Mid-Essex rides what aren't audaxes!

[Oscar's dad]

Ladies and gents, following a brief discussion on Wednesday evening I am offering to organise some rides and events which aren't audaxes.  I'm not implying there is anything wrong with audax riding or pursuing AUK points, I am simply trying to offer something a little different.  My hope is some of these rides will appeal to a wide audience including partners and children.  I don't have any dates yet, nor do I have a feel for how many rides I might suggest; but I will aim for dates when there are no local audax events therefore AUK points chasing won't be impacted.

However, I do have some ideas which I will list below, please feel free to contribute more ideas...

Bivi night - we've had one already, it was great fun, who knew slugs were such loving bed fellows?
Coffee morning - again we've had one already, the kids loved it, who doesn't like naked flames?
Breakfast rides - there's a thread.  A few miles, a cooked breakfast, maybe a cheeky pint 
Sunday lunch onna bike - ride to a local pub, have Sunday lunch, ride home.  Bring the whole family if you like!
Good Beer Guide pubs - help me ride to every Essex pub in the 2013 GBG.
Shit roads - Twice now we have proved tarmac is boring, mud is fun.
Veloviewer squares - jibers' new obsession!  He could lead a square hunting ride to show us how its done.
Mini camping tours - on two occasions we country bumpkins have ridden to that London but where else could we go?
Full on tours! - set aside a week and ride.  Mid-Essex to Yorkshire in 2016 was a hoot!
Friday Night Ride to the Pub - less miles, more beer or anything else you fancy, doesn't need to be alcoholic.
More foreign stuff - Holland, the Alps, Norfolk?  The world is our Mersea oyster.
Lost Lanes - when I turned 50 Tomsk gave me this book by Jack Thurston, it's got some lovely rides in it.

[EDIT], further suggestions...

A jibers special - mapmyalpaca rides.
Cultural exchange - meet yacfers from further afield, Suffolk and Norfolk for example.
Cycling and wild swimming - Brrrrrrrrr!
Mid-week adventure - wild camp or bivi after a Wednesday MEMWNS ride then go to work next morning as usual.
Lowestoft! - ride to Britain's most easterly point (Ness Point aka Lowestoft Ness).
Channelling Anneka Rice - Oaky's treasure hunt idea.

So, what do you think?  Got any ideas of your own?

 

[Oaky]

...I don't have any dates yet, nor do I have a feel for how many rides I might suggest; but I will aim for dates when there are no local audax events therefore AUK points chasing won't be impacted thereby providing an ideal opportunity for folks to DIY/extend these so they can get some points then as well.
...

FTFY

[Oscar's dad]

...I don't have any dates yet, nor do I have a feel for how many rides I might suggest; but I will aim for dates when there are no local audax events therefore AUK points chasing won't be impacted thereby providing an ideal opportunity for folks to DIY/extend these so they can get some points then as well.
...

FTFY

Do you know what, that's absolutley fine!

[jiberjaber]

mapmyalpaca rides?

[Oscar's dad]

mapmyalpaca rides?

Terrific idea!

[psyclist]

Many good ideas in their, I like it 

Off-road rides are definitely an attraction; many of us either have the necessary equipment, are planning to acquire something suitable, or are so skilled that a road bike will suffice.

From a planning perspective, advance notice / forward planning are preferable for those of us who venture out of area to satisfy our hilly ride kicks. Appreciate that sometimes it can work that a fair weather weekend approaches and a last minute arrangement is made, but some events agreed in advance might be a good idea. I've often used doodle.com to work out dates which suit most people.

Some of the ideas could be combined together, and my off-the-cuff question on Wednesday whether any of the events could be ECE'd might actually be something to think about ... some riders in our midst do enjoy a day on the bike doing a DIY 200km, so with a little bit of co-ordination we could have riders doing say 120km on their own in the morning, and then all meeting up as a group to do a group 80km that would be at a slower pace, include pubs, off-road, or whatever, finishing at a nice location for more extended R&R. So some riders would still get their 200km DIY completed, and we'd have some 'quality time' together later in the day.

We could certainly spread the load re organising stuff ... for the off-road elements a few of us are getting acquainted with many good routes throughout the region, so some interesting rides including less tarmac could be strung together.

[Oscar's dad]

^^^ A smashing contribution 

[ElyDave]

Norfolk/Suffolk, co-ordinate/descend on a designated point and do something from there?

More ACEA (east Anglia) rather than ACME - need to find a way to make that an acronym of ACACIA

[Oscar's dad]

Norfolk/Suffolk, co-ordinate/descend on a designated point and do something from there?

More ACEA (east Anglia) rather than ACME - need to find a way to make that an acronym of ACACIA

A cultural exchange! 

Note to self: stop being rude about Norfolk 

[bhoot]

Cycling and swimming?....excuse to go to Tollesbury if the tide is right, other coastal and inland options available!  I managed to get a great swim last year at end of a DIY which went to Dunwich, but fhoot takes a dim view of attempts to swim during a ride, so non audax is the way to go. He is very good though at sitting on beaches reading a book and guarding my stuff.

[ElyDave]

Norfolk/Suffolk, co-ordinate/descend on a designated point and do something from there?

More ACEA (east Anglia) rather than ACME - need to find a way to make that an acronym of ACACIA

A cultural exchange! 

