Arrivée est arrivé!

[teethgrinder]

Maybe I should get the Cub to write up his next one and send it in

Yes, you should.

[Paul D]

Selfish request:
I find RRs more useful with some good route summary info. (Especially with the (non-DIY) perms, or rides we don't hear much about.) Preferably using town names I can find on a map, not "the left-turn after the Cross Ducks" or "a reverse of the last leg of Sid's defunct 300" or "the control atop Smog Hill" (where such name is only known to locals).
Link to an online route would be great (especially for those reading online!)

Hopefully my 1300 writeup has ticked all of those boxes, including a web address for gpx's of the route.

I tried to use place names where ever I could (some of which I had to look up on a map myself as we didn't know we were next to Loch X just a loch at the time).

[mattc]

A leisurely YACF East-West ride report (done as BPs, or something, maybe):

East to West 2011

( probably a little long for Arrivée )

[teethgrinder]

This is open question and a thought, if Arrivee included shorter articles, would more people be prepared to include articles?  

Arrivee articles did used to be very short. I am probably one of those guilty of getting people writing much longer articles. I wrote my first article in 1996, which was about one page, or even just half a page. It got a very good response.
Then I went on a mad tour of America, thought that writing about it would be a good read for Arrivee and set to work. I think it was much longer than any other article ever published in Arrivee. Tim had reservations about putting it in because it was so long (about 7 pages I think) but there wasn't much else to put in and he thought it was quite good, so in it went. It got a good response. After that, a few others wrote longer articles,confidence grew and it's almost become the norm.
We also used to get more funny stuff and some poetry too. A certain Lynn Goering S Nayle was a particularly popular author.
We even had cartoons too.

[Salvatore]

A certain Lynn Goering S Nayle Goerings-Nayle was a particularly popular author.

I wonder what happened to him.

[Peter]

Cycle-camping in the Arctic Circle in summer is not that exotic. Even I have done it.
By myself.
Before I joined Audax UK.

In many ways, it was easier than cycling in the north of England: no darkness, few oiks, no sexual harrassment...

Bit northist, hein? Doesn't it get dark down south?

[teethgrinder]

A certain Lynn Goering S Nayle Goerings-Nayle was a particularly popular author.

I wonder what happened to him.

Perhaps he was evicted from his bus shelter and becam a slug?

[hellymedic]

Cycle-camping in the Arctic Circle in summer is not that exotic. Even I have done it.
By myself.
Before I joined Audax UK.

In many ways, it was easier than cycling in the north of England: no darkness, few oiks, no sexual harrassment...

Bit northist, hein? Doesn't it get dark down south?

It's dark for longer in the summer. My experience of Northern English Oiks suggests they were oikier than their southern bretheren.

[Peter]

Cycle-camping in the Arctic Circle in summer is not that exotic. Even I have done it.
By myself.
Before I joined Audax UK.

In many ways, it was easier than cycling in the north of England: no darkness, few oiks, no sexual harrassment...

Bit northist, hein? Doesn't it get dark down south?

It's dark for longer in the summer. My experience of Northern English Oiks suggests they were oikier than thei southern bretheren.

You could be right.  Mind, it's a while since I've been to Millwall.

[Salvatore]

A certain Lynn Goering S Nayle Goerings-Nayle was a particularly popular author.

I wonder what happened to him.

Perhaps he was evicted from his bus shelter and becam a slug?

And found himself in a graveyard and took up residence in the nostril of a noted randonneur?

[Deano]

Selfish request:
I find RRs more useful with some good route summary info. (Especially with the (non-DIY) perms, or rides we don't hear much about.) Preferably using town names I can find on a map, not "the left-turn after the Cross Ducks" or "a reverse of the last leg of Sid's defunct 300" or "the control atop Smog Hill" (where such name is only known to locals).
Link to an online route would be great (especially for those reading online!)

I try to give RRs and my one Arrivée article a strong sense of place.  It's one of the things that makes rides unique.

[welshwheels]

Sorry, The organiser of 'Rutland and Beyond' drove around the route taking a camera full of photos to include in his report on the ride.

In this edition ( 112 ), a lot of pages are filled with 'Preparing for PBP'.

In my opinion, all this 'PBP stuff' could go on the website because its ONLY of interest to those members who are riding the PBP.

The magazine is for showing nice colourful photos and printing ride reports, so we can show our mates at work and home what a wonderful time we had.

When I show my sons the 'Prep' for PBP', they reply "They must be nutters" and "Is there a photo of you?" and I reply "The magazine editor hasn't got time for us who only ride 65 miles".

Turn to page 10 +11 

[Redlight]

Sounds like you'll be happy to know I won't be contributing anymore articles to Arrivee as some of them include the tedious "what we have eaten at a control.
Sorry if I bored several people with the articles but I now stand aside and let the experts have a go. Gordon Jones

I'm sorry that you seem to have taken personal offence at what I hope were constructive comments. They certainly weren't intended to refer to a particular article or author. My reference to controls and cake was a, perhaps ill-considered, attempt to parody a narrative style that fails to differentiate between information that augments or illuminates and that which merely clutters.

For what it's worth I thought your piece in the latest issue offered exactly the right balance between the personal experience and the useful information for other members. The references to the catering at each end were relevant as they underscored how well supported riders are and also, bearing in mind what a tough ride it was,  would have reminded any reader of that sense of relief when they arrive at the finish and find that the fast riders haven't scoffed all the food!  I also particularly liked this part paragraph which, for me, sum up the Audax experience:

"...you can see the rest of the entire climb as it wiggles its way up and bears right in a giant horseshoe....the advantage being you can see how far ahead the rest of the riders are and hence you get a bit of a confidence boost. The disadvantage, as in this particular case, was looking ahead to see no one in sight."

