1. FORMATION RIDING: Will be in a standard State Patrol (staggered) formation. In staggered formation, the bikes form two columns, with the leader at the head of the left column, so he will be able to view all bikes in the formation in his/her rearview mirrors, and be able to see around vehicles the group approaches. The second bike will head the right column, and will ride approximately 3 second behind the leader (and in the opposite side of the lane). This '3 second' interval between staggered bikes can be measured by being able to see the FACE of the Rider in the lane opposite and in front of you IN THEIR MIRROR.. and they can see you in the same mirror.

RIDE LEADER: The Ride Leader must be aware of the length of the columns, and must gauge the passing of merges, highway entrances and exits, etc., to allow for maximum safety and keeping the group together. He must make sure that he leaves enough time/space for the formation to get into the appropriate lanes before exits, etc. All directions (signals**) come from the Ride Leader. The Ride Leader makes all decisions regarding lane changes, stopping for breaks, and fuel, closing of gaps, turning off at exits, any concerns of what lies ahead, accepting or rejecting radioed messages or signals, etc, from other individuals, and so on. No individual will assert himself independently without direction from the Ride Leader to do so.

**EXCEPTION: Any Rider may/should POINT (indicate) perceived Hazards or to call Attention to Themselves. See "Road/Formation Hazards" and "Attention" under 'Signals' below.

TAIL GUNNER: The Tail Gunner serves as the eyes of the Ride Leader. He watches the formation, and informs the Ride Leader of any potential problems within the group. He watches other vehicles, and informs the Ride Leader of hazardous conditions approaching from the rear, such as vehicles trying to cut into the formation and trucks passing with potentially dangerous wind blasts. He will watch for merging lanes, and will move into a merging lane (or stay in a merging lane just vacated by the group) in order to "close the door" on other vehicles that may otherwise find themselves trying to merge into the formation. At the Ride Leader’s request, the Tail Gunner changes lanes before the formation, to secure the lane so the formation can move into it.

NEW RIDERS: The position of new (sic - 'Newbies': inexperienced with GROUP riding, not necessarily inexperienced with riding bikes) riders within the group is significant. New riders should be positioned as close to theback as possible.  If sufficient riders are in the formation, we may run Two Formations, each with it's designated Ride Leader and Tail Gunner, as needs dictate.

1. HAND SIGNALS: Each rider (and passenger) should duplicate all hand signals given by the rider in front of him, so that the signals get passed all the way to the back of the formation for two reasons: (1) so that all following Riders are made aware, (2) to ACKNOWLEDGE that YOU are AWARE -- an acknowledgement the Ride Leader and Tail Gunner will attempt to monitor visually; otherwise, the formation could be at hazard from your 'in-attention'.
    
2. LANE CHANGES: Lane changes in our club is accomplished in the following manner: Ride Leader will use his/her bike's direction-signals to indicate, their intent to do a lane change, and ALL Riders are to repeat this electronic signal (as with ALL SIGNALS from the Ride Leader).
   Two things CAN OCCUR at this point and depend upon several factors; (1) upon seeing the signal relayed by all Bikers in the formation, the Tail Gunner will check and secure the lane the formation is about move into, (2) if the formation is small AND traffic is 'light', the Ride Leader MAY NOT wait for the Tail Gunner to secure the lane, but may proceed to give the Hand Signal to initiate the lane change.
   Regardless, at the discretion of the Ride Leader, the lane change is initiated BY THE RIDER LEADER ONLY WHEN HE/SHE GIVES A  
3. "HAND SIGNAL" and begins the move to the new lane. The lane change is thereby accomplished by movement of the formation from Front-to-Back while keeping the formation rider intervals. This is generally the way our club changes lanes. Only when we have a 'large formation' and are traveling in traffic would it be necessary to change lanes from Back-to-Front (Rear Fill-in Method) when the Tail Gunner moves into the lane and the formation then moves into the 'held lane' from Back-To-Front. A somewhat more complicated maneuver but may be necessary for large formations in restricted traffic conditions.
   
   
4. EMERGENCIES: In the unlikely event of an emergency condition, the Ride Leader will make every attempt to move the formation to the shoulder in an orderly manner. If a bike breaks down, let the Rider move to the right and pull over when it is SAFE to do so.
   Other Riders in the formation DO NOT STOP. The Tail Gunner will stop with the problem bike. The Ride Leader will lead the group to a SAFE stopping place to await the Tail Gunner and the troubled bik
5. - TO INDICATE AN EMERGENCY or the NECESSITY TO PULL OVER: A Rider wishing the FORMATION to pull over for some reason indicates this by (1)ATTENTION Signal (2)DIRECTION Signal and/or (3)POINT to side-of-road . If it is NOT AN EMERGENCY, DO NOT SLOW DOWN IN THE FORMATION, but continue with the formation - the Ride Leader will RAISE HIS/HER HAND to acknowledge your request to PULL OVER...then will find the nearest SAFE place for the formation to pull over.
   If Pull Over is necessitated by an EMERGENCY, then execute ATTENTION & DIRECTION SIGNAL, SLOW DOWN and carefully move to the right side of the formation and pull off the road when it is safe to do so.