I generally ride with the wife in co-pilot position and the two of us will head to where ever suits us for the day. I do like riding with other people but avoid the big runs. Best system I found is when I am going to plan a ride, I put the word out to my friends of when, where and why, and a meeting place and time. No expectations, thrilled if some show, just as thrilled if none do as I am still going for a ride.
we did the oyster run in anacortes this past year, it was awesome. Started with me and wife, we rode from Forks to Sequim, met brother and two buddies, rode to Port Townsend, along the way merged with about 12 riders coming from Bremerton Tacoma area and one guy from Australia riding the States...We all stopped to wait for Whidby Island Ferry and were joined by about 20 more riders. Made some new friends on the wait and our initial group of 4 bikes turned into a group of about 15 bikes...No issues, just fun riding time. Clubs are fine for those who like a structured set up...I was part of GWRRA for several years and Blue Knights, only attended 1 meeting for GWRRA and never made any Blue Knights meetings as they were 4 hrs away. Now I run Indy again and am very happy. benefit to the clubs is there is usually someone always readily available to help you when you need maintenence or break down.
