Hare How-To Destructions

Haring is real fun. For virgin hares it may seem daunting, but it you want to give it a go, why not contact the Hare Raiser, who can put you in touch with an experienced hare who can show you the ropes! An additional bonus is that a free year membership is given to the hare. So even if you do it with two hares, that's 6 months each :)

The objective

To provide riders with 2.5 hours of interesting riding over varied terrain with the entire pack finishing within 20 minutes each other. No one should become lost :)

Ideally the terain should be as much off-road as possible, and also ridable. Advice on planning your ride and reccie-ing the trail is given below.

The How

• The rides can be on either the Saturday or Sunday of the last weekend of the month (Or the Monday if it’s a Bank Holiday)
• The rides must not start before 12 midday, but should coincide with trains arriving from London if possible– Check the train times
• The ride should start at the Pub Car Park (or a BR Station car park if it is within walking distance from the pub if the pub has no car park)
• If starting from the Pub, then a P trail from station to Pub should be set or instructions provided on website/Email
• The pub MUST be able to serve food for when we get back – even if the food is a limited choice.
• Pub’s tend to try and offer groups like us sandwiches to go round or a large Chilli to share etc… This type of food is not acceptable and another pub should be found if this is the only option
• Train timetable and engineering works need to be checked to ensure that bikes are able to get to the start on the train (eg Replacement bus services DO NOT take bikes)
• Please inform the BASH at least 2 weeks before the Bash of the details of the ride
• Flour and/or plaster board should be used to mark the trail.
• The trail should be ridden in about 2 hours by the pack.  Max 3 hrs at the height of summer is ok, but in winter then 2 hours should be aimed for.
• At least 8 to 10 1kg bags of flour should be used to mark out a 2.5 hour ride.  Tescos value flour is cheap! We will reimburse your flour costs, so tell us after the ride how much we owe you.
• The London Bike Hash trails are supposed to ‘Flow’.  With this in mind then blobs of flour should be used to show the trail, helpful hints include:
  
  • Slow down on the bike to throw the flour
  • Throw flour onto the edge of the tracks
  • Bases of trees are good for showing the trail
  • Turning corners is best done by putting 3 or 4 blobs around the corner, not 1 blob that can be seen after you have passed the trail
• Try to avoid main/busy roads.
• Not too many checks – There are very few people who check-out the checks, so the fewer the better (Maybe 6 to 8 max on a 2.5 hour ride)
• Back Checks are allowed, no special marking is required
• From a check point the correct trail is indicated by the 1st blob of flour, not the 3-and-on used by other Bash’s.
• Checks should be marked through by the hare to ensure back markers are not spending time checking out checks
• False trails should be marked with a BAR or a T across the trail.  The trail should then be found by the pack by searching opportune options
• At least 1 Re-Group should be put into every ride
• Pub stops are ok, but only really in good weather and only when most of the trail has been completed
• Try to avoid mud!

HHHappy HHHaring!