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Well six of us turned up - plus 2 volunteers that the rangers brought and two of the rangers. did the stuff we intended - a decent days work.
We hope to get one more date in before the weather turns then its a case of organising what we are going to do next year.
there have been 13 STWers turnup over the two days. We need a decent core of folk prepared to turn out a few times a year to make this worthwhile.
Would a facebook page be a good idea?
Any more ideas to recruit more folk?
Please feel free to email me - in profile
More carrot less stick?
yeah, a good day by all accounts! I think a facebook page might be good as it would hopefully reach out to non-STWers. Maybe a couple of laminated posters at key points in the pentlands advertising this also?
If we could get 12 or more people turn out, we could attack 2 sections at the same time and make real progress, we've only really scratched the surface really, black hill needs lots of work!
The days we've done so far have been imensly satisfying but i'd like to see us build in some "features" that would not hamper walkers but would make the riding a little more interesting, nothing gnarrrr, just fun . Maybe we could have a wee trip up one day/evening to make a plan. The last two days have been led by the Rangers, could we perhaps take the lead on one?
The cake was great debaser! popped in to see my gran on the way home and was fed more cake, got home and Laura had made brownies...feeling a little bloated now 🙂
Cynic al - why unpleasant digs at me on this one? Why the negativity? Rhetorical question btw - I will not be reading any more contributions from you.
I would ask you to leave this stuff alone if all you want to do is make negative swipes at me, its not big and its not clever. Its childish and tiresome. I knew I shouldn't have bothered reading your posts.
Not a dig TJ, a serious and constructive point.
You seem to think You are in a position to tell people that they should come. Many will find that offputting. If you can't see that and have to put me down and call me negative then you are right, there probably is little point asking. But you still do it? And say you won't read my response?
To be fair, TJ has put a lot of effort in to this whole thing and if it wasn't for that I doubt we'd have had trail repair days. Most people on here reading this know TJ well enough to take his comment in the way that it was meant...an encouraging nudge.
Thanks TJ!
Can we leave it at this please ladies? 😉
who took pics? get them up!
TJ, if that was a dig it was a pretty gentle one... But Al, what [i]carrot[/i] do you expect? It's volunteer work, you do it because you want to and because it's a good thing to do, not for a gold star.
As for a stick- I don't see one of those either. TJ's made this thing happen which can only be a good thing, and I know how much work that can be because I started to do it and couldn't finish the job. But it needs decent numbers or it's not worth doing, and he's right to say so.
TJ, as far as getting more people- Facebook's a good idea. Get messages put through the Trailfairies (ChrisL could sign you up to the mailing list I imagine). The VAT Pack aren't building just now I think so again, messages through their facebook. And on other forums as well, Bikeradar etc. I can do all of those if you like, I seem to have my finger in lots of pies. Posters in shops if possible... Who knows, I might even make the next one 🙄
Also I think making it more frequent would be good, if possible, these are so far apart it doesn't have any momentum.
For sure I appreciate TJ's efforts and this is a positive thing.
But I've promoted altruistic events before - you need to be nothing but positive and NOT expect people to come, just encourage.
Interestingly we did a few of these back in the day (before the internet) and got a reasonable turn out through word of mouth - I guess the ease of publicity these days may not help.
Cynic al - can you please leave this thread alone. Thank you. Its not about you. its not about me. Its about trying to arrange trail repair days
The two days we have had were the only dates the rangers had available this summer when I first contacted them. To some extent we have used the days to build some mutual trust. I would hope to do stuff more appropriate to us in future.
Hopefully we will arrange one more day before the weather turns. Over the winter I would hope to build up a list / group / core of people interested and to organise a series of dates for next summer as we will be able to get dates booked quickly.
Its been a success so far I think so thanks to all the folk who have turned out and who have been encouraging. double thanks to todays cake suppliers
Just wanted to say thanks to 13thFloorMonk for his offer of leading me to the beginning of the trail, and apologise for not taking him up on it.
I propose, as a layman who has neither embarked upon a Wednesday night STW ride or prior trail repairs, that the two become a purpose for a single cause? Ride & observe in the week then make a "plan".
All talk from me so far mind...don't hate.
cfinnimore
he was late anyway. 😆
Please come along. Riding / trail repair you are more than welcome.
Definitely for the best this time round! I was still in my pit blinking in the morning sun while the rest were starting work... Made it eventually 🙂Just wanted to say thanks to 13thFloorMonk for his offer of leading me to the beginning of the trail, and apologise for not taking him up on it.
Really enjoyed today myself, not just due to getting out on the bike either.. Satisfied we've done some good for a well used path (though I'll admit to not enough thought on the line onto the bridge coming down. Think opposite corners would've been the ticket)
Strategically placed laminates would reach a lot of folk extra to here or bookface, whether they come or not.. eg) Puke gate a weekend or 2 in advance. Probably need various permissions though.
