Arrivée est arrivé!

[red marley]

It seems odd to equate 'poor' or 'worst' with 'articles about rides I didn't do'. Most readers will not have ridden most of the rides in any Arrivee, so surely the mark of quality has to be more than that. Personally, I'd be looking for good writing and interesting and evocative photography, regardless of the experiences being documented.

Bear in mind also that real people (who read this forum) put huge amounts of work into editing and providing content, so casual dismissal of their efforts may be a little hurtful.

[hillbilly]

Wotchoo talkin' about Willis.

Granted, I did not read the LEL articles as I lack the enthusiasm for the whole ride.  And anything that includes the expression "DIY" I tend to lose interest a couple of sentences in and skim quickly, particularly if populaires (don't register them as audax - more like club runs or personal bimbles).  And admittedly the AAA/grimping stuff is increasingly to the fore (I don't mind but can see it gives the wrong impression for a long distance cycling club).  But these are personal quibbles an preferences.

On the flip side, Marcus' article and Arabella's about the 24hr gave me some ideas for possible future adventures.  Also reading about the OCD gave me a better insight into how that might help shape my cycling exploits in 2014.  And the official's reports were of interest (particularly John's observation about the distribution of events, even if the diagram was missing...)  It was also good to see familiar faces, or rather faces that used to be familiar but I haven't seen for a while (Tom Hanley, Garry King amongst others).

The centrefold summarising LEL pictorially was also rather interesting.  I really must get a graphic based on the calligraphic lines of varying thickness (representing altitude) for my permanent etc events.  It's rather an eye catching design.

D'ffnt strokes etc etc.

[Revolution9]

Thanks to Peter for holding the presses for me on my return from the Pyrenees as well.

I enjoyed reading that 

[Charlie Boy]

Love the back cover photo. With the phone box. It just works nicely.

+1

Can't quite tell if there's someone asleep in it.

[red marley]

The centrefold summarising LEL pictorially was also rather interesting.  I really must get a graphic based on the calligraphic lines of varying thickness (representing altitude) for my permanent etc events.  It's rather an eye catching design.

Billy, if you want to pass me any GPX files you would like profile maps for, I can create them for you. They need to trace the path of the actual route, not just waypoints relying on on-board navigation to join, but they don't need to encode altitude since I have a national DEM for grabbing the elevations.

[damerell]

I always enjoy Arrivee, and feel nicely vindicated by this one; in one of the perpetual how-we-must-reorganise-AUK threads, I suggested that online entry could really use a proper payment processor instead of PayPal. "What's wrong with PayPal?" Well, turn to page 7, and now you know. :-/

[LEE]

Personally I'd be more than happy with an online copy as I only check for faces I recognise then "recycle" it.

Is there a "tick here to NOT receive a hard copy" option anywhere? I can't be the only person for whom an online copy would suffice.

[Glover Fan]

+1 to that. I wouldn't want a financial discount either personally. The AUK membership for me represents good VFM with or without a hard copy of Arrivee.

[hellymedic]

Personally I'd be more than happy with an online copy as I only check for faces I recognise then "recycle" it.

Is there a "tick here to NOT receive a hard copy" option anywhere? I can't be the only person for whom an online copy would suffice.

Whereas I am looking forward to having my hard copy to take to relieve boredom in hospital or on the York-bound train.

[Ivo]

I know a lot of overseas members who are AUK members just for the magazine.

[Ian H]

I know a lot of overseas members who are AUK members just for the magazine.

We should publish an Esperanto version.

[Exit Stage Left]

We should publish an Esperanto version.

Then we could all live in hope.

[LEE]

Personally I'd be more than happy with an online copy as I only check for faces I recognise then "recycle" it.

Is there a "tick here to NOT receive a hard copy" option anywhere? I can't be the only person for whom an online copy would suffice.

Whereas I am looking forward to having my hard copy to take to relieve boredom in hospital or on the York-bound train.

Hard copy could be the default option, I feel guilty about all that effort and postage going to waste on me though. 

Just point me at a PDF.

[Exit Stage Left]

Perhaps everyone who doesn't like Arrivee could take their copy to the dentists and leave it there. We might even interest a few dentists on Pinarellos.

[JBB]

I'm enjoying it. Mind you I'd expect articles about LEL immediately afterwards - just the same for PBP. Just a shame there's nothing about the national 400 - especially as a girl can dream.....

