ARTNW Rideout Discussion Thread

Originally Posted by Milky Bar Kid

Actually, there was. Stretchie was criticised for being too slow on a couple of occasions and he was doing so because he was trying to cut the markers some slack.

Ok - Well, I wasnt aware of it.

The point is the ARTNW was a fantastic weekend, everyone enjoyed themselves, no one broke down, or got hurt (hangovers dont count guys!).

Ed did a fantastic job organising it, and I would go again. The social aspect and meeting new and old friends was just brilliant, no-one is denying that.

The only "constructive criticism" (IMHumbleO) would be that there is a full recce of the complete route ridden prior to avoid traffic black spots, and maybe a change leader for different sections? The benefit of that being that through "faster" sections you get a bit of speed, and through the "slower" sections there is a chance for someone else to lead the group, reducing the pressure on any one person.

Oh - and the leader in High Vis to stop ManxMatt overtaking...

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by darylB

Not fast enough to lead !!!. surely it's up to the leader to set the pace at the front and as you said at the briefing it wasn't a race to the finish,

but I don't know if I would want to lead due to some of the comments.

Within reason I agree, but what's the point of having a bike to sit in a big queue? I know you're into all your IAMs business and that but we're not tractor-ists with leather chaps and tassels all following each other.

You must have been on some other rides and seen lead pace to realise what a reasonable pace is? Or have you never got to front to find out?
Come to GM and copy what they do Or organise ride, do the recce and take someone a bit radged with you to lead it. Or set off a bit staggered so the fast ones can have some fun making their way to front. There are lots of ways round it.

You say it is not a race*, well it's not, but you've got to have a fair bit of a thrash and a daft carry on, or personally I'd rather sit in campsite and get p*ssed instead

I agree with sentiment that big rides definitely need to be recce'd beforehand. After nearly freezing to death on last years hardy bikers recce in between all the ice on the struggle to kirkstone anyone who doesn't do one in weather like this is a fanny!



*It f***in well is if there is a risk of missing last orders at the off licence!!

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by Milky Bar Kid

Actually, there was. Stretchie was criticised for being too slow on a couple of occasions and he was doing so because he was trying to cut the markers some slack.

Aye that's the slight problem with designated markers, anyone who gets to the front who isn't a marker ends up bored, and/or the markers end up being d*ckheads because they HAVE TO get back to the front.

[christopher]

I was going to keep out of this, but just to say that I really enjoyed the weekend and like others would go again if there was another (hint hint Daryl)!

Putting the ride to one side, it was brilliant. The biggest issue with the ride for me was us getting lost and the subsequent events. Yes turns can be missed and that's fair enough, but for us then to all agree to follow someone with a satnav to take us into the next town, only to then find out that Ed decided to turn off however many miles later because he was back onto his planned route was a poor decision.

Originally Posted by darylB

... if you are on a rideout you follow the leader wether you agree with the route or not, it's just rude and inconsiderate not to and leads to confusion.

Don't mean to pick your comment out Daryl but it sums up my complaint here, the person with the satnav was the current leader, we had a TEC, everybody else was a marker.

Until we regrouped and the decision was reversed as we were back on track, then it's tough luck if anybody thinks you should go a different way, you're not leading any more.

That split us up into various groups and pretty much all of us were frustrated by the (unplanned, late in the day) lunch stop. That was why people then decided to take alternate routes back to the campsite, it was getting late, we'd covered very little distance for the time spent on the roads, and we'd had enough.

If we hadn't have taken the wrong turn none chances are none of this would have come about, it's just unfortunate it did.

Although there were other bits if anybody wants to be picky, such as the briefing and not waiting for those who went to fill up (which they okayed with Ed at the time who said he'd wait, I was stood there!). Only for us all to be going out the gates as they were coming back. But I really don't want to get into anything more and spoil it. I really enjoyed myself and appreciated the efforts people put into it.

And I don't think anybody (myself included) is saying anything negative about those who played a part in organising the weekend, even though it might come across that way. Just feedback for next time, whether it's taken on board or not, it's just opinions.

