I need advice about organising rides on a web site.

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ontodva

Active Member
I maybe need some advice... I have just begun to organise short rides, about 30k, with people I have never met, with road, easy off-road and towpath and riverside routes and I have no idea about my liability if a rider or a third party is injured or suffers loss, and no experience coping with accidents. I have insurance for my own bike, that's all.

Can anyone offer some advice and is there a source of advice on this?
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
You potentially need liability insurance and possible training - Have a look at British Cycling for ride leaders.

What would happen if you lead someone down a path and they broke their leg - PS this has happened twice on organised rides I've been on - one knee and one ankle. You also need to get 'ride forms' organised.

Now if it's unofficial, then that's something different. Turn up here and we will go to X and back
 

Milkfloat

An Peanut
Location
Midlands
I would be incredibly cautious - If you want to setup a club and invest in all the necessary paperwork, training and fees, then go for it, but don't start organising official rides yet.

I ride with a group of up to 15 people, we keep it very informal. We take it in turns to send out a route on WhatsApp and see who turns up at our usual time on a Sunday morning. There is no ride leader as we are just a group of mates out for a ride.
 
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ontodva

Active Member
It isn't a club as such. It' a Meetup.com group. That's fairly informal - I wouldn't call it 'official'. The country is England. What is a 'ride form'?
 
You potentially need liability insurance and possible training - Have a look at British Cycling for ride leaders.

What would happen if you lead someone down a path and they broke their leg - PS this has happened twice on organised rides I've been on - one knee and one ankle. You also need to get 'ride forms' organised.

Now if it's unofficial, then that's something different. Turn up here and we will go to X and back
Agreed.
There is a short-cut/budget route: form a CTC group (or affiliate group), then they do 90% of the paperwork for you. You will probably never be on the receiving end of a court claim, but it's nice to know you don't need to worry if it does happen!
 

vickster

Legendary Member
It isn't a club as such. It' a Meetup.com group. That's fairly informal - I wouldn't call it 'official'. The country is England. What is a 'ride form'?
You should organise liability insurance, check out BC / CUK (previously CTC) as above
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
There is a guy I know that started organising rides, this then quickly progressed from turning up, to logging intention via BC's 'ride' website and if you weren't already a BC/Cycling UK member you needed to fill in a form with next of kin etc and that you accept your own responsibility yadda yadda. It just covers you as organiser. The problems come if you are doing the route planning, and someone turns up that's in-experienced and then sues you for a broken fingernail as they go OTB on a curb.

Sounds silly, but one lady and hubby came on hybrids, that was clearly advertised as mountain bikes. Needless to say she crashed on a rocky downhill. Fortunately not the organiser's fault as he'd already warned them - husband got it in the ear. Other person broke their kneecap on another ride, but was an experienced MTB'er anyway so that happens.

That's sort of what happens if you don't know people. Just look into it - lots of stuff out there on BC and Cycling UK sites.
 
Can anyone offer some advice
Don't do it. You are opening up a potential hornet's nest of trouble.
 

Punkawallah

Über Member
If you have ‘no idea coping with accidents’, I’d suggest getting some basics under your belt - if only for your own peace of mind. Nothing worse than feeling helpless if it all goes tits up.

St John’s Ambulance have videos on t’YouTube, if nothing else.
 
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ontodva

Active Member
vickster advises ' You should organise liability insurance'
What sort of liability insurance? How is it known exactly? Cycling UK has Group/Club membership for £82 but I don't see details of what that buys. Should I pay Cycling UK to guide me and buy insurance through them?
Punkawallah - good advice, thanks.
 

vickster

Legendary Member
vickster advises ' You should organise liability insurance'
What sort of liability insurance? How is it known exactly? Cycling UK has Group/Club membership for £82 but I don't see details of what that buys. Should I pay Cycling UK to guide me and buy insurance through them?
Punkawallah - good advice, thanks.
Just phone up CUK, explain what you need and get their advice. Job done
01483 238300
 
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