Cycling Clubs - The best move I made

[drossall]

Sometimes too the reputation of an organisation is formed by its detractors, and is unfair. I was a young rider in Cheshire when the Manchester Wheelers became one of the first sponsored clubs. With free jerseys and its aura, it sucked in young hopefuls from all the clubs around, and was somewhat despised for it, as just a racing club  interested in only the best riders. I had no desire to leave the South Lancs (see above) and no talent anyway. But those who took the time to look told me about the level of support for those just starting, the help for youngsters to get to races, the rides at different standards and all the other things that made it worth joining. Quite different from what some would have had us believe.

[ElyDave]

Same here. As I said, all the clubs I've joined have been positive. British Cycling alone has, I believe, well over 2000 affiliated clubs. I doubt whether anyone here has experienced a statistically-significant sample. So anything we say here should be taken with a far larger pinch of salt than some of those aggressive statements about how "all" cyclists behave on the roads.

But you do wonder why there are so many if they are all bad...

ALL clubs i have joined have not, one or two individuals extremely welcoming and friendly to all, but too many cliques, and those looking down their noses at members who dont ride every Tuesday club TT, weekend ride and opent TT in the area. It soon became obvious I was not welcome when I asked the group to stop for me to check blood glucose. A certain group of members took great pleasure in not bothering to stop. I just don't need shit like that when trying to learn how to manage a new medical condition. 

[biscuitwull]

Same here. As I said, all the clubs I've joined have been positive. British Cycling alone has, I believe, well over 2000 affiliated clubs. I doubt whether anyone here has experienced a statistically-significant sample. So anything we say here should be taken with a far larger pinch of salt than some of those aggressive statements about how "all" cyclists behave on the roads.

But you do wonder why there are so many if they are all bad...

ALL clubs i have joined have not, one or two individuals extremely welcoming and friendly to all, but too many cliques, and those looking down their noses at members who dont ride every Tuesday club TT, weekend ride and opent TT in the area. It soon became obvious I was not welcome when I asked the group to stop for me to check blood glucose. A certain group of members took great pleasure in not bothering to stop. I just don't need shit like that when trying to learn how to manage a new medical condition.

Blimey that wasn't good at all 

[L CC]

In my experience, clubs end up with petty politics, factions, and willywaving.  None of which I want anything to do with.

What often happens is that very few in a club are interested in the organising side or committee. The organising / committee ends up with the same faces year after year after year. Then someone does come along who wants to change things.  They get on committee but the old guard get “defensive” about “their” club and way of doing things.  Then there is either a bit of a battle and the old committee members go from organising everything to dropping out / disrupting new committee, or the new committee members interested in doing things differently leave, grumbling that the club is stuck in its ways.
Some long term committee members get an inflated ego and think the club revolves around them. This often leads to the friction.

It also happens that lots of clubs/ committee members like to complain about how no one wants to step up and help but when you do actually step up and help you discover that the people who already do the helping have no desire to let anyone else into their clique.

I've got a great deal of sympathy with clubs that aren't always welcoming. I find repeating the same time-learnt lessons to people who already think they know everything quite tedious sometimes. Don't forget, not all prospective members are a joy to receive. We're not supposed to admit that puppy-like enthusiasm from new converts is as tedious as gnarly old feckers who have Always Done It This Way.

[drossall]

As a slower rider, I've also always had sympathy for the faster types who, in the end, joined a club because of the fitness and satisfaction gained from blatting along in a group at 20mph. So they end up relying on someone else to provide the more sedate ride for newbies, or else quite often losing their days out. Now of course, with no provision for newer riders, the club dies in the long term. But there has to be balance somewhere.

My first ever club ride was with the Altrincham Ravens. My brother, who was equally inexperienced, took me along. They were very good, and ended up pushing us a fair way of the 70 miles they were doing that day, eventually leaving us near home to make our own ways back, when their own route home headed off another way. But I think we affected their day out.

That wasn't why I ended up joining another club, and I was grateful for their patience.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

Two thoughts:

1) I'm lucky to have found a cycle club that suits me.  It wouldn't suit everyone, as it has a fairly hard-riding ethos, although they don't leave any one behind until the hammer goes down on the way home.  But that's what was right for me - pushing me out of my comfort zone helped me to be a better and stronger rider overall, and enabled me to complete some Audax events in a style and level of enjoyment that would have been inaccessible without those hard winter miles.

2) Unless its a big club, a lot of groups have a nucleus of riders, who grow old together.  I don't think that's a bad thing.  The club I ride with is now mostly a bunch of mates that go out for rides together, most of us don't race anymore even though it is nominally a racing club.  From time to time we get a few new riders who want to ride like we do, and from time to time someone moves away or goes off to do something else - if their riding needs change.

