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Post by JasonA on May 20, 2009 13:39:27 GMT
PLACES LIMITED TO 80 RIDERS - 45 SUBSCRIBED SO FAR Hi Everyone, Who remembers the Mesnieres event in Northern France in 2006? That was my favourite event of that year, by far! Maybe this will evoke fond memories: www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=440310&l=52841e9fa5&id=559085519Anyway, there's an equivalent coming up. I say "Equivalent" as it's run by the same club, in a similar area, but is a different run. There's an on-board video of the run here, filmed by our very own Pete C!: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYM1ovNuKq0It's 62 miles from Le Havre ferry port and cost 30 Euros for the entire weekend, including lunch and camping. It needs little or no time off work, as ferries leave late on a Friday and come back late on a Sunday, so that's that excuse out of the window! Those of you who came with us to Mesnieres will remember how very well organised Riders en Bray meetings are and although the runs aren't Chamrousse length, we got so many of them in one day you get tons of riding in! These are absolutely cracking events from the criteria of amount of riding, cost and location. Therefore, I'm hoping to get plenty of people going just like last time. So far it's me, Ian and Dil Richardson (Turtle), Andy Kent (Stingray luge - remember?) Leo Smith (the other Stingray luge), Darren Rathbone, some of the Lush guys and some other UK riders whose names I don't recognise! The URL for the event is here: wiki.ridersenbray.com/doku.php/staubin2009 They want a "Medical Certificate" for foreign entrants. I've been in touch with them and by "Medical Certificate", they just mean a letter from your Doctor along these lines: I, Dr (name) of (name and address of surgery) have examined (name), date of birth (date of birth) resident at (address) and certify that he/she is able to participate in (Longskate - Streetluge - Roller Skating - Buttboard - Skullboard – whatever: Just enter your gravity sports discipline here) downhill gravity sports events. Date: Location: Signature: Official stamp: As for accommodation, camping is free, or there are at least two "Gites" (like last time - holiday homes for those who weren't there) in the very same village as the event. I'm still looking into that and will come back to you. Another thing I'll come back to you on is: The ferry to Le Havre is £100, which is a bummer unless you can cram several people into one car to reduce the cost. I'm looking into cheaper ways of getting there, i.e. maybe Dover Calais and then driving further. The most convenient route is Portsmouth - Le Havre (the event is only 43 miles from the ferry port), but it's not the cheapest. The reason I'm posting this before I've got all the information is because inscriptions only opened today, they've got 45 people signed up already and they are limited to 80 riders, so obviously I needed to get the info to you ASAP. You can sign up at: wiki.ridersenbray.com/doku.php/staubin2009#inscriptions As for payment, they say your place will only be confirmed once they're received at least half the fee in advance, which so far can only be done by international transfer to their French bank account, which is a pain. I'm waiting to hear back from them regarding more convenient methods of payment, i.e. Paypal. More news and details to follow once I have it, in the mean time sign up quick! I hope we have a good turnout and a great time just like last time! Cheers, JasonA
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Post by JasonA on May 20, 2009 16:43:28 GMT
UPDATE:
Sorry, I got the distances wrong. Le Havre is 62 miles, Dieppe is 46 miles. Depending on where in the country you're coming from, Newhaven - Dieppe might be better than Portsmouth - Le Havre.
Those coming from the South West may still prefer Portsmouth, those coming from the South East may prefer Newhaven or even Dover - Calais (Calais is 133 miles from the event).
I'll post a list of prices and distances once I've had time to research them properly. The French post code for the location is 76160.
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Post by boneless on May 21, 2009 9:34:30 GMT
good stuff JA...
doing sums/negotiations/diary checks and will get on it ASAP... ;D
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Post by JasonA on May 21, 2009 12:25:23 GMT
UPDATE: Information on payment and ferries for you. Payment: I asked the organizer if we can put our names down and then pay once we’re at the event. He said yes, but only if all the places (80) aren’t filled. The French have to pay at least half up front in order to be confirmed, and lots of people want to come. Therefore, to have your place fully confirmed, it would be best to pay (at least half) up front by making a bank transfer to the account details on their “Inscription” page. Here’s some info on the Ferries: This is a very useful site, with a list of all the ports and routes. You can view available routes from the drop-down on the right: www.directferries.co.uk/routes.htm It’s NOT the cheapest to book though! Use it as a reference guide only! www.aferry.co.uk seems cheaper, but shop around. Here are the distances from the French ports to the event: Dunkirk: 158 miles Calais: 133 miles Boulogne: 114 miles Dieppe: 46 miles Le Havre: 62 miles Caen: 85 miles Cherbourg: 161 miles Dielette: 174 miles St Malo: 191 miles …and the other French ports are further still. So, Dieppe is the closest and can be reached from Newhaven or Dover, but bear in mind the distance you have to drive to the UK ferry and hence the overall distance. For example, coming from the South West, there is Portsmouth – Le Havre. Le Havre is 16 miles further from the event, but then Newhaven is another 60 miles East of Portsmouth, so it would be shorter overall to go Portsmouth – Le Havre. For those coming from the North or the South East, Dover might be your best bet overall, even though it’s 133 miles from the run. Use www.multimap.com or your own Satnav/GPS to work out the shortest route overall. Compare the distance from where you are to Dover and Newhaven. As for cost, Dover-Calais keeps coming up the cheapest, but involves more driving at the other end. The channel tunnel goes from Folkestone to Calais and is either about the same/slightly more expensive than the ferries. It’s quicker and more convenient on times though.
