We’re taking a summer holiday, here’s why.
In August, we won’t be leading any group rides. Why? There’s a number of reasons.
We have intentionally chosen to carve out some time to pause and reflect.
We want to alleviate ourselves from domestic cognitive load, as much as possible for the month of August.
We want time to contemplate before we come together in September and discuss future plans.
We want to be more French and get in to the habit of taking August off.
We want the New Forest Off Road Club to grow gently, carefully and with intention. Allowing ourselves proper time to rest and reflect will help us to make better decisions and plans for the future.
To be clear, this pause isn’t so we can come back “bigger and better than ever”. No. We recognise that so often, ‘restful’ activities are marketed as ways of helping people to be even more productive and resilient. This is not our aim.
Since October 2021 we have…
Facilitated 77 rides with 303 people.
Registered as a community interest company.
Opened a bank account
Supported 12 people complete MTB leadership level 2 training.
Supported 9 people to become MTB guides.
Collaborated with Vicky Balfour and helped people build confidence in mechanics by running 2 weekend Mechanic courses and 3 mechanic workshops.
Collaborated with Bournemouth Cycle Works to run a series of 4 mechanic classes.
Hosted 4 PAST events with 12 speakers.
Hosted a Bike & Seek event.
Hosted a 2021 Christmas Party.
Led a birthday group ride with over 70 people and Lael Wilcox came to help us celebrate.
Designed 3 online workshops to help support the growth of other women and non binary led communities. “How to Build Community”, “How to Tell Your Story”, “How to Forge Coalitions”.
Run 8 online workshops with 63 people from Uk, Istanbul, Belgium, North America, Scotland, Australia and Canada.
Collaborated with Specialized Uk and the brilliant women led marketing team.
We built a website so people can find out about our rides without having to use a Zuckerberg owned platform.
We keep in touch with over 600 community members through our monthly newsletter.
Meredith spoke about dismantling the patriarchy at the Kendal Mountain Festival.
Meredith and Nic delivered a “How to Dismantle the Patriarchy One Group Ride at a Time” to 300 Women and enby people at the Sisters in the Wild event in 2022.
All ride leaders have completed a 2 day, outdoor first aid qualification.
Oh, and we won Bikepacking.com’s ‘Community of the Year’ award.
We want to hit pause and take the appropriate time to celebrate what we’ve achieved.
When we return in September, we hope to be more intentional, connected and courageous.
We invite you to join on this journey of reflection by taking inspiration from our playlist, reading list and reflective questions.
We’ll be listening to 👇
Reading these books 👇
People and Permaculture by Looby Macnamara
If Women Rose Rooted by Sharon Blackie
Women Who Run With Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés
And asking ourselves these questions…..
What have we learnt in the last 2 years?
What has been hard for us in the last 2 years?
How have we changed in the last two years?
What should the New Forest Off Road Club do more of?
What should the New Forest Off Road Club do less of?
Have a brilliant August and we’ll see you on the flip side, ✌️ (in September).
