very muddy and difficult trail cause unlike the other vehicles, I didn't have mud tires, and my TRD Pro was newer than the other vehicles so I was concerned to slide off the road and hit the embankment that the trail created. Sometime forging forward is necessary to keep momentum especially in muddy area but once you hit a safe place to stop, the group need to be gathered.

@timthetrailman4563

5 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching and the feedback. I do agree the more radios you can have the better. A plus is everyone knowing their responsibility with the radio. With first timers even having a radio doesn't make it very clear to what to do with it. I agree with always being safe and knowing your comfort levels with your speed on the trail. Regrouping is a must at certain points with a trail ride of this length. That's how it got started. Some people were getting beat to death to keep up and naturally slowed down and the chain was broken at that point.

Been on a twenty car trail ride. Clear communication and relaying everything when making big decisions like stopping turning unexpectedly or on coming drivers is huge. Only issue we came across was some people getting stuck cause the obstacles were a bit difficult. But even then we had communication and help get them out. I guess over communication would be the goal. Glad everyone made it out safe!

@timthetrailman4563

5 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching and feedback. I definitely like the idea that you can't communicate too much.

You're going to get some very passionate responses to this one! I could write a book here but I'll just offer one thing I have done in the past: Treat the group like smaller groups. Leader always keeps his 6 in sight. After the leader you always keep your person at 12 and 6 in sight, Tailgunner keeps his 12 in sight. I broke that down super simple, but hopefully it makes sense. Happy trails.

@timthetrailman4563

5 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching and the feedback. I like that idea.

@jeremybrown9379

5 ай бұрын

@@timthetrailman4563 the other way of doing this, is for any turn, you stop until the person behind you sees which direction you are going and that is for everyone.

@timthetrailman4563

5 ай бұрын

@jeremybrown9379 i like that idea a lot. So if someone doesn't have a radio then it won't matter. Easy on each person.

@jeremybrown9379

5 ай бұрын

@@timthetrailman4563 exactly.

A little thought tells one the a group of 47 cannot stay together. The group organizer should have worked out with other leaders to break the group into smaller segments and even break the trail into sections with groups coming in from different directions.

@timthetrailman4563

5 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching and the feedback. It was quite the surprise to how many people said they were coming to how many showed up. About 4x. Lots of takeaways from it and I think your ideas help support what it can look like in the future.

First one: I agree it's polite to give them a little privacy but in my experience most leaders stop just around the next curve at most. Second one: I've gotten to the point where I never ride with more than 10-12 rigs in a group. The largest ride I was ever on was over 20 rigs and even with that many the leader could not be heard by the caboose over radio. Good job getting everyone back to pavement after you lost tail lights though.

@timthetrailman4563

5 ай бұрын

Those are great points. Thank you for watching and the feedback.