South / North Ride out.... The event of the year !

Originally Posted by Dr Rich

Its a shame for those going to the AR but I would stick my neck on the block and suggest that for those travelling distance to this may be folks who might not be AR attendees in any case. Definitely not meaning to upset anyone with that statement of course but think thats how it kind of was last time.

Maybe. Shame to risk a split attendance, no?

What about late august??

Im definitely in on this one, just make sure we can decide a date plenty in advance so i can book it off if im working.


We decided where yet? Same again with Lakes or somewhere else considering AR might be going on there? How about camping at Squires?

Late August is out for me as I'll be going to France for a week and it's about the only weekend I can manage it to be honest.

For those that are not aware, last years trip was based arround a 300 mile plus rideout on the Saturday, and it was the best days riding I have ever had in this country. This is much more of a "riding" event than AR'07, and as such it's more apealing to me. If this years AR is anything like last years, it will be more biased to the social side, and the riding will be at a more sedate pace. This ride will probably be technically more challenging and the pace will be "brisk".

If you have to choose between the two, I wouold think about which one you would find more suitable.

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Originally Posted by Jelster

Late August is out for me as I'll be going to France for a week and it's about the only weekend I can manage it to be honest.

For those that are not aware, last years trip was based arround a 300 mile plus rideout on the Saturday, and it was the best days riding I have ever had in this country. This is much more of a "riding" event than AR'07, and as such it's more apealing to me. If this years AR is anything like last years, it will be more biased to the social side, and the riding will be at a more sedate pace. This ride will probably be technically more challenging and the pace will be "brisk".

If you have to choose between the two, I wouold think about which one you would find more suitable.
.

or go for twins-- I reccomend it !


ok>>> back on topic.

As this was/is Jelster's initiative I think he should simply set the date.

Also last year there was little in the way of routemarking, and so it was (as Steve points out) a ride rather than a rideout. So it was expected that everyone knew the route, informally formed into packs of different abilities, and met at rendevous. This worked well. Except for one instance of 'some bloke' standing on a junction waving everyone the worng way, eh Quiff?

Originally Posted by Jelster

I defo can't do the last week in June, as it's the wifes Birthday. Shall we provisionally "book" the 15/16/17 of June and see what response we get from that ?

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If its then I'm in.

[quote]

Originally Posted by Dr Rich

As this was/is Jelster's initiative I think he should simply set the date.

Also last year there was little in the way of routemarking, and so it was (as Steve points out) a ride rather than a rideout. So it was expected that everyone knew the route, informally formed into packs of different abilities, and met at rendevous. This worked well. Except for one instance of 'some bloke' standing on a junction waving everyone the worng way, eh Quiff? [/quote]

shall we say April 1st then guys ?

[fizzwheel]

OK a few thoughts if I may...

As Dr Rich says this is Jelsters baby, so IMHO he needs to set the date. I'm guessing that Amarko will be sorting out the route again if I'm not asuming to much and I hope so as last years was bloody brilliant. Then its got to be a weekend that suits both of them.

As for being close the AR well yes it is, but Liz and I did both last year and it really wasnt that much of a difficulty. Last year they were very different rides. The North / South was very brisk, to brisk for me at times, but at no point did anybody IMHO feel like they were being encouraged to race or ride outside their comfort zone if they didnt want to. Plenty of stopping places to all group back together again. The AR was much much more of social rideout, run at a more relaxed pace.

Basically if you want a weekend of ragging the knackers off your bike, challenging yourself and your riding, the North / South it is. If you want a reasonably paced rideout, with a damn good p*ss up at the end of it the AR it is.

Different things for different occasions. June is 6 months away if we pick a date now then people like me who have to work daft hours and cover an on call rota can book the time off in advance. I know some people have family / other commitments I appreciate that I really do. Its just that IHO you can never please everybody and somebody somewheres nose is going to be put out of joint no matter what.

Liz and I are definately in and the weekend of the 16th, 17th, 18th as propsed works for us.

[mattSV]

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

OK a few thoughts if I may...

As Dr Rich says this is Jelsters baby, so IMHO he needs to set the date. I'm guessing that Amarko will be sorting out the route again if I'm not asuming to much and I hope so as last years was bloody brilliant. Then its got to be a weekend that suits both of them.

As for being close the AR well yes it is, but Liz and I did both last year and it really wasnt that much of a difficulty. Last year they were very different rides. The North / South was very brisk, to brisk for me at times, but at no point did anybody IMHO feel like they were being encouraged to race or ride outside their comfort zone if they didnt want to. Plenty of stopping places to all group back together again. The AR was much much more of social rideout, run at a more relaxed pace.

Basically if you want a weekend of ragging the knackers off your bike, challenging yourself and your riding, the North / South it is. If you want a reasonably paced rideout, with a damn good p*ss up at the end of it the AR it is.

Different things for different occasions. June is 6 months away if we pick a date now then people like me who have to work daft hours and cover an on call rota can book the time off in advance. I know some people have family / other commitments I appreciate that I really do. Its just that IHO you can never please everybody and somebody somewheres nose is going to be put out of joint no matter what.

Liz and I are definately in and the weekend of the 16th, 17th, 18th as propsed works for us.

The Norf/South was the best weekend riding I have ever done, but christ on a bike it was hard work - us suvverners covered around 900 miles in three days. We left the hotel on the Saturday at about 8:30, and I got back to the hotel lat about 8:30 in the evening I think, absolutely knackered.

Amarko and Taran went off in front at an amazing pace (for those that don't know, Amarko rides a TDM and Taran is a nutter on his striple ), and I started the day with the rest of the 'quick riders' up at the front - some of the speeds were VERY quick, however at no stage did any of the riding get reckless IMHO.

As the day went on, I knew that my rear tyre was on it's last legs so I slowed up and stayed towards the back and 'toured' round - I still really enjoyed the ride, so if you are worried about feeling the need to keep up with the nutters then that really is not an issue.

For me the North/South worked due to:-

1) The great roads that were chosen for us by Amarko
2) The great company and stories that everyone had at the end of each section
3) The great organisation that pulled it all together (Jelster/El Boccadillo/Amarko)

The only thing that was missing was a get together in the evening, however to be honest we were all so knackered that we were just glad of some food and a good night's kip.