CTC York rally 2013 cancelled

[User]

 

[Night Train]

I saw this on Twitter.

I guess some of us may well have to turn up anyway and just go for a ride.

 

[Arch]

Oh bugger.

I guess we knew something would have to happen to it, it was struggling a bit recently. What a pity though.

At its best, for me, it was a way to meet all my mates, people I saw at other times, and people I only ever saw at the Rally. I have many happy memories of it, mostly standing working on the Velo Vision stand, where it was so easy to meet mates, as they all passed by at some stage.

 

[Gromit]

Luke is still coming over. He has posted something on Facebook. The Velo Vision ride is still going on.

 

[vernon]

I suppose I helped to contribute to its downfall by not attending avery year. I do have some happy memories. My first attendance was to do the 150km Ron Kitchin Audax which was my first attempt at the distance and was something that I'd not have attempted had I known in advance how hilly it was. I got round within the time limit but I was so tired.

Hopefully the Ron Kitchin ride will return to being an Audax.

 

[Arch]

Luke is still coming over. He has posted something on Facebook. The Velo Vision ride is still going on.

Oh, that's good. Hopefully NT and I will be in York anyway, and can come along.

 

[Night Train]

Oh, that's good. Hopefully NT and I will be in York anyway, and can come along.

We can have our own event.

I'll bring a sample of trailers and saddle bags and you can bring some inner tube shoulder and hand bags, some bike tyre belts, and a variety of bicycle jewellery!
We could even do the catering with a load of cakes.

 

[Arch]

Excellent idea.

I think, if lots of people want to attend, we might have to instigate a one way alternate flow system on the stairs, and operate the flat on a one-in-one-out principle...

 

[totallyfixed]

Very sad, have been going for many years, last year was the first time I have missed in a very long time. I knew many of the volunteers and organisers and we always met with friends and drank too much red wine on the Saturday evening after doing one of the day rides. The writing had been on the wall for a long time with the racecourse charging silly money and in turn the organisers having to charge the traders.
A great shame and I hope it can be resurrected somewhere in or around York in the future.

 

[Danny]

The CTC York Rally 2013 has been cancelled...

I have to say that some of us have been predicting this for several years and it has unfortunately come to pass.

Sad, but the rally organisers really needed to rethink the format more radically. Stunt cycling and a real ale bar were never going to bring in enough punters on their own.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Sad, but the rally organisers really needed to rethink the format more radically. Stunt cycling and a real ale bar were never going to bring in enough punters on their own.

I guess this ^^^^^
Start again in a small simple way. Back to grass roots. Invlove local clubs and shops and do something simple and managable as a stop-gap. It seems that there is a large body of possible takers so something must be possible.

 

[Danny]

I guess this ^^^^^
Start again in a small simple way. Back to grass roots. Invlove local clubs and shops and do something simple and managable as a stop-gap. It seems that there is a large body of possible takers so something must be possible.

Agree.

And following on from the discussion of the Abingdon festival, one of the problems with the CTC rally is that it did not offer much for people who might want to get into cycling but weren't sure where to start.

IIRC all the organised rides left at 8:00 or 9:00 on Saturday morning, long before most day visitors arrived. Why were there no short afternoon rides which could have given visitors a taster of what cycling can be like? After all the rally was right on the York-Selby cycle route and ideally placed to get inexperienced riders out into the country quickly. In the end the Rally probably reinforced the view that the CTC was really an organisation for people who could do the Ron Kitchen 150k and not the ordinary cyclist.

And the exhibition was a weird mix. Most of the exhibitors who had bikes tended to display high end or specialist bikes which were of interest to aficionados like me, but probably did nothing to convince the casual visitor that cycling was something for them. The exception was Cycle Promotions which had a whole marquee devoted to 'cheap gear, and I suspect a large proportion of visitors turning up purely for the chance to buy from the them. With Cycle Promotions being undercut by on-line retailers, and other better funded commercial cycling shows on offer, the Exhibition was always going to struggle to survive in its traditional format.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Danny, seems there's a real opportunity. There's a whole world of wanna-be cyclists who just need a bit of help making the first step. Who's gonna take the initiative?

 

[Fab Foodie]

If only we had a national cyclists organisation that could take on such a task...

If only ... but why wait? There's nothing to stop a few like minded individuals acting locally .... if you build it they will come.

 

[Arch]

I'm reminded of the time the Cyclemagic sponsored LEJOG came through York, and one of the riders said to me "It must be great here in York, so many cycling groups all working together".

I spluttered a bit. I've never seen so many opposing factions as there are in the York cycling scene. And I grew up in Belfast!