CTC or British Cycling?

[DCLane]

I used to be in CTC - my club does cheaper membership.

Currently with BC and LVRC, plus Audax UK.

 

[PK99]

I am told - on good authority - that the CTC has operated for some time with a council of 28 or is it 38 for major policy decisions with a sub committe of 3/4 taking operational management decisions. A very reasonable split one might think.

The Chris Juden redundancy decision was taken by the sub committe as a simple staffing issue to free up funds to employ a marketing and communications bod with the full council merely advised of the decision after the event. There was never a CTC council decision to scrap the Tech support function of CTC HQ.

I should I suppose caveat all that with 'allegedly' if anyone knows different, please chip in.

 

[Crankarm]

Personally, I'd go for British Cycling.

I left CTC after they stiffed the membership over the whole charity debate. And now they're making staff redundant because of financial mismanagement...

Not bitter then ……..

 

[Drago]

Who cares? I don't work for them.

 

[mjr]

CTC or British Cycling? No.

Join your local Cyclenation group (or start one if there's not one nearby and you can find people/time) and if they don't offer insurance (most don't), pick it up independently and you could get a better policy for not much difference in price.

 

[Drago]

Unless they do half price concessions then they won't match CTCs price. Virtually identical cover from MIAS is £50, so it's an easy decision for the insurance alone.

I couldn't give a monkeys about the internal politics. It happens everywhere sooner or later, and it doesn't affect me anyway.

 

[mjr]

Unless they do half price concessions then they won't match CTCs price. Virtually identical cover from MIAS is £50, so it's an easy decision for the insurance alone.

http://www.ctc.org.uk/insurance/third-party-insurance summarises their cover. Be aware of its limitations. I don't know about the MIAS cover (Marine Insurance Association of Seattle?) but if it's a stand-alone policy, it'll probably be more expensive than if you can add personal liability to other insurances that you have to buy anyway (if you have any - I do).

I couldn't give a monkeys about the internal politics. It happens everywhere sooner or later, and it doesn't affect me anyway.

Much as many would like to delude themselves, what happens to a club as old as CTC probably affects all cyclists. https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/ctc-chris-juden-redundant.172512/ suggests that we've lost a technical expert advocate recently.

 

[Ansome]

Join your local Cyclenation group.

I wasn't aware of this organisation before so thanks for mentioning it.

 

[PaulSB]

Currently I'm a member of both. I feel BC is better value and does more for cycling, in fact I'm not really aware of what CTC does these days. BC supports my club, membership is needed for many of the sportives we ride, is doing a great job, so our female club members say, of encouraging more female cycling ( I think this is hugely important), insurance and 10% of anything in Halfords.

As an aside the CTC forums should be given a miss. I've visited on a few occasions asking questions or contributing opinions. If the cliques decide to gang up on one it's pretty unpleasant. I'm unlikely to return and the impact has been to give me a poor impression of at least a section of the CTC membership. There are a members who will dump on you if you're not up to speed with the correct screw size or thread for your thingymajig. Not nice.

 

[mjr]

The CTC forums lately are OK. They seem to have enough moderators and fewer fanatics now (those two are probably linked). I feel it's much gentler than here

 

[Drago]

Much as many would like to delude themselves, what happens to a club as old as CTC probably affects all cyclists. https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/ctc-chris-juden-redundant.172512/ suggests that we've lost a technical expert advocate recently.

Hold on, just checking...and...nope, hasn't affected me one jot. I know I'm deluded, but not that deluded.

 

[Crankarm]

I am sure Chris Juden formerly of the CTC will find another role in cycling without much difficulty. The CTC went down the tubes years ago, in fact, I don't think it was ever much good. Another one of their fundamentally flawed ideas was when cycling was in it's infancy they strenuously opposed road racing in this country which some might say looking back now is why cycling and cyclists are so marginalised in this country compared to our neighbours who we look to with envy. In France and Begium it was de rigeur but here stuffy old farts in plus fours of the CTC campaigned fervently against it. So the CTCs stance decades ago is the real reason cycling in the UK is now such hard work. Had they supported road racing as did the French and Belgies then the UK might well have become a cycling loving nation. Cycling through road racing was the way to get people into cycling and still is but we have faced such an uphill struggle in this country and still do. Competition always increases interest whether it's football, tennis, motor racing, gardening or cookery programmes. Instead we are marginalised, ridiculed and slaughtered. On the few occasions I hear the CTC trying to support or promote cycling they are so crap and useless they may as well not bother. Their flagship "safety in numbers" slogan was an insult to cyclists and cycling merely a pretty unsubtle ruse to boost their membership and funds. We get another 10,000 cyclists signed up but no matter another 100 have been killed on the roads or 1,000 seriously injured. They had a massive opportunity to put cycling at the centre but failed miserably. So I don't give a monkeys about the CTC. I am sure there are a few good people in the CTC, the former Chris Juden for example, but those at the top have, when it counts, repeatedly made bad decisions. Maybe the CTC won't be around for much longer.

So join BC instead. This is where cycling is happening.

 

[Crankarm]

Really? So something the CTC did 75 years ago outweighs the recent effects of Tour of Britain, Cavendish, Wiggins, et al? Anyway some might argue that an emphasis on racing and all the associated equipment and 'uniform' requirements is what puts some people off cycling.

I guess there are always exceptions such as you.

 

[Profpointy]

The CTC forums lately are OK. They seem to have enough moderators and fewer fanatics now (those two are probably linked). I feel it's much gentler than here

quite ! Far more genteel than here, though I frequent both, mostly this one. I've not seen them pouncing on people on minor technical matters

 

[woohoo]

The last time I looked it up, the standard CTC insurance looked better in that it covered CTC member to CTC member claims. IIRC, the BC insurance excluded BC member to BC member claims under some / all (?) circumstances. Although, I could get insurance cover elsewhere, that point has kept me in the CTC (well until May when my membership comes up for renewal).