Clifton CC

It has been great to see so many people keen to get out for a 50-ish mile ride with the aim of finishing before noon and I hope that the size of the group continues to grow. Due to the roaring success of the first couple of weeks of the 8:45am Saturday morning ride, I wanted to discuss the ongoing organisation and leadership of rides as I am concerned that this ride will not last unless there is some sort of semi-formal structure.

My suggestion is that there is a rotating leader of each ride whose job is to set a route and post it to this forum each week in plenty of time. Ideally the leader will post a GPS route so that riders can download it to their Garmins etc. Karl has very kindly set up a Clifton Bikeroutetoaster account which can be used (PM me or Karl for access details). Andy J has suggested using RideWithGPS as this has good integration facilities into the website. Both of these are fairly easy to use and I'm sure there are others. But it doesn't have to be a GPS - as a minimum the leader should post a written description of the proposed route. Then on the day, most people will know where the group is heading so there shouldn't be a big job for directions. The route should be 50ish miles and aim to get back to the Square for noon or so.

To aid this process, I am happy to collect a series of routes over the next few weeks and collate them on to a page on the main website so that there are a series of pre-defined routes readily available. These do not need to be prescriptive but it will probably make it easier for a newer leader.

I think we should have a group expectation that if you come on these rides, you will lead a ride one day. I don't expect anyone to be applying pressure about this, but the greater variety of leaders we have, then the greater variety of routes so we will all discover something new. And the leader will learn something on the day which can only be good! I would also hope the ride leader would write a short post about the ride on the forum so everyone knows what is going on with the group.

So the only bit missing is a co-ordinating role to ensure that there are set leaders some way in advance. I am happy to volunteer to do this job (but don't have to if someone else wants to take this on!). This job is just to post a list of ride leaders every so often and then ask for volunteers for the gaps. But not be responsible for being there on the day or leading the ride - that is up to the leader!

Is everyone happy with this?

Here are volunteers so far to lead rides:
6th April: Steve A
13th April: me
20th April: Allan
27th April: Karl
4th May: Volunteer needed
11th May: Steve A
18th May: Volunteer needed

That gets us covered for the next month or so. Please post if you are happy to lead on the days with gaps.

Allan - please can you post this week's route?

Finally, anyone want to give this ride a funky name? It seems that it should be called something un-intelligible if it is going to be a true Clifton ride!

I shall definitely be out for saturdays ("early bird's") ride. I would like to volunteer to lead a ride when I gain a bit more experience.I've got a few routes marked up on Google maps but obviously they start and finish at malton so maybe I could send someone these routesand with a bit of work for those who know the routes in and out of York.hopefully il get to speak to an experienced leader on Saturday.

Hi all,

Thrilled to see this ride up and running. If someone sends me an email (to the clifton secretary address) by Thursday with route information I will happily include it in the weekly update email.

I had an email conversation with Steve about potentially leading a few rides but 8:45 is a bit early on a Saturday for me and it seems like you've got a really popular ride going on which is a bit scary to lead for someone who normally brings up the rear of the K ride I'll perhaps get out on a few rides with you guys before leading one, if thats OK?

Cheers
Hannah

The "Q" ride, Quality, Qwickish and Quite achievable by most members

Quarter to nine.

Like it!

Reuben, to quote Meatloaf "You took the words right out of my mouth" my next post !!!!!

you couldn't pay a Quango to come up with that!!!

Hi all,

I like the idea of the earlier start and therefore the earlier return. My concern though is...is this a fast ride or steady one? Does the group stick together a la the K group, or is it a case of 'if you're dropped, then that's it'?

Just wondered!

Cheers.

Hi Mark,
the idea is that this ride shouldn't be a fast ride, but because it is shorter than the all-day rides this allows the pace to be a little quicker.

The group sticks together, with regular regroups.

My average speed for the ride last week was 17.1mph. That includes all town work (from Haxby) and waiting for re-groups etc.

It certainly felt a touch quicker than that though..

Yes. Last week's ride did feel a bit quicker than the previous week.

My speed on Strava was up there at about 16 MPH/27KPH.

Hopefully this isn't a trend, or we'll shortly be competing with the training ride

The number of people wanting to join this ride is increasing weekly (now 20!) but there are very few volunteers to lead it. So I am having a change of plan that hopefully removes the need for anyone to take responsibility for leading.

New plan is that there will be one standard default route for the 8:45am ride. The route is:


Interactive link with Garmin downloads etc: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2386003

It is 47 miles and about 2,500 feet of climbing so should take about 3 hours. The route is anti-clockwise so mostly going left at junctions. This will be the route for the next 3 weeks so that lots of people have the chance to learn it. From then on, anyone can propose a different route from the default option by posting the proposed route on this forum in plenty of time.

I have picked this default route because it offers loads of variations - on way out we can go up Leavening or Acklam or Painsthorpe Lane and can come back via Terrington or throw in a loop of the flat 10 TT circuit. The route crosses the A64 at Malton which is safe and the hills are good for a mixed ability group because everyone can take them at their own pace and then re-group at the top. It's also quite picturesque so something for everyone!

Karl and Steve will lead this weekend's ride (27th Apr) and there will maybe be two groups with 5 minute gap if there is a large number again. The week after (4th May) there is no designated leader so this will be the first proper test of the group self-organising. But the route will be fixed until 11th May.