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New Family/Introductory Rides

Maz and I have been discussing ways to encourage more people out on the road with us, especially the youngsters or people who are new to riding a bike.

We are planning to arrange either a Family ride or an Introductory ride on the 4th Sunday of each month starting in February, along these lines:

Feb 26th: Intro Ride
March 25th: Family Ride
April 22nd: Intro Ride
May 27th: Family Ride
June 24th: BCC Sportive takes priority
July: Camping trip tbc
August: Holidays, forget it!

A Family ride would be:
10-15 miles only, taken very steady to suit the young riders.
Mainly off-road so suitable for all bike types.
Food stop is a must, either a good cafe or pub, halfway around or at the end.
Suggestions include Sawley Marina and part Erewash Trail from Beeston, or Tissington Trail and Middleton Trail from the Peak District. The group may split if the teenagers need to burn off some energy, but we will always re-group at an agreed point.

An Introductory Ride would be:
20-25 miles at 12-14mph, to suit teenagers, beginners, those new to cycling, returning from illness, generally unfit etc, or anyone who just fancies a very steady easy ride!
Mainly on-road (though not exclusively)
Food stop half way around or at the end
Routes include: Elvaston Castle, Sutton Bonington or the full Erewash Trail.

Each ride will have a route agreed in advance so we can publish the route and advise people on how much food/drink to take, as well as other spares etc, though we will take extra ourselves just in case.

Each ride will also have a named Leader and a Tail-Ender (volunteers required to help), to make sure no-one gets lost or into trouble, and the aim is to ride as one sociable group.

We will make sure we know the names of anyone new, and take their contact details e.g. a mobile number for emergencies.

Suggestions for routes are more than welcome, but we will make a decision a couple of weeks before each ride and post that as a separate Ride, so people can say whether they are coming or not.

After August we can review the season so far and work out what to do next.

All comments welcome.

Thanks
Paul & Maz

newsonoid 12:12 Tue 24 Jan