I live in the metro Detroit area. I have a few friends with bikes, but they are so much bigger than my sweet little GS that riding with them is starting to lose it's appeal. Tooling around with Rx's, ZXx's and GSXR's is nice, but when they start doing 80 mph wheelies on the freeway, I wanna break from the pack.
I would like to find some other GS riders in MI with whom I can work a monthly meet-up/ride. How many of us are there in this economically saddened place that could/would be interested in doing something like this?
I'm a couple hours from Detroit, but the idea of group riding has never appealed to me.
I don't want to ride at someone else's pace. I don't want my riding to be pressured into someone else's style. I don't want to be around people I don't know and trust. I don't want to be around people who do wheelies at 80 mph on the freeway (obviously not a problem on the GS, but still). And who rides on the highway for fun? That's a chore for when you need to cover miles.
I don't want to be responsible for responding to first aid needs because someone thinks the road is a racetrack. Doubly so if the person isn't dressed for the activity.
And I don't know about around Detroit, but Michigan doesn't have many "fun" roads and the roads are in poor shape in general.
The best I've found have been some along the western lakeshore, some by Yankee Springs, and some near the Sleeping Bear Dunes.
I am in the metro D area (Warren). I think Michigan has some great riding areas specifically here within the D. I-696 freeway is a rather popular choice riding highway since it stretches from the east near the lake all the way down to I-96/I-275. The lanes are wide and on a nice morning or late evening the ride is not congested at all. There are also a lot of inner city places to meet up such as Royal Oak bike night, Dooley's bike night, Gibraltar trade center bike gathering, bowling lanes car/bike evening, etc... I think we are lucky to have a lot of options for any evening of the week to take out the bike.
I live downriver..about 20 min south of the trade center.