I pretty much agree with what Jen and Chris have said, I'm glad in a way it wasn't a massively quick ride cos I'm not a fast rider and I had a pillion, but that said I felt like I was being held back and a bit faster would've been welcome.

Ed, I just want you to know I'm not criticising you, I couldn't have done any better with the organising, if the ride had gone smoothly, it would've been 100% perfect weekend, it didn't but I would still put in in the high 90's IMO.

I got a bit cranky towards the end cos of all the stops etc, shoulder killing me, tired, temp on bike kept climbing every time we stopped etc, I personally would've liked to get back to the site at around 5 ish, as this gives us time to chill, get changed before the socialising on the night.

I would defo come on another weekend if Ed organised another one cos I thought it was ace, but I don't think he should lead the ride the whole time, by his own admission I think he knows that, for the record I couldn't either.


I think people who didn't go will read these comments and think it was a disaster and that's just not the case, it was a blip on an otherwise brilliant weekend.

The intended message in my earlier post was 'Don't critise a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes'. Keeping a big group of bikes together isn't easy.

Remember the day Ravingdavis missed a marked junction and got lost and I was TEC had had to go find him, (and then later he crashed! He'll thank me for this post ). Markers had to wait for 45 minutes at junctions for me to arrive and sweep them up and they did a sterling job, because if one of them had made their own decision to move on, Ravingdavis and I would have been lost and never re-grouped with the rideout. In my experience you need to put in the system then stick to it absolutely. As soon as somebody makes a decision on another course of action, or forgets what they are supposed to be doing, it falls apart.

(Within reason I agree, but what's the point of having a bike to sit in a big queue? I know you're into all your IAMs business and that but we're not tractor-ists with leather chaps and tassels all following each other.)

Agreed we are not tractorists but have I mentioned IAM ? no. The day started to go slightly awry as soon as it was realised that the brekkie bar was not open until 9, so we were over an hour late setting off, then we stopped for some to fuel up at Ellesmere, so the full ride was in doubt even then, and the traffic into Newtown was the worst I have ever seen it. If things hadn't been against us then probably the full ride would have been possible. I'm just wondering what people expect from a leader in regards to pace. Legally 60 is the max on most roads and at this pace from the leader the riders behind are usually playing catch up due to traffic and junctions, you can tell people that they don't have to ride faster than they want to as markers are used as well as a TEC, but in reality people do ride to keep up and often ride outside their comfort zone. This is only made worse if the leaders are going for it with little thought for the riders following, with dangerous consequences, after all the ride is only part of the fun and it doesn't matter how fast you got from a-b the important thing is that everyone arrives safely with no brown trouser moments.

Daryl.

That another advantage of the 'drop off only' system for smaller groups, so long as everyone remembers to mark every junction for the rider behind, and everyone knows who the TEC is, then you don't need a leader, if the lead bike is too slow, overtake it, and even if you don't know the route you had to stop and wait at the next junction anyway.

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

Remember the day Ravingdavis missed a marked junction and got lost and I was TEC had had to go find him, (and then later he crashed! He'll thank me for this post ). Markers had to wait for 45 minutes at junctions for me to arrive and sweep them up and they did a sterling job, because if one of them had made their own decision to move on, Ravingdavis and I would have been lost and never re-grouped with the rideout. In my experience you need to put in the system then stick to it absolutely. As soon as somebody makes a decision on another course of action, or forgets what they are supposed to be doing, it falls apart.

The way we do it on another forum I ride-out with is to have 2 Tecs, that way if there is an 'incident' or someone gets lost, one Tec stays at the incident or finds the lost rider and the other Tec stays with the run.

It's critical that both Tecs know the next stop so they can end up there when things are running smoothly again.

My 2p's worth

And i thought this was a picture thread

ED second gear is up mate Nah apart from a slowish pace, it was a brill weekend, One point though i was unaware that we were meant to be following sv4me and so stopped when Ed did, but when we left the seaside, to return home, I thought it a bit jack for those that did, to deliberately split off from the main group, unless this was pre-arranged with ED, overall a cracking weekend and would do it again no problem