Post Weekender 2009 - Feedback Thread

[gary tompkins]

Weekender Feedback Thread

Hi all,

UKMOC's organisers would appreciate comments, constructive criticism, and feedback good or bad on this years event. The idea being we can use this to help plan for 2010, and hopefully give attendees more of what they would like. Any suggestions for places in the area to visit, or activities to take part in will also be given consideration, so feel free to chip in with ideas.

Feedback can be on any subject relating to the 2009 weekender, but can we please keep it on topic and avoid chit-chat or hi-jacks. There are plenty of general weekender threads to post on elsewhere, and I want to keep this as crap free and constructive as possible.

Over to you guys 'n' gals

Get posting

I think the meal at the mill on sunday was perfect and a good price!
I think it would be great idea to stick to that next year. Then if the weather is pants we can all have lunch together. If the weather is great then the rideout and back to the mill worked perfect for those who wanted to take part and those who wanted to sit on the grass chatting and drinking tea. Perfect IMO

[LouSCannon]

Bearing in mind this was my first Weekender and I'm still very much new to the club, some rather minor points (As I really enjoyed myself), so I hope I don't get slated for what might be considered negativity (Again, I really really loved the weekend)....

Rooms - I understand The Mill is going through a bit of a refit, so probably won't be an issue next year, but a shower would have been nice (I know some rooms had excellent showers).

MotoGP - Check times, would have been nice to watch the race with other fans in the bar and not miss out on the big ride out...

Ride Outs - Saturday was really well organised. I think on Sunday it was a little bit less so, obviously with more numbers (Almost twice as many)! But just some words like we had on Saturday about riding staggered, not shooting off if you get separated, and a few more florescent vests dotted through the pack for when we get broken up (As we're never going to keep that many together in one group)!

Awards - I found the Cosmetic and Mechanical awards slightly confusing, as did others as often if can be a matter of opinion. It could be some people put the same bike under different sections. Maybe it's just a case of a quick one or two lines to explain what is 'officially' classed as mechanical or cosmetic. Also I know Max (Pomp) had some ideas for awards from one of his other clubs (Such as longest distance travelled etc...). Also, maybe some 'honourable mentions' for those awards where the voting was very close?

Ducati - I've seen the thread about the Ducati Truck, and really think some corporate involvement, even for a day, from Ducati UK would have been good. We can see from Sunday it's not a small club, with 60 bikes making the ride out and many others dropping in and posting following the event I was surprised to hear the truck was at the Ace Cafe?!

The evenings were a little difficult being a newbie as there was a lot of friends together, the Pub Quiz was good fun despite me knowing very few of the questions! Not sure what else could be done in the evenings though...?

The variety of options for Saturday was excellent, and keeping it flexible where possible was good as I was guilty of changing my mind from the museum to the ride out with Rob and it wasn't a problem.

Personally speaking I'm certainly up for coming next year and although there is obviously a lot of history to the club and a lot of old friends I certainly didn't feel alienated and everyone was very friendly and chatty... so hope I'm not shooting myself in the foot for posting this...!

I think you have raised some good points.
The evening thing is interesting as i was wondering how it would be for a new member. We do sit in groups in the evening but we are not clicky but it might look like we are. Its ace to chat to someone like minded and new, but not always easy todo. The quiz helps i think.

[Pedro]

Some thoughts from me...

Bike Comp - I think we need to review the categories and clarify the rules for next year

Sunday Ride Out - I know this years was a bit add libbed but four of us got lost off the back after about 10 miles - I suggest the rule be "slow if you see the bike behind dropping back" as this should cascade through to the front, hopefully keeping the group together. Also some markers holding station at significant turn points would help as would marshalls/guides scattered through the pack. Riding rules need to be made clearer - a few mentioned they didn't hear the rules well or didn't understand them.

Sunday Lunch - I think the Mill is a good location and we should repeat again next year. However, we should consider a pre-order system for people coming on the day as a few were waiting for over an hour.

