CLUB NIGHT UPDATE

All, thanks for those who turned up last night, it was good to see you all off the saddles !!

1) Calendar Dates (Club and general)

Confirmed dates for the rides are as follows:

Jan 14th Thetford Winter Series
Jan 21st Chicksands Day Ride (Local)
Feb 11th Final Thetford Winter Series
Feb 25th Cannock Day Ride
March 18th Swinley Forest Day Ride
April 7th / 8th / 9th Easter W/E – Mach Trails / Nanty Arian
April 14th / 15th Builth Wales Merida / Exposure
May 12th / 13th Penrith Merida
May 19th / 20th Dartmoor W/E
June 11th – 17th Scotland Epic Week
June 22nd / 23rd Aviemore Merida
July 7th / 8th Builth Merida
July 14th Bad Goisen (Austria) Merida
July 15th South Downs Day Ride
Aug 2nd – 5th Red Kite Festival
Aug 4th / 5th Selkirk Merida
Aug 24th / 25th BH Coedy Brenin W/E
Sept 15th / 16th Ruthin Merida
Oct TBC New Forest W/E
Nov TBC Real Ale Wobble
Dec 16th Route 66 Local Day Ride
Dec 23rd Club Epic X-mas Ride / Drinks


2) Charity Ride

Cyclone Charity Ride will be 50 miles, to encourage more members to participate. Route TBC. Dates TBC (around June / July)


3) Starting the rides from the Stockgrove Cafe

Everyone agreed it would be good to start riding from the Stockgrove Café. There are pros and cons to this suggestion:

Pros:
We get to start from a café every ride. Start with some breakfast and finish with a brew. Idea is to make the rides more sociable once we have finished.
There are some great (legal) trails we rarely ride over in the Stockgrove area
Could possibly get a bike wash up and running (hose pipe)
More secure parking (its free, but donations accepted)
Meet up with other riders (Woburn Crankers Club ride from the café)

Cons:
It will eliminate a 10:00 and 11:00 start, as to loop back after starting from the café would be difficult.
It’s a 15 min / 20 min ride to the top of the golf course hill.

Everyone agreed it would be good to at least trial the Stockgrove Café ride. Maybe start by riding one Sunday a month from the café. This could be the Sunday after the Club Night, at least we can remind the members we see.

Also, I was thinking about adding a calendar / date reminder on the front page of the website or on the forum. This way people can quickly see where we are riding from on the coming Sunday. Also I can email / text people the week leading up to the café start, informing them of the format. This is a suggestion, so open to discussion. If you have any views, post on the forum or direct them to Gav / Fizz / Lil Gav or myself via email.



4) New Members

I have received 6 emails over X-mas from people who have stumbled across the website or seen the new posters in and around MK and are interested to get into MTB. One lady is coming up on Sunday, she is really excited about riding, but hasn’t ridden off road before and concerned about her fitness / skills etc. Can I ask we try and be as patient as we can with the new riders that come up and join us. (I know we always do anyhow!)

I know there is no pretence surrounding Cyclone, unlike other clubs, and it would be good to make all new comers welcome. I don’t mind splitting into 2 groups and leading a second group with the riders who would rather take an easier pace this Sunday. But it would be good to ride as a group as we always do. One suggestion is that I can bring 3 radios up with me, and we could ride some loops where the quicker riders can loop round and join the remaining riders riding a shorter loop. I know Jason, John, Rob etc know the woods very well, and it would be easy to roll this out.

5) Club Night

Also, one suggestion from Paul. Maybe once a quarter we could hold the club night in a pub closer to some of the guys from Luton / Harpenden etc. Great idea. It would be good for a change every now and then. Shall we say every quarter. March, June, September and December? Paul, do you know any suitable pubs?

Thanks again all, see you Sunday.

Nath

Is there an events or similar section on the website where you can add the details of the rides as this thread will eventually get bumped down and lost?

Or can you put the events list in a sticky thread?

Job Done:

Click here to find it.