Uk Area Groups

[Mike Muz]

Re: Re:

My plumber has 4 £10k + road bikes :shock: I'm hoping to use the motivation to turn up to a few rides to get healthier and fitter. Hope there's a few more like me :facepalm:[/quote]

I've been wondering about re-training in something.

Herein lies the answer! :shock:

Cheers

Mike

 

[brocklanders023]

Re:

Great post by Paul above.

I have also tried to find the facebook stuff. I 'liked' the RB page but never see any updates from it. I don't use FB much so that could be part of the problem. Some sort of link from the site would be useful.

The time I was most active was the era Paul mentions. Great times, great rides, great turn outs and rarely a modern bike to be seen. For me it simply comes down to time at the moment. I work 2 days, 2 nights, 4 off so get stung for plenty of weekends. The weekends I'm free tend to be taken up with family stuff.

I prefer to ride my modern bike if I'm honest so the few times I do get to ride tend to be localish, hastily arranged and on the big bike. When I get more time I would like to join in on retro rides but life tends to get in the way atm. As an example it's the Yorkshire Weekender this weekend. I'm on days. :roll:

Another issue is that Retro is a niche, a hobby and a strand of cycling. This means people come and go as interest hits a peak then fades away. Even some of the most enthusiastic people from the past (Mark, Paul, Dr S, even the Gaffer) end up moving on. Vern is a freak, the exception that proves the rule!
My two main riding pals used to be very active here and used to attend rides. We used to spend loads of time together on builds, sourcing parts, etc but both have very little interest anymore for no other reason than the itch was scratched.

I've banged on it the past about how much quieter the site seems but to be honest I think it's picking up again. Bring on the new guard!

 

[marc two tone]

Re:

It's like anything, people have to be arsed. Riders and organisers. A healthy yin-yang has to be in place as there is no incentive for organisers to present a ride if there are no takers, then nothing for riders to look forward to if AEC'S have nothing to offer. Both of those elements have been in decline through folk having other ideas on how they will spend that day.

Each area needs to capitalise on what they have to use(geologically speaking). This way it opens up and becomes interesting to locals. Ok, i've travelled far and wide in the past just for the laugh and to achieve something but, now it all seems too much of a commitment to attend rides far and wide, considering i have other things going on that take me away from bike rides.

I doubt that the 'good old days' will return as i feel that period (2-3 years) was a fantastic coincidence of natural leaders, people being interested in bikes,people wanting to ride their bikes that they spent months creating, wanting to meet like-minded folk, getting out for the day.etc...have i missed owt?


Solution? I can't see a definitive answer as there are divided opinion on what is wrong now, let alone how to build the ride scene up again. Let's face it, are we just too busy and distracted for it now?

 

[rc200ti]

I've just had to pull out of the Yorkshire Weekender, both annoying and embarrassing in the light of the current conversations, the reason being I have to accompany Mrs rc200ti on a road ride in training for a big distance event in three weeks time. Bikes and cycling have become a huge part of my life, mainly because of Retrobike, and in particular because of the Area Group.

Like many on here I came across the site by chance when trying to get information on an old bike. This led to meeting up with a few other localish Retrobike watchers for a ride. Our 'area group' was self-generated, at this time there were no Retrobike 'areas'. Since then we have changed in numbers, people haver come and gone, worked away, come back, lost interest, but in some guise we have ridden every Tuesday night for the last seven years, with ad hoc rides most weekends, and a couple of weekends away each year. Without the friendship and support there is little chance that my riding would have lasted....just so easy not get out into the cold when you're on your own.

We have about 25 on the contact list, most finding us through us through Retrobike, others by word of mouth. However out of the whole bunch just one rides retro on a weekly basis, 29ers dominate. The pub conversations are sometimes retrobikish, sometimes not, and the only real claim we could make to being the East Midlands Area Retrobike Group is that the AEC deals with the weekly ride bulletin (WhatsApp and email), and the deputy AEC generally leads the rides, route-finds, and organises the weekend 'challenges'. We do consider ourselves under the Retrobike banner and proudly make that known. Those of us who enjoy old bikes continue to do so but it is very much a niche interest within the group as a whole. Perhaps we perfectly represent the direction things have taken.

I am in complete agreement with Marc's suggestion that there was a "fantastic coincidence" responsible for that period when 35+ would travel the country for the pleasure that a national ride held.....but even then there would be only be two or three from our Area despite the fact that most of us were riders just as much as builders.

Aware that I'm rambling off topic I've re-read the thread. My comments are :
Area Groups are key and should communicate amongst their members in whichever way they find the most appropriate.
The Retrobike site should simply and clearly provide a direct contact (AEC and or Deputy AEC) to that Group. The current sub-forums are too cumbersome, confusing, and can be seen as cliquely off-putting.
To re-introduce a National Rides Series requires a National EC. Here I want to LOUDLY AND PUBLICLY THANK DSP and Mark Sinnett for their energy and commitment in undertaking this roll, and also suggest that the Retrobike community snap the hand off anybody willing to take this forward. It is a mind-numbingly administrative task.

Keep things as loose and direct as possible and who knows what “fantastic coincidence” may occur.

Rob

 

[sinnett177]

Re:

Firstly, thank you for the kind words written on here from so many old friends. How time has flown, those rides seem like yesterday, but are now as much a part of retrobike history as the bikes we cherish. I remember most of the rides (except that one in the fod Rob, thanks again for saving my life that day, it I could remember it I'd try never to forget it!) and still treasure a complete set of Retrobike ride stickers!

I've had a scan of the forum and it looks as though the hunger for group rides is as strong as ever. DSP has done a terrific job, over a five year period and that needs to be recognised. Sterling work DSP, thank you for taking on the mantel and driving it on. Maybe we could steal back the monkey of hope and present it to you as a retirement gift!

Going forward a new leader is needed, someone with the time and patience to glue it all together. Someone with thick skin too, the haters really do hate, especially from behind a keyboard. Whoever it is I wish them every success. Just a thought, maybe launch it with a nostalgia ride, getting the old faces of the original rides back in the saddle, us rb'ers love a bit of Nostalgia!

 

[dyna-ti]

Rexit :shock:

 

[Mike Muz]

Rexit :shock:

 

[elPedro666]

Here I want to LOUDLY AND PUBLICLY THANK DSP and Mark Sinnett for their energy and commitment in undertaking this roll, and also suggest that the Retrobike community snap the hand off anybody willing to take this forward.

HearHear!

 

[jango]

Re:

Just a thought, maybe launch it with a nostalgia ride, getting the old faces of the original rides back in the saddle, us rb'ers love a bit of Nostalgia!

Sounds like a plan! I'm slowly re-finding my RetroBike mojo after a few years in the wilderness.