Oh yeah...like people have said, be careful who you commit to a long trip with. Speaking from personal experience, the number of people in a group beyond one exponentially increases the amount of conflict, different ideas of what makes a good trip, slowdowns for one person's sake, and so forth. If you do join up with people you don't really know, make sure it's clear that each person can, if need be, split off and be self-sufficient so that you're not stuck with a bunch of people you end up hating, or who end up wanting to ride at a very different pace than you do, or who have a different level of commitment to premade route plans than you do, etc.