Ride Out – Sunday August 20th 2017

Dear friends,

Our monthly Sunday Ride Out on August 20th is going to try something that is different for us and I wanted to give you as much notice as possible. Please put it in your diary but also begin to prepare. It will take the form of what is termed a Navigational Scatter ride.

The idea is that you decide which part of North Yorkshire you would like to ride around, sort out your map and plot your chosen route. The ride will start at 9:30 a.m., at our normal rendezvous at Asda in Harrogate, then proceed via up to a maximum of 7 locations you choose from a list, including one on a list of compulsory places (shown as C1 to C4 on the map). You also plan to end up in the middle of the afternoon, (3:00 p.m. onwards), at the McDonalds’ café, St James’ Business Park just off the Harrogate by-pass where you will check in. The business park is next to the junction between the A658 and the B6164. The total mileage that you will cover will depend upon the route that you choose but is likely to be between 130 and 150 if you go for seven locations.

At the end of this pragraph is a link to a pdf file of the map showing the approximate locations and names of the places you can choose to visit. You can use whatever route most interests you and no account of the mileage you have covered or the time you have taken will be recorded or taken into account in order to decide the winner. This not a race. Your route must include stops for rest and refreshment. At the ride briefing you will be given a list of questions, one for each of the locations on the map. To find the answers you will have to stop and look round at each location you have chosen. The challenges will not be obscure and the rider with the most correct answers will be declared the winner. There will also be a similar question for each of the ‘compulsory’ locations. At the one that you choose to visit you will be able to find the answer. What you will also need to do is to have a scout around and, taking account of the kind of questions on the list, decide what other two or three questions might also have been asked for that spot and identify the answers. These will be used if a tie break is needed to identify the overall winner. The prize will be the fame and glory of having won!

Link to the Map August ride out

This ride out has been inspired by the way that the Welsh National Rally is organised, an event that Andy, Bob and I have enjoyed over a period of more than ten years. It is a super excuse to ride in beautiful countryside on interesting roads and I am sure it will be just as much fun in North Yorkshire. While it might not have the same camaraderie of our normal ride out it is great fun to go entirely at your own pace on a route that you have constructed yourself. It is also just the sort of ride that might tempt your erstwhile pillion passenger to come as well.

Please give it a try. Andy Pratt, assisted by Bob Hill, has planned this ride out and I am very grateful to them both for the hard work put in.

  I look forward to seeing you there.

Doug Masterton

Chair – Harrogate Advanced Bikes