So maybe not as fun today - learned for the first time about Motorcycle Gang etiquette, holy crap! Most of the way through a 3-hour ride, on a 6-lane highway (3 per side) I see a dozen or so bikes up ahead, taking over the far left lane of three. Beautiful, sunny day, upper 70's temps and a perfect riding day. Rolling up on these Harleys, I mean they're pretty sweet, I'm traveling 5-10 mph faster than their group and I'm looking forward to seeing their bikes.
To give them some space I get over in the far-right lane, which is wide open. They're definitely a club, matching colors, cohesive, a little slower than the flow.
Not blasting past, I drift up to them, two lanes over. on the right. No colors, I am by myself wearing safety gear. Suddenly their guy in back dives across two lanes, puts himself RIGHT in front of me, and locks 'em up, down to about 50 mph. WTH? I move over to the center lane so I don't end up on his back seat, and he cuts me off again. I move back right and he is yelling and motioning I should go left to the passing lane. Which is where they all are.
This is all very unclear and was not in the Motorcycle Safety Foundation class I took 20 years ago, so I drop back and let him/them own the road. They pick up their pace to about 80 so I figure, well I don't want to go faster than that anyway so whatever, I'll stay back.
Then, there's a big traffic jam, all three lanes are crawling, they all get over into the far right lane. I'm in the far left lane now and moving with the flow of traffic, and I'm coming up almost even with these guys, and the tail-gunner comes into the middle lane and waves me around, giving permission. I give him the thumbs up and a little salute from my helmet. The overall impression, looking back on this (it happened about an hour ago) was "Dude, don't pass us on the right, pass us on the left when we decide to get out of the passing lane" - near as I can tell.
I'm totally cool with being respectful to everyone. This was a new one. BTW I am pro-Harley and I'm not anti-club. I got to know a Chicago MC club member named Sonny back in the late 1970's, he was awesome. His club was legit and for real. I met his mother as well, she was a kind person. When he was in need I gave Sonny a ride when his car was broken down. That is a long story and this one is long enough. Very nice people though, and ironically, based on meeting Sonny I've defended club members many times.