I have helped run a local MTB Club/Group for a number of years now. Anyway over the last 5 years the active members have trailed off to just a couple of us who turn out regularly for rides out.
Recently however, the group has seen a massive increase in members who have joined on social media. So I tried to get these new memebers out with a couple of organised rides, but nothing. No one turned up except the regular riders. The rides were arranged locally and included a pub stop too!
So any suggestions to try to tempt riders out or is this just how it is nowadays with folk who just want to be part of the “social media thing”?

A lot of people get added to groups by friends.

I set up a fb group for organising rides and talking shit with mates. There’s 50 people on it because one of the lads will add anyone who mentions the word “bike” in his presence. None of them ever come out for rides or get involved. At most there’s 10 of us that get out and ride together semi regularly.

Maybe the pub stop put some off rather than tempting them?
Some people want to actually go for a ride, and heading straight to a pub may seem a wasted effort to them.

I used to ride with a mtb group. Great group of guys. Unfortunately the vast majority were better drinkers than riders. The effort of getting ready, driving over to meet them, then pretty much riding straight to a pub for a couple of hours soon wore off.

Have they done anything other than join? Do the comment/post or anything?

The pub thing might be an issue, it may also be they can’t be bothered. Post up your normal rides with an all welcome, offer a split level ride, organise something social so people can meet up and chat then see if they want to head into the hills with you.

Maybe the pub stop put some off rather than tempting them?

I thought this. I don’t mind a drink in the pub after a good ride, but I want to ride my bike, not go to the pub

I’ve done pretty much what you’re complaining about 😳

Moved up north, and joined a FB group with what looks like a pretty active ride schedule, but TBH work has stopped me coming out so far.

Could be that

I’ve done it too. But it’s because I live in flat as a pancake Finland where the riding is… uninspiring.

I’m a member of a pretty large mountain bike club and did used to go out for fairly regular rides with them but after buying a road bike I haven’t really been out with the club for two years- I can’t quite bring myself to leave though so I’m still registered on their website and an ‘active’ member even though it costs about a tenner a year and I have to actively renew my registration every year. I always think I might just get the mountain bike out the shed…but never do.

I do recall though when I was going out regular I found the intermediate/easy paced rides a bit too easy and so didn’t always feel like I was getting a benefit, but was never quite brave enough to sign up for the faster paced rides. My fitness is pretty good really but there were often quite stark warnings about being responsible for your bike, self-sufficient etc and I’m no mechanical genius so it was more the thought of a bunch of annoyed guys stood round in the cold waiting for me to fix a broken chain or something that was a bit off-putting.

I’ve recently joined a new club set up by a local bike shop. Apparently there are 40 paid up members, only 12 or so have ridden with the club as yet. I’ve not ridden with them!

In my defence, the midweek ride is too early for me to get to, and I’ve not had a free Sunday morning since I joined two months ago when I’ve not been ill.

Another issue can be club ride culture. Our guys love to bang on about their average speed, which is 3-4mph above what I can comfortably manage, and I suspect others feel the same. The club riders are clear that they will ride at the slowest riders pace, or split into fast and slow groups, but that’s the nub of the issue – not enough slower riders to create a slower group/ride, so the faster riders keep going out getting faster.

I’ve joined a couple of clubs but never really got much further than filling in the entry form. In fact I joined MMB and let my entry expire because I didn’t have the money for the entry fee and now I don’t want to hassle them by signing up again 😳 even though I’d like to meet some new people/ride some new places/just have some company on the trails.

