Using the Drop Off system

Greg Masters

Greg Masters

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It's this simple:

You have:
  • A Lead Rider - somebody who knows where you are going
  • A rear gunner/sweeper/tail-end Charlie
  • The other riders

How it works:
  • The Lead Rider and the tail-end Charlie NEVER change
  • At EVERY junction or turn, the rider #2 (immediately behind the Lead Rider) stops and points out the route to the following riders
  • As the tail-end Charlie approaches the junction/turn, the rider who has stopped rejoins immediately in front of the tail-end Charlie
  • The new rider immediately behind the Lead Rider stops at the next junction/turn etc etc
  • If the Lead Rider reaches a junction/turn and there is nobody behind him/her, the Lead Rider stops until rider #2 arrives. The Lead Rider then continues on the route leaving rider #2 to point the way
 
I've used this method on an ABR off road ride with about 50 in the group. (2017)

The group got really strung out, so that the impact on others using the green lanes wasn't too great, nobody got lost and the system worked really well.

I was impressed.
 
The Other PaulG said:
I'd prefer 'here's the destination, see you there'.
Click to expand...

This is how I travel in Europe with one of my best mates. He is significantly slower than me. Significantly as in: I was able to finish a full meal waiting for him to descend from a bit in the Pyrenees. He joined for coffee at the end.

I provide detailed GPS tracks nowadays, along with destination points, after we had a massive argument a few years ago as I lost him in between bits. :D


The only other person I travel with nowadays (friend from Italy) we have a similar pace, so we're always together (within intercom range) unless I get stuck in traffic :D

To be serious for a second: despite personal preferences (I prefer riding alone or just two bikes) for someone with little experience traveling abroad a bigger group could be detrimental as the stress of following/not getting lost/multiple personalities to manage/etc. might make everything less enjoyable. My two cents.
 
Dent 2020 - drop off system - failed at the first junction
Dent - never again

Sproxton 2021 - Worked flawlessly
Sproxton 2022 - Drop off system - didnt even get away from the hotel lol
Sproxton 20xx Never again

Portsoy 2021 - drop off system - failed after about 10 miles
Portsoy 20xx - Never again


TBH sounds good on paper, but unless your TEC knows the route, its always going to fail
 
Santa-2512 said:
TBH sounds good on paper, but unless your TEC knows the route, its always going to fail
Click to expand...

With a group maybe spread over a couple of miles, how does it help the those ahead of him if tail end Charlie knows the route, if it’s bods in the middle who have gone hurtling off in the wrong direction of their own accord?

The Drop Off or marker system works really well, if everyone in the group understands it before they start and follows the very simple rules, without making bits up as they go along.
 
The Other PaulG said:
I'd prefer 'here's the destination, see you there'.
Click to expand...

EVERY time....:thumb



Santa-2512 said:
Dent 2020 - drop off system - failed at the first junction
Dent - never again

Sproxton 2021 - Worked flawlessly
Sproxton 2022 - Drop off system - didnt even get away from the hotel lol
Sproxton 20xx Never again

Portsoy 2021 - drop off system - failed after about 10 miles
Portsoy 20xx - Never again


TBH sounds good on paper, but unless your TEC knows the route, its always going to fail
Click to expand...

Hilarious - I can sense your frustration from here...:D
 
@wapping hahahah yes – angry ride for the last 100 miles to the Ibis south of Dijon and then sorry man-hug when we arrived.


I wouldn't do anymore because, as stated above, I prefer riding on my own or with one "trusted" bike, but for a few years in the early 2000s I used to go out every weekend with some of the people, some of which are now good friends, from the Italian forum I'm part of (similar to UKGSer, bigger, less GS-centric - there is a few other members in here besides me).

Early days of affordable GPSs. So we generally had one person with a GPS leading, and a good pace, and a sweep. Various riding abilities of a group of bikes that was usually between 5 to 10 vehicles.
You have no idea the arguments (and family-related Italian specific swearing) I witnessed over the years :D

At some point we "evolved" into a standard group (majority of people) and then a "fast group" of 3/4 bikes. Same destination (usually some restaurant of sorts). Us in the fast group would meet 45 mins/1 hour later than the others and then meet them for lunch. We always pretty much made it. :)

Aaaaand that's, mostly, why I prefer riding on my own nowadays. :D :D :D


We used to do a yearly forum "rally" or meeting. With day trips, etc.
Us, the Roman group, organised the 2005 one. We had about 110 bikes. We took them around for 3 days split in smaller groups of max 20 bikes (and the groups tiered by "speed") and, incredibly, went really well.
 
