I need volunteers to tell me about off-road cycling events

[Dr Nick]

Hi all,

In my day job I’m a qualitative researcher at a small-ish independent market research agency.

We’re currently working on a project for a major national health charity who want to learn about people’s experiences of, and expectations of, off-road cycling events.

I need to interview, by telephone, 15 experienced / keen off-road cyclists who have ridden off-road events, so I thought here’d be a good place to find such cyclists

For the purposes of this work, an off-road event is one that you need to enter – so a ride you organised with friends doesn’t count, but if you’ve done a Bear Bones Event, or race off-road (even if you’re not competitive), or have done any other off-road riding events - either for charity or not, I’d like to hear from you.

I especially want to hear from people in South-West England, the North, Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland a but, sorry, not those in the SE or London.

All those who take part in an interview receive a thank you of £15 for the 20-minute interview (either a cheque or an amazon voucher). You can donate it back to the charity we’re working for, if you want. All responses are anonymised, so you won't be identified in any way. All research is undertaken in line with the Market Research Society's code of conduct. We'll be doing the interviews in the next couple of weeks.

If you’re interested in taking part please send me an email to nick.williams[at]critical.co.uk (replacing the [at] with @)

I need to know, please:

Your first name
Age
Gender
Where you live (town and county please)
What off-road events you’ve done, please.

If I get more volunteers than I need, I’ll base my selection of who takes part on getting a good cross-section of different experience, ages and locations.
If you’ve got any questions, please ask here, or drop me an email.

If you don't want to do an interview, but want to tell me what makes a good off-road cycling event, feel free to drop me an email.

Thanks all.
Nick

[benp1]

not those in the SE or London

Great, thanks

[Dr Nick]

Sorry! Not my call unfortunately!

[PaulB2]

not those in the SE or London

Great, thanks

You'll just have to make do with the fact that pretty much everything else in the UK revolves around you

PS I grew up in Walthamstow so don't hate me for the truth. Unless you're from Leyton

[Taylor]

Done

[sean_iow]

I'm never quite sure where the SE finishes and the SW starts? Can you clarify the cut off as I may just be in the right region?

Edit, sorry, I've just googled it an wikipedia says the Isle of Wight is SE so I'm out

[Scattamah]

YGM, Dr Nick.

Greetz

S.

[Dr Nick]

thanks to all who have volunteered so far.

sean_iow, I checked with the client, just in case, and in their view the IoW is SE. Sorry!

[Blair512]

Done

[sean_iow]

thanks to all who have volunteered so far.

sean_iow, I checked with the client, just in case, and in their view the IoW is SE. Sorry!

That's ok. I think this is why the Island struggles economically as we're part of the 'prosperous' SE but taken on our own wages are lower than the national average and unemployment higher. The situation is not helped by the house prices being pushed up by people buying holiday/weekend homes here.... but that's a discussion for a different time. Load's of good cycling though

[voodoo_simon]

Is it UK based events or can foreign events be counted in?

[Dr Nick]

Foreign events are good as well as UK ones.

Thanks all

[ianfitz]

I imagine South Yorkshire is non-controversial?

You have email from me in any case.

[Dr Nick]

Thanks all who have taken part so far. I've had some really varied and really good answers.

I've been doing some interviews and a colleague who is a non-outdoors-y South Londoner has been doing some. He's now using words like 'bothy'

I still need a few more volunteers please, so if anyone wants to answer questions about off-road cycling events, please feel free to volunteer.

A £15 thank you to all who take part if you want it (either cheque or Amazon voucher) . Full details in the fist post on this thread. Please include your phone number in your email. (I forgot to ask last time, even though I've been a researcher for over 20 years )

Thanks all,
Nick

[whitestone]

Nick, I missed your call last night as I'd just got home and didn't hear the phone ring as it was in my bike bag by the door

[Dr Nick]

Nick, I missed your call last night as I'd just got home and didn't hear the phone ring as it was in my bike bag by the door

No problem at all.

You're on my collegue Andrew's list to try again tonight? Does that suit?

[whitestone]

Should be fine - I'll remember to keep my phone with me as I'm not one of those who's had it surgically attached to their hand

[Matt]

I've done the BHF South Downs Way 100

I raised about £800 at the time

I live near Heathrow

Any use?

(also done loads of other stuff WRT a few times / BB200 / jennride / Fred Whitton / etc.. )

EDIT : Just read not SE oops

[Dr Nick]

Matt's post has set me thinking.

If anyone lives in the SE but happily travels to other ares of the country then please volunteer

I'd originally been asked to exclude people in the SE, but if you ride in other areas, than that's good enough for me

Thanks,
Nick

[Blair512]

Don't think I've had a call yet? Not been finishing until after 7 this week and had a couple of private number calls, would that be you?

[Matt]

Wouldn’t ride an event near me.