[Andrew Br]

Perhaps everyone who doesn't like Arrivee could take their copy to the dentists and leave it there. We might even interest a few dentists on Pinarellos.

Bugger. I went to the dentist this morning.
I don't think he rides a bike.

Apropos of nothing really, his digital records go back to 1998; he hasn't done anything to my teeth in all that time.
I'm very happy with that.

ETA: I'd asked for a late morning appointment plus I'd enquired about bike parking in case I decided to ride there (Chorlton CH-Accrington-Chorlton CH).
Not in this weather 

[Manotea]

I'm still working my way through Arrivee. I've read the exploits of the Willesden Hero's, (natch) and the centrepiece report of LEL in graphs and numbers was just a fantastic piece of work.

Well done and welcome to our new Editor, Peter Moir.

[Deano]

Mine hasn't arrived yet. I'm looking forward to seeing what Peter did with it, we had a couple of chats at Barnie during LEL, inbetween his epic greasy-pan-and-silicon-sheet cleaning sessions in the kitchen.

[Peter]

I think there are some pretty insensitive remarks in recent posts.  Somebody FOR NOTHING has put together a magazine for the first time, which, in its production and layout is indistinguishable from previous magazines in its high standard, so let's give him a slap in the face, shall we?  I don't ignore articles because I'll never do the rides or because I wasn't on them this time, or whatever.  Certainly, I'm less interested in some feats than others (I don't care for the way audax is becoming more and more competitive and I think this may need addressing at some time) but I'll still read the articles because it's my "club mag".  Somebody who can write well can make something I'm not at all interested in at the outset a worthwhile experience for me.  Some people write better than others but I'm grateful to them ALL for their efforts at entertaining me - because I think the magazine is primarily for entertainment and to make us feel good about what we do.

I didn't submit anything this time because I judged that there would be plenty of stuff about LEL, so no general shortage.

My personal preference is for articles that describe what's to be seen on a ride, rather than a string of " ate this, ate that, felt sick" and so on.  But that is just my preference and different things loom larger in different people's consciousnesses!

WELL DONE, PETER AND THANK YOU!

[Exit Stage Left]

I'm heartened by the way that contributors have kept their powder dry by not rushing to put stuff onto the web.
I remember Ivo commenting that Arrivee is more like an academic journal than a club magazine, and the presence of a series of graphical representations of LEL as a centrefold tends to bolster that view. I think it's a good thing.
My favourite ever article was about the influence of wind expressed as vectors, and their resultant influence on drag. I think there's a lot of value in enabling people to express themselves in a longer format, unfettered by the influence of others.

[Oscar's dad]

Well said Peter. 

[ian_oli]

Only skimmed through it so far but I feel it has many more interesting photos than most Arrivees. My own first article was really aimed at other organisers: maybe an "Organiser's Corner".

[mikewigley]

Personally I'd be more than happy with an online copy as I only check for faces I recognise then "recycle" it.

Is there a "tick here to NOT receive a hard copy" option anywhere? I can't be the only person for whom an online copy would suffice.

Whereas I am looking forward to having my hard copy to take to relieve boredom in hospital or on the York-bound train.

Hard copy could be the default option, I feel guilty about all that effort and postage going to waste on me though. 

Just point me at a PDF.

Not sending you a hard copy would only save us the postage, as I doubt we would reduce the print run by one, but it would create more work for those sending them out.  We'd need a marker on the Membership database, we'd have to have an additional field on the MyDetails screen to maintain this, we'd have to remove those records so marked from the mailing list, and at the moment with a new Systems Manager about to take over, he's got plenty of other tasks of far more benefit to the club.

That's not to say we couldn't do this.  I suppose I could have a private list of all those not wanting Arrivee and I would remove these manually from each quarter's mailing list, but I couldn't promise that this will work perfectly for every issue.  You are unlikely to get an  email from me pointing you to the online copy, which doesn't get put online straight away anyway - we like to keep the current edition as members' only, with only historical editions online for the world to view.

[hillbilly]

As a short term thing, couldn't a pdf be hosted on the website, only available via the Members page (which requires a log in)?  I'd find that handy as I can then read on various different electronic devices.  Admittedly one of those things that is a "nice to have" though.

[Ningishzidda]

Only skimmed through it so far but I feel it has many more interesting photos than most Arrivees. My own first article was really aimed at other organisers: maybe an "Organiser's Corner".

Or "Org's chasm."