ColinJ's Guide to Planning A Forum Ride

[david1701]

[QUOTE 1351188"]
Well, it was always going to be a leisurely ride - the whole point was to get kimble and her dodgy knee (which was driving her bonkers by limiting her range) out onto some different roads. And we had one person along who was doing their first ride of any length of the year, and another rider was a teenager attempting her first half-century ride so I wanted to make sure we had plenty of stops so I was confident that she was coping, and that she was eating/drinking enough. Cost - well, people were only paying in the cafe at lunchtime since I provided the bacon butties round at ours before we set off and the cake for the cake stop, my mum provided the tea and scones for afternoon tea and in the pub I chose we got a round for 7 people and change from a tenner![/quote]

I WANT TO MOVE

 

[ColinJ]

I WANT TO MOVE

I spotted that too; the last time I went to my local, it cost more than £10 for 3 pints!

 

[lukesdad]

Mmm wonder what Banjo's planning ?

 

[Banjo]

Did say i wouldnt bother again after lots of on line interest then just the 2 of us turning on the rides ,

the only well supported one was the Gower ride with about 6 of us organized by Lukes Dad and The Claude. I just wondered what Colins secret of success is ,I think as Colin said its a distance thing, distance travelling to the event not distance cycling which can allways be tailored to suit those that turned up.

With the summer coming on maybe its worth another go.

Re beer pub by me closed for a refit and reopened recently with £3.30 a pint from £2.60 before. Glad I dont drink as much as I used to for financial and health reasons.

I remember as a youngster when the Brains pub just down the lane put Dark up to 26 p There was nearly a riot as you couldnt get 4 pints for a pound anymore.

 

[dellzeqq]

Did say i wouldnt bother again after lots of on line interest then just the 2 of us turning on the rides ,

the only well supported one was the Gower ride with about 6 of us organized by Lukes Dad and The Claude. I just wondered what Colins secret of success is ,I think as Colin said its a distance thing, distance travelling to the event not distance cycling which can allways be tailored to suit those that turned up.

With the summer coming on maybe its worth another go.

Re beer pub by me closed for a refit and reopened recently with £3.30 a pint from £2.60 before. Glad I dont drink as much as I used to for financial and health reasons.

I remember as a youngster when the Brains pub just down the lane put Dark up to 26 p There was nearly a riot as you couldnt get 4 pints for a pound anymore.

if the question is how to get people along, rather than what preparations and practice are best, then I commend my response on the first page. A ride has to be a story, with a beginning, a middle and an end. The beginning has to be momentous. The end has to be a destination of note, that is to say a natural resolution. The middle has to be entertaining, with changes of character - minor roads, small towns, a glimpse of landmarks, a bit of history, the odd surprise (which can be something as ordinary as turning down a suburban road which, all of a sudden, becomes a country lane with a view of a faraway hill), the occasional climb that turns in to a feeling of accomplishment, and one or two not too vertiginous descents. Call to your aid the writings of A.E. Houseman, Leone Battista Alberti and Marcel Proust and you won't go far wrong.

Pay heed to the quality of the tarmac, consider every single junction in detail, minimise discretionary turns (the Manchester to Blackpool ride features a 17.2 mile stretch with no turns), but much more than this, go for charm. The bicycle is a transforming thing - it turns your body in to something that can effortlessly traverse great distances and almost all kinds of landscape. Think of the ride as kind of dream, in which the senses convey the wonder of the world, a wonder that is intensified by sharing it with others.

Remember also that your enthusiasms might be yours alone. Some people find stopping at a pub for lunch ideal - for others it's just unpleasant. Aim for something different, some undiscovered opportunity. The best lunch stop I've found is the Geffrye Museum. What they make of lycraistes traipsing through the museum to the cafe I cannot imagine.

And don't forget the power of surprise. The best ride I ever organised (in so far as there were only two of us) was from Vic to Barcelona. I knew the city and my companion didn't. We came in from the north and I took a route that had high buildings to the right, obscuring the view. We arrived at the Sagrada Familia without his having seen it at all. Ka-boom!

 

[dan_bo]

Colin,

i have to be honest here, i read it exactly the same way as sam. and i was surprised, as i know that you don't think that old fashioned way. so don't take offense at sam's comments. sam, i can assure you colin would have meant no disrespect to female cyclists as he's had his arsed kicked by many including potsy

He missed it! Hahahaha.

 

[lukesdad]

I think you maybe reading to much into the reason for peeps not signing up for rides. I think the main reason maybe the step into the unknown especially for new members or first timers. Hence the suggestion for a rough guide to CC rides I sort of poked at earlier, which I note nobody has responded to.

