Motorcycle camping with buddies is usually a hell of lot more fun than going it alone. The more the merrier, right? But executing a group motocamping trip isn’t as easy as going solo. When you’re alone (or riding two-up with a passenger), you only have to worry about one bike, one speed, one skill level, one motivation. You can roll with the punches.
When you’re riding with a group, everything is magnified. You have different riders with different bikes, different gear, different skill levels, and sometimes vastly different egos. There’s a reason group rides are often considered more dangerous than solo rides. It’s a tricky web to navigate.
Here are a few things to think about before your next motorcycle camping trip with a group.
Be Honest About Your Goals, Experience, and Skill Level
The biggest problem I run into with group rides—whether I’m riding with a few buddies or on a massive press trip riding with 40+ other journalists—is the difference in motivation. This is true for motocamping trips, too. Some dudes are there to rip it and push their bikes to the limit on technical trail, some are there to enjoy the wilderness. Some guys want to log hundreds upon hundreds of miles a day, others want to cruise and stop to see the sights.
Disparate skill sets and motivations aren't just annoying. They can also be unsafe. A few hotheads gunning it 24/7 can easily pressure other riders in the group into speeds and terrain they aren’t comfortable with, and that’s how you end up with accidents and injuries.
Before you set out on a motocamping trip, make sure you suss this out. Sit down with your buddies, and figure out what you want out of your trip. If you have vastly different ideas of what a good trip looks like, maybe reconsider. A mix-matched group of riders can make it through a day or two, but on an extended motocamping trip, tensions can fray, and you may end up in a situation where no one comes away from the trip happy.
Shakedown Your Gear Before the Trip
After you’ve settled on your objective, and decided that your motivations for the trip are in line, it’s time to have a pre-trip shakedown. Meet up and share the gear you’re bringing. All the group texting and phone calls in the world are no substitute for a physical shakedown. This is standard practice on any serious outdoor expedition.
A shakedown serves two purposes. First, it helps everyone check each other’s personal gear, and offer advice to the less-experienced motocampers in the group.
Second, it makes sure there’s no confusion about who is bringing what pieces of communal gear (camping stoves and tents, for example). You don’t want Billy bringing food because he thought Jerry was bringing the stove, and Jerry also bringing food because he thought Billy was bringing the stove. That’s how you have a bunch of dehydrated meals and nothing to cook ‘em with.
Shakedowns also eliminate redundancy. A titanium cooking pot is great, for example, but if you show up at the shakedown and every other member of your group is bringing one, maybe most of y’all should reconsider. The gear shakedown is also a good place to lay out your route, compare GPS navigational tools, and make sure everyone is on board with your route, fuel and food stops, and planned campsites.
Understand Group Riding Technique
If you’ve never ridden in a group before, make sure you and your buddies understand the basics. It’s not rocket science, but it is a bit different than riding alone or with a single friend. I won’t pretend to give an exhaustive course in group motorcycle riding here, but some common tips include:
- Keep group size manageable. More than a half-dozen or so riders, and it’s easy to get split up and disorganized. With groups larger than seven, consider creating subgroups.
- Stagger your members to give yourself maximum maneuverability and stopping distance. The Leader rides in lane position one, the second in position three, the third in position one, and so on. Give yourself at least two seconds of brake time between yourself and the rider directly in front of you.
- Choose the most experienced, mature riders to act as leader and sweep (rear). Note: This does not always mean the most technically proficient rider. You don’t want an adrenaline junkie ego-head as your leader. You want someone who rides smart, stays in control, sets a good example, and keeps the group together.
Consider Comms
Hands-free communication devices are commonplace nowadays. But it’s worth mentioning that these are invaluable on group rides. Consider buying one and learning how to use it.
Also, take some time to learn basic hand signals, like left turn, right turn, stop, slow down, speed up, and hazard. There are plenty of basic graphics demonstrating these available online, and no, they aren’t just for Sons of Anarchy LARPers.
Even if you have bomber tech, everything loses battery, breaks, or malfunctions eventually. If your electronic communications go down, a few hand signals may make the difference between missing an exit, or even an accident. Again, this is something to discuss at the pre-trip shakedown.
Pack Light
Overpacking is far more common than underpacking. This is true of backpacking, climbing, packrafting, bikepacking… and motorcycling, too. (In fact, it’s extra true on motorcycle trips, because people rely on the engine doing the work, so they’re more likely to haul extra weight.)
That’s not to say you shouldn’t pack thoughtfully and be prepared for emergencies. But unless you’re heading into some serious backcountry terrain, with jerry cans and stashes, your bike is never going to be more than a few dozen miles from civilization during your trip. On the off chance that you do forget a necessity, you can always detour and snag it.
So stay slim. Pack light.
Like I mentioned above, the beauty of group trips is that you can divvy up a lot of gear. For example, you don’t all need to bring an entire tool kit. Figure out all the tools needed, and split the load between everyone. Just make sure you do that shakedown beforehand so you know who is bringing what.
Be Prepared & Patient
I’ve never been on an extended motorcycle trip where the shit didn’t hit the fan eventually. Whether that means heavy rain, high winds, getting lost, running out of gas, busted bikes, or more serious stuff—like trouble with law enforcement or injured riders—the more miles you put on a motorcycle, the higher the chances things are going to go south, and for every additional pair of wheels in your group, those chances go up.
I don’t mention that to bum you out about group motocamping. I mention it to make the point that the biggest, most important tip for any group adventure, motorcycling or otherwise, is to be prepared for setbacks, slowdowns, and snafus, and be patient when they occur.
The beauty of riding and camping in a group is that you have other folks around to pick you up when you fall and have your back in a jam. The flip side is your group is only as strong as its weakest member.
Motorcycling is notorious for attracting big egos and inflating them further. Don’t fall victim to that. Keep your crew together, pump everybody up, and pivot if one of your riders runs into a problem.
Happy motocamping!
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Owen Clarke (@opops13) is an American action sports journalist. A longtime contributor to Climbing and Rock and Ice magazines, he has also written for Iron & Air, Outside, and Travel + Leisure, among other titles. In addition to his work with Moto Camp Nerd, Owen is a contributing editor for Summit Journal and the American Alpine Journal's Africa editor.