The Beacon Message Board

Hi All - I want to gage interest in a regular mid week (Tuesday or Thursday) winter towpath / off-road ride. Would leave from the University of Birmingham (meeting at the station) at ca. 6pm and be 2 hours of towpaths/ parkland riding.

A powerful front light would obviously be a requirement.

best,

James

I'd be up for this but concerned (as always) about keeping up - do you have a pace in mind?

Might get tempted to prevent my new MTB from getting cobwebs. Would obviously depend on the weather as I am not that keen on getting drenched for the sake of it

Hi. Like helen I’m wondering about the pace. I commute by bike on a Tuesday and am actually normally at the uni station for 6, so could jump on this. Only issue is that I will have my commuter rucksack on….

I'd be interested and think I could borrow a mountain bike as well

I'm contemplating getting a gravel bike so would be interested. The only problem I have is that's a fair old trek to get over to Brum Uni.

I'd be interested, I love a bit of cycling by water

Thurs night sessions @ wheels park for a few weeks yet, - tues?

Nicks_77 wrote: ↑

04 Oct 2021 19:34

I'm contemplating getting a gravel bike so would be interested. The only problem I have is that's a fair old trek to get over to Brum Uni.

Yep i have Gravel Bike & Mountain Bike but a trip to Bham Uni station from Rednal up the Bristol Rd aint too welcoming in rush hour

Hi All - thanks for replies and positive response! I'm still thinking about this (and waiting for my new front light to arrive).

We could move the start location to the time tested Black Horse. From there we can access a number of gravel/ off road routes: tow-paths, Rea Valley cycle route and also into the Lickey hills. I'm thinking of alternating with a flatter easier and harder hilly route. Neil L and I should talk as he's been doing some gravel and tow-path riding as well.

In terms of speed/ difficulty, no one gets left behind! Certainly in testing out the first few rides. But once we see how many people are up for this we can determine A/ B / C groups etc if needed.

Also thinking about Sunday off road/ gravel club runs..

thanks again,

James

Hi James. Unfortunately I will struggle to make evenings but I would be interested to do some off road on Sundays.

Chris

Gravel Sunday runs would be *amazing*. I am all in for that.

Awesome. Would be more enjoyable /safer in daylight hours too as I may fall off a lot in the dark

Hi All,

I did a trial run last night and in the full dark it is really sketchy. I had an 800LM on of the front and still crashed on some (not too technical) roots into some nettles. I have a 3000LM ordered - which might be a different story...

But anyway - i think daytime Sunday gravel/ off road rides might be a safer way to start! I have another week of cyclocross and will then look start some Sunday rides.

Yeah I’d be interested.

I have a Ribble CGR and have a second wheelset that I’m looking to set up for gravel. Also have an exposure Strada 1200 lumen light.

Will

Very interested in this, would be fun to be less hassled by cars
Joe

Hi All,

Further to this - I tried a couple of experiment off-road mid-week night rides but always found them to be really sketchy (even with good lights). So could never risk an official 'Beacon' night ride.

However, I am leading a Sunday off-road ride tomorrow (March 20th). Late notice I know. But I'll try a few of these scattered through out the year.

best,

James

Thanks for organising this James. I am doing the mad march hare tomorrow but I will hopefully join the next one
Chris