AUK riding season

[Delph Cyclist]

I've just received a Perm entry from someone who wants to complete his Randonneur 2500, intending to ride my 600 in November.

Oh dear.

The AUK riding season runs from Oct-Sept.  Any targets you might have for this season will have to be reached by next Friday.

By contrast, the Membership Year runs from Jan-Dec.  There's nothing to do on this just yet, so I'll be reminding you to renew your memberships with the next Arrivee.

[ElyDave]

I was just looking at the AUK website and whilst the membership year is clear, I haven't found anything about riding season.  Perhaps clarification online is required as I was thinking i might hit one of the milestones.  Now I wont.

[tonyh]

Not very prominent perhaps, but it does come up if you go to "Results" from the main menu: http://www.aukweb.net/results/

Sorry about that Milestone! All the best for the new season though.

[Deano]

There should be a special award for anyone daft enough to ride a 600 in November.

[tonyh]

There's an increasing number of intrepid qualifiers!

[R_nger]

Also in the FAQ... http://www.aukweb.net/aboutauk/faq/#305

[Bikeabilityman]

I rode a 600+200 diy this month, even though there's no 800 medal :-(

[paulworthington53]

Is there a reason why the riding year and the membership year are different?

[jsabine]

AIUI, the riding season was historically 01/11-31/10, following the ACP year: this was changed a few years ago to 01/10-30/09 to make it easier to finalise awards before the presentation at the AGM, typically held in early-mid November.

It seems reasonably sensible for the membership year to be the calendar year (and of course, if you join late in the year, you'll get the balance of that year free, so a new membership now will run to the end of 2017) - making the riding season coincident would presumably have implications for the timing of awards and the like. (Whether or not this is important may be left as an exercise for the reader.)

It does seem a bit arse-about-face for dates of the riding season to be driven by the needs of the awards presentation (and I wonder if the fact we're now holding separate Reunion and AGM, with potentially more flexible dates, might make it sensible for the riding year to be re-aligned with the ACP year, as other randonneuring organisations do - but the likely joys of such a change and the concomitant 13-month year mean I should probably wonder very, very quietly).

[LittleWheelsandBig]

It would be very sensible for AUK's riding year to again align with EVERY other group worldwide. Given that AUK coped with an 11 month year when it transitioned to a September end of year, it could manage a 13 month season to return to an October end of year.

[HeltorChasca]

Apologies for the thread drift: Do you think joining AUK is worth it? A genuine question. I don't think I would be doing more than half a dozen events a year. So financially it's probably a 'no'.

But there's the mag and a sense of belonging. I've never been a member of a bike group and my first Audax is next weekend. What do you think?

[Ivo]

The financial benefits are only part of the benefits. It's also contributing to an organisation which supervises and facilitates te events you enjoy. So in order to make these events possible it's important to have enough members.
I'm a member of several bikeclubs and federations. In principle, only one club in one country would be enough. But I want to contribute to the wider cycling world, in the countries where I enjoy riding. So I support the organisations which run the events I enjoy. The extra competition element can give you that little bit of extra motivation you might need in the harder parts of the season.

[PloddinPedro]

It would be very sensible for AUK's riding year to again align with EVERY other group worldwide. Given that AUK coped with an 11 month year when it transitioned to a September end of year, it could manage a 13 month season to return to an October end of year.

Totally agree.

[jsabine]

It's under fifteen quid a year (and even less on the five year deal) - even taking into account the joining fee, IMO if it comes down to calculating how many times you need to ride an event and save two pounds, we're probably making the wrong case for membership.

If you're interested in riding audax events, then why wouldn't you join? It's a tangible demonstration of support for the organisation behind them, and for the individual organisers who make them all possible.

The fact you get a magazine, more coherent recording of your rides (and access to the awards structure, if that matters to you), slightly easier event entry, and save the temp membership fee on every event is a bonus.

(As a member of the current board, I may be biased.)

[Delph Cyclist]

It's under fifteen quid a year (and even less on the five year deal) - even taking into account the joining fee, IMO if it comes down to calculating how many times you need to ride an event and save two pounds, we're probably making the wrong case for membership.

If you're interested in riding audax events, then why wouldn't you join? It's a tangible demonstration of support for the organisation behind them, and for the individual organisers who make them all possible.

The fact you get a magazine, more coherent recording of your rides (and access to the awards structure, if that matters to you), slightly easier event entry, and save the temp membership fee on every event is a bonus.

(As a member of the current board, I may be biased.)

Here here.  As Membership Secretary I'm even more biased.

[tonyh]

+1 to yes, for all those good reasons.

(I'm not biased, not even a little bit.)

[ElyDave]

I'm only in my first year, but I can see a definite benefit as above, in fact I splurged on the full 5 years.

