Riding out into Essex’s b-roads today and caught up with some riders (girl on a cbr-maybe and a guy on a heavy modified gsx-maybe).
The guy seemed to be mentoring the girl and I decided to try and keep up with their lines on my cb500 (very hard).
It got me thinking is this stalking ok to do? A bit weird? Or just excepted behavior?
i usually find it kinda funny if someone joins the pack and “trys” to keep up. And must admit ive done it myself a few times. Although its not to clever when the random ends up in front of the pack and makes an unshedualed turn and gets said pack lost! hehehehe seen this happen a few times too…
“I thought he was with us”
“Its not my fault”
“I thought you knew where we were going”
“Foooocking random, who does he think he is”
hahahahaha 
I’d have thought that was alright, as long as the random doesn’t end up being a dick and causing the other riders problems.
I usually sit behind other riders if I come across any when I’m out on my own, if they aren’t going fast enough or have missed a couple of clear cut overtakes then I’ll pass them when I get a chance to do so safely, otherwise I’ll do my best too keep up if they are quick riders, it usually turns a slighty dull ride on my own into a more entertaining one with a wave/acknowledgement if I turn off at some point.
i used to do this loads in the peaks. they’d lead for a bit then i’d lead for a bit. only solo riders; any riders riding as a group would be too slow for me as i knew the roads well…
I’m with PompeyTim on this, except I’ve got so slow I just pretend I’m staying with them till they drop me and then turn off somewhere else.
The only time I used to try and stick with another rider/s was on fast country B roads or on the way into work - usually someone overtakes you on a country road/in heavy traffic and shows a bit of skill/balls getting through the bends/traffic and I used to find my ego/competitive instinct kicking in - you know when you just have to beat the other guy to preserve your honour and all that bllsht. When the other guy was up for it, it was really fun (a bit like WWII dogfighting) - but then I had a few close shaves and realised that getting to work in one piece was more important than preserving my ego - so I started to tone it down a bit - and didn’t take the bait so often - plus I saw the blokes I was riding against taking stupid risks and making mistakes to stay ahead of me - and I didn’t want to contribute to someone else wiping themselves out. Still difficult to resist though. . .