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Post by JasonA on May 21, 2009 13:52:06 GMT
HOLY SHIT! Ferry-wise, Newhaven - Dieppe was the best route for us, but we’ve ruled that out as the sailing times are so inconvenient. We then looked at Dover – Calais which is always cheap and has lots of sailing times. Calais is 133 miles from the event. We then checked Dover – Boulogne (Boulogne is 114 miles from the event). Lots of choice of sailing times and an incredible £45 return! £45 RETURN! It’s with LDLines (http://www.ldlines.co.uk ). We’ve booked it! Go go go!
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Post by cg7aa on May 21, 2009 16:04:23 GMT
Cracking stuff JasonA, thanks for posting and updating all that information. Very useful. I would love to tag along but I'm not sure if I will have my sled delivered in time and in any case, being at the Le Mans 24 hour race the week before is likely to empty my wallet!
I'll keep an eye on things though just on the off chance I get my sled in time and have some spare change. Hopefully, there may still be the odd place available.
Regards
Only Black Man On The Hill.
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Post by JasonA on May 21, 2009 20:03:10 GMT
Ah haaaaa! Great to hear from you! I remember meeting you at Gurston!
Might have a solution for you on the luge front - you can use mine! I'll be taking it just in case but will be riding Street Turtle most of the time. Therefore, you can use my luge. It's boomed but I'm 6ft 4 - would you be able to reach the footrests?
Anyone else here got a luge they can lend?
Are you on Facebook? We've got an "Event" on there for this too.
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Post by cg7aa on May 21, 2009 23:00:54 GMT
Hi Jason, I finally decided to register on here.
6ft 4? Crikey! No way I can reach the foot rests on your luge. I'm tiny, about 60kgs and vertically challenged! Thanks for offering though. Its appreciated.
I'll just wait and make a last minute decision closer to the date if I have the funds.
Do you know if there will be other events on the continent after June?
Regards
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Post by JasonA on May 22, 2009 8:49:06 GMT
I think you're paying too much for your US-made luge too. Len Stocker would make you one much cheaper. Yes, there's loads in Europe over the summer. I just enthuse about this one as it's so accessible and cheap. The rest tend to be further south in the Alps. Have a look at: www.riderz.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22904
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Post by JasonA on May 22, 2009 17:02:45 GMT
UPDATE:
ACCOMMODATION:
As you know, camping is free for this event. The organizer tells me the camp site is about 50 metres from the finish line of the run!
As for other accommodation, I spent the best part of a day researching this and it was very frustrating! There’s next to nothing available. I was trying to find “Gites” in the actual village of the event (“Gite” means “French self-catering holiday home.”) as they are the cheapest way of doing it and quite fun. There are two in the village, but both are booked up and in any case, one of them is only let for a minimum of a week at a time, he won’t do weekends only! Damn!
The next nearest is 4 miles away in Boos, but they only have rooms for the Friday, they’re full on the Saturday! Bugger! Let me know if you’d like me to send you details of it anyway.
Then I was looking for Hotels or B&Bs in St-Aubin-Epinay itself, or within a reasonable radius. All I could find is that there is a hotel right in the middle of the village in a side-road before the end of the run (you could probably roll up to the doors on the last run of the day! I’m certainly going to try! Get my wife to hold the doors open and Street Turtle into reception! That’ll be a first for them). They charge 36 euros per room per night, and each room sleeps two. I double checked that’s per ROOM and not per person. So that would work out at about £30 per person for the entire weekend. They are:
Madame Patin (pronounced “Pat-an”) Hotel Epinoy 79 chemin du coffre 76160 Saint-Aubin-Epinay
Phone/Fax: 00 33 235 08 42 81
They’re very old school – no email, no internet, no credit cards, no electronic bank transfer but you CAN send them a fax if you phone them to tell them first!