But it always feels great to meet up at the roundabout, great to enjoy the ride, great to hang on until the tension in the elastic gets too much, and great to return home with the legs well hammered thinking that was far better than four hours on my own.

[andyoxon]

I hesitated for ages before joining one and thought there may be others in the same boat.
Maybe give this a look ?
https://youtu.be/1y10zbvSUQw

Good video bw.  I've never been a member of a local cycling club, so was interested to see if I might be persuaded.     

TL:DR = not quite yet, but one never knows...   




I have mostly ridden solo / occasionally with one or two friends.  Over the years: cycle touring / commuting/ veloviewer explorer (quirky route) rides  since 2018 / some shorter Audaxes / day rides.

So FWIW, 'some aspects' of club rides, which in my own mind, do not really appeal, are:

not being able to simply stop whenever I want, for what ever reason, & which depending on the volume of prior coffee consumed may be more frequently... 

driver 'special reserve' muppetry around groups of people on bikes. 

doing a whole ride,  in a group 'surrounded' by other riders.  The thought of being slightly on edge/ state of alert constantly. 
 
perception of not having 'kit that fits' including bike.  I seem to do mainly old steel framed bikes, with replacement components.

[TrevA]

One if the best things about being in a club is the route knowledge of the ride leaders.

I’ve been a member of my club for over 40 years. I’ve learnt all of the local back lanes routes by following the older ride leaders around. I now lead rides myself and know all of the local cafes and different routes on quiet roads that can be used to access them.

I was talking to a guy at the cafe today and I mentioned a few of the other  local cafes that he could visit, but he said “How do I get there without going on main roads”. I gave him a rough route in the form of a list of villages that he would pass through. I got the impression that, as a solo cyclist, he only knows a few routes and sticks to them, which restricts his riding somewhat.

[ElyDave]

Or you could do what I do, "i wonder where that goes?"

Mostly it works, sometimes I end up riding through waist high nettles. After 17 years living here I feel competent to find decent routes on my own,  and would happily share my knowledge. I don't need to be in a club to do that

[Lightning Phil]

Whether you know a few routes or just about every rideable road or track in your area isn’t about whether you ride solo or in a group.   It’s very much how much are you prepared to explore and how confident are you at working things out from maps?

[ElyDave]

Whether you know a few routes or just about every rideable road or track in your area isn’t about whether you ride solo or in a group.   It’s very much how much are you prepared to explore and how confident are you at working things out from maps?

Exactly

[Kim]

Some people like maps, have an affinity for maps and will use maps without really thinking.  Some people are allergic to maps.  As a map person, I find that maps give me more confidence to explore.

Local knowledge, which is what you're likely to get from other members of a cycling club, often goes beyond what you'll get from a map.

A map will show you how to avoid the main road, but a local cyclist might show you the lovely lane without as many potholes.

[ElyDave]

That's the bit I find fun - look at the map (OS map if possible) and devise a route in my head or on GPS. Turns out to be inhabited the the voracious bugblatter beast of traal, simply cross that off the list of roads to use.

[TrevA]

Not everyone is adventurous enough to find their own routes and some people (such as my wife) are geographically challenged. I can do a route from memory or having planned it on a map, I even sometimes make my route up as as I go along.  My wife gets lost going to places she’s been to several times before. She can’t visualise a whole route in her head. She knows roads but not how they link together to make a route.

If you are happy to ride alone and a confident route finder/follower then good for you, but not everyone is.

[ElyDave]

Occasionally I get it wrong, like yesterday, following byeways near me, came to a junction, followed tractor tracks, ended up in handlebar deep grass. Good photo op, retraced my steps and found the track I intended to follow, the other side of the field

[Peat]

I moved house just over a year ago, it was quite a wet June so all my new local tracks were overgrown nettle infested bogs.

The Spring just been was absolutely ideal, i managed to try more or less every bridleway/byway in my locale and really build up my local knowledge so dry was it.  I'm back on the road mostly now as summer overgrowth severely limits the number of useable trails.

Re: Clubs - I have found a couple of local informal 'clubs' (Whatsapp groups of local riders who go out at a set time) through word of mouth which I have found great to meet new people locally and extremely refreshing having grown pretty tired of my former clubs increasing bureaucracy. (BC affiliation, some covid measures that became permanent etc. Started to feel less like a club and more like service provider)

[drossall]

Started to feel less like a club and more like service provider

I think legislation and regulation tends to drive things that way. Not sure whether it's a good thing or not. Also an increasing tendency of course for members to think of themselves as service users and expect good customer service from volunteers who just wanted to show people nice routes and things!

[Peat]

That's exactly the problem. The club membership has increased significantly in recent years yet they constantly find themselves short of volunteers for club events....