slightly surprised........

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by Messie

And am I right in thinking that AR06 was West (ish) ? Over Ed's way?

Yes, Shrewsbury ish... IIRC

[fizzwheel]

Well whilst we are talking about this, I have a possibly a controversial point. What with the Olympic's what not going on next year, are we wise to maybe take a break from AR's and skip next years ?

I'm just thinking out loud, we already have tickets for one of the olympic events and trying to fit that in, my work commitments and also the fact that Liz is on standby for the TA because of the olympics over the summer may involve trying to squash a lot in ?

Also is it wise to have it in the south where it looks to me alot of the olympic events are being hosted.

Not suggesting thatany of the above is what as a collective the org should do, just chucking my thoughts out there. Without my admin / mod hat on...

[Messie]

That's another reason why Vox and I thought 12 was not good for the South East.

How about having it at a different time of year. Seems like September has most of the good weather!

[dizzyblonde]

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

Well whilst we are talking about this, I have a possibly a controversial point. What with the Olympic's what not going on next year, are we wise to maybe take a break from AR's and skip next years ?

I'm just thinking out loud, we already have tickets for one of the olympic events and trying to fit that in, my work commitments and also the fact that Liz is on standby for the TA because of the olympics over the summer may involve trying to squash a lot in ?

Also is it wise to have it in the south where it looks to me alot of the olympic events are being hosted.

Not suggesting thatany of the above is what as a collective the org should do, just chucking my thoughts out there. Without my admin / mod hat on...

IMO, if you make a break from ARs for a year, they will never ever come back.
This years was particularly hairy for nerves, as I seriously thought with the current financial climate, nobody would turn up, those I thought would, never came, which I was quite disappointed with TBH. In the end, it was a very great success, some have said better than any other prior....which is kinda nice guys
The financial situation for many has gotten more grim, and next years prospects don't look to fruitful for events such as these, but if theres a little ray of sunshine for a weekend off from it all....the AR is a good thing to have.

I think its perhaps a good idea to have an AR on at the same time as the Olympics, as rather a lot of folk couldn't give a stuff about them, and what better excuse to get away from it.

I would agree however having it down South, although customary to move about every year, would be possibly not so great, having the Olympics on down there, might make it a nightmare to secure facilities.....and we all know how important they are to everyone these days.


Now the question is......is there anyone out there willing to make an even bigger success than it was this year? Its a pretty large torch to carry on......

[fizzwheel]

I personally think that location comes first and this relies on somebody stepping up to organise and plan it, because when it is I think must dependant on that date being available to the person doing the organising.

Again just my 2p not suggesting that this is what should happen.

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by dizzyblonde

I think its perhaps a good idea to have an AR on at the same time as the Olympics, as rather a lot of folk couldn't give a stuff about them, and what better excuse to get away from it.

I think if you have it at the same time as the Olympics you limit yourself in terms of numbers and I also believe that the AR should be open to as many people as possible and by having it during the Olympic fortnight I think you might end up excluding alot of people.

I would offer the other side of that coin, there are alot of people who will have by now paid out for olympic tickets, and by having an AR during that time you'll be forcing people to make a choice. Whereas if you schedule it either side of it, you might make it accessable to more people.

Again not suggesting this is what happens, just my take on things.

Originally Posted by Skip

I personally think that the roads of Suffolk can yield a great rideout - but I just don't have the time (or inclination if I am honest) to organise anything

I was fortunate enough to pay a visit to John Constable country last year, it's a beautiful part of the world and if someone wanted to put the effort in organising a rideout there I would definitely be up for it.

The problem with the AR is it's becoming more and more of a difficult event to put on because so many people are increasing the standards each year. Many folk will not even want to attempt putting it on knowing how much time, money and effort is involved which is fair enough. Even though it's not intended to be, it could become unpleasantly competitive and change what it's all about which is essentially a load of folk getting together in a field and having a bimble if they're up to it. Requiring a BnB/bunkhouses/shop is really topping the high end of the scale, if the next AR was to be located in the right place it wouldn't have to be such hard work.

[dizzyblonde]

MissYC touches upon a very important point.

MONEY.

If there is anyone out there who wishes to take the AR on in future, they need to be aware its not as simple as booking a campsite, doing a route, and waiting for folk to turn up and enjoy themselves. If only it could ever be that simple.

If anyone wishes to know how much it actually cost to put on this years AR, they are welcome to PM me.

To put on an event such as this years, You need an awful lot of money in advance to secure a deposit on fields in a money earning establishment, you need an awful lot of money to put on food in advance(unless its like GG did with food van), you may need to hire or buy(as I did) a marquee to keep people dry, planning down to the very last detail, does pay off, it runs as smooth as a babes bum if you do, you need to be prepared to ride routes over and over, with lots of people beforehand, you need to visit campsites over and over, it costs time, and money and fuel.....


most of all, after putting your money on the line, you need to hope to god, that folk turn up to reimburse your advance for food and lodgings....I JUST scraped even.

Most of all, the organisers need to be very comfortable with each other, the reason why we as organisers worked together so smoothly and never fell out over anything is because there were no egos, and there was only two of us. We got on so well with it, we would most certainly be happy to do it all over again....some in the past have seemed not as fortunate as ourselves...as I vaguely remember in '08 when the farm fell through. You need transparancy in everything you wish to do, that way you never get any bickering from orgers in threads, no secrets, and many many question and answer sessions on the forum.


IF YOU LIKE THE IDEA OF ORGANISING AN EVENT, BUT DON'T HONESTLY truely HAVE THE TIME to do it........don't offer to do it, it'll turn into your worst nightmare.

[Messie]

AR09 actually cost me about £800. My own fault I guess because I wanted to give people stuff (even though people then moaned about supposedly paying for goddie bags - they didn't - I did)
Oh yeah, and all the griping about Essex...
oh, and the date arguments.

Thinking about it perhaps I don't want to think about 2013

What you need to do next time is find someone who'll give you swag like that for free - like your local road safety partnerships.