If anyone finds anything else, please post it on the Facebook event or the UKGSA forum thread, but I did a pretty exhaustive search. There’s tons close to Rouen of course, but that’s getting a bit far away.
I reckon camping is the way forward for this one. It’s free, it’s near the run, you can get a tent off eBay for next to nothing and if you get drunk enough, it won’t matter to you where you sleep!
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Post by JasonA on May 24, 2009 12:22:41 GMT
THIS EVENT: • is dirt cheap • requires NO time off work • is easy to get to …so you’re all out of excuses! Other facts: • You can get a Ferry for £45 (www.ldlines.co.uk ). Divide that between the number of people in your car • Ferry times are such that you can sail late on a Friday and come back late on a Sunday, so you don’t need any time off work • pro-rata, it’s cheaper than Gurston for the amount of riding you get (many runs per day with this club!) • The hill fee is 30 euros for the entire weekend including camping and lunch • You can get a tent for next to nothing off eBay • If you don’t want to camp, there’s a hotel right in the middle of the village for £30 per person for the entire weekend (if you share a room with someone) • The run is 2.2km (1.3 miles) long. That’s more than double the length of Gurston • If you’re a regular at Gurston, you’ll LOVE this! • If you’re a regular at Gurston, you NEED this! • There’s an ever-increasing number of us from the UK who are going (see wiki.ridersenbray.com/doku.php/staubin2009#inscriptions ) so come and join us! This is better than any event we get in England, and with it being so cheap and so nearby, it’d be silly not to!
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Post by JasonA on May 24, 2009 20:00:42 GMT
Fantastic news in that Anna, Joel and Nattie are coming and have two spare seats in their van. Who wants to fill them and divide the cost of the ferry between you all? Here's the message from Anna:
"Hello again. We have two seats free in the van and were going to book the following ferry:
LD Lines: Newhaven - Dieppe Departs Friday 09.30 Departs Sunday 18:00
It's a four hour crossing and costs £85 rtn. When taking into account the extra petrol and travel time involved with other crossings this is a more economical option for us. Anyone who's fairly close to Newhaven might like to consider this one.
Plenty of space in the van for gear. If you're interested let us know in the next few days so we can book."
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Post by will on Jun 1, 2009 20:03:21 GMT
okay since everyone's coming out of the woodwork for this one, I'm coming too! Looking forward to it!
I have registered and me and Liz are coming with Joel and Anna!
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Post by ian r 2 on Jun 3, 2009 15:27:32 GMT
Well done Will. You know it makes sense.
Ian
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Post by JasonA on Jun 7, 2009 0:44:33 GMT
okay since everyone's coming out of the woodwork for this one, I'm coming too! Looking forward to it! I have registered and me and Liz are coming with Joel and Anna! YAY! Fantastic news! This is shaping up well. Let's make sure we all congregate on the Saturday night and make it as epic and drunken as Mesnieres! Bring booze. Bring burgers. (or something).
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Post by JasonA on Jun 7, 2009 0:45:09 GMT
okay since everyone's coming out of the woodwork for this one, I'm coming too! Looking forward to it! I have registered and me and Liz are coming with Joel and Anna! Will - do you reckon we could get Liz on a Turtle?
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Post by JasonA on Jun 9, 2009 22:38:25 GMT
Dear All, I'm so excited to see a steady increase in the number of people coming to this one - it's gonna be epic! A couple of reminders for you and an update. Have you seen your Doctor to get the "Medical Certificate" letter signed (sample on the Facebook page for this event - just print it and get your GP to sign and stamp it) Have you got your EHIC? (European Health Insurance Card). If not, don't worry, you can get in online and for free at: www.ehic.uk.com/apply.html Also, you may have been wondering whereabouts the camp site is. I asked the organisers about this and they sent me a map showing exactly where it is. I'm trying to upload it to the Facebook event page, but so far, it won't bloody work. PM me your email address and I'll send it to you directly. Shall I find out about restaurants in the village, or shall we have a massive "British Barbecue" in the camp site on the Saturday night, just like we did in Chamrousse? Love you all, Jason.
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Post by JasonA on Jun 15, 2009 22:28:24 GMT
UPDATE: Well this is great! I asked the organiser if there was any kind of "soiree" planned for the Saturday night, and this was his response: "on saturday night it will be the "fete de la music" in st aubin, the mayor invite us all and dinner is include in the 30 euros " Result!
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Post by cg7aa on Jun 25, 2009 8:19:01 GMT
So then Jason, how did it all go?
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Post by JasonA on Jun 26, 2009 22:27:21 GMT
So then Jason, how did it all go? Fantastic weekend, great turnout, loads of us there, perfect weather, wish you could have joined us! On a future occasion, maybe! There are tons of pictures of the event on Facebook, also a thread here: www.riderz.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24245
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