Generally pretty good this year though!!

Breakfast and the evening meal was excellent but on a couple of occasions, i noticed the waitresses ferrying food into the bar area in the afternoon.
When i asked them what was happening, the reply was "did you order?".
So i told them i hadn't ordered, as i wasn't aware of when or who to order from, that confused me a bit!
As Jim (louScannon) mentioned (hi jim : ), a shower whould have been handy in our room, plus the bog wouldn't flush properly, so i mended it with a one pence piece and it worked so much better then.
I'm still not sure why Jim needed to have ear-plugs in when he was asleep, it's not as though i'm renowned for snoring or parping...Jim?
I missed the Sunday rideout, `cos by the time i dragged myself up three flights of stairs and got me leathers on and found the room key that i mislaid in my panic stricken efforts to get on the bike in time for kick off...you was all gone!
I did have a razz into Stratford town, i thought i heard that the ride was going thereabouts but no joy, so i want back t`mill and watched the MotoGP with a bag of jelly babies...so there!
I don't care, it was a wicked weekender, roll on next year!

Georgio

[Albie]

Hi all.May I just say it was one of the best weekenders so far. I think for me the weather changed the mood and helped a bigger attendance. That in itself caused a minor problem with ride out numbers but Im sure that could be resolved by splitting the groups with more marshalling.
Possibly the ride could be long and a short splitting at some point like a train. Rear on long ride front on short but ending up at same destination. Not everyone may want long rideout but you can have a chat about that.
The ride out does still have its faults as some members still are not listening to instruction or they are unaware that its slow at the front and fast at the back for a reason. I myself went to front as 2up and not that fast rider. I must say it was still manic and speed limits wern't being observed as much as I would have hoped. Im lucky enough to have a huge engine to catch up. Thoroughly enjoyable still and when it all went wrong people were like panic panic and just shot off. Lucky enough I kept my head and just plodded on a brought a few home who just trusted to tail me home. Was fun though

Im glad as it does seem we are doing some things that people want like we had a great afternoon out at Warwick Castle with some and others at Bike Museum and some on mega ride to wales. We often chat about doing this and that and its nice to see the surroundings of such a great venue. Next year we have plans to spend an afternoon on the riverbank in stratford in a nice bar for an hour or so. Loads of museums around and Belgians want to visit our Auto museums like down at Gaydon . That can be planned. If anyone wants to do the activity thing I feel that should still be a major option. We still have some major adrenalin junkies and why not !

The Ducati truck thing mustn't be worried about imho. It can happen and probs will sometime. I did speak last year to some about maybe we could just organise part of the Saturday rideout to involve a 1/2 hour to 1 hour drop in to somewhere like Ducati Coventry. Im sure they could rustle up a cuppa and advertise that a rideout would be coming to town. Good press for them and Ducati UK.

Venue is still superb and meals great. I liked eating there on sunday dinner. We dont need to watch TV but maybe just maybe some one could record BIKE RACING for evening viewing after dinner.

Quiz was good.

We need a list who would be a volunteer to be a marshall if next year needs some. If you were though you should wear a hi vis jacket or there would be no point IMHO.

I will put up my name for it as long as someone showed me the route properly.

Bike competition I think is a tough one. Some are missing out with much effort from themselves.Its a shame but it is a public vote and thats that. I do agree more needs to be described in catagory.

Anyhow I hope my comments are helpful and honest .

Im hoping to be of some help at next years and thanks to all who did this years.

That's all good feedback so far guys, and us organisers have already had a bit of a chat about some of them.

It was mainly my fault for not clarifying the rules for the ride outs (I'll make sure I have notes next year). With so many old faces around, it's easy to forget that not everyone knows the "Wait for the bike behind you" rule. As has been said already, the Sunday ride was a bit ad libbed, and also we went off the marked route, so those at the back were lost despite having sat nav.

Keep the feedback coming - it will help us make next year's weekender better than ever!