It’s all down to self confidence I suppose which is not something I am brimming with at the moment. I think it is easy to forget how intimidating a large close knit group or club can be to an outsider (Particularly if you are a fairly new rider like myself who isn’t fast/confident/doesn’t actually know what they’re doing).

can probably remove the word “MTB” from the title tbh.
most clubs/groups I’ve been involved with have tended away from the formal membership, AGMs, newsletters, committee elections,constitutions etc. and (not even facebook related) become more of a “friends partaking in a common hobby/interest”.
one club needed to be “fully constituted” so that it was an entity entitled to insurance (not cycling, but I guess the equivalent would be to get BC/CTC club liability insurance etc.). that constitution was something like “1. membership is by invitation by another member and inclusion on the emailing list (or later facebook group). 2. chair/secretary/treasurer posts will be determined by show of hands of members present at AGM which will be held in a pub as the clubs christmas dinner”. sorted. and was accepted.

people just want to turn up and partake in a hobby. maybe they have different tastes in the world of MTBing (which is rather wide ranging really).

invite yourself to one of those facebook/twitter organised rides?

I think you’ll find participation increases once the weather is consistantly warmer/drier.

On the club issue more generally- there really useful and a great way of getting people into cycling or to meet others who may then ride outside the clubs formal rides but unless you have someone or better still several people who are willing do a lot of organising and leading of rides and admin etc I would keep it as simple as possible.

Getting the balance of ride pace is often difficult, you want to stretch the slower riders but without killing them or feeling like their holding the ride up. in principle this should be easier on an MTB dash stop type ride but isn’t in practice as they often wait for the slow one to catch up making him/her feel bad then start again when their rested!
On the road the groups a bit more reliant on each other but some will still need to go slower than they would like and others put in more effort than is comfortable.

If you have an open page on Facebook, you will always get hangers on, people who have no intention of riding with you and a few trolls.
Our club recently had a clearout of people who weren’t paid up members and our fb group is now closed. New requests are vetted before being accepted as there are some that have no obvious mountainbiking interest. We even have to turn down bits of hot totty too.

Lots of people sitting in the comfort of their own home, watching videos of the pro’s shredding it on a beautiful, summery day, on dusty trails. Think to themselves, ‘I fancy a bit of that!’.

Then the realisation that in reality, they will be pedalling constantly, through mud, puddles and dog eggs, somewhere in a field in norfolk.

I know quite a few folk who actually prefer the idea of being a ‘Mountain biker’, and indeed, telling people that they are a ‘Mountain biker’ than actually riding their bike.

And yes, they usually prefer the pub too. 😆

Thinking about it, I’ve done this too – joined the FB group of “London Calling”, who used to organise rides via BikeRadar. Never posted, never ridden with them, but I might sometime, so I’ve joined to keep an eye on what’s going on!

I have recently joined one, what made me take the plunge was I found a route on strava that they had rode, and tried following it on my own to see how hard it was. It made me feel more confident in been able to ride there routeS, so I took the plunge, i have been out twice now and am by far the slowest.

Maybe you could look at sharing a few of your routes so people can get a feel for how difficult they are at there own pace?

Ha. Cheers for the feedback. Interesting comments about the pub bit, although it was only suggested that the pub stop was after the ride, not during. We will probably try again in a few weeks once (hopefully ) the weather improves.
We try to encourage all types of riders and as a “first” ride out for the Facebook group we did try to get across that it would be a social ride for newcomers.
Maybe that the whole riding as a group thing is no longer popular amongst mtb’ers?

I’m “attached” through Facebook to a couple of local groups. The chances of me ever riding with them are slim as I’m not really that sociable. However, it’s a good way of keeping in touch with local trail conditions, finding out about new routes, shop offers and other related news.

I am on the Committee for MMB (Manchester Mountain Bikers) and we have long pondered this exact thing…

We were getting lots of people asking to join, signing up as guests and then never coming out with the club, pub stop or no pub stop… so over the last few months we’ve introduced new/guest members’ intro rides which we encourage newbies to go on as a starting point… these have proved really popular and we’ve seen our full membership grow as a result.

Even though we have detailed outlines of skill, fitness and pace levels and all our rides are graded, people don’t always know where they ‘fit’ in when they join so by being a bit prescriptive, we’ve made it easier for people to make the decision and get involved.

Am sure the ‘better’ weather and light nights will also help!

