Next year................

[Hill Wimp]

Maybe he wants the Fridays to be Apple-esque rather than Microsoft-ish?


Me? I just wanna ride my bike with some nice people and some new people, to some new places on some new routes (and the night makes all things new so the existing destinations are fine) not have to worry about where I'm going, ride on my own in a group if I want to, get where we're going have a few beers and a laugh and not have to think or not think or judge or be judged or do or do not. I just want to be in what I call 'the bubble' that place on a Fridays ride where my heart and the heart of the ride are aligned.

I'd buy that ! May have to seriously consider this if it stays like this for 2014.

Oh and i always wanted to marry John Lewis when i was growing up then i could get his furniture/lifestyle for free.

 

[srw]

To change the subject slightly. Rides of any description should have beginnings, middles and ends. They should tell a story. The beginning of the ride should be momentous, the middle of the ride should be intriguing, with revelations both small and large, and the end of the ride should be a symphonic resolution only millimetres away from orgasmic.

If I find myself thinking about my bike, rather than anything or everything else, it is spoiling my ride.

they don't have to think about it.

That's the thing about branding. The customer doesn't have to know about it. I'm not talking the nonsense that Apple puts out - that's skin-deep and oh-so transparent, and isn't fully embedded in the product. And is also dying on its arse, as Greg points out. I'm talking branding as in personality, branding as in holistic conceptions that go across product, back office and customer experience. Rapha has it. Sports Direct has it. Altura and Endura don't. Ryanair has it. Emirates had it until they started sponsoring football. Easyjet is losing it, BA has begun finding it again. John Lewis and Waitrose have it, Tesco has lost it, the Co-op has lost it big-time.

The Fridays products are all great, and I've loved all the ones I've been but they're basically an overgrown CTC group ride, mostly at night. They're also a CTC group ride at night which needs a succession plan, but that's a separate issue that'll be easier to sort out with a brand. They're beginning to spawn imitators, but at the moment most seem to be not quite the real thing.

And what of the story (I happened upon that first quote in a resurrected thread)?

The beginning (and I'd include the immediate pre-prep) is a bit domestic, quickly turning into a bit of a drag, not helped by its familiarity and the familiarity of people to each other. Southwold was better. There's drama to be made out of the lights being switched out, or a better start to be made (and in that respect only I think the Dun Run has the better story). The middle is the best bit - just look at what the post-ride stories are about. It's Lonesome Lane, it's Newdigate and Rusper, it's Ardingly to Lindfield.

The ending of Brighton is Beethoven, of Whistable is a late Mozart scherzo, but Felpham tacks a bit of Coates onto the Wagner of Arundel, and Southend is the weaker bits of G&S. Southwold needs a trip to the seafront, but it's very nearly Vaughan Williams. LonJOG was a Britten opera.

The one thing I don't think the current set of branding images (including the TT) captures is the travel which is, I think, essential. Velodromes go round and round. TTs start and finish at a single point. The whole point of a bike ride is to move through the countryside. It's why I find cycling much more satisfying than walking or driving - you're going fast enough that the geography opens up, but not so fast that you don't notice the details.

Doing everything at night makes even the familiar new, and brings with it the excitement (but the safe excitement) of knowing that you're up and about when others are asleep. Long may it continue.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Needs a Venn diagram. Or a poem.

Or a post by srw.

 

[Flying Dodo]

they don't have to think about it.

Look at this way - The Fridays and/or the FNRttC is a brand. It connotes (you can fill in your own bit here) adventure-lite, romance, good humour, sociability. People think of the product as well-run. Sort of John Lewis meets Brief Encounter. There are some nice images and some nice words, but they don't really bring new people in - by and large it's personal recommendation.

And it is dying on its arse. Because we do not convey what we're about beforehand - you have to come along to find out. It would be nice if we had a means of conveying what we are about - but (and this is the difficult bit) I really do not think you can get across the sweetness of the ride by pictures, videos, words, whatever. If each ride is a story, it's a story that has to be experienced.

So............I might come up with something that was intriguing, enticing, and welcoming. But that probably wouldn't be about the ride as it is. It would be about a different kind of ride, one that is more easily conveyed. So the trick is to do the conveying, come up with the intriguing, enticing and welcoming based on the sweetness we already have, create a brand and then tailor the product to the brand.

Now that really isn't too difficult, is it?

oh - and the original of the video Thom linked to is a nine minute documentary - taster here
http://pixiufilms.com/steher/

I can sort of see where you (might) be going to (or coming from). However, as Greg has highlighted, beware of form over function.

Also, not so sure of the dying on its arse bit. And surely the personal recommendation angle for new recruits is a good thing? Bear in mind the current format of a led ride wouldn't be able to handle 200 people. Of course I can appreciate what you've said about Southwold. So as well as trying something completely different, are you thinking of a series of mini FNRttCs, all launching off on a Friday? But going slightly different ways?

 

[Tim Hall]

So as well as trying something completely different, are you thinking of a series of mini FNRttCs, all launching off on a Friday? But going slightly different ways?