As tail end Charlie the best distance I’ve managed to keep comms with the leader ISTR was about 38 miles, (I might be grossly exaggerating due to old age though!) Alp to Alp in Austria, using an enhanced higher powered PMR.

Never been able to achieve anything like it since.


Oh and if you are marking a junction, make sure that you can be seen and don’t leave until you see the TEC.
 
Last time ilead a group using the drop off system it failed so completely as the 2nd man would mark the junction but the 3rd 4th 5th and 6th riders were so slow by the time they got to the 2nd man marking the junction i had made 3 more turns !

It does work if the group are of simmilar ability and understand what they are supposed to do
 
my regular touring group is getting on a bit, rides at a very different pace, has differing fuel and bladder requirements. We have abandoned trying to stick together and just make sure everyone knows the lunch stop of end destination
 
Jockser said:
It’s a very simple system & works exceedingly well
Until some knob either doesn’t drop off or decides to move on before the TEC arrives :p1zzed:
Click to expand...

Indeed so.

We have though had some innocent confusion.

Once was when two large gaggles of roughly 20 bikes each, both using the drop off system, had by chance, become intermingled somewhere in Bedfordshire, I think it was. It would have been fine (as it had been all morning) had both groups been heading to the same destination.

Another time was on one of my Wanders, when unknown to me at the front, a Frenchman joined the gaggle immediately behind me. One bike looks pretty much like another in my Blackbird’s mirrors. I indicated that he should stop to mark at a turn off, he naturally enough ignored me and carried straight on as that was where he wanted to go, as did the group following him. I have often since been past the point where it happened.

Happy days.
 
Am in Czech Republic with group of 13, my experience over several trips is that best size group or this system is less than 10, any bigger, split into two.
 
Jockser said:
It’s a very simple system & works exceedingly well
Until some knob either doesn’t drop off or decides to move on before the TEC arrives :p1zzed:
Click to expand...
This^^^^

I used to lead loads of rides. It’s worth taking time to brief and brief again on the drop off system to at least try and make sure everyone understands.

The OP missed a few important points:
1. that each rider should be trying to keep the rider behind in view in their mirrors. If not then slow down and possibly stop and wait until a rider comes into view. This applies to the leader too. The lack of a rider behind means there is either a problem and everyone else is stopped or you’ve accidentally managed to go the wrong way. If everyone in the group does this then eventually the leader won’t see anyone in their mirrors too and should stop and wait. At this point a phone call to the tec should reveal the problem.

2. If as a rider in the group you’ve spotted someone going the wrong way stop and wait for the tec and tell them which junction the dopey rider took. The TEC should wait there.

3. If you are the dope and managed to go the wrong way, have stopped but no one is turning up then go back to the last turn where a #2 directed you which way to go. The TEC should be there and off you go.

4. As a leader you must also point out when and where you expect #2 to stop. If #2 doesn’t stop then you should stop asap and do the job they should have done. If there’s no #2 in sight them you’ve fucked up as leader and should wait.

5. As a leader you should take the opportunity to slow right down from time to time and regroup. Long stretches of straight road or dual carriageway are best for this. Wait until the tec is visible to you and then off you go.

6. TEC needs to be a fast rider as the further back you are the faster the ride will appear to be simply as a result of the stringing out caused by junctions, lights or whatever.

The only way I will ride in groups though is as leader.
 
AustinW said:
2. If as a rider in the group you’ve spotted someone going the wrong way stop and wait for the tec and tell them which junction the dopey rider took. The TEC should wait there.
Click to expand...

It shouldn't be possible to take a wrong turn - it should have been marked by the #2.

That action eliminates your point 3 and makes point 1 unnecessary.
 
Never needed to keep folks in view. The whole point was that you could ride at your own pace, as fast/slow as you wanted. Some folks even stop for pics. Just carry on straight ahead unless marked, that way you’ll all end up in the same place (ish!) any problems get picked up be the following bike/TEC

Where it can and often does go wrong is where folks don’t know each other, and a random bike appears in the middle often causing the next machine to follow when they turn off route.

Our solution was to put some tape on each number plate.m making it easy to confirm.
 

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Just keep it simple and even large groups (including within it, some with an intellect only marginally above plant life) can manage it. Adding lots of additional rules just confuses people needlessly and, more than anything else, bores everyone to death when they should be listening to just a very simple briefing before setting off.

Simplicity is the key; it was after all apparently invented by the Pan Clan….. and they are hardly a gathering of Nobel laureates :D
 
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