50+ Second Annual Ride??

You may have noticed that the sticky for the 50+ 1st annual ride is now gone.

The question arises - should we have a 50+ 2nd Annual Ride?

I know that the 1st annual ride was (at least for Nora and me) great fun, and that many folks who wanted to come couldn't, for a variety of reasons.

So, if you want a 2nd Annual 50+ Ride, thinking needs to start now.

However, someone besides me needs to take the primary planning responsibility.

I know that some of us on the 1st ride would have suggestions as to how to improve the ride for the next time.

Any volunteers?

Any reactions?



(I will be renewing this thread from time to time, if it does not get automatically renewed.

I think a second annual ride is a definite must!

I'm so glad I decided to do the ride. I didn't feel like I was riding with strangers - more like old friends I hadn't seen for a long time

Like being at our 50th high school reunion.

I'd love to do the ride. But this year's ride wasn't possible due to timing. We do come to Colorado every few months but it is a long, expensive trip. So, timing and sufficient advance notice is critical so I can lump other things into the trip. For a ride during tourist season knowing the dates well in advance is important so we can get reasonably priced tickets and coordinate with other people down in America.

For the first ride there was about 6 months advance notice. Latitude, is this appropriate, or is more needed?

Another question: for subsequent annual rides, would it make sense for the event to rotate around to different parts of the USA and/or Canada?

Road Fan

Yes!

The First Annual Ride was announced, and the location had been decided, as of November 20, 2008, 10 months in advance of the actual ride.
don't really know how much more notice can be given, except if we set a regular date - i.e., last weekend in August or something like that.

Depending on the month we book anywhere from six months to a year in advance. Another factor is our short summer. We try to put our southern travel in the winter(fancy that).

Had I picked up on the ride when Denver said it was announced that would have worked fine. But I didn't until too late, I'd already used up my Time Away for this summer

Location can move. But I have family and a road bike that I keep in Denver. If it goes too far from there flying a bike from either here or there gets to be an expensive hassle.

Or, maybe y'all would like to come up here? I haven't researched it. But with the tourist decline it might be possible to put something fun together.

And another YES here

Denver,
Just a humble suggestion I learned from tour operators.
You noticed that many potential participants bailed out? I and these tour operators know that and require a down payment for intent to participate. Perhaps if some have skin in the game they will be more likely to follow through?
Perhaps there is cost involved to organize such a get together and get favorable motel rates and just organize the event?

Interesting suggestion, which I hope the person(s) who organizes the 2nd annual ride might consider. It won't be me, however.

Hmmm, this thread seems to be the one for brainstorming what to do next, not the one about lessons learned.

One thought might be to form a group of 4-5 folks who might jointly plan the next ride. As is pretty obvious so far on the thread on "lessons learned" there is a lot to be considered, a lot of different thoughts, expectations, ideas, desires, etc.

This way more input can be gained in terms of what folks really want and expect from a ride, the blame and/or praise can be shared amongst several folks, etc.

Nice idea, Dr. Fox. Not related to what I meant to say, but nice idea.

You mentioned brainstorming, or so I thought?

I was referring to my suggestion of moving the ride around the US and Canada from year to year. I made teh suggestion here, then I made it again in your other thread, having forgotten I made it here.

Maybe I'm missing something but I never see the annual ride becoming one that would be operated as a tour requiring pre -payment for participation. This year everyone made their own hotel reservations, provided their own transportation, etc. I see this more like a chance for people to meet, ride and enjoy each other's company and I hope we keep it this way.

I feel we learned a lot from this year's ride about riding styles and other preferences. You'll never be able to plan one program where everyone will be happy. I think the separate rides according to preferences and abilities was great. Meeting at breakfast and dinner to discuss plans or events of the day was great. Maybe we take these things into consideration when planning the next one.

Now if we could just decide on a location for the next one

Hi Beverly,
The tour Organizer or Organizers can be sued in the event of an accident. Nobody starts out to want to do that but wait until some lawyer gets involved. Denver Fox alluded to that also and he is right. Some of us have an Umbrella Insurance Policy but why should I expose my Insurance to risk such as this?
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Getting a good motel rate requires knowing how many people attend and get a package. You can get a rate of 50% of normal if you plan ahead and book at one motel.
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Popping into a restaurant with a large group without reservations is asking for trouble. I do have a bit experience with that.
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Planning such things take time and money. Of course we can find some good people with time and money at their hands but I am suggesting to help them out a bit with financial commitment.
It may well be that many will not attend because of that but they dropped out anyway, did they not?

