Mountain Biking What to do?

[Dom]

I know the MB side has been talked about a few times but given the recent coverage in C+ thought Id put my bit in.

At present it seems to me we dont have the resources (riders with enough experience) to support a ride going from Croydon every Sunday. Id hate to think how many prospectives have turned up in the past and found no one at EC at 10am. Or when then do turn up at 10 we dont actually get going til 10.30 which isnt too bad in the Summer but can mean freezing extremities at this time of the year.

So my two suggestions for the current state of play is that we cut back to once a Month from EC (maybe once a fortnight) this would hopefully cause there to be a bigger group (if I were a beginner I wouldnt feel too comfortable being in a small group where I feel I might hold people up).
And also give a leaving time from EC (i.e. 10.10) to cut down on the hanging about.

Plus who is MTB sec at the mo? I know sylv does racing but is there one? Maybe worth putting all the secs at the bottom of each digest email.

Rant over.

Dom (and Id be happy to lead a ride in future the route I did with Sylv a week or so ago was great)

[Will]

I reckon the once-a-month idea is a good one.

As we have all discovered the various other places to ride that are within easy reach of London, I think it is fair to say that there is not the same appetite for Croydon-based riding.

We need to accept that fact, and deal with it in a practical way.

So having a fixed and publicised monthly ECBR special would (hopefully) help re-generate the numbers of people who used to come out a while ago, and so help bring beginners back into the club.

Also the fact that most of the other rides would be to new & exciting places would perhaps help boost numbers too, as people always seem to be interested in hearing about different places to go.

[Jason]

From my e-mail earlier:

We did have a good plan before Christmas where those of us who knew routes would take it in turn to lead but only two of us ever made the effort.

You want to know what the problem is? People don't read the digest or don't trust what's written in it as they've probably had their fingers burned by turning up at ECBR to find nobody there because the text in the digest is the same every week, regardless of whether people have committed to be there or not. When I was doing the ECBR rides, I'd send an e-mail out and the turnout would be good because people knew for definite that there would be a ride on. It used to take me five minutes to do on a Friday and because it's not the digest, people take note. The ride I led before Christmas was preceeded by an e-mail from me and we had the biggest turnout in months.

You want a constructive suggestion? Commitment and correspondence; that's all it takes.

[Jason]

You also don't need to make it an ECBR ride to get newbies out. Darryl's first ACC ride was at Tilgate, which is not exactly newbie-friendly (it was his second time offroad); 3 days later, he came on a Leith Hill night ride and this weekend, came back to Tilgate and attempted a jump (with comedy effects).

Once a week at ECBR is okay if people will definitely be there and know where they're going (and knowing various routes). I've already said that I don't mind doing it once a month.

[rollerskate skinny (sylv)]

Right.

First, yes Dom I'm the mtb sec this year again, though I'm not doing half as much as Jason is at the moment in term of organising stuff like he is for DH rides, I know, I've been less keen to ride lately, don't know if it's just me or a result of the general decrease of interest within the club, probably a bit of both.

Anyway. Yes, changing ride times, days and frequency of rides all partake of good intentions but in my opinion it it will only be helpful to some of the people and won't solve the problem, though it is a good start.

In an ideal world we'd be organising stuff as it goes, but at the moment we can't because of the communication problem and the size the club has grown into, it's hard to get every single person to know what we're doing, and doing it in time, some (not too many I reckon) haven't got email or don't get/read Marco's digest, and some probably just assume that they can still turn up on a Sunday morning and find loads of people there.

That's why I think Jason's idea of a specific mtb email, separate from the digest, is a good one and the one that could save the mtb rides. This would go out every Thursday or Friday, whatever is happening, and give out precise details, be it for a traditional Croydon ride, a Leith Hill one, a race or whatever else we can come up with, and if no ride is scheduled well it would say it too so that everyone is warned. I'd be ready to take on that task for the xc rides, though maybe best would be to coordinate with J and send a single email to avoid extra confusion and hassle.

Beforehand, you'd have to ask everyone in the club (say, in the digest) whether they want or not to be in that email list, once and for all. This would allow us a lot more flexibility (think of racing weekends or riding holidays abroad when most mtbers are away, also we could mention the ride course and length in advance for people to be better prepared rather than learning where they are going on the day, etc), and for me that's the only way to get more enjoyment out of it, because I'm still not ready to commit to be at ECBR week in week out to lead the same ride. I know this seem to go less towards beginners, but with the added variety it could renew interest and allow people to tailor their weekends to their riding needs.

And as for the suggested monthly ECBR ride, well we would't have to make it monthly, but whenever people who can "lead" are around, planning them according to the weather, and making them feel more like special occasions, which would arouse the lost interest: quality rather than quantity, personnally that would make me want to ride more. And so much for the sacrosanct Sunday ride, which is, let's face it, not a realistic thing now.

[rollerskate skinny (sylv)]

On another note, if both Will and Jason have nicer sweets than Gilberto Simmoni, who of them has the nicest sweets then, EH??

[Dom]

I take your point sylv (oh er) amd Im not commenting about either of their sweets.

I think the one thing the road rides have that we dont at the moment which appeals to some is consistency, you can guarantee that there wil be at least one 'leader' at CSS on a Sat morning. My thought about dropping the frequency of ECBR rides was that it would give us consistency so if you dont get other emails etc or a beginner who hears by word of mouth you can guarantee a ride will be on.

Certainly agree with a separate MTB email, for organising everything else that is going on in the MTB world (aston, porc, tilgate, drinking)

Theres been mention about changing the ECBR ride to a Saturday afternoon, which has one major flaw! It means that the mountain biking side and CSS run become mutually exclusive which has to be a huge negative. I think stick with Sundays.

[JayneToyne]

agree about the saturday clashing with road, sundays are better.
I love mtb but so far ( in over 2 years) ive only ever been on one organised addiscombe off road ride and that was the croydon to brighton.
I go off road every alternating sunday, either on my own or with a couple of friends.
XC mtb is so hard to judge difficulty rating for rides I think thats partly whats maybe putting people off. The road rides have a definite skill level marked on them
I had a girl out on sunday ( Geraldine) and she told me about the last time she rode with you guys she had a great time, although she kept falling off and was encouraged to try stuff she wasnt sure about... thats all good. Its hard to learn new skills without being pushed a bit.
She's very interested in racing at beastway and theres more like her who've been on the sunday social rides.

there must be some way of describing the rides to people who are worried they will hold others up or arent skilled enough to do anything technical.

agree as well about targeting mtb'ers with a specific email. the weekly digest is very road biased and i tend to just scan it because it stays the same most of the time. never look in the digest for anything on mtb because its nearly always out of date.

[Will]

I guess when we get a little nearer to Beastway those of us who are going to be riding in the series will be doing some longish MTB rides by way of training.

As and when that happens, I'll let you know, and post up some info.

Also, I do plan to organise another Croydon to Coast type ride at some point...