> Have a set vehicle be the” tail end Charlie”.
The slower drivers can get *really* stressed if they feel they're being left behind. Some of them aren't comfortable on secondary roads, or they want to take in the scenery, or they're not interested in courting a ticket from sporty driving.
Back when I used to ride with the sportbikes.net guys I'd drop back to the rear every now and then, taking my turn to make sure those guys didn't feel like they'd been abandoned. If they couldn't see the rest of the pack, they might as well be by themselves... some groups have at least one person assigned to ride in back, just so the slower riders aren't the tail end Charlies.
The ride leaders mapped out rest stops, usually about an hour apart. It depended on the terrain more than distance. Stops were generally fifteen minutes, and they officially started when the last guy rolled up, which chapped some of the faster riders a bit. Ride time was figured by the posted speed limit; even the slow riders got their full rest stop. If anyone was missing after the "official" arrival time, guys would double back to look for them; cellular service was rare in most of the places we rode.
I've only been to one Gathering, and the participants were much older than the pack of psychotic hoons on sportbikes. Plus most had their wives along. Age, bladder size, and medications can dictate a pit stop *now* before an official stop, so you'd have to figure at least one car will have to make an unscheduled pit stop on the segment, and will therefore arrive late.
100-150 miles would definitely be the max. Some sportbikes had a hard time making 100 miles at full wail; a rorty Locost with a 7 gallon tank might not do much better. Worrying about fuel is stressful, and some Locosters might not have a good idea of what their range actually is. And some use a dipstick instead of a fuel gauge... 75 miles might be a better number to shoot for, assuming fuel is available. And idea is to have fun, not sweating whether you're going to make it to the next gas pump.
The Prime Directive on the sportbike rides was "if you drop out, let someone know first." Because otherwise the authorities would be involved in the search for the crash site. If Jim and Sandra decide to stop to check out the Big Ball of String or one of them suddenly doesn't feel well, it will hose everyone else's enjoyment if they turn back to look for them. Even if there's no cellular service, they can stop at the first land line and call back to the gathering hotel; if nobody chose to stay behind, the hotel will usually be glad to take a message, though it's polite to ask if it's OK first.
Some drivers will treat the route as a race. You need to have a policy for that, even if it's "go ahead and we'll catch up later" or "pack your stuff and find a different hotel."
Support vehicles are nice; a minivan or SUV with some fuel and tools can be a lifesaver, and if it starts to rain some of the wives might appreciate a dry ride back to the hotel, or someone's car breaks down unfixably, they don't have to find their own way back. It's not wimpy, the Bandidos and Hell's Angels ride with support vehicles.
I did a few street rod tours long ago; I had no idea of what kind of planning was involved to make it happen, but the street rods are closer to Locosts than sportbikes, particularly "built from scratch, not fully debugged, and a long way from home." It might be worth checking out some of their forums to see what they've come up with.
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