I belonged to a club for over ten years but like Duggan above, began to lose interest then went over to the greater subtlety of the road when I found a road bike dumped in a river and the Police gave it back to me a month later.

I lost interest because:

1 – Lack of variety and imagination in ride choice, and when I led new rides in the Lakes or Pennines very few riders showed up.

2 – The pub culture; most of the regular pubbers were also overweight.

3 – Racist attitude of a couple of club regulars towards inexperienced young Asians who tried to join the club.

4 – Bitching and back-biting amongst committee members.

5 – Aggression of some members towards drivers.

6 – “Take no prisoners” attitude of some members to slower new riders.

Yip, as soon as there is a commitee involved, it brings the worst out in some people.

1 – Lack of variety and imagination in ride choice, and when I led new rides in the Lakes or Pennines very few riders showed up.

Bang on, probably the main reason I chucked it, that and the sheer amount of faffing/people being completely under-prepared for a big day in the hills. I just prefer to ride with a few like minded mates now.

monkeysfeet – Member
Ha. Cheers for the feedback. Interesting comments about the pub bit, although it was only suggested that the pub stop was after the ride, not during.

it’s just a small thing, but have you considered replacing ‘pub’ with ‘cafe’?

a ‘pub’ stop would put me off, but a cafe stop? – that’s much more like it.

I forgot:

7 – Completely reckless attitude of some members to riding on footpaths, which caused unpleasant conflict with landowners on a few occasions.

We were getting lots of people asking to join, signing up as guests and then never coming out with the club

Gah that’s me! (See above) I did go to a couple of guest rides round Clayton Vale, keep meaning to sign back up again as my Sunday ride buddy hasn’t been able to make it out for ages now.

As scotroutes says above I also follow a few local groups on facebook to look at the pictures/videos and see what routes others are doing. Have found some great bits of trail in the Peak by doing this.

The chances of me ever riding with them are slim as I’m not really that sociable

Cant wait to meet you 😉

Hi amyw, sounds like the sort of thing we are experiencing. From the Facebook side of things it is difficult to guage the sort of folks who are joining.
I think putting something on our FB page about what people want from a ride, as opposed to me saying “come along on one of my rides” may be a better approach.
Thank you all for the replys. It has given me some ideas and maybe I can approach this differently.
Much appreciated.

bitching and backstabbing not only among committee, but also from non committee members IME.

if there’s a membership fee, then regular members see that as the committee required to provide a service. and whinge when committee members don’t organise events etc. and do everything for them.

never ever ever ever offer to be a newsletter editor if you ever expect any input or stories or anything from members. you will not edit but write such newsletters. fortunately, that is fast becoming an archaeic form of communication in the facebook and instagram age.

am a “member” of a few facebook groups too, but as others have mentioned above, that is really to allow me to have access to information, routes, etc. (eg. I’m in a Scottish MTB group on fb, but at most i’d get the opportunity to be there to ride maybe a few days once per year). local knowledge is best IMHO, rather than whatever I can scrounge from gpsies, wikiloc, strava etc.

@ awhiles, hmmmmm. Could do, may need to re-think some routes but it is do able. 🙂
@ andy, been there buddy. We ran a local event a few years ago, we sorted the course, admin, first aid, prizes the whole lot. There were only 4 of us out of the club that made the effort and we had great success, running the event for 3 years, in the end we just couldn’t spare the time to organise the event. Those members who bitched and moaned about stuff were the ones who did nowt.

I dont really see a problem with having non members post to your FB page (as long as they arent being abusive etc). It just makes your FB more active and often fresher. Reading posts by the same half a dozen guys would get boring very quickly.
It is similar to here at STW. Not everybody will be riding mtb/road … but its the variety that makes it so fresh to browse.

Am in NATS and our membership is fairly healthy.

We do have a secret weapon though: cake at the end of the ride. We rarely if ever go to the pub afterwards as most people are driving. We have quite a few people on the faceache page who aren’t members and chat but we keep an eye on membership, a couple of rides for non-members then join.

