The Cogals
Cogals (pronounce it correctly: kog-al) are meetings of like-minded misfits brought together by the promise of beer, preceded by a bike ride. Cogals are free, open to all, organized by our fellow Velominati and are always followed by consumption of post-ride recovery ales and merriment. These are gatherings of unbridled observance of Rule #4.
Cogals differ themselves from other group rides by the meeting the following criteria:
- First, Cogals are free, organized and supported through Velominati, though not necessarily a Keeper. Anyone is welcome to join a Cogal. Legally speaking, however, we have no involvement, so if you crash or die, it’s your own problem. Please be careful to study the route previously and take precautionary measures to stay safe.
- Second, a Cogal is a day-long undertaking that focuses 100% on the bike. The rides are categorized (Casually Deliberate, Rule #5, Rule #10, for example) but are long. This is what you’re doing today, nothing else; see Rule #4. Rides can be any length, but a minimum distance of 130km should be expected.
- Third, Cogals always include a session of Malted Recovery Beverage Consumption after the ride. Whenever possible, it should also include a pre-ride espresso.
Not all the events in The Cogals are actual Cogals. We also post rides and events that are of interest to the community, as well as Keepers Tours, which are Velominati-hosted, paid cycling Tours tailored to the tastes of a velominatus.
Any member of the community is welcomed to organize a Cogal. If interested, either post your interest below or email us with the following information:
- Date of Cogal
- Starting Address (ideally somewhere neutral, like a café or park)
- Route (MapMyRide, Bikely, or Strava)
- Ride Classification (Casually Deliberate, Rule V, Rule VV, or suggest another)
- A paragraph describing the Cogal
Upcoming Cogals
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Submit Your Own Cogal:
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@davidlhill
Hmm – I don’t think I got that email but anyway I did recheck and it says “already registered” so all should be OK……
Yup I believe I picked up the tunnels – though having said that of course Memory Map will track the altitude over ground so it might be a bit less. Though it does explain why they say that you can fit “special” rear cassettes that I saw somewhere.
Hello all,
after a brief hiatus from the bike owing to work issues, I.e. too much work makes @the-farmer a dull boy! I am back on my bike, got the BSO strapped to the turbo and keen to get some outdoor miles in at weekends, even got mudguards on the Domane (sacrilege I know).
To that end I have set myself a goal of doing a 100k ride before the end of the year. Now this may not sound like much and I have done 80 miles before but that was in May. So a lot of condition has been shed since then. In actual fact using agricultural terms a lot of condition has been gained, i.e. fat.
So I propose a Midwinter Metric on the 21st of December, I have mapped out a route from chez @the-farmer to Aberfeldy and back, it could include a lunch stop if required. From my road end it is 100k and cunningly 1000m of climbing. There isn’t a huge heap of steep climbs but I wil be going up a hill I’ve only ever come down before (usually at. 60kpchallenges a bit of a challenge.
now I know this date may not suit many people, if any, but its a goal I’ve set myself and if anyone wants to join in they are more than welcome. It may be a bit dependent on weather but its not often we have snow cover on the roads at that tyear of year.
@eightzero
tap tap tap tap
I know it is nearly 2 years out, but wanted to plant a seed of a Cogal/Tour event for the 2015 World Championships in Richmond, VA (USA). Any thought given to that yet?
@PeakInTwoYears
Looking at @gianni. Crickets chirping.
@the-farmer roger on that, I am due to be @ tigh strathlubnaig for the yuletide period, so will plan on joining you. Perhaps a wee training meet up prior to would also be good. What is the OSGB grid ref of the départ ? A winter solstice metric century, nice one. Might even bring lights in my back pocket.
@the-farmer
Did you say lunch? I’m in!
Has there ever been any consideration for a V-Map? I’m from the northeast, but know who else is from up here. A map might encourage the meeting of Velominatus.
@the-farmer V Interested but may be forced into recovering instead due to beer etc with work colleagues in Embra on the night of the 20th. I’ll keep an eye on the thread.