My main suggestion - more volunteers for next year's organisation! The more people we have involved, the more the jobs are spread around. Also, it's the new people coming in and getting involved that will ensure the weekender continues in the future.

hey albie
you'll be more than just a help - you have have been told by your good lady and JP's good lady that you are taking over the running of the weekender next year - remember that chat on sunday night x

Didge doing the rooms and you and JP ( and the kent bunch) are doing the jobs that saz and the others did this year.....

We went to a transport museum on saturday only 15 miles away from the mill.

I took the DVD with me that PD made but everyone seemed happy in tehbar so i never thought to put it on - but that would be a good option to watch maybe?

[Albie]

Originally Posted by Julie

hey albie
you'll be more than just a help - you have have been told by your good lady and JP's good lady that you are taking over the running of the weekender next year - remember that chat on sunday night x

Didge doing the rooms and you and JP ( and the kent bunch) are doing the jobs that saz and the others did this year.....

We went to a transport museum on saturday only 15 miles away from the mill.

I took the DVD with me that PD made but everyone seemed happy in tehbar so i never thought to put it on - but that would be a good option to watch maybe?

Without wishing to hijack Yes I do remember and thats great. Like everything until you try to do it yourself you will never know if it will work.

[Pedro]

Another thought after looking at the pictures....

How about we have a dedicated photographer tasked with getting a picture of every attendee and their bike so we have a good record of who came and on what. Perhaps also some group shots?

Julie - would you be interested, knowing your photography skills?

[David Matthews]

I was around the middle of the pack and from there it went really well but I can imagine it may have been a bit disjointed at either end.

I went on a ride a couple of weeks ago and they had markers at each junction, that worked well. A couple of times on Sunday I saw bikes blocking junctions, wasn't sure if this was instructed or individuals using initiative, it worked though.

[Albie]

Originally Posted by David Matthews

I was around the middle of the pack and from there it went really well but I can imagine it may have been a bit disjointed at either end.

I went on a ride a couple of weeks ago and they had markers at each junction, that worked well. A couple of times on Sunday I saw bikes blocking junctions, wasn't sure if this was instructed or individuals using initiative, it worked though.

initiative

[Pedro]

Originally Posted by David Matthews

A couple of times on Sunday I saw bikes blocking junctions, wasn't sure if this was instructed or individuals using initiative, it worked though.

And likely to land us in the poo with the plod if not careful / unlucky as the only person legally able to hold up traffic is a copper. This has also lead to some very near misses in the past when cars have not seen or ignored the request to stop.

A marker at significant junctions is the best idea

[J.P]

Hi there.
Having been to three of the weekenders now I've seen a good idea of what's going on and I was a newbie too once, so I know how LousCannon feels about the evenings. So, let's make more effort to chat to members we don't know.

As mentioned above, Albie & I are happy to help sort out the rideouts & stuff. I've got the Sat Nav & Albie's got the self control to not get too carried away with the ride.
Saturday's ride very good, simple & drink & food at the end. Well done Sazza.
Sunday's ride, was bollox after four of us got seperated. I blame Dennis for making the route up as he went, which meant we could never find you again. Chipping Norton wasn't even on the route. That's the point of having other riders with the route. And 'Never leave your wing-man' should also read 'wait for the man behind'. Next time we'll just ram that mantra home.

Bike competition, if nothing more, should just get an update for a change.

Rooms. Let's face it, generally the rooms are pretty mediocre with various plumbing and mattress problems, but you know what, their hospitality is second to none, the food is very good & we effectively take the whole place over and use it as our own. Can't say fairer than that. We can all rough it for a couple of nights.

Saturday options after a ride is a very good idea. Whether you want to go to Wales, Warwick, Museum, Ragley Hall or the river bank etc, that should be up to individuals after lunch but, as we did this year, maybe the three options should continue, a little ride till lunch then, Warwick Castle (great) , bike Museum or a long ride, with a pack leader for each ?

We should look for what's going on in the local area too. We passed a field where grass racing was being held and that would have given us another option for the day.