in Group Rides, Bike Trips, and Events

OK so some of you have seen that Jeff Knops, owner of CamRock Sport, posted that he was changing the Monday Night Ride and Folly to Saturday afternoon. This is not set in stone, but he had two reasons for the change:
First he thought this time of year we are trying to have a ride for a niche group inside of a niche group. Hard to argue with that. As in it is now a night ride by necessity. And it is also now a cold weather, and soon to be snow, ride as well. A niche group of a niche group of riders.
Second is that he is moving the music to Saturday nights. He is hoping that it could be more of a couples/family event for people. Even if your significant other/family does not want to ride, they can come along. Either shop locally or hang out at CamRock Sport for an hour and a halfish until the ride gets back. Then hopefully folks want to stick around for the free live music (they have really good musicians playing there!) and maybe have a beverage and a sammich. Give a little support to the local LBS/cafe/microbrew place while you are there 8)

I know I and many others want to see this weekly ride continue through the winter riding season, snow or not. I plan to ride whatever the conditions so it does not matter to me. I have talked to Jeff and he is open to doing whatever works best for people. He really wants to keep it open to as many people as possible. And if they hang out and BS and have a brewski and sammich afterward he is even happier. I like having lots of people riding as well. I also like the idea of having a ride when everyone can hang out for awhile and does not have to hurry home for work the next day. I told him I would put up a poll to see what folks thought.

I set this up so you should be able to vote for each of the options that would work for you. Or just vote for your favorite. Whatever your preference. So what do you think? Should it stay the way it is - only those with lights can make it out? Should we go with Jeff's idea for encouraging more folks to come out. Is that a good idea but Sunday afternoon works better? Please post up with your ideas and reasons as well.

Personally I would love to see a regular group ride on a weekend. I work until 5 and wouldn't be able to get to Cambridge by even 6:30 most days. That's my two cents, but I'm sure other west-siders feel the same.

Personally I would love to see a regular group ride on a weekend. I work until 5 and wouldn't be able to get to Cambridge by even 6:30 most days. That's my two cents, but I'm sure other west-siders feel the same.

Thanks for the input, and keep it coming! I can see advantages and disadvantages for all of the options. And if you are not going to be a winter biker feel free to chime in on what you would like to see come next summer as well. Please state that so we don't set up the winter schedule to accommodate that. We will likely have a different summer and winter schedule.

Obviously not everyone can be accommodated for everything, but I am hoping we can get a good idea of what works best for most folks. Keep voting and keep the feedback coming!

I would love to see a weekend morning ride....even earlier than 9am!  (wishful thinking for most of ya, I bet)

I only got out twice so far, so take my votes with a grain of salt.  That said, I cannot make the Sunday 3pm.  Love the idea of making a couple's event of it; my wife was just talking about coming to Cambridge (but not the trails) with me if I ride this weekend, so that would be great.  Side note that the 4pm time is running into dusk issues for the next couple months (though will get better when we get snow).  If part of the point is to keep it bright, may want to bump back to 3:30 or so.  Whatever happens, I will try to get out a few times for the group ride (unless it is Sunday afternoon). 

Edit: I would be down for an earlier than 9am Saturday ride too so it doesn't eat up quite so much of my day.

How about a Sunday 10 AM ride?  I think that would be a great day and time to ride.  One can sleep in a bit, ride, and then eat lunch at the cafe.  It would be perfect! 

I just built up a Sawyer and am excited to try to ride it on snow!

Dewayne

Nice! Saturday afternoon is magic for me. My work schedule changed and haven't been out for the folly in quite some time..would love to regroup.

Why not have 2 group rides?  A weekday night ride and a weekend day ride. The weekend one should probably start a bit earlier to take advantage of daylight and warmer temperatures. Maybe the weekday one could be Tuesdays?