RE membership vs riding year, no issues with where the riding year is, I can see the sense in aligning it with the rest of the world though.  At the same time and in the same spirit, why not simply align the membership year at the same time?

[Fidgetbuzz]

The move to end Sept riding year end was justified on very questionable grounds.. " it makes life easier for admin, which had coped OK for the previous 35 years" ... but being out of step with the rest of the world is pretty odd. I would support a move back to end Oct, if it was ever tabled as a proposition. Membership year .. indifferent .. but it makes accounting simpler if the financial year end and the membership year were aligned.....and I think they are at variance now .. so if we were to change riding year  then I would suggest .. change company year end at the same time, to the calendar year end, much easier to handle than changing the membership year .

[frankly frankie]

In practical terms, the money implications of moving the membership year (especially if you move it earlier, ie 'lose' 2 months) would be far more difficult to handle than the minor difficulties that arose from moving the events (points) season.

I agree with all those above that would like to see the events season restored to Nov-Oct.  The reasons for altering it were always very thin IMO, and almost all the people who were prime movers in getting that change through are no longer involved in the running of AUK.
As for the 'history' - well historically there was a closed season of >3 months from late October to early February.  For counting events this was, there were always a very few Populaires during the winter.  Increasing randonneur activity (and maybe a bit of climate change) steadily put pressure on this period and gradually filled it in.
The events Calendar, when it was published annually, always ran from Jan-Dec even though the events season was Nov-Oct. 

I agree the website is not clear enough about the events season as it stands.  I might be able to improve that a bit.

As one who is involved on the 'systems' side of AUK, I can attest that a whole raft of things would be much easier to manage if the events and membership years were to be the same - however all the various kludges and fixes necessary to make this awkward relationship work were put in place long ago and don't need to be undone now!  (Personally, I think membership would be better as a 'rolling' thing, as many other organisations do, but I think most people assume that way of doing it means more admin, not less.)

And yes, under the hood there is also a financial year which is different to all the above, which introduces its own problems for the people involved on that side of it.

[Aunt Maud]

Apologies for the thread drift: Do you think joining AUK is worth it? A genuine question. I don't think I would be doing more than half a dozen events a year. So financially it's probably a 'no'.

But there's the mag and a sense of belonging. I've never been a member of a bike group and my first Audax is next weekend. What do you think?

From what I can remember, membership gives you priority to enter a couple of rides as well. The Brian Chapman Memorial which is a fun ride and seems very popular and LEL (that's not available if you join your first year just now, thobut), there may be some others and I'm sure someone else will point that out.

Then there's the badges, perms, points and DIY's (you can do them if you're not a member anyway, if you want to, but you can't have an award badge to brag with.) and you also get access and the joy of debating on The AUK inter-web forum. I shouldn't really leave that out now, should I ?

[HeltorChasca]

Thank you for your comments about AUK membership. I honestly wasn't challenging memberships. Sorry for any offence. I get the supporting element. The charity work I do in my free time is part of that understanding.

I like the attitude and personalities on here, so I can't see myself making an error in judgement.

Seems like a given. I'll add myself as a member in January.

[Somnolent]

.... you also get access and the joy of debating on The AUK inter-web forum. I shouldn't really leave that out now, should I ?

 

And in even further thread drift.  Don't forget to get your claims in to the Recorder for things like Tandem, Trike, 'Bent, and to Phixie OTP for Fixed.

[wilkyboy]

And in even further thread drift.  Don't forget to get your claims in to the Recorder for things like Tandem, Trike, 'Bent, and to Phixie OTP for Fixed.

Yarbut ... the season's not over yet, still more riding to do ...

[HK]

Agree with all of those you agree we should return our Audax year back to what it was. The reasons for moving it did not exists.

If all goes well this week I'll wotkd recognised for my 10,200km of brevets in the 2015 / 2016 season by the likes of Audax Oz but not AUK as Cracker Swamp 1200, ridding the pre-ride 29/09 counts in the current rando year every where bar the UK. It's intended as an end of season 1200 to capitalise on fitness gained over the summer and use the more kindly weather conditions in Florida.

As a rider going back too long now to recalled October used to be a blast on the calendar with an easy few months of socialising and decided to follow. This has not been so since the year was altered.

Interestingly enough Rocco and Slanman never had difficulty with sorting out awards even with the likes of Jack Easin, TG, Dave Lewis, Liz Crease and Peter Turnbull racking up big points. Don't understand what changed other than someone taking over the trophy secs job who already had too much to do. HK

[TOBY]

It would be very sensible for AUK's riding year to again align with EVERY other group worldwide. Given that AUK coped with an 11 month year when it transitioned to a September end of year, it could manage a 13 month season to return to an October end of year.

I think a 1 month season would be a more entertaining way to achieve that.