The cynic in me suggests that if they aren’t interested in riding, they are joining the Facebook group to get an idea of who owns bikes, and what they are worth and where they live. Did I mention the cynic thing?

I’m on the committee of a club with about 150 members.
Rides every other Sunday sometimes get as many as twenty out, but not that often!
There is at least four Thursday evening groups with about 6-8 regular riders in each!

Clubs ain’t for everyone but does seem that all ‘clubs’ experience the same pains… I have come across pretty much everything mentioned above at some point…

All I do know for sure is that from a personal point of view I started riding aged 42… the experience I’ve gained from riding with MMB has been incredible and without the club I don’t think I’d have stuck at it or would have died from the boredom of riding the same routes on my own time after time!

Since joining I now have bunch of riding buddies and am not as reliant on the club as I once was to get out there… but it’s still an important part of riding for me, there are always new routes posted and weekends away… on all levels from tackling the Highlands, Alps, Italy, Morocco through to 50 of us heading to Glentress in a few weeks…

So suppose what I’m saying is that MTB’ing is a richer sport due to people who share the love… Please don’t be discouraged…

I was wondering why I would join a club over a group? I know clubs have agms, chairmans, secretaries etc. Also some kind of constitution, membership fees, application forms. Groups seem to be get in ride together and bugger off.

I keep umming and ahhing about the local bike club but cant seem to get past the fact they want to know my ethnicity on the application form and that they dont have a ” group” for me to fit in. After all if you claim not to leave anyone behind then why stipulate an avg speed to ride at??

For some strange reason it makes me think they have delusions of power and promote a pack mentality.

After all if you claim not to leave anyone behind then why stipulate an avg speed to ride at??

Road clubs do this to help you pick the right ride for you. Very sensible IMO and makes it more approachable.

Much more nebulous for MTBing of course. No idea what my avg speed is!

The ethnicity quiz seems a bit OTT, but it might be to feed back to British Cycling for the greater good?

[/quote]* kitchen *

Really interesting comments especially those from what i would consider to be well established clubs. Im a member of Calderdale MTB club. on facebook as well as a few others. They are all pretty well represented and have a semi active membership. I mainly use the calderdale one and there are generally a few people posting stuff each week but its by no means a forum, its a communication tool (i think).

Our membership (on facebook) is about 418. we get about 15 to 20 people out with us every Wednesday night. Sometimes we have a weekend ride but a lot of people organise their own. It gives us a chance for a natter and stuff on a Wednesday and then if we can get the time of from the wife so dog etc at the weekend even better. The interesting thing is that a lot of the ones you’ve mentioned have a committee. We dont (as far i know) and nothing is charged for anything really. I wonder if this is why it works?

i also see peoples points about different skillsets. I think you’ve got to realise what you want from a club first. Were about having fun and getting out and making new friends. Some of the group are hardened racers that regularly take podiums, some (like myself) are fat and unskilled. Save the weekend rides for the long slogs or mega tech stuff so you can do that with people you know you don’t have to babysit.

imo.

I think that cycling clubs whether Road or MTB can be quiet intimidating. I’m a competent mountain biker, my fitness has gone up and down over the years and also ride on the road SLOWLY. I ride with a small group of friends or by myself. I live next door to where my local cycling club meet, they literally meet outside my garden gate. I have the impression (maybe rightly or wrongly) that the MTB group are more like roadies who MTB or super fast XC boys who leave you for dead. Plus their rides seem to be really long rides on the road to do a bit of mountain biking then a ride back rather than meeting somewhere to mountain bike. I’d be to worried I’d be holding them back.

If the club / group is decent they should not alleviate your concerns of pace. On the contrary I find the local club impose both distance and speed on newcomers. Now thats a real put off. I think they forget that we all start form somewhere and end up faster and fitter ( not that they contemplate that you may even be fast and fit to start with.)
Ride with a gps and head home if they bugger off 🙂