Bollocks,
Looks like I better hit the turbo hard for the next 8 weeks!
My original plan was to start from my house but the map Ive sent Gianni a link to (if he got it) starts at the Meikleour Inn in the village. Depends on the overwhelming view, you may want to start at my house so you can have warming shower/cup of tea/beer/feed post ride. Or start/finish at the pub but then how do you get home afterwards?
If you are all driving then meet at my house then you could still have 0.5% erdinger wheat beer to restore energy levels after, its all I drink. And they sponsor biathlons so must be good (handily they seem to steer clear of triathlons, I’m always a fan of exercise and shooting!)
I will contact Big G and see if he got the map anyway, its on Strava as that seemed to be the easiet way to generate a map for public consumption but how do I post it here?
@Tartan1749
Holy SHIT!!! I did not even realize that they were takeing place there in 2015! Count me in! That’s only 6 hours from my door!!!
@JohnB
New national service leads to improved drinking opportunities?
@the-farmer
S’alright – I can give you lessons on how to make JohnB and Starthlubnaig think they’re doing really well by letting them ride off in to the distance.
Oh – hang on…
And the start is only an hour from the Engine Shed…
@Buck Rogers
I’m thinking of aiming for the world masters champs in 2015 – they’re usually held at the same time but not always in the same place. So if they’re somewhere east coast then it would be cool to come over and see the worlds at the same time, plus a cogal of course.
I would have tried for it next year but they’re in Lubljana, and it is also about the same time as our 20th wedding anniversary – my wife is generally velo-tolerant but I would have a hard time convincing her that Slovenia was just the place to mark two decades of marriage.
@ChrisO
DAMN! That’s awesome, man! I might have a go at the World Masters drinking champs or something but no way in hell actual racing! Bonne Chance and let us know how it’s going!
@ChrisO Respect!
@the Engine
So it seems. Seeing much more of the Scottish countryside through a car window. Some say I’ve simply got a bigger office. I liked the one I had. Meiklour only an hour from me too. Perfect excuse to lay off the booze and lessen risks of inadvertently saying something about new regime that would upset The Management. Again.
@the-farmer got a link to that route ?
@Tartan1749
Yes!
Right, I’ll give this a try. I may alter it a bit to avoid the cycle path alongside the A9.
http://www.strava.com/routes/61069
It worked!
had another look and the cycle path next to the main road isn’t too bad IIRC a lot of it is old roads anyway and saves going south for a bit on the main road .
@the-farmer I like the idea of a Midwinter Metric, I finish work on the 20th so what better way to start my crimbo holibobs than a Rule #9 bike ride?
@the-farmer
Nae bad loon, though I think using the B898 North of Dunkeld may be worth a shufti.
@strathlubnaig trouble how that to get on it you need to go ON the A9.
@the-farmer
Perhaps not, I seem to recall riding a hard packed trail for a short time which starts/finishes at the cathedral and went under the highway, will investigate further.
@the-farmer The green line on this googlemap image (I hope…) shows the link path via the cathedral, includes about 200m of A9 path, alternatively follow the old A9 from Dunkeld to near Dowally then the A9 path to Pitlochry area ? Just a suggestion, you are the lead out man.
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=dunkeld&hl=en&ll=56.574095,-3.60034&spn=0.018912,0.055189&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=5.140371,14.128418&t=h&hnear=Dunkeld,+Perth+and+Kinross,+United+Kingdom&z=14&lci=bike
@strathlubnaig regarding the googlemaps link, you need to choose ‘get directions’ and then select ‘bicycle’ before the green line shows up (and zoom out) apparently.
Looks like a god alternative, I will go and reconnoitre at some point. Gives about the same distance.
UK/France Cogal idea. What level of interest would there be in a day trip Cogal starting at Dover next summer. Park up early at Dover, ferry, croissant and espresso over to Calais, loop out through France and evening ferry back to UK?
@Teocalli That is the French Revolution (June) or French Resistance (September) rides put on by Wiggle/UK Cycling…brilliant day out too!
@Teocalli
Count me in! That would be an excellent trip!
