Hello,

in case you haven’t heard, Andrew has stepped down and I’m the ride coordinator for this year.   

Melbourne Branch remains unique in maintaining a very active Sunday ride calendar and has been doing so for 40 years now.

Committee members have been very active in organising this and leading rides, but I will add that it is not just up to committee members to actually lead rides.  The more members we have do this, the more variety we get on rides and the easier it is to fill the ride calendar.  Even if 6 – 10 regular ride participants led one or two rides a year, it really would help share the load.

I’m not pretending it is simple and I wouldn’t recommend volunteering to lead rides if you’re not experienced in taking part in branch rides.    I understand that some members just wouldn’t be comfortable doing it, but I hope there are some regular attendees who probably could lead a ride or two.

I’m not a gizmo type of person and personally I’d recommend doing a “pre ride” to see what works and which corners might be dangerous to mark or turn at etc.   GPS etc, don’t always take such things into account.    If interested, please contact me or any other committee member and we’ll be happy to help.

As a simple guide, think about a couple of 80 km “legs” to allow a rest/cuppa stop, a lunch stop and then a return ride.    

I believe we ride for the fun and camaraderie, but I always like to remind everyone that we should aim to arrive home from every ride with ourselves, our licences and our bikes intact.

John Cook 0419 599 530