Opinion: Cross rides should start at switch bridge

[Roland]

Get to the trails sooner

[ ] Yes
[ ] No
[ ] Maybe

[Rolf]

All three.

YES - When people want to ride in proper, uninterrupted forest on weekdays for long periods and are either (a) really damn fast, or (b) don't have time constraints, it makes sense to meet at SB and head out to Colquitz/Thetis etc. SB is also likely sensible for most weekend rides, since nearly all of them pass SB on their way out to the Fun Places you can reach when you have 3-4 hours to play with. Most of our weekend ride planners already post an approximate SB pass-through time for this reason.

NO - For weekday gravel rides, most of us don't fit into (a) and (b) above — ie. most of us aren't damn fast, and most of us have weekday time constraints. Our current membership joined Tripleshot knowing Club rides meet at OBH. So I'll wager that it remains a convenient location for a significant majority of us. Starting closer to town also means coffee will be nearer our home/work, and downtown has so many more choices for coffee.

Maybe someone with database and mapping skillz could map out every member's address? (But then you'd have to do a subset of declared cross riders etc.)

Your leading premise "Get to the trails sooner", helpfully inserted just above your poll options, prompts the question: just what are "trails"? We've been successfully running highly urban, weekday cross rides year-round for the past three years, which string together cul-de-sac cut-throughs, parks, beaches, schools, playgrounds and actual trails. (I'm telling you about these rides because I haven't see you on m/any.) They are different from a straight-up trail-ride, but they remain a bunch of fun. They can also be completed within 90 minutes, starting and ending in Fairfield/Oak Bay (see above about where our members are located.) Your premise pre-supposes that "proper" trails like Colquitz, Glendale, Elk, Thetis, and Francis King should always be the goal. But some of us just don't have time for the 15-20 minute "commute" each way from home to SB and back, before and after a ride on "real" trails. (I know you face the same thing right now, coming all the way over to OBH from the Gorge. But someone's got to suffer. (See above about membership and where we're likely located right now. (B.t.w. I'd love to be proved wrong about that, and to learn that our median member location is actually Uptown! )))

Finally, an important reason not to permanently split off CX rides to a separate meetup location, is that we want crossers to remain a vital and visible part of this great Club. We want to encourage members to ride both CX and road. When roadies see the knobs gathering nearby, a few of them may think "Hey, that looks like fun. Maybe I'll give it a try." Changing all our cross rides to a SB meetup could erode our connection to Tripleshot and, taken to the extreme, may hasten a potential wholesale schism and the formation of a separate club. We do have a few members who joined Tripleshot exclusively for the gravel rides, but most of us enjoy the many benefits of being Tripleshotters first, and being gravel riders second. (A few of those exclusive gravel riders have actually gone on to try road; so the influence thing works both ways!)

MAYBE - Right now, it's open to any gravel ride leader to change the ride meetup or time. If you've ever led a gravel ride, you should be on a Spond DM list and we're gradually working out a system for coordinating who takes what ride etc. Changing the ride meetup and start time should ideally always be done before a ride invitation goes out, so people know what they're signing up for. But who can do that, and how, is still a bit up for grabs. So it could well end up that our fastest rides (CX_4, CX_5) end up regularly starting out by SB, since those riders can make the best use of those out-of-town trails and can also get back home or downtown for coffee faster.

But for now, I think it's better for these things to be worked out ride by ride.

Damn, I've missed practicing verbal (typed) diarrhea on the forum. Thanks, Roland.

[Roland]

Finally, an important reason not to permanently split off CX rides to a separate meetup location, is that we want crossers to remain a vital and visible part of this great Club.

Opinion 2: Road rides should also start at switch bridge. You can urinate in public at the switch bridge and nobody will get angry.

[Ddallin]

There is value in the option, I think that SB meetup and Good Earth coffee will play into many peoples hands. Yes I live closer to OBH, yes I love the urban cross stuff... At the same time, Claire has shown by putting on a few rides that stretch boundaries of what is possible in a morning. I would suggest that it be an outside the normal plan, much like Claire puts on (meets at the drums at 0555), sometimes it may be a good option. So Roland, if you're putting it on, it would have to be outside the normal OBH events, and hosted by you (or another willing participant).

Our numbers just tipped 300 this year, that is a lot of people, as we have seen the crowds increase (UVIC TTT), it suggests putting another option for a ride may be beneficial, much like the Prospect/Munn loop that starts up in the summer time.


If you build it, they will come.

[Rolf]

I don't disagree with any of that, Dave, except the need to do this outside the "normal plan". It fits under the MAYBE discussion above. Stay tuned!

(Btw I had reason to look up some Spond stats today, and at least 80 of our members have gone on at least one trail ride so far! I think that will only climb...)

[John D]

Opinion 2: Road rides should also start at switch bridge. You can urinate in public at the switch bridge and nobody will get angry.

Not to focus on public urination per se, and yes I know Roland was (hopefully) being facetious, but is worth mentioning that we now meet at OBH precisely because we were kicked out of our former home of 10+ years for....wait for it....urinating in public.

Long story short, wherever/however we ride, it's still worth remembering that we all represent the club's image. My sermon now ended, and this being a cross thread, I will respectfully step back and leave it to the usual suspects to provide some suitably juvenile giffery/buffoonery.

JD

[Roland]

Turns out cross rides can start at the switch bridge. If "The Denise" calls switch bridge, then that's where the ride starts. We had time to do Trillium Trail which we've had to skip the last few rides. Looks like Mark was back to Oak Bay by 7:40.

[Roland]

Opinion 2: Road rides should also start at switch bridge. You can urinate in public at the switch bridge and nobody will get angry.

Not to focus on public urination per se, and yes I know Roland was (hopefully) being facetious, but is worth mentioning that we now meet at OBH precisely because we were kicked out of our former home of 10+ years for....wait for it....urinating in public.

Long story short, wherever/however we ride, it's still worth remembering that we all represent the club's image. My sermon now ended, and this being a cross thread, I will respectfully step back and leave it to the usual suspects to provide some suitably juvenile giffery/buffoonery.

JD

Yes I was being facetious, and that was the event I was referencing.

[Alan]

Did I hear someone call for juvenile giffery/ buffoonery? At your service, Ma'am.

[Rolf]

Turns out cross rides can start at the switch bridge. If "The Denise" calls switch bridge, then that's where the ride starts. We had time to do Trillium Trail which we've had to skip the last few rides. Looks like Mark was back to Oak Bay by 7:40.

It worked because The Denise is "damn fast" (it says so in her bio), as was your whole crew. I see lots of shiny PRs; you guys must have been cookin'!

[Greg F]

Did I hear someone call for juvenile giffery/ buffoonery? At your service, Ma'am.

.....

[Rolf]

Maybe someone with database and mapping skillz could map out every member's address?

Little did I realize that our member registration system already generates this sort of thing! No wonder we've been meeting at OBH.

Here are two different levels of zoom...

[Roland]

Here is my CX ride from this morning:



Shoulda just started at switch bridge

[Rolf]

This was my first thought when I saw you were on this ride: that you spent your first 40 minutes riding the same pavement twice. Poor bugger.

Things would have been different if:

1. a ride leader self-identified earlier and posted the route (letting you sleep in and meet the crew at SB at 0620);
2. you took leadership of CX_2 before 8 p.m. on Sunday and changed the meetup location to SB; or
3. you created your own Tuesday CX ride on Spond that started from SB.

Only b. and c. are in your control. So if you want to avoid the same frustration in the future: lead!

[Ddallin]

you did miss the last parts too though!