Note to self: stop being rude about Norfolk 

Why? I frequently are (but then I'm in Cambridgeshire myself)

[Tomsk]

All good ideas 

Mini-camping: must go to the seaside again, not necessarily California via Lowestoft. Actually, why not go to the much maligned Eastern-Most Extremity...

If the points chasers among us were really serious, we'd add in mid-week overnight 200s, a la Teethgrinder...

[Oscar's dad]

I'm lovin' the suggestions.  I have added them to the opening post just to keep things tidy.

[tippers_kiwi]

This covers loads of what I want out of my riding for this year....less recording and more enjoying. I've got a couple of things in the diary already and I am being careful with time away from home and $$$ but I'll consider most of the above list. I've even asked Mrs Tipper for a Trangia for my Birthday.....with a new bike on the way a tour IS one of the things already on my list and quite far down the planning route.

It involves helping on the Bryan Chapman and riding back to Essex via a mid city towpath navigation of Birmingham

[Oaky]

Bivi night - we've had one already, it was great fun, who knew slugs were such loving bed fellows?

I do fancy trying a tarp-based bivvy activity.  Possibly in lightweight (i.e. no panniers) bikepacking style, with my wood-burning stove.

I might have to practice a few tarp pitches in the back garden first, though.  And maybe get a smaller tarp.

Got any ideas of your own?

The other thing I'd quite like to do (or perhaps put together - it needs at least one person to organise/research/control) would be a treasure hunt style bike adventure day...

Basic idea - you turn up to a pub for breakfast etc. then are issued with a set of locations/questions/challenges.  Some of these would be specific (get proof of passage through $TOWN) some might be less so (get a picture of your team with a $LANDMARK - e.g. windmill; set of stocke or pillories etc.) ; (bring back a $ITEM) etc.

Probably do it in teams of two or three?

Whilst having your breakfast, you decide how/where to satisfy the other requirements etc. then think about your route etc., setting off as and when you're ready.

We could fund some sort of prize for the fastest/most audacious/funniest finishers either through an entrance fee, or from the GCFO's slush fund

Edited to add: OD could dress up in a jumpsuit and blonde wig, pop a rotor on Fred, play helicopter sounds on his bluetooth speaker and pretend to be Anneka Rice for the day

[Oscar's dad]

Oaky, thank you for your superb contribution but steady on...

I think we need to be careful and consider slowing down.  All these brilliant ideas could see the end of audaxing as droves of AUKs switch over to Cycling for Fun ^TM.  Would we want such a tragedy on our collective consciences?      

[Oaky]

Oaky, thank you for your superb contribution but steady on...

I think we need to be careful and consider slowing down.  All these brilliant ideas could see the end of audaxing as droves of AUKs switch over to Cycling for Fun ^TM.  Would we want such a tragedy on our collective consciences?      

We could offer ACMEPoints^TM for the treasure hunt.  They don't count in AUK, but they DO count towards the ACME points championship.

[Oscar's dad]

We’re on a roll now. I will award a trillion ACME points for everyone who comes to the Alps!

[Oaky]

Oaky, thank you for your superb contribution but steady on...

I think we need to be careful and consider slowing down.  All these brilliant ideas could see the end of audaxing as droves of AUKs switch over to Cycling for Fun ^TM.  Would we want such a tragedy on our collective consciences?      

We could offer ACMEPoints^TM for the treasure hunt.  They don't count in AUK, but they DO count towards the ACME points championship.

Or institute another ACME award - the Best ACME All-rounder (BAA), awarded on thee basis of ACMEPoints^TM which can be earned via some conversion from AUK points, ACME non-audax event points and something involving sheep for Tippers.

[Kim]

These ideas seem lacking in anvils and dynamite...

[tedshred]

I've got a couple of things in the diary already and I am being careful with time away from home and $$$ but I'll consider most of the above list.

That bit of what he said.

We could offer ACMEPoints^TM for the treasure hunt.  They don't count in AUK, but they DO count towards the ACME points championship.

Are they a bit like house points at school ?  I bet attending the garden party and camping after epiphany would have won a few points - not for good behaviour necessarily.

Incidentally, have all you lot retired/won the lottery and not told me 

[jiberjaber]

I've got a couple of things in the diary already and I am being careful with time away from home and $$$ but I'll consider most of the above list.

That bit of what he said.

We could offer ACMEPoints^TM for the treasure hunt.  They don't count in AUK, but they DO count towards the ACME points championship.

Are they a bit like house points at school ?  I bet attending the garden party and camping after epiphany would have won a few points - not for good behaviour necessarily.

Incidentally, have all you lot retired/won the lottery and not told me 

I think broken train line signals may have featured in the work shy approach (I myself have no excuse as I walked from bed to study this morning...)

[ElyDave]

deviation from work/staring out of the office window is a valid means of retaining sanity in my experience

[Tomsk]

Incidentally, have all you lot retired/won the lottery and not told me 

Fridayitis? My excuse has been needing breaks from paint fumes. Bathroom re-decorating, not down the studio, sadly.

[Wowbagger]

Cycling with wild swimming?

I had a delightful skinny-dip in the Chelmer, somewhere between Paper mill Lock and Ulting Church, on a sweltering September day a few years ago. Bit too cold at the moment though...