So please don't stop writing for Arrivee simply because of my clumsily-worded comments.

[mmmmartin]

Maybe I should get the Cub to write up his next one and send it in

Yes you most definitely should. It might need a bit of adult top-and-tailing, but yes you should. And I should get around to writing my "how not to ride a perm" article that I have been a year in thinking about.......

[mmmmartin]

then make money charging AUK members and allcomers £6 to enter.

Given that on most events I have paid substantially less than a tenner and usually have at least four mugs of tea and a bellyfull of grub I cannot see how anyone is making money at all. Very often there is a hall to hire. I am astonished at how little I pay for how much fun. That is a ridiculous statement to make.

[mmmmartin]

I'm not really sure about Didcot, tbh.

But Paul - who is?

[JohnHamilton]

then make money charging AUK members and allcomers £6 to enter.

Given that on most events I have paid substantially less than a tenner and usually have at least four mugs of tea and a bellyfull of grub I cannot see how anyone is making money at all. Very often there is a hall to hire. I am astonished at how little I pay for how much fun. That is a ridiculous statement to make.

Quite. I doubt you'd find any organisers who are in it for the money. And AUK doesn't make money out of events either. Brevet Card and Validation fees don't cover their costs and events make a loss overall, being effectively subsided out of the general membership fee.

[YahudaMoon]

This is my fave thread at the moment

[Wobbly]

And found himself in a graveyard and took up residence in the nostril of a noted randonneur?

I still sometimes have nightmares from reading about that. ::shudder::

[Gareth Rees]

In writing about bike rides, it's difficult to avoid repetition and cliché*. Bike rides are all pretty much like each other: you turn the pedals; the road (and the sun) goes up and down; you get tired and hungry; you eat and drink.

The reports that best keep my interest are more than a straight report: they have dramatic events (like EdinburghFixed's mechanical troubles on the Nae Bother), a surprising outcome (like toothgrinder's Triangle ride where he found that after a week back at work he still had time in hand to finish the ride), an unusual perspective (CrinklyLion on the Just a chuffing 50), or good writing and wit (like Denise Noha's LEL report in the winter Arrivée).

(* Repetition and cliché: a few minutes after I captioned a picture of audaxers eating lunch outside Tesco in King's Lynn "The glamour of audaxing" I opened up the corresponding thread on yacf to discover that Pippa had done the same, down to the exact location of the photo!)

[teethgrinder]

A certain Lynn Goering S Nayle Goerings-Nayle was a particularly popular author.

I wonder what happened to him.

Perhaps he was evicted from his bus shelter and becam a slug?

And found himself in a graveyard and took up residence in the nostril of a noted randonneur?

OK, you win.
Think I'll go play with my illuminated red yoyo now.

[oldpeddler]

Sounds like you'll be happy to know I won't be contributing anymore articles to Arrivee as some of them include the tedious "what we have eaten at a control.
Sorry if I bored several people with the articles but I now stand aside and let the experts have a go. Gordon Jones

I'm sorry that you seem to have taken personal offence at what I hope were constructive comments. They certainly weren't intended to refer to a particular article or author. My reference to controls and cake was a, perhaps ill-considered, attempt to parody a narrative style that fails to differentiate between information that augments or illuminates and that which merely clutters.

For what it's worth I thought your piece in the latest issue offered exactly the right balance between the personal experience and the useful information for other members. The references to the catering at each end were relevant as they underscored how well supported riders are and also, bearing in mind what a tough ride it was,  would have reminded any reader of that sense of relief when they arrive at the finish and find that the fast riders haven't scoffed all the food!  I also particularly liked this part paragraph which, for me, sum up the Audax experience:

"...you can see the rest of the entire climb as it wiggles its way up and bears right in a giant horseshoe....the advantage being you can see how far ahead the rest of the riders are and hence you get a bit of a confidence boost. The disadvantage, as in this particular case, was looking ahead to see no one in sight."

So please don't stop writing for Arrivee simply because of my clumsily-worded comments.

No Redlight I should apologise for getting rattled by someone's quite reasonable comments. I don't think it helped signing onto the site and reading your comment after just arriving home, having ridden through one thunderstorm (hence a drenching ) whilst avoiding a previous one by, diving into a teashop.
I do try to make my articles interesting and add a dash of humour if possible.
I would like to see more audaxers have a go at writing articles for Arrivee and feel I have reached my limit regarding my style of story telling. So I will stop tapping the keys and pedal some more miles instead and leave the writing to the younger generation.

[jogler]

. So I will stop tapping the keys and pedal some more miles instead and leave the writing to the younger generation.

no no don't do that
Allow me to say with respect that there's many a good tune played on an old fiddle.I don't do many tunes but this old fiddle knows one when I hear it

[Rainmaker]

In many ways, it was easier than cycling in the north of England: no darkness, few oiks, no sexual harrassment...

As someone whose cycling is now largely confined to the North of England, I'd be interested to know where you went as lately my sexual activities have been restricted too.   A bit of sexual harrassment might rekindle a flame!

[hellymedic]

In many ways, it was easier than cycling in the north of England: no darkness, few oiks, no sexual harrassment...

As someone whose cycling is now largely confined to the North of England, I'd be interested to know where you went as lately my sexual activities have been restricted too.   A bit of sexual harrassment might rekindle a flame!

The oiks who pestered me in 1985 may have mellowed by now...