Anyways, a few snaps.. the 'befores'
[url= http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6061/6066840692_2be4746fd1_z.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6085/6066840700_835e7be70c_z.jp g" target="_blank">
Some 'durings' (featuring partial nudity)
[url= http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6072/6066840708_e3c2f1d5b5_z.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6209/6066840724_501d0933ab_z.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6201/6066840752_75021c15bb_z.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6086/6066311569_7f04b81ebe_z.jp g" target="_blank">
And a couple of 'afters'
[url= http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6202/6066311509_c0caf3fa2e_z.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6185/6066311573_93d05b823f_z.jp g" target="_blank">
Hoping the momentum gathers, and to be at the next one.
(though I'll admit to not enough thought on the line onto the bridge coming down. Think opposite corners would've been the ticket)
think that was my fault 🙂
Sure we can re-profile it in the future to better suit the wheeled fraternity, but it's still better than what was there before 8)
Looks good.
Looks good.
SANITISATION!
(runs away)
Slippery when wet?
Well done everyone involved!
Especially you TJ.
I will try and find the time to help out with the next one, but I can't make any promises.
Northwind - interesting point. Its a bit we all rode without issues. However while we were there it was interesting to see the numbers of people that came past some fairly inexperienced bikers, couple of families with kids including a tagalong, a woman with full camping kit on a hybrid as well as someone with a pushchair. I was suprised. They will prefer the sanisited bit.
That was NOT a point! It was genuine Internet Bulls***, don't take it seriously!
Northwind taken as intended.- I was thinking about it already!
well done TJ and everybody else, more power to your elbows. don't be too hard on cynic al i think he is making a genuine and constructive point. there's more than one way to skin a rabbit, so so speak. andy w at Glentress takes the softly softly approach which seems to work well. even so given the number of people that use GT there isn't a huge turn our for the fairies and there's a hardcore of people like Chrisl and MC that do far more than there fare share. I'm very tired though and this might not make much sense come the morning so once again, well done every body. from small acorns and all that.
Steven - Ta - I understood the point as you made it.
Hi,
Not got time to agree read this whole thread, so hope I'm not repeating what's been said, but re ideas for publicising sessions - I don't keep up to date on stw, and only by accident found this thread. I want to do the next one, but a) I don't want to have to monitor this forum to find when it is, and b) I need decent notice (as do most I guess). Some way to 'push' an announcement out to interested people would be good. Face book would work, I can sign up to the group, and get e-mailed/invited automoatically whenever there a session on.
I had hope to attend this session, however despite seeing TJs email and posts at the end of the week, I forgot about it until I got home quite late from Inners on saturday (I think it may of even been sunday morning...)
And quite frankly I couldn't be bothered getting up early, as it was my last chance for a lazy morning before going on holiday next weekend!
So my apologies for being lazy!
Anyway, on to the letting people know subject.
You'll never be able to force people into turning up, but what you can do, is do as much as possible to let people know when and where it's happening and highlight the benefits, without crossing the 'ramming it down their throat' line.
From experience with the glentress trailfairies, the vast amount of riders don't know they exist and it's an often discussed topic at trailbuilding, but nobody has yet found the magic answer.
Volunteer trailbuilding within the UK is a very challenging thing, and is most definetly lagging behind what our neighbours across the big pond manage to acheive :-/
I'm not sure how well Facebook groups work. I don't tend to pay much attention to them myself. The Yahoo group for the Glentress Trailfairies works for me but you might as well set up both and go for as much coverage as possible. Posters in bike shops with these details on them might be an idea. What about approaching ERC and the Uni clubs, I think they both do weekly rides in the Pentlands so would be worth approaching. What about Sustrans and the Spokes newsletter? I think it might also be worth suggesting that certain paths are avoided to try and lessen the damage. Phantoms is getting very bad and I think others have mentioned leaving the Nail Trail alone, certainly towards the eastern end.
Ta
food for thought
Good work everyone, I'm sorry I missed it, I had planned on coming but had to reschedule a trip to fit in with other people's availability. That bit of trail did need some work so good to see it was done. If I am available on the next date I'll be there.
In terms of advertising to bikers, a poster in all the bike shops might be good. Liasing with Hervelo might be worth a try too, I'll get Sarah to mention it to Jenny or Sandy. I think a facebook page would be good though as it is a far more permanent and easy to find fixture than a thread on a busy forum and would act as a good central point of info. There are a whole lot more Pentland riders than read stw forums.
Ta Jim - I have been in contact with hervelo already and a couple of other groups. I have just started a new job but i will keep on with this. Hopefully another date in a few weeks