In response to the recent discussion on this topic and to complement
Nick's forthcoming Castell Coch ride, I will be leading a ride
leaving from East Cardiff on Sunday 14th September. Whilst it is not
as short as some we have led, it is primarily aimed at novice
riders. Please put the date in your diaries and I look forward to
seeing you in Penylan soon. Hopefully I can lead more low-mileage
rides in the future and would be grateful for any route ideas that
you can give me. Here are the details:

Sunday 14th September PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF STARTING VENUE
Easy ride to Griffin Inn, Lisvane. Meet 10.00–10.15 outside Waterloo
Gardens Post Office (off Waterloo Road), Penylan. Car parking is
available. We will travel at the pace of the slowest rider, mostly
on quiet roads and it will be flat until reaching Lisvane where
there are some gradual slopes. The route will include the length of
Roath Park, Fidlas Road and Lisvane Road. In the pub we will have a
drink (snacks and meals are also available). Riders are welcome to
ride back to the start with me or can make their own way home at any
point on the return journey. Back by 1pm-ish. Easy: 18km (12 miles).
Contact: Germaine Walsh 029 20619907 (Work) / 20486325 (Home).

--- In cyclecardiff@..., "ndcanham" <ndcanham@...>
wrote:
>
> Not necessarily. Please refer to the Rides Calendar
> (http://www.cyclecardiff.org.uk/whatson.html) which includes at
least
> one Easy ride in August. There will no doubt be another one at some
> point in September.
>
> While you may be pleasantly surprised about what you're capable of,
> I'd recommend caution about coming on any ride that feels like it
> might be beyond your capabilities. Please see the notes on the
Rides
> Policy: http://www.cyclecardiff.org.uk/ridespolicy.html . You'll
> notice a few sentences emphatically in red. We rely on people being
> realistic about this out of courtesy to the wider group. It's far
> better to work your way up gradually.
>
> --- In cyclecardiff@..., Paul Stacey <paulstacey16@>
> wrote:
> >
> > Nick,
> >
> > Thanks for taking the time to reply. I appreciate and understand
the
> points that you have made. I think that for me I will just have to
> bite the bullet and go for either a medium or long ride which
every is
> the soonest on the ride calendar. Thanks anyway. Paul
> >
> > --- On Mon, 7/28/08, ndcanham <ndcanham@> wrote:
> >
> > From: ndcanham <ndcanham@>
> > Subject: [cyclecardiff] Re: New Cyclists
> > To: cyclecardiff@...
> > Date: Monday, July 28, 2008, 9:22 AM

> >
> > Paul
> >
> > There are a number of points here.
> >
> > In terms of how easy they are or aren't, I'm not sure how much
easier
> > we could make them. We could do a lap or two of Bute Park, but
people
> > can do this for themselves, and it has little motivational or
social
> > value. I'm sure we'd also get an even smaller turn-out since
none of
> > our regulars would show up.
> >
> > Riding to Forest Farm, Gelynis Farm, or the Norwegian Church is
really
> > about as easy as it gets: under 10 miles, flat, and largely
> traffic-free.
> >
> > One of the group's aims is to promote cycling, but I wouldn't go
so
> > far as to say that our core aim is to promote cycling to the less
> > experienced; it just happens to be among the things that we do.
> > Personally, I'm proud of the fact that we offer easy rides at
all. I
> > enjoy leading the shorter rides, but I wouldn't want to devote
more
> > than a handful of my Sundays in a year to these because making
time to
> > enjoy cycling for myself is also important to me. We have a team
of
> > seven or so regular ride leaders, and a smaller group again who
choose
> > to regularly offer the easy rides. We try to make sure that
there is
> > an easy ride each month, but without more people offering their
time
> > to lead much easier rides than they would normally undertake, we
can't
> > put more of them in the calendar.
> >
> > In brief, the easy rides are there and they're available to
those who
> > want to take the opportunity. Ultimately, I think we offer as
many as
> > we can without turning them into an onerous task for ourselves.
> >
> > --- In cyclecardiff@ yahoogroups. co.uk, Paul Stacey
<paulstacey16@ ...>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > I really do think that you have missed the point in all this
> discussion.
> > >
> > > Can I first say that from what I've read and the tone in which
it
> > has been written that the group has not been criticised for any
> > failure on its part. Some of the comments about the website are
> > opinions and I think anybody that has looked fully at the
website and
> > the history of the variety of the rides could only come to the
> > conclusion that the group offers a wide range of rides
throughout the
> > year.
> > >
> > > The message that people like myself are trying to put across
is that
> > there are not enough easy rides to satisfy the needs of us as
> > individuals looking to join the group. I can only say that
having not
> > joined the group is based solely on the fact that I am uncertain
about
> > being capable of completing some of the long rides based simply
upon
> > the lack of experience of actually doing such a long ride.
> > >
> > > Undestanding that the lack of experience is a problem for new
> > members could well explain why the easy rides are undersubscribed
> > >
> >
>