Has anyone started an MTB club before?

I’m sad and have no riding buddies. I suggested MTB rides to my local road club. They organised one ride that was all fireroad (I don’t think they got it) and nothing since despite thinking it was “a good idea”.

There are no other clubs locally. What`s involved with running something like this? I am mainly thinking from a H&S perspective, would I be responsible for first aid, would I need disclaimers etc etc

I am hoping that as its a socially aimed thing just to get like minded people together a couple of times a month to go ride that none of the above applies and I can just crack on and do it. Anyone know?

Just start with a facebook group and see how it goes? A ‘proper’ club with officers and everything is way too much hassle I would imagine!

No, but I’ve been a member of a few from specific clubs, with committees and the like, road clubs with an MTB subsection (with its own ride leadership/organisation) and a ‘loose collection of mates organised through a Forum that got bigger as more people heard of them’

Of the three I’d be tempted to do the latter at least initially – but possibly via FB or Whatsapp or something now….. set up a ‘group’, suggest a few rides / areas / types of riding you’ll want to do (speed, duration, XC or DH, etc.) and see who turns up.

Alternatively, local shops might have their own groups, or maybe would let you set up a shop affiliated group for them

just ask people to ride with you.

A proper club is a hassle imo. you need a team, money and people willing to help as opposed to criticize.

Just friends together meet regularly and it will work. We have folks out every Wednesday without fail. This works. If its just when you fancy it wont work as well.

remember you cant please everyone and it will stand or fall on how good the people who turn up are.

Never thought of FB, that’s a good shout.

I don’t want it to be all committees and formal and stuff but would want regular organised rides.

Find the local FB MTB group, organise some rides if there aren’t any happening already, see what happens from there.

Look up meetup.com there might already be something on the go.

Where are you Wagger?

If only you had access to a large group pf people who (allegedly) ride mountain bikes…

If only you had access to a large group pf people who (allegedly) ride mountain bikes…

LOL

Where are you Wagger?

Hereford

There’s a few about but generally clubs don’t seem to an MTB thing. If it’s just a social thing then the above suggestions are probably best.

Somewhat OT. There are often complaints about lack of consultation with mountain bikers about access but officialdom likes to deal with an organisation or something along those lines. Thus they’ll contact The Ramblers’ Association or The BMC or British Cycling/CTC but since there’s little or no MTB presence in those bodies “we” don’t get a look in.

Yes, “official” clubs do take a bit of work but once the initial setup is done then unless there’s a problem needing to be sorted out it tends to be a hour or two per week and maybe a monthly “committee meeting” just to keep things ticking over. I’m membership secretary of a low key running club with over 2000 members. We have one committee meeting per year and it probably takes up a couple of hours per week if I averaged it out – not much happening at this time of year but summer is busy.

Hereford

Meetup at the Boathouse?

Just name a pub, a time, and make sure there’s a decent supply of beer and crisps. If you build it they will come

My local group in East Sussex is just a gaggle of local riders, mainly from my village. We have a FB page, which advertises rides, and once you ride with us it’s all organised by Whatsapp.

The staple Tuesday night ride always finishes in the local pubs, who prqovide free chips!!

We have a name, but no club, no affiliation or leaders.

All in, there’s probably about 20 of us. The only organised things are a Christmas do, and a summer Alps trip ( organised is a a bit strong, because I sort the Alps and my admin is awful!).

KISS.

You are opening a huge can of worms. At least two clubs in Lancashire have been attacked by a serial H&S zealot who claimed they weren’t properly qualified and even tried to sue the second club, claiming that they weren’t making allowance for her “disability” although nobody ever got to find out what that was. The first club successfully called her bluff but the second actually disbanded because of the legal threat, even though her case was thrown out of Court.

Better to use social media, keep it informal and meet and finish at the pub.

Yeah the H&S/legal side is something to consider. Not sure how much it covers you but I’d at least have a disclaimer up (on the FB page) saying this is just an informal ride with no leader and possibly no trained first-aiders so people join at their own risk.

If it takes off you’re probably better off switching to setting up Internet forum pages (as not everyone uses/wants to use FB) and organising rides etc. through that (although that does mean some costs & additional time to manage it).

My experience is informal clubs can be successful if there’s an active core of people wanting to organise rides (with the additional hassle that entails) but will die pretty quickly if that core goes away as rarely do others volunteer to step-in.

I used to ride with an informal group who met regularly on a Sunday morning – usually 5 or 6 of us out of a potential 15 or so. I just posted up on – Bikeradar.com – MTB Forum – Routes, Rides & Holidays – MTB Rides – and other locals joined us.

You can do a search there for rides local to you or put in a request for others in the area. Also googling MTB groups in the local area often brings up nearby groups you didn’t know were there.

I always think bike shops should advertise local groups – but don’t seem to.

Good luck finding a group.

Several bike shops here in Lancashire run weekend and weekday rides, probably the most active is Green Jersey in Clitheroe but that’s road only. The shop has a good cafe and a thriving informal club.

I tend to think of FB as a place for people to show off or sell stuff. Never really gave social groups a thought. So after a proper search it seems there is already a Hereford MTB group and it has 190! members.

I am awaiting acceptance….

most shops wherever I’ve lived organise rides. for some reason tuesday evening seems to be the favoured night in the south-west.

go along, meet some people.

I am awaiting acceptance….

Aren’t we all, my friend? …. aren’t we all?

*slopes off to the masculinity thread*

Meetup at the Boathouse?

the boathouse in ‘Hearford’? remind me what colour it is…….

the boathouse in ‘Hearford’? remind me what colour it is…….

Burgundy. With white architraves. 😉

-Organise as a group, not a club. As soon as you have subs and elections and whatnot you start to get grief.
-Have a strong “arsehole filter” in place. No one is allowed to join the group until they’ve been for a ride with you and proved they’re not an arsehole.
-Be clear about the objectives of the group. If it’s for fat knackers mincing slowly round on singlespeeds, say so clearly and 7-inch-travel gnarheads who’ve just retired from riding professionally will go elsewhere, and vice versa

the group I ride with has a private forum and a facebook page. The facebook page is for new folk to find out about us, and come along. If they pass the arsehole filter, they get access to the private forum

If it’s for fat knackers mincing slowly round

I’m in.

I’ve actually suggested to our local MTB club that they run specific rides to cater for the target audience of ….

Fat, Fearful Fortysomething F****ers

Binners beat me too it. But then again I don’t exist and am currently dead.

Start a thread on here. Job done.

Back in the day I even wrote a blog about it. Linky