Supersuperleeds
Legendary Member
- Location
- Leicester
The leader of my club is a right bar steward. No wonder the membership numbers is only one.
Would Joining a Cycling Club be Right For Me?
- Thread starter Illaveago
- Start date
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slow horse
Well-Known Member
For some reason I've started reading this as "Would Joining a Circus be Right for Me?", in which case, I guess you'd have to look at what you have to offer. Can you ride a tiny bicycle and make people laugh? Balance on a tightrope? Stick your head in the mouth of a lion?
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
Same with my club. I mean one thing you expect from a club is that they will organise things for you. But the leader of my club? Hopeless! I'm thinking of leaving.
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
M
My club which i have given up so much of my spare time planning , organizing and leading rides has moved so far away from me i have stopped mucking about now .The founder and his close mates are basically the inner circle and a number of members who have left is increasing .I pretty much get ignored now on the chat / social media pages so i have given up with them.
My club which i have given up so much of my spare time planning , organizing and leading rides has moved so far away from me i have stopped mucking about now .The founder and his close mates are basically the inner circle and a number of members who have left is increasing .I pretty much get ignored now on the chat / social media pages so i have given up with them.
Profpointy
Legendary Member
A pal of mine broke down on his CZ two-stroke motorcycle. A fellow CZ rider stopped to help, by which time my mate was in the process of cutting a replacement cylinder head gasket from a cornflakes packet as, fortuitously, he'd just been to the shop. Upon hearing the explanation the helper said "Oh, you're OK then" and rode off. Evidently making new head gaskets out of cornflakes boxes at the roadside was normal for a CZ, which was by no means a well regarded machine. He did manage to ride home OK but I assume put a proper gasket on later.
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I think that says more about people than the club.
Unfortunately clubs (not just cycling) seem to attract these small man syndrome type people, often those who have not achieved much in their work/professional life end up harnessing all their energies “running the club” mainly for themselves and their mates.
It’s like Golf clubs where the committee members have their own parking spaces, last place I worked, the best parking spaces were for those who got to work first.
I have found that in most cycling clubs there are clubs within clubs. Let them run the clubs, but be part of the other bit, it works extremely well.
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
oddly they are very successful in this case
Flick of the Elbow
less than
- Location
- Midlothian Edinburgh
Yep, that’s me, I’m small, 5 ft 6, and have achieved precisely nothing at all in any form of life so I should be a perfect fit for a cycling club should I not ? Then why can’t I find one ?
As I wrote earlier, you have to find the club within the club.
biggs682
Itching to get back on my bike's
- Location
- Northamptonshire
Sounds like the club I ride with , he only talks about old steel bikes and reckons that plastic ones melt in the rain.
Then he stops to take so many pictures of silly things , thankfully he never includes me in them .
His latest one is searching for numbers.......
OP
OP
Illaveago
Guru
- Location
- Chippenham,Wiltshire.
As you say there are small groups within groups. The Mens Shed that I go to has little groups within it. Most of the members are into woodwork and the shed is made for woodworking. I'm into sheet metal from an automotive background and get on with a couple of ex aircraft manufacturing peeps. Since the club moved to a new building it has lost its cohesion, there are more tables and people don't get together so much. I've noticed that some of the old regulars are missing.
OP
OP
Illaveago
Guru
- Location
- Chippenham,Wiltshire.
Even our little group of 7 there are little divisions. 4 are ex- postmen and have that in common, 2 are from ex motor vehicle background which includes me, one is ex-MOD. On a ride we can have a breakaway group of 1 followed by the peloton of perhaps 4 followed by 2 stragglers which includes me. I stay near the back to make sure they are okay. One of our group used to run marathons and could leave us for dust but stays with us. We are a right mixture but get on and have a laugh.
Vantage
Carbon fibre... LMAO!!!
- Location
- Behind everyone else, Bolton
I've been a member of 2 clubs in my life.
The first I joined in my early teens and lasted a few years including training and casual rides and some actual races. We all looked out for each other and nothing was ever too much trouble regarding repairs to each others bikes etc. I did my time as a marshal at some of those races. I was never left behind on rides.
The second club I joined, left, rejoined and then had to leave due to time constraints. Why did I leave? Being left behind! Bunch of bloody ar*****es. I rejoined a few years later and again was left behind a lot but eventually got stronger and was soon keeping up with them. Helping each other out was again never too much trouble but one incident left me a bit cold towards them.
On one ride we came across 2 cyclists trying to fix a puncture. Neither had a tube, pump etc. Five minutes we stayed and got no further towards repairing the hole. Then the ride leader decided we had no more time to stand around trying to sort it and left them there. I didn't know where the hell I was so had to leave with the club. How anyone can do that to another human is beyond me. That same club fired the long standing president who had been there longer than most of it's members as he was against raising the membership price.
A few years later and I found myself having unbelievable cramps in my legs miles from home. I ended up falling off my bike in the middle of a 50mph A-road. A nice motorist passing saw me, tuned around and dragged me and my heavy ass bike 10 miles home. I gave him my last tenner to say thanks.
Sometime later I joined one of @ColinJ 's rides which turned wet and colder than many of us thought. A spare jacket I had spared another member of that trip a cold ride.
I tend to ride on my own these days as my anxiety is making me more and more unsociable but I do miss the company of others.
Clubs vary and people vary. But leaving someone to fend for themselves just makes you an a****le at the end of the day.
The first I joined in my early teens and lasted a few years including training and casual rides and some actual races. We all looked out for each other and nothing was ever too much trouble regarding repairs to each others bikes etc. I did my time as a marshal at some of those races. I was never left behind on rides.
The second club I joined, left, rejoined and then had to leave due to time constraints. Why did I leave? Being left behind! Bunch of bloody ar*****es. I rejoined a few years later and again was left behind a lot but eventually got stronger and was soon keeping up with them. Helping each other out was again never too much trouble but one incident left me a bit cold towards them.
On one ride we came across 2 cyclists trying to fix a puncture. Neither had a tube, pump etc. Five minutes we stayed and got no further towards repairing the hole. Then the ride leader decided we had no more time to stand around trying to sort it and left them there. I didn't know where the hell I was so had to leave with the club. How anyone can do that to another human is beyond me. That same club fired the long standing president who had been there longer than most of it's members as he was against raising the membership price.
A few years later and I found myself having unbelievable cramps in my legs miles from home. I ended up falling off my bike in the middle of a 50mph A-road. A nice motorist passing saw me, tuned around and dragged me and my heavy ass bike 10 miles home. I gave him my last tenner to say thanks.
Sometime later I joined one of @ColinJ 's rides which turned wet and colder than many of us thought. A spare jacket I had spared another member of that trip a cold ride.
I tend to ride on my own these days as my anxiety is making me more and more unsociable but I do miss the company of others.
Clubs vary and people vary. But leaving someone to fend for themselves just makes you an a****le at the end of the day.
