The following points were discussed
Road Safety Presentation – Rolf (Andrew Maddran)
Rolf shared an interesting presentation with the members present which is made for drivers at National Grid on understanding cyclist’s behaviour. It does contain some interesting information about the Highway Code and road positioning. The presentation has been e-mailed with the meeting minutes for all I hold e-mail addresses for. If you have not received it please let Dan know and I can send it through to you if you want to see it.
Finances update – Dan on behalf of Paula
Club funds at the date 29th July 2015 were £1186.00 although a cheque has been made to Les who provides the food for the club on Thursdays for £100 to subsidise it as the £1 per week we pay has not been covering it. We have also had a couple of members make payments in since. We are looking for options on what to spend money on main costs look like they will be a summer BBQ and also a banner for outside the club We have total paid members of 40 for 2015. There are a further 14 members on the database who have attended rides in 2015 but probably only 3 riders would be regarded as regular. It is great to see the club growing this way and ensure it continues.
Croston Sports Club Launch Night – Glen
Croston Sports Club has recently refurbished the main bar and in having a launch event/open evening commencing 19:30 on Saturday 15th August. There will be live entertainment and special offers available on the night including:-
2015/16 memberships discounted – £5 for a single/£10 for a double
Special offers on Proseco, wine and beer
Cocktails and bottle bar with bar snacks
It would be great if we could get behind our local club and also take advantage of this chance for discounted memberships. I look forward to seeing a few of you there.
Croston Sports Club Bike Storage – Glen
Given the increasing numbers it is becoming increasing cumbersome to store all the bike in the snooker room. We are currently investigating the options for outside secure bike storage.
Summer BBQ – Glen/Rolf (Andrew Maddran)
We are having a summer social event (fingers crossed for the weather). We are going to have a BBQ at the sports club on Friday 21st August (Start time to be confirmed). All current and perspective members welcome and please bring partners along. Would be great to have as many members along as possible and make it a great social event. Croston Velo will be providing the food on the evening, more details to follow shortly.
Rider Communication – Dan
With new members joining all the time there has been some confusion relating to pointing out cars to the group as it seems we have been doing it different to most clubs who are nearby. We discussed the most common shouts and have decided to adopt the club standard which is
Car in front = Car down
Car behind = Car up
Also we have decided that pointing out potholes should also include a verbal warning of
If pothole to the left of the group = Inside
If pothole in the centre of two rides = middle
Please can all riders ensure that communications are passed on either verbally or via a symbol down the group.
Thursday Advanced Rides and a Chain Gang – Dan
Given the increasing popularity of Thursday rides it seem prudent to move this to 2 groups for rider safety and to prevent us causing too much road rage! We have decided we will run a chain gang on Thursdays so Thursday ride will now be as follows, all rides commence 18:30 from Croston Sports Club
A group – This will be a chain gang where all riders will ride through and off. This is expected to be our quickest group and will ride speeds are likely to be excess of 20 mph average. The group will not ride at the pace of the slowest rider and you should be self-sufficient in case you are unable to maintain the pace. There will be a set route published each week before the ride so riders are aware of the route
B group – This will be at the same pace as our usual Thursday advanced group and will average between 18-19.5mph. It will follow the same route as the chain gang that way any riders unable to keep with the pace of the chain gang will not have to continue the ride alone. This group will set off 2 minutes behind the A group.
Social group – The social group will continue as normal
Intro Rides – all
Glen, Bill and Rolf are looking to arrange some intro rides for new riders to come along and understand what level they are cycling at and encourage new members. They are going to look at some dates (likely to be a Saturday) and these will be published once confirmed.
Charity Ride – James Harrington
One of our club members James Harrington is doing 300 miles in 3 days across Northern France in aid of wounded Royal Marines. The following note has been posted on behalf of James. Would be great to get behind him.
“Help Our Wounded Royal Marines and Supporting Arms need funds in order to assist injured/wounded military personnel in their rehabilitation and recovery. To this end the Coastal Commando 300 Ride has been planned with the aim of raising funds for this undeniably worthwhile cause.
The challenge will take place over three days and cover 300 miles of the North European coastline.
One example of how funds are spent: In 2013/14 we spent £6,000 to pay for wives and families of the seven Royal Marines to attend the 42 Commando homecoming and medal ceremony on return from Herrick 14 (Afghanistan)
https://www.justgiving.com/jamesharringtonCCC/
Or text JHCC99 £xx to 70070
For more info http://coastalcommando.com/300-2/
Any donations are greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!”
Long Rides – Dan
I have been meaning to put a long ride in the diary for some time but been too busy to plan. This is on my agenda and I hope to do soon. It will be announced via Facebook, Twitter, Strava and the website.
Carrying ID – Paul
Paul raised a great point that we don’t all know each other by name when riding and certainly may not have all contact numbers. A number of methods were suggested including an app Paul users which is called Ride ID, or your British Cycling membership . We are happy with any form of ID however can we ask that all members carry ID on when out on the road in case anything was to happen. This should include name, date of birth and emergency contact details.
Xmas Do – Glen
Appreciate it is early but we are looking to arrange an Xmas do. We intend to do this at the club this year and are looking for a volunteer to help arrange this.