There is going to be a Dartmoor muni weekend on the last weekend of May (bank holiday weekend), which will either be run as a SWUM event or as a BMW (does it make a difference?)
We discussed it briefly at last weekend’s unimeet and it seems that there is some demand for it, so I have agreed to organise it.
I know it’s a long way off yet, but it would be useful if I could get a rough idea of how many people are likely to come, so I can bag some camping space, carparking etc (bank holiday weekend can get quite busy and we’ll probably need to book early). I could also do with an indication of what sort of routes to plan - most decent loops from Princetown are in the order of 12-15 miles, with a fair amount of climbing and not too much chance to bail out part way round. If some people want an easier/shorter option please let me know - there are a few possibilities for shorter rides or meeting up with a minibus half way round but I need to know what the demand will be.
The routes I will likely use are mostly cross-country style riding, no big drops or anything, but it is pretty rocky in places. Most people who have a bit of off-road experience will be able to ride most of it.
So, if you are likely to come:
Which day(s) would you ride?
What accommodation will you need? (camping field, bunkhouse, B&B)
What nights will you be staying?
Would you be interested in a shorter/easier ride?
That’s about it for now, more details as they are decided
Marvellous. I’ll be there, assuming my exams* are over, which isn’t a given.
Right: Days - friday & saturday camping, riding saturday and sunday, with possible night ride on friday/saturday night. Maybe camping sunday night as well, but I could probably sort that out myself.
Accomodation - a camping field would do nicely.
Rides - silly daft long rides are fine by me.
You should really come up with a silly name to make it the perfect muni weekend…
John
*[whinge]That’s the summer exams, not the january ones I’m doing now, which are the 7th of 8 lots of exams. I love my course. [/whinge]
I’d love to, since I haven’t had my LM 26" Muni on a group excursion or Muni Weekend since it was built, and I’d love to see how it goes compared to other 26s.
Unfortunately the last weekend in May is the weekend before my 2nd semester exams start here at uni, and since I’m already missing 3 days due to BUC 2 weeks beforehand, I can’t afford to be away from uni for that long… Its a real shame cos I really love these off road weekends, hopefully when the weather improves and I can find somewhere for us all to stay I’ll organise some kind of event near here.
I wouldnt mind coming (have to check exams aswell), I only (ashamed) have a 20" kh trials uni so if i go at all iwill prob need a shorter route (sorry).
I’m hopefully up for this, if it doesn’t clash with tons of other outdoors stuff I’ve got going on this year.
Which day(s) would you ride?
maybe Friday, definately Sat and Sunday
What accommodation will you need? (camping field, bunkhouse, B&B)
Can I suggest bivvying would be a fantastic thing. You could then call it Dartmoor Unicycle Mountain Bivvi, or DUMB for short. Are there any 2 day routes so we could ferry up a car/van with everyone’s bivvi / wild camping gear somewhere near the overnight stop, ride there and camp up? I’ve done this walking on Dartmoor, but I don’t remember the route, or whether it was bridleways etc. Fantastic way to avoid the need for organisational skills or booking campsites, but I guess does slightly limit the people coming.
What nights will you be staying?
Fri and Sat, maybe Sunday night, if it’ll be easier to get back on Monday, or mean a better ride on the Sunday (like John said I could sort out Sunday myself).
Would you be interested in a shorter/easier ride?
As long and fast a ride as you can make it is cool by me. I’d say if you’re expecting many people always plan a shorter route, or at least a slower group, as you’ll have people used to doing 30+ mile muni rides and people for whom 5 miles is a long ride.
As for calling it BMW or not, if you call it BMW, you’ll always get more people. This means you get people who only ever ride muni once a year at BMW (or twice at BMW and BUC). It’s more inclusive and makes for a bigger event, but more advance organisation required if you’re going somewhere with map-reading required, where it’s hard to bail out on routes, or where there are time constraints. It’s your call whether you want that or not. I didn’t for the Peaks Muni Trip, because the riding and distances were unsuitable for taking beginners or unfit people down, whereas for Phils muni weekend it was fine.
i would be up for it.
riding: short one perhaps fri, sat and sun also.
camping: fri, sat and sunday nights
dont need a shorter ride (unless its fri).
dont think i would be up for bivvying but only because all of my camping gear is car camping stuff i.e. big and heavy
So people want to ride three days then… the original suggestion at SWUM was one day but I thought two would be better… I’ll probably be working Friday :o
If lots of people want to ride on Friday I’ll see what I can sort out.
Mike and gk, I’ll plan some shorter routes. Stopping for rests is not a problem. I was planning on having a few stops anyway for the hoppy people to pogo around on some rocks. What I think would be nice is if we have a group ride that everybody can do, then possibly split into fast and slow groups later.
Joe: You can sleep in a bin liner if you like, I won’t stop you Seriously though, I’m not sure how practical a two-day route would be and how many people would be up for that. It seems a shame to split the group up for the whole weekend.
Klaas: Are you thinking about coming over then? We could call it an international muni weekend then
At the previous muni weekends I’ve been to a friday ride has usually been either a night ride, or just if people turn up early they go out on a ride together. I don’t think you need to worry too much about taking work off if you don’t want to. I’m just coming from a student point of view, where taking the whole Friday off and getting an early train down is easy, and doesn’t cost anything extra, to get more riding in.
You’re right bivvying might be a bad idea if we’ve got a mixed ability group. There’ll be at least one unicycle bivvying event this summer anyway. I just thought of it because I’d done it walking on Dartmoor and it was a good thing then. Maybe if I’m feeling stupid I could turn up thursday and do an overnight bivvi ride to wherever the campsite is.
I should be able to get at least the afternoon off if people want to arrive earlier on Friday. I wasn’t suggesting I don’t WANT to take time off, I just hadn’t included Friday in the plan.
Didn’t you get covered in lots of big black Dartmoor slugs? Eew, as our American friends say.
On Tue, 17 Jan 2006 06:10:14 -0600, rob.northcott wrote:
>Klaas: Are you thinking about coming over then? We could call it an
>international muni weekend then
No sorry, I’ll go to the Dutch MUni weekend in June, and UNICON in
July/August, my family wouldn’t like to see me leave for another
multiple-day uni event around summer time. I’m occupied that weekend
anyway. Maybe a next time if there will be one.
I spoke to the campsite people last night and that weekend is filling up fast. So I really need to get a pretty close idea of numbers for camping ASAP. Also if you’re planning to eat in the pub I’ll need to know so I can book some tables. If it’s decent weather, BBQ at my place is an option.
So, any more takers?
Is this the best place to post this? Any ideas where else I could put it to get more response? I’m sure there are more people who would probably come.
Bah, can’t make that weekend. Exams till the 2nd of June, probably stuff after that.
That should actually be my last lot of proper exams, so after then I will have lost an excuse to get out of unicycling events.
I didn’t know he was in control of the weather… so he did that to us on purpose last time then… in hindsight it is a bit suspicious that it was dry for the ride he came on
Seriously though, I’m not sure how practical a two-day route would be and how many people would be up for that. It seems a shame to split the group up for the whole weekend.