 

[dellzeqq]

I think you maybe reading to much into the reason for peeps not signing up for rides. I think the main reason maybe the step into the unknown especially for new members or first timers. Hence the suggestion for a rough guide to CC rides I sort of poked at earlier, which I note nobody has responded to.

the problem is that there is no formula. If there was we'd all be on our bikes all the time and civilisation would collapse. Colin, if I read him right, has an idea of what he wants to do and tries to convey the virtues of it. I think of rides as a product in which the packaging and the experience combine with consciousness-altering consequences (see earlier posts on Erhard Seminar Training)*.

The two of us have similar motivations, which are about companionship, healthy exercise and an appreciation of the physical world, although in the latter respect I don't major on hills and Colin isn't, as far as I can tell, a bungalow afficionado.

I can't see Colin going for what I do, just as I don't think I could run a ride like Colin's. The decision lies with the person signing up for the ride, and, I promise you this, if I knew how to make that decision for people then I'd be sharing it with this forum in a trice. I can tell you this much - I've been in correspondence with perhaps twenty people for more than a year who have never signed up for a ride, and with half a dozen for more than two years. I do my best to allay fears, to offer advice, to explain how the ride works, and, still and all, they don't come. We're not talking airheads here, we're talking sensible folk. That may be my failure, and it's possibly a failure that Colin doesn't share, but, as I say, the decision lies with them and not me.

*This sentence is written in jest, but it bears a worrying comparison with the truth.

 

[Christopher]

hm well colin does put a lot of effort into his rides. Most importantly he does a map and profile so you know exactly what you are getting into. Other things he does is respond to queries, help with train timings and on the ride does not and would not, no matter how fit he was, burn off the less strong or half-wheel them. I think lots of people are put off joining a ride (any ride) for fear that they will be mocked/dropped/ignored.

 

[lukesdad]

hm well colin does put a lot of effort into his rides. Most importantly he does a map and profile so you know exactly what you are getting into. Other things he does is respond to queries, help with train timings and on the ride does not and would not, no matter how fit he was, burn off the less strong or half-wheel them. I think lots of people are put off joining a ride (any ride) for fear that they will be mocked/dropped/ignored.

I think your last sentence is pretty near the mark ,if not, spot on it.

 

[dellzeqq]

hm well colin does put a lot of effort into his rides. Most importantly he does a map and profile so you know exactly what you are getting into. Other things he does is respond to queries, help with train timings and on the ride does not and would not, no matter how fit he was, burn off the less strong or half-wheel them. I think lots of people are put off joining a ride (any ride) for fear that they will be mocked/dropped/ignored.

and not entirely without reason because there are, regrettably, bike clubs that are unwelcoming and do drop newcomers. Colin is one of those people who sets his face against that.

One of the many virtues of Cycle Chat is that it gives newcomers the chance to find out, and, as importantly, rides organisers to understand what concerns people. In fact you could start your 'how to organise a bike ride' guide by stating this
1. Start a thread on Cycle Chat

One thing that strikes me as particularly interesting is that Colin provides the map and the profile and I don't. We both have our reasons, and I wouldn't for a second suggest that Colin shouldn't provide a map, but, equally, I've resisted the advice from some of the most seasoned FNRttCers to provide maps for reasons that are particular to the ride.

 

[lukesdad]

....but do we really need a formula ? Couldn t we just look at fitness levels and bike and kit req. and run it thru from a anybody any bike level to a this is gonna hurt level, and pigeon holes if you like in between. I t would give new people some idea of what to expect.

 

[Banjo]

It is a big step into the unknown arranging to meet people you dont know to spend a day cycling with them. Sort of knowing people from internet forums makes it a little easier .

Almost everyone I have ridden with from cyclechat has been fitter faster and more experienced riders than me and I have certainly never been ridiculed or made to feel uncomfortable in any way.

I see forum rides as more social rides with the emphasis on enjoying the company as much as the cycling.

 

[Ravenbait]

This year will be the fifth year of running the Dumb Run. So far we may be looking at a record number of riders this year.

Eight.

Is it because it's an overnighter? Is it because it's 115 miles? Is it because most of us ride fixed, even though it's not a requirement? Is it because it's in Scotland?

Is it because I don't publicise it enough, or because I am adamant about it being self-supported, not even an organised feed stop (I don't want to be held publicly liable)?

I don't know. Maybe all or none of these things.

It's still a good ride though, and we're still doing it.

Sam

 

[fimm]

This year will be the fifth year of running the Dumb Run.
<snip>

Oh, I didn't realise you did it every year... is there a forum thread?

(Edited to add that Ravenbait very kindly PMed me about this to avoid cluttering up this thread.)