How would you go about starting a Road Cycling Club?

[cloggsy]

Being out in rural North Yorkshire, there are no cycling clubs within reasonable travelling distance. I'm just wondering how would you go about starting your own club?

 

[Dave 123]

Your local council may have access to community funds....
Rope in your LBS
Village/parish magazine

Cycling plus has a small article in the current issue on this very subject.

 

[deanE]

Try "ready, steady, GO"

 

[dalewheeler]

You've got to think "where would I look to find out such things" ? If you look in your local paper for events, then advertise there.
Simple flyers etc in pubs, on notice boards, any public place, etc (some will get taken down, don't worry)

 

[musa]

Where are you in north yorkshire?

 

[screenman]

Just because a club is not on your doorstep does not mean some of its members are not, the nice thing also about the bike is it broadens our horizons, try and think and travel into a larger area.

For a proper legal club you would need many things in place such as insurance, also association to the many of the organisations. Now if you just want a few guys to cycle with, then just find the nearest club and go out with your nearest members.

 

[Banjo]

I would start by joining british cycling if you are more interested in racing TT sportives etc or CTC if your interested in more of a touring club.

 

[Ian H]

Cycling clubs normally affiliate to one or more of the nationals: BC, CTT and CTC. The first and last will give the club basic organiser insurance. BC and CTT require affiliation if your members want to race.

 

[cloggsy]

Where are you in north yorkshire?

Bedale

 

[jay clock]

I would start by getting a group of cyclists cycling together and then worry about setting a formal club after that. My suspicion is that you will have more fun with a group of cyclists than being in a "club"

 

[cloggsy]

My suspicion is that you will have more fun with a group of cyclists than being in a "club"

I agree; it would be nice to find other cyclists in and around my area to go out on rides with...

 

[ianrauk]

I agree; it would be nice to find other cyclists in and around my area to go out on rides with...

Put a call out on the CC & Informal Rides section of the forum.
Organise a ride and see if there is anyone in your area that would want to join you.
All you need is 1 other person and you have a group ride.

 

[atbman]

Contact Ilkley CC - they started about 2 years ago and now have over 600 members, so they must be doing something right

 

[Fab Foodie]

Bedale

If I was starting a club, I wouldn't start one there ....

 

[Fab Foodie]

I would start by getting a group of cyclists cycling together and then worry about setting a formal club after that. My suspicion is that you will have more fun with a group of cyclists than being in a "club"

So this is kinda what we did with 'Freewheeling'.
http://groupspaces.com/AbingdonFreewheeling/
A few passionate cyclists who wanted to do something different to a regular bike club and a bit different to a CTC group. We talked and drank beer.
We then took a leap and decided to mount a 'Cycling Festival'. Emails were fired-out in all directions to anyone we knew with a bike, their workplaces, industrial estates, schools, everywhere, the Mkt square booked, advice garnered from CTC and other local clubs, support seeked from LBS, local sport promotion organisations like 'Go Oxford', lots of meetings held in a really good pub, posters printed and distruibuted, routes devised, local radio did a bit, local paper printed an article, cakes were made and an online registration system set up. And then early one Sunday morning we set-up some rudimentary stands with Gazebos ... and cyclist came, loads and loads of em! We had 4 mile kiddy rides along the river, 10 and 27 mile rides with cakes stops.
So now we have a club, made in our own fashion.
OK, it's no longer free, but £2 per annum covers basic club insurance. The pub gives us free chip butties after a ride.
We have weekend rides, evening rides, via facebook anybody can organise rides as they wish. Soon we'll have social pub rides, women only rides are starting, we have good joint rides with Didcot Phoenix etc.
Also, facebook is your friend.

The club can be as big or as small as you want, as formal or informal as you want. My 2 major pieces of advice are:
Have a clear vision of the ethos of the club, what's it for, who should it serve. Freewheeling is about getting people together on bikes, any bike, any person for whatever reason, fun mostly, sociability, the shared experience. Secondly, there comes a point where Insurance becomes a necessary evil. There's no getting around it.

Go do it. If you build it, they will come.