My evil plan isn't evil at all so fear not.
If you look at the regular attendees it is clear we have people from distinct geographical areas with vast amounts of local knowledge we could tap into. For me, the joy of these rides has been going to areas (albeit in the dark) and pubs I've not been to before.
So, interspersed amongst the regular rides we could have nights where someone hosts a ride and picks a route that shows off their area to best effect. Some of us could buddy up, for example bob and TOKaMaK could do the Chelmsford area and the Southend crew could club together. Personally I don't think it's a problem if some of us have to use trains and cars to get to the start of a hosted ride.
What do we think?