Re the London Cogal – has there been a write-up, or is that still in the works?
Cheers,
David
@davidlhill
There is a draft cogal report but I’m waiting on the input from one of the cogalists but your post has prompted me to send him a reminder.
@Chris
Mate if they can’t keep the wheel they get dropped…
@ChrisO It’s a good point but it wasn’t one of your World Tour Events, it was a no drop Cogal and as the guy who would have been left behind grovelling in the gutter, I’m going to give him a few more days.
@Chris
Those days have been given………..
David
@davidlhill
Let me get this straight, having used your fear of the wife as an excuse not to climb out of bed that day and join us in the rain that morning, you’re giving me hard time over a few extra days?
Where’s the l’Eroica guest article, did I miss it?
@Tripod
Yes it was entering the French Resistance that put me in the thought of arranging something on a smaller scale with a longer distance. Last time I did a weekend in France we were coming back from Montreuil and we kept passing farms with notices for Coffee and Crepe. Initially we were too close to our start (and breakfast) to stop. So we then got to the point “Right, we’ll stop at the next one” – there was not a next one between that point and when we got to Calais! So I was thinking of doing our 2 day loop in 1 day and then would definitely need multiple coffee and crepe on the inland leg.
@Chris I now have the miscreant’s contribution. A quick final edit of the report and it’ll be on it’s way to @gianni for publication.
Looking forward to it Chris, thanks.
@Chris
Miscreant- one of my favorite words. We can put that up on Sunday, the sacred day of Cogal reports.
@Gianni Excellent, I’ll ping you an email when I’ve finished with it and sorted the photos.
I only know of one other individual in my area. But I thought it may be worth a shot. Anyone in New Mexico want to help plan out a cogal for 2014?
Hurrah for the long-awaited report. It was in danger of being lapped by the next cogal and being withdrawn by the commissaires…
Which brings me to ask, does anyone fancy a Christmas ride, probably between Christmas and New Year. A meet-up rather than a cogal perhaps and weather dependent. I suffered badly enough last time.
The days are short so nothing too ambitious and probably a circuit rather than point to point – maybe around Box Hill or past there to Polesden Lacey, or even just a few laps of Richmond Park.
Families can go for a dog-walk or deer-stalk as they prefer while we pootle around and convene for hot chocolate.
@ChrisO I’m up – if I am in the South but will be doing the usual tour of the North at some point so not sure whether I will be back. Later date the better for me.
@ChrisO I am also in, work permitting. Would be great to see you guys again.
To start firming up some mini-cogal plans…
Was thinking Sunday 29th ? The next days, Monday or Tuesday are fine for me too but it depends whether you guys are off work or not.
For a route, how about start Richmond Park, go down to Box Hill and then back up to finish at Bushy Park. About 66km, so a demi-cogal.
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3786354
I copied it from one someone had uploaded. it doesn’t look too complicated to follow without a navigating GPS, only a couple of key points and turns.
But if anyone has an alternative I’m happy to go with that.
The areas I know best are more east of Box Hill, from Croydon down to E Grinstead, Edenbridge, Hever, Ide Hill, Westerham and up to Crystal Palace. Traditional hunting grounds of Dulwich Paragon.
@ChrisO I’ll most likely be coming home from the North on the 29th so Monday or Tuesday would be ok for me. I’m easy on route but if you wanted to do something more out in the country an alternative would be round my neck of the woods from Haslemere/Hindhead.
@ChrisO
I’m local and up for a mini-cogal then. I should be back from touring the north at some point on the 29th so the Monday or Tuesday would likely work better.
@Teocalli – aren’t there some nasty hills round those parts?! Good for the legs though and I’ll need some real #V by then.
The North… like it’s Beyond The Wall in GOT.
I’ll be racing on the 28th and 1st so it should be a light recovery day for me. Won’t be powering up too many hills.
And I won’t have the car so whatever I do will also include cycling there from Tooting – Dorking /Reigate / just beyond the SW M25 sort of area is probably my furthest range for a starting point.