I think that was tried on the last trip to Brighton, at the turn to Lonesome Lane. Probably not intentionally though.

 

[hatler]

Ah ! Developing this theme a little, is it a series of TTTs all setting off from HPC at midnight, and each team being designated a different route, but all teams ending up at the same destination. Last team there buys breakfast for everybody ?

 

[StuAff]

Ah ! Developing this theme a little, is it a series of TTTs all setting off from HPC at midnight, and each team being designated a different route, but all teams ending up at the same destination. Last team there buys breakfast for everybody ?

Like that idea.....


The problem with trying to be cool, trendy, etc…is that is, in itself, uncool. Cool things and people aren't trying to be cool. They just are. I agree with Greg and Stephen on the whole corporate cool/uncool thing, but the point I would add is that the the product itself has to be right. As a long term user of certain Apple products, I can't bring myself to give a toss whether or not those items (and the Apple stuff I don't buy) are considered 'cool' by people/media (even if I think the people/media in question are 'cool'). Does it do the job I want to do at the price I want to pay? Is it a significant improvement on what I've got? Sold.

The FNRttC might not have the mythical backstory behind the Dun Run (now there's an idea....), but does it need it? And given the choice between the rides the way they are and the overthought, overblown, oversold, badly implemented corporate mediocrity that the Moonriders et al have 'achieved', no contest.

 

[mmmmartin]

SRW posts well.
I am unsure if the idea is dying on its arse.
And as for numbers, if they get any more, I for one, planning a tour for The Fridays from Caen to Bordeaux for late June next year, will be bricking it. I think it would be wrong to limit numbers for Le Tour 2014 but there were 38 riders on LonJog, and 50 went to Brix in Normandy. Any more than that and planning roads that are safe for a group, quiet and with a good surface, and contain cafe and lunch stops that can be coped with inside an hour is getting a bit tricky. Not to mention finding villages with hotels that have enough beds for a group that size.

 

[StuAff]

Did someone say something about branding?

Wonder if they'll manage to get it right this time. Probably not.

 

[dellzeqq]

Did someone say something about branding?

that's so shoot it's breathtaking!

There'll be fewer 'normal' FNRttCs starting from London next year whatever else happens.

 

[srw]

They've got one thing right. £45 per person, but £60 for a tandem. I approve of the differential.

 

[srw]

I am unsure if the idea is dying on its arse.

Certainly not imminently, but I reckon that without a refresh it'll turn before too long (in the next two or three years) into a static bunch of mates going for a ride. Which is nice for the bunch of mates, but none of us is getting younger - and some need novelty to keep interest and joy alive. I sense that's not untrue of DZ. In a sense that's not surprising. Ten years is a long time to keep a product on the shelf even if that product is tangible. When it's essentially an idea it's a heck of a long time.

I'm seeing encouraging signs - the Reading CTC ride; Stuaff's proposal for a round-the-IOW route; mmmmartin's touring leadership.

There's a wider point too - how do you stop "the bike ride" becoming solely corporate property - the property of sportive organisers, commercial charity ride organisers - or purely a prize-chasing property - the property of points- and distance-chasing audaxers or time-chasing TTers or roadies?

Part of the answer is making sure there's a non-corporate, non-prize alternative. Part of the answer is making sure that "the bike ride" is still a way of getting from A to B.

 

[srw]

Yeah but do you get one or two bottles of wine?

 

[swansonj]

, and Southend is the weaker bits of G&S.

So I take it the Southend breakfast was sausage rolls rather than eggs, ham and strawberry jam?
(Apologies to the 99.9% of the population who survive without an intimate knowledge of the obscurer parts of G&S)

 

[Dogtrousers]

I've just re read this thread, and from what I can understand, the Fridays/FNRttC has a problem, and the proposed solution is something to do with branding.

But what's not clear is the exact nature of the problem, other than that it's "dying on its arse" and needs to counter the threat of commercial rides such as Moonriders. Unless the problem known, and a means of measuring it - however nebulous - is established, then there's little point trying to solve it, as you will have no way of knowing if you have succeeded.

Is the problem to do with falling/failing to grow ride attendances? Is it to do with the makeup of the ride (e.g. failure to recruit new riders; recruiting too many old farts and not enough young turks?; turnover too high? turnover too low and stagnating?) Stuff like that, which is all measurable. Or is it to do with projected figures based on assumptions (e.g. all the old farts will die and attendances will fall in future), which is a bit more tentative. Or is the problem just that "it's not as much fun as it used to be", regardless of attendances?

Is the problem a wider one as srw alludes to: That to counter the competition in the form of commercial rides, part of the role of the Fridays should be to encourage other similar non-commercial rides around the country by providing a template? (Apols to srw if I've put words into your mouth there).

How do you define success? Cheesy old cobblers like a mission statement? Some quantifiable metrics? Gut feel?

I just ask these questions as all this branding/product stuff goes right over my head, and without an appreciation what it's actually trying to acheive it goes even further over my head.