The timing was, if I recall correctly, the primary reason we didn't make it. Late August is after the public schools start. Mrs. Mono is a teacher.

I see your point, Will and I agree with many of them.

Our club often provides insurance coverage to non-cycling organizations when they hold a bike event. Many of the festivals in the area include a bike ride and the planning organization uses our insurance to cover any injuries on the ride. The only requirement is the ride must be listed with our club. I'm sure other members belong to a cycling club that could provide the same. Our club charges $2.00 per participant in the event.

Contacting a motel/hotel for a discount rate generally doesn't require any up-front money. They do want to know how many rooms since they need to block them during that time period. I'm not sure if putting down a deposit would result in a larger discount. Does anyone know if there was up-front money involved for the Caravan Inn?

I would never expect to take a large group to a restaurant without reservations....been there, done that

I think there have been some good suggestions from the group and I'm sure we can work out the details. Now....where will the next one be

No up-front $$ was involved.

Personally, I would not want to take on the bookkeeping, potential tax (FICA, W/C, Unemployment, etc.) liabilities, etc., involved in receiving funds for any efforts put forth in advance for planning a ride.

It seems to me that if there is enough interest, the planning hat could be passed around.

However, I strongly agree with Will abaout the liability issues. We had made arrangements for LAB to cover us, and it would have been a relatively easy thing to do, at less than $5.00 per person.

At the last moment, the person in charge of this aspect could not make the ride (and bring the paperwork), and I was swamped with a lot of other things going on in my life, and did not follow through, preferring a simpler route. However, that was not the best route, and was a calculated gamble.

On the other topic, (where will the next ride be) there are lots of other options here in Colorado.

1. Basing at Frisco (9,000 feet), and riding the many mountain paved trails. Keystone, Breckenridge, Loveland Pass, Vail Pass, all the way past Vail and out to Avon - all on trails (except Loveland Pass, which is a low use road, heavily frequented by bicyclists).


2. Basing in Denver, and riding the hundreds of miles of interconnected trails - including a Century with only a few street crossings, etc.

There are also trails in Winter Park - Berthoud Pass, etc.

ANyway, one might want to keep these in mind for future rides.

Same situation for Mrs. Road Fan, but my reason for backing out was the increased activity in my job search - higher priority.

I love Denver, CO and will probably retire there if we have any $$ left, and I know there are hundreds of ride options available associated with the city, the Parker area, down towards Castle Rock, and really all over the Front Range. I know travel distance can be a major factor. I may or may not have a job, and if I do it may or may not afford me adequate time off to drive there and back with bike(s), ride, socialize, enjoy et cetera. Having the next one in the Midwest, Ontario, Smokies, Appalachia, or the Northeast would afford me a much easier (8 hr one way) travel proposition this time, but of course it shifts the burden others will experience. I also hesitate to call this a proposal because I need to think about if I am volunteering to be the central organizer.

I completely empathize with Denver. I've been part of groups that put on national and international conventions. The myriad of details can almost literally drive one crazy. With that foundation may I make a couple suggestions?

-Have a committed committee to do the work. The committee needs to include Denver unless he can resolve all his decision making to paper.

-While I did invite y'all to come up here and I'm sure others would like the ride in their locale the Denver area is probably the best geographically and for ride selection.

-Late August, but before school starts, is a wonderful time both for weather and for fitting into most people's plans.

-Regardless of age different folks have different abilities and desires. Those need to be accomodated.

-It is important that two things be known in advance. First, that the ride is actually going to happen. Second, that the number of participants be known. That means there needs to be an advance financial commitment by the participants. That way the participants know that the event will happen and the planners know that all the fixed expenses will be covered. Plus, the psychology is that if people put up some money they are more likely to actually show.

-Denver has done, from what I can read, a wonderful job of getting the event started. Now maybe it is time to formalize it a bit, eh?

I will help with the planning of the next annual ride if it is in Florida in the Winter. As I said on the other thread I think during the winter close to Christmas would be a good time as it would give those from cold climates some winter riding in nice weather. I am located near the Withlacoochee trail and have plenty of planning knowledge and help here locally if you all are interested.