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.
