Big Ride Revival?

Comment by MadameBike on January 23, 2010 at 4:02pm

Oh Son of Dabba. This is such a huge area. You need to talk to the NSW Fire Brigade guys, the St John Ambulance guys and the Volunteer Rescue Association too. Then maybe MS and, when I return to Sydney after these holidays, I can put you in touch with the huge team of willing volunteers who are just dying to revive the whole thing.

Yes, cyclists out there, please tell Son of Dabba where you would like the ride to go and lets make this baby happen!!! Ya hoo!

Comment by Son of Dabba on January 23, 2010 at 4:16pm

Thanks Madame,

Certainly have contacts within NSW Govt, MAA, RTA, NSW Police, the RFS as well as many Lions and Rotary Groups as a starter. Happy for anyone with additional contacts to support however they can!

March 2011 was the date I had in mind due to the huge amount of work involved, and happy to get feedback for other times of the year - I'm no expert.

Comment by Kim on January 23, 2010 at 4:53pm

I did a BQLD ride with my 15 yr old cousin and she had to take a week off school to do it. She loved the ride and her family wanted to do a ride together but it was cumbersome for the kids to take a week off school to do it. I was told that BNSW deliberately tried to discourage school groups and kids from doing the Big Ride (unlike Bike Vic). I am not sure if that's true or not.

So may I suggest that if you do revive the Big Ride that you consider scheduling it for school holidays.

Comment by RobK on January 23, 2010 at 5:17pm

A 'Bring Back the NSW Big Ride' group has just started up on Facebook. See http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&ref=mf&gid=2653146...

Comment by Nicole Lloyd on January 23, 2010 at 9:03pm

Personally, I wouldn't do the VIC rides because of the amount of kids on it. The NSWBR was great because there weren't many on the ride. The ride as I saw it was mainly for adults to enjoy with out too many kids. I know that the adults with kids complained about the noise at night disturbing their sleep. The ride is not just a ride but a social occassion. Also having done the Gong ride and cycle sydney the kids have no clue of road rules and can cause accidents.

Let's keep the ride as it was, unique, not in holidays. March was a good time of the year, not too hot and not yet too cool.

Comment by Neil Alexander on January 24, 2010 at 9:00am

March 2011 was the date I had in mind

Is the NSW election a possible problem at this time? Early April might be safer, esp. if you go to the north of the state.

Comment by MadameBike on January 24, 2010 at 10:52am

I think the issue of kids on the ride is something the organising committee needs to sort out as a priority. I have ridden on many GVBRs with the school kids and have expereinced first hand the problems that that creates. On the other hand, as a cycling advocate, I have to say that getting the younger generation into cycling is establishing a network of future cyclists to keep cycling moving forward. It is true that the NSW rides traditionally do not encourage school groups to attend bt children are allowed, if accompanied by parents. There are pros and cons with both systems.

Comment by Nicole Lloyd on January 24, 2010 at 8:43pm

The idea of having a seperate ride for families and school groups is a good one. Traditionally the BR is 500+ km's. That is a fair distance for them to ride, So maybe a shorter one for them would be better, say weekends or three to four days. I agree that we need to encourage cycling with the younger generation. I know that with the BR I wouldn't have enjoyed it half as much if I bought my kids along. Too much like hard work for 9 days, a couple of days would be ok.
With the date being in March..... 2003 ride was during an election.... you just need to pre poll before you go....easy.

Comment by Andrew on January 26, 2010 at 10:47am

As someone that was still on the BNSW board in the last days of the Big Ride, you really need at least 18mth planning. Also if you want large amounts of kids it does usually bring in its own issues. It was one of the reasons that BNSW always had the ride outside school holidays.
The other issue that was begining to become apparent (and not counting that last ride which BV organised for BNSW), for BNSW was people were becoming time poor. It seemed to be getting harder for people to take 10 days off work (the ride may be 8 days but a day getting there and a day getting home).
Also you need
St Johns on site and available
Police (and it is a user pays charge - RTA use to sponsor with that)
RTA traffic (once again user pays - part of the sponsorship with RTA again)
Councils - all need to have DA's for events lodged and council approval. Especially if they are in drought (means carting in water)
Insurance (no need to say anything else - we all know it is required)
Also be prepared I, wenty on two and both times someone died. The first a heart attack on day 4 or 5. The second the first day leaving Kosciuszko, came off the edge. This is also traumatic for staff and all involved, there is always a police debriefing etc.
And so much more, toilets, showers, food, security, haulage - the list goes on

Comment by Andrew on January 26, 2010 at 10:49am

Also I will state I also like having no kids (more free time at the pub)

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