calling all the off roaders
21 posts
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by Dom » Thu Oct 30, 2003 1:56 pm
The issue with the Sunday rides I believe is who is available to lead one? In the 'good ole days' it tended to be you or Joe or Jason, so when none of you are available there is a problem!. The road rides I have been on always follow the same route which is fine for Road cycling as you tend to want to see the training aspects of the ride (i.e. I made it up that hill in a higher gear than I did last week) but for MTB rides people seem to want variety (which there dont seem to be much of round lovely Croydon).
I would offer to lead if I knew any routes (any excuse to try and get my fiance in lycra and covered in mud) and also there is the possible legality issue of some of the routes we have used in the past. (Schoolmasters, shirley hills etc),
Maybe a move of the starting point of the ride from EC to somewhere more MTB friendly Leith/Holmbury?(Used to go on rides which started/finished at Rykas cafe so ample car parking and access to a train station) Or closer to home Epsom (some great rides going out from over the racecourse etc) may help.
Regarding the Insular Group of mates on Cushite (not a typo). I dont see that as an issue! All that need happen would be for the MTB sec to post any arrangements made there (or on Dirks site) onto the ACC forum. It just shows that the MTBers have gelled over time into a close? group of mates
I would offer to lead if I knew any routes (any excuse to try and get my fiance in lycra and covered in mud) and also there is the possible legality issue of some of the routes we have used in the past. (Schoolmasters, shirley hills etc),
Maybe a move of the starting point of the ride from EC to somewhere more MTB friendly Leith/Holmbury?(Used to go on rides which started/finished at Rykas cafe so ample car parking and access to a train station) Or closer to home Epsom (some great rides going out from over the racecourse etc) may help.
Regarding the Insular Group of mates on Cushite (not a typo). I dont see that as an issue! All that need happen would be for the MTB sec to post any arrangements made there (or on Dirks site) onto the ACC forum. It just shows that the MTBers have gelled over time into a close? group of mates
- Dom
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by Rory » Thu Oct 30, 2003 7:09 pm
Dom's pretty much said it all.
The leader issue and the lack of challenging terrain are the two main points.
I've been out from EC a fair few times but still couldn't navigate a group to the wall of death. Probably my own fault for following the leader and not making a mental note of the route. Going out from EC is not like flying around Leith Hill - you need to know a legalish route to get from a to b unlike leith where you can go here, there and everywhere.
Personally, I've grown a bit tired of the routes around croydon. For me mtb is about a challenge whether doing a climb or a drop off. It's all about pushing yourself - something that I wasn't getting on the routes around croydon.
RE: starting the rides down at Leith is good for the regulars but it's not really going to attract the newbies who (depending on their mtb skillz) will be pretty fazed by it all.
The leader issue and the lack of challenging terrain are the two main points.
I've been out from EC a fair few times but still couldn't navigate a group to the wall of death. Probably my own fault for following the leader and not making a mental note of the route. Going out from EC is not like flying around Leith Hill - you need to know a legalish route to get from a to b unlike leith where you can go here, there and everywhere.
Personally, I've grown a bit tired of the routes around croydon. For me mtb is about a challenge whether doing a climb or a drop off. It's all about pushing yourself - something that I wasn't getting on the routes around croydon.
RE: starting the rides down at Leith is good for the regulars but it's not really going to attract the newbies who (depending on their mtb skillz) will be pretty fazed by it all.
- Rory
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by Jason » Thu Oct 30, 2003 8:22 pm
That's it with me as well, I grew bored of the rides round Croydon as they're not technically challenging enough; I'd rather go out to Leith Hill and ride the trails there as they offer more what I personally want (singletrack, drop-offs, jumps and general gnarliness). In a way, that's why I handed on the role of MTB secretary, because I felt that I was no longer in a position (probably through my own selfishness of wanting to ride further afield) to be able to lead the ECBR rides any more, which is what really pulls in the new people. Marco, you seem to be forgetting yourself from the list of people who can lead rides?
What we are seeing is that someone needs to be at East Croydon every week. I don't mind leading a ride from there every now and again as I'm sure quite a few others don't. Maybe we need a sort of rota system, say once a Month we each make the effort.
The thing with the drop in membership is internet forums. A lot of people now organise rides through forums like STW, Cushtie, ChocolateFoot and BM, meeting people that way and alleviating one of the main reasons to join a club (to ride in a friendly group). We were doing well a year or so ago because we were going on the forums and offering riding with a friendly group on known trails to people who maybe didn't know others, but that has passed now. The thing is, so many more people go on the forums now (well, STW anyway) that potential newbies are going to be given a few choices every weekend and somewhere like Leith Hill is always going to win over Croydon as people have heard about it.
