Right, I've gathered more than enough data, so I'm going to dive into the sideshow that is the "
Are traditional clubs just crap?" thread. Almost everybody here has said they are, and I simply don't believe that represents the real world.
I think there is a place for the small, disorganised "group"/"club". I'm sure some work brilliantly. But they have their limits. The following are all MASSIVE generalisations, so please read them as such:
- They don't scale up. I'm sure there are academic studies from psychology (or god forbid, Management Science) that show what goes wrong when you just grow a group of anarchistic self-starting "jolly nice" individualists. (see also: cat herding)
- It's hard to organise anything beyond the "Every Thu/Sun 8am" schedule. Eventually you get into discussions about how many groups we need for the 40 riders turning up on nice days.
- ... and that's when you end up "casually meeting over a pint to chat it over". In other words; A Commitee Meeting
- a big element of grassroots cycling is the events; be they audax, time-trial, road-race, other mashups on a theme. You can't just run these things by sending a few emails between 3 people.
- look at the Fridays. They offer something very different (which is good and interesting
) but there is a LOT of organisation gone into making their rides look so slick to the newbie rider.
- a larger organised club tends to be more inclusive. They'll have a structure that says we WILL look after new members, or slow members, or aging members. Or find an outlet for the frustrated fast. etc.
As for the whole "
arsehole wanker coach" business ... surely this is an example of how extremes are rarely the best way? You can learn from a human being - people think they know everything cos they have read the internet, and/or they can copy everyone else and not crash.
I doubt anyone here knows everything about group riding (and that's just one small part of cycling).
But meanwhile, you can teach people stuff without being a cunt. Ironically, one of our posters here is paid to do just that, out of our taxes!
If a club is great apart from someone giving unwelcome advice, do something about it - don't run away then whine about it on the internet. Show some interpersonal skills!
(that may mean talking to other members. Having a quiet word. Taking a step back and accepting that the guy means well, and it's no great cost to just shut up and tolerate him, like everyone else does! Or some better solution .. I've never been in that situation. You're all smart cookies, come up with something.)
Every group has an arsehole - you just may not notice him/her as quickly if they are an ignorant introvert.
Right, that's probably pissed off 50 of my voters ...