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Race team is just a group of mates. We were all indviduals in larger clubs but got a bit bored of turning up to races alone. So one guy designed some kit, registered a club so now we race together - pretty much any bike discipline is covered. Only about 20 of us but focussed on racing. We've got a handful of second cats but this isn't a semi pro enterprise, we just share a passion for racing.
The ideal would have been a proper club providing all the social stuff, racing team mates, easy cafe rides and a great diversity of members and interests. I love that you join a cycling club and you've got all walks of life sharing a common passion.
The problem with race teams round our way is that a lot don’t put anything back in. There was a spate of little race teams cropping up but They don’t run any races and don’t offer marshals and rely on big clubs like ours to do the donkey work. Iirc the local road racing league has made it pretty difficult to race if you don’t run a race in the league, which I’ve been told has resulted in a few rt’s folding
I was in a local bike club; made up from 1/3 junior, 1/3 road and 1/3 mtb - the formalised committee-led club structure run by roadies didn't really work well for MTB- we had the normal problems of what times to ride, what to do if a novice showed up on a ride down mountain cliff paths, what to do if <18yr olds turned up and so on.
- so a few bunches of mtb collectives were setup in the locality with facebook/web forum/whatsapp communication and they ride regularly. Ours is not a club, has no rules, no fees, we ride anywhere we like (it's in scotland) and we organise all sorts of riding tours including abroad on a pretty loose basis.
The group are just a bunch-of-cocks-who-ride-bikes.
Never enjoyed riding bikes so much as I do now.
Ours is not a club, has no rules, no fees, we ride anywhere we like (it’s in scotland) and we organise all sorts of riding tours including abroad on a pretty loose basis.
But you potentially have a lot of liability issues should a novice rider or Youth fall off a cliff somewhere....
The argument of "he/she turned up for the ride of their own accord" doesn't carry a huge amount of legal weight....
Kilo, that’s the experience in the south east. A select few RTs do stage events. But they are rare. No event means no affiliation to the largest racing leagues in the country.
Kilo, that’s the experience in the south east. A select few RTs do stage events. But they are rare. No event means no affiliation to the largest racing leagues in the country.
Yes, KWCC here 😉
But you potentially have a lot of liability issues
Eh? He said they're not a club. Therefore they won't have anymore liability issues than any other group of friends meeting and doing a ride together would.
"But you potentially have a lot of liability issues should a novice rider or Youth fall off a cliff somewhere….
The argument of “he/she turned up for the ride of their own accord” doesn’t carry a huge amount of legal weight…."
We don't invite them. Other than that, were just a bunch of mates / consenting adults. Live with it.
"should have said MOST folk in the club are tossers."
Beagleboy - careful. The club will threaten you with exclusion under section 11 of the constitution and email a personal character assassination to all members.
I didn't even get a bunch of flowers as an apology when they did that to me - and I wasn't even a club member at the time. Tossers all of them.
My partner is a vice chair for a club. One thing that I know she finds is members are always quick to complain about how things are ran but a very small percentage of those who complain contribute anything themselves.
Maybe if you don't like the way things are done put your name forward to join the committee and try and make some changes?
Maybe if you don’t like the way things are done put your name forward to join the committee and try and make some changes?
That's the problem, we would like to but can't.
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">As for the race team, I'm the secretary of a race league. We have done one road race and two CX races this year. That is more than pulling our weight for a group of 20.</span>
Why can't you?
What sometiems happens in these situations is that a splinter group sets up under the same name and confusion results. Not particularly in cycling, but it is a scenario one sees. Does the club own all the domain names it should? If the club has no constitutoin, who is to say who the club is?
@thisisnotaspoon - not my recollection of events, although there is some elements of truth in what you say. However Bogtrotters are fine, not bogged down in paperwork and still have a healthy membership.
On the OPs topic if enough other members want the same and will put the work then it is Extraordinary Annual General Meeting time. He has all your subs and it seens like you have no say.
Failing that it is time to leave.
Well look on the brightside at least it is easy to leave.
A friend of mine is a vicar and his church has been talen over by a power crazed couple, they upset the congregation but they are very good at winning awards for volunteering etc so he cant get rid of them.
At the end of the day he is just the chairman of a voluntary organisation not your boss, so just leave and find or set up a new club. It bites for a while but you soon get over it.
so a few bunches of mtb collectives were setup in the locality with facebook/web forum/whatsapp communication and they ride regularly. Ours is not a club, has no rules, no fees, we ride anywhere we like (it’s in scotland) and we organise all sorts of riding tours including abroad on a pretty loose basis.
The group are just a bunch-of-cocks-who-ride-bikes.
Never enjoyed riding bikes so much as I do now.
thats pretty much what i've just done.down here- facebook used to arrange social meets between people looking for a ride. i've arranged a few rides now and attracted a 1 new person to 3/4 me and my mates each time. its good as its actually making my prev social circle a bit more organised, and the new people are now riding with my mates etc when i'm not about. (and this is from strarting probably at exactly the wrong time of year)
i'm literally trying to make it a non-club, totally ad-hoc thing where people socialise with each other and every so often i try to stoke the fire with a bit of an organised ride, and i'll be super happy if people organise regular rides i could never make (like evenings etc)
we're staying out of everything apart from actually arranging to meet and ride, and discuss routes/trail issues/bikes online
I'm part of a local whatsapp group of around 15-20 people (depending on who's left/joined) who just post when they're available to ride and what kind of ride they're thinking of.
Zone 1 - steady away tonight after a longish ride on Sunday!