Off this topic a bit, but I feel there needs to be two Feeedback e-mails; one for members and one for prospective members. Imagine if you've enquired about joining a club, have passed on your e-mail details and two days later, before you've even been on a ride, you're getting an e-mail back berating you for not marshalling and telling you that you need to have insurance. If I'd have got that, I'd never have come out with the Addiscombe, never mind join.
What we are seeing is that someone needs to be at East Croydon every week. I don't mind leading a ride from there every now and again as I'm sure quite a few others don't. Maybe we need a sort of rota system, say once a Month we each make the effort.
The thing with the drop in membership is internet forums. A lot of people now organise rides through forums like STW, Cushtie, ChocolateFoot and BM, meeting people that way and alleviating one of the main reasons to join a club (to ride in a friendly group). We were doing well a year or so ago because we were going on the forums and offering riding with a friendly group on known trails to people who maybe didn't know others, but that has passed now. The thing is, so many more people go on the forums now (well, STW anyway) that potential newbies are going to be given a few choices every weekend and somewhere like Leith Hill is always going to win over Croydon as people have heard about it.
Off this topic a bit, but I feel there needs to be two Feeedback e-mails; one for members and one for prospective members. Imagine if you've enquired about joining a club, have passed on your e-mail details and two days later, before you've even been on a ride, you're getting an e-mail back berating you for not marshalling and telling you that you need to have insurance. If I'd have got that, I'd never have come out with the Addiscombe, never mind join.
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by Adam (8-Ball) » Thu Oct 30, 2003 8:53 pm
A few random thoughts;
[quote]It really wont be hard to get the mtb side of things kick started again - one common thing i hear from a lot of people at the moment is "Id love to come out with you but the stuff you ride is so mad". Infact I heard that last night at the club from someone who had just spent a grand on a secondhand mtb and was raring to go but worried about getting busted up. The reality of it is that on the sunday rides there were very few injuries as people were encouraged to ride within their limits. Certainly now the club has (had?) more focus on DH the injuries went up as the 'jackass' mentality kicked in.
[quote]It really wont be hard to get the mtb side of things kick started again - one common thing i hear from a lot of people at the moment is "Id love to come out with you but the stuff you ride is so mad". Infact I heard that last night at the club from someone who had just spent a grand on a secondhand mtb and was raring to go but worried about getting busted up. The reality of it is that on the sunday rides there were very few injuries as people were encouraged to ride within their limits. Certainly now the club has (had?) more focus on DH the injuries went up as the 'jackass' mentality kicked in.
Not always, I've been on EC Sunday rides when we've had an ambulance in attendance. I've also never had a serious MTB injury that has required time off work doing any kind of riding (touch wood!). I don't think we've ever encouraged people to ride outside their limits. The current trend for Leith Hill rides would be excellent for most levels of riders, as there's something for everyone to try.
[quote]Should we be putting more official mtb stuff up on the Addiscombe forum rather than sticking it on the very insular gang of mates site that cushtie has become?
If you can post stuff that appeals to everyone then put it on the ACC forum, but Cushtie works for us because we can sort out what we want when we want. Maybe that should change?
[quote]There is a big comparison at the moment with the mtb section and the road section of 5 years ago. We had a lot of riders who would just meet up with their mates every week and do big rides that werent really suitable for beginners. OK for the handful of riders in question but crap for cycling in the south east. When the road side got a bit more organised and had huge regular rides that beginners could do then everyone, including the experts who could hold additional rides as well as the main beginners rides were happy.
Maybe we aren't aiming to achieve any kind of "status" for riding in the south east. For the most part it's a group of people having fun on bikes. Anyone's welcome, if we know you're a beginner then we'll cater for you. The current ACC trend seems to be to create the UKs biggest club (and therefore gain the influence that comes with it), rather than create a fun club that people want to join.
[quote]The thing is its worth remembering that DOWNHILL is not the same as MTB. Its another branch of the sport carried out by those with a bent for adrenaline.(And while its being talked about a lot at the moment not a single new DH rider has joined up in the last year so its not exactly a huge growth area for the club on paper). The rest of us who cant afford sick days off work want to ride around happily on a Sunday discovering new trails and just getting our heartrates up without leaving skidmarks in our shorts from being confronted with ever bigger drop offs on every ride.
It's also worth remembering that we don't exclusively ride downhill, we ride (and sometimes race) both disciplines.
I think that's it for now.
- Adam (8-Ball)
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