The people is the answer. It may take some time to break in; it largely depends on age groups and experience. When I started 40 years ago there were a few other teenagers and of course pace and distance was not an issue because we had the resilience and stupidity of teenagers. As a middle aged git I now join clubs wherever I live and find there are other middle aged gits with similar experience to chew the fat with. I have made many life long friends through cycling. When I get together with those I rode with 40 years ago it is a real pleasure because we can trust each other in close riding and of course nobody reminisces like a cyclist.
CTC seems to take a real hammering on the forum. Why? The groups in different areas of the country behave quite differently. Would you slam BC because you did not like the Wobbly Wheelers club ride? Having been brought up by a rather rapid CTC group and the racing offshoot I was amazed to find a section oop north that did the drumming up thing (mid 1970s) and I was very surprised to be told off by another group because I passed the ride leader when he got off to walk a hill (late 1970s). I’ve not come across it since. I have not ridden much with the local section where I now live because my riding is different to the way they do things. Similarly, the local cycling club where I lived a few years ago saw me only seldom. This is because every time the road flattened the speed would go to 25mph, and they though a tour was putting their stuff in a van so they could ride to a hotel 100 miles away for a night out.
There is some degree of hypocrisy here as well. There is talk about being left behind and speed being too high. Take a look at the ride reports from the Windsor ride on Saturday and the ride home. OK, on this occasion, perhaps everybody was of a like mind and equally able so it is perfectly alright. Also there is any number of posts relating to everything from commuting to Audax where speed seems to be the be all and end all of the ride.
Other comments about “I can only ride on a particular day and the club has no rides on that day”. Answer is – the club is made of people and people organise the rides. Ask around, you might find other people could do with a ride on that day, and then others might show up for an extra ride. i.e. start the group yourself.
As for introductory rides, I’ve seen clubs try this by having very short (up to 20 mile) rides, and I’ve seen clubs try the “we must ride at the pace of the slowest rider” approach. Neither produced long term new members. What is the answer? I really do not know.
The biggest local club I’ve ridden with (1000s of members in a huge city, not in this country) did very well. They had rides almost every day of the week (you want it, you run it), at any particular pace you want (again – you want it, you run it, pace posted with the ride description), and the people on any of the rides rode anything from titanium/carbon fibre exotica to ratty old 1980 MTBs (and sometimes these were better riders than the flash gits – note – better does not equal faster).
This is getting too long – so I’ll finish where I started, the members is what makes a good cycling club.
