I think an annual picnic is a great idea !
Regarding food - are there any other "complete vegetarians" (as in vegan) out there besides myself ? If so, I'd love to hear from you ! (I use the term complete vegetarian because I don't necessarily agree with the commonly used distinction between being Vegan and being Vegetarian.)
And before all the diehard cornivores amongst you start
uke: I CAN bring food that won't taste like you're chewing on the last of the Autumn leaves, however pretty they may be!
(Although I have been known to throw a yellow/orange leaf or two into the pot - they seem to have the most flavor at that time of year.
Don't get a pinch flat, I'm just kidding ! About the leaves that is.)
And if we decide to go with a mechanical/maintenence workshop, I can help out with that. I do all the maintenence on all of my bikes, except for the really specialized stuff that requires the more expensive tools ( i.e. facing, reaming, tapping threads, certain headset installations, which obviously we won't be doing). I've built up several bikes from scratch, built a set of wheels, and overhauled a couple of my suspension forks.
Personally, I think the day of the picnic would be better if we could do all the riding we could get in before the winter snows arrive. (Re: I'm more of a warm weather rider unfortunately) And then possibly schedule several small group maintenence sessions at different locations, on different topics over the long, dark winter months, if there's interest in that.