OK, seeing as you guys seem to be a bit slow off the mark on this one, I thought I may as well get a new thread going. Dont think for one moment that I'm trying to nick this thing off anyone, or that I'm willing to organise it!!

I think there are a couple of things we need to decide:

first of all, are we;
a) doing it over a single day,
b) doing it over two days, stoping at a youth hostel/B+B, or,
c) as a night ride, setting off saturday evening and ariving at the other end sunday morning.

Secondly, determening a date on which everyone is free could be somthing off a usefull exersize, people might want to consider-
-time of year (plenty off daylight would be usefull)
-phases of the moon - if we went for the night ride option
- other events - the Red Bull and Polaris are both around midsummer and we would be in direct conflict with the SDs Randomee on the 16/17 june, unless we chose to join it.

Anyway, those are the facts/ideas that have come up so far, anyone up for it?

the summer Polaris is on 7 & 8 July.
i'd be game for the SDW night option, as i'll have done it during the day by then.

I like the idea of a night ride as well, just a case of convincing people!

Ok.
Lets pick a date that'd definatly be good for night ride & if needs be we can change it to a day ride nearer the time dependent on who's up for it?

It looks like the best saturdays this summer (moonwise) are June 2, July 7 & August 4. July 7 sounds like it might be out due to the Polaris so it's June or August.

BTW Joe, the astrology bit was to find out if we make it!

let's remember though, time wise, only half of the 15-ish hours of cycling will be in the dark, in case anyone was put off by the prospect of 100% darkness.

Yeah & with a full(ish) moon & not much light pollution we're not talking pitch black.

...I see many red faced people face down in the mud...I see a white and green helicoptor decending from the night...

As for dates, June 2nd would in theory be beter than August 4th, being closer to the longest day.

I reacon though that we need to make sure that most people are free on that day before we conferm it.

Is the W/E of June 2nd good for everyone?

Oh yeah, about this light thing, I don't reakon there will be more than about 3 hours of "proper" darkness, the post-dusk and pre-dawn halflight lasts for ages at that time off year.

We could start early in the morning, (3am?) then there should be a fair bit of darkness, plus if we time it right we could pause on a high point to watch the sun-rise and finish in early evening, just in time for a celebratory beer!!