Cycling UK Forum

Congratulations to Janet, Rachel and Julian.

papjordan wrote:I used a specialized Sirrus comp. It's not really intended for fully loaded touring but it copes OK.

Flushed down the thunderbox : my MotoG3 using hovercraft full of eels.

Specialized Sirrus Elite for me. Panniers, but we stayed in B&Bs.

pjclinch wrote:Put whatever you'll have for your long ride in the panniers...

Then ditch half of it, because you really don't need all that stuff.

Got back last week from Intrepid's 'Cycle Cuba' tour.

Longest day was 60km, but heat and humidity made it tougher than it sounded on paper. It was quite hilly too.

I very much enjoyed the trip, but it could have been better with a few tweaks - mainly to allow us to leave earlier to avoid cycling through the hottest part of the day, but that proved to be harder than it sounds.

There was always a support vehicle though if it got too much (4 of our group of 12 regularly hitched a ride)


The bikes were Trek 4200/4300 which were ideal for the terrain, and generally in good condition

I'd recommend it as good value for money, but you do need to be prepared for the heat! And the mozzies...

It's worth noting that you can pay for Intrepid's trips with Tesco Clubcard vouchers, and if you keep an eye on it they do a 4x offer every so often.

Spinners wrote:For me, it was the Berriedale Braes on the last day of our LEJOG

Didn't know it was there and it was a bit of shock to return to 'Cornish' gradients (without the benefit of fresh legs) after finding Scotland very easy until then.

We sailed up the Berriedale Braes - I think we could smell the end!

Our hardest Lejog climb was the Stiperstones - felt like our front wheel wouldn't stay on the ground!

https://www.strava.com/segments/3989470

I've PMed you

gaz wrote:CTC's Articles of Association.

Thank you. Is that the latest version? It still talks about the electoral divisions, and states that you need to be a member to serve on the Council (although not specifically to be elected to it)

Philip Benstead wrote: was the other organizations the national trust by any other chance?

No. But it has also recently undergone a rebrand and governance review, so many of the issues and concerns voiced here are sounding familiar

I can't find the AoA on the website - do you have a link please?

I was surprised to see non-members on the ballot paper.

I am a member of another membership organisation - we have a similar process with a NomCo filtering applications and endorsing or not, but no-one is prevented from standing should they wish to do so. However, the electorate are informed which candidates the NomCo have found to be meeting the criteria.

We have published 'Rules' for elections (referred to in the AoA, but separate from them), which (for us) include the criteria that candidates need to have been full members for 12 months prior to standing, as well as the details of how the election should be run. This is good governance - it should not be made up on the hoof.

CTC/CUK is undergoing a period of change, and these things do take time to tweak and get right. It sounds like there needs to be 'lessons learned' from this election to ensure that future elections are operated according to agreed criteria.

If it's any comfort, I took membership into account when casting my votes, and I would be think most members would do the same.

I think, when you're cycling regularly, it's easy to lose touch with just how unfit many people are.

In 2006, I was doing no exercise at all. A friend encouraged me to sign up for L2B, so I did. My first cycle ride was about two miles, and I had to stop for repeated rests. After a few weeks, I managed to cycle 4 miles to the next town - very slightly uphill - to visit my mum. I arrived in such a state of breathlessness that it was all I could do to persuade her that she didn't need to call an ambulance! It took around two months to get to doing 10 miles, but from there I built up quite quickly. I did the L2B in June, and enjoyed it so much that I signed up for the 80 mile Oxford to Cambridge later in the year. The following year I did my first 100 miles, then a couple of years later did Lejog.

I've had a lot on the last year or so, and my fitness has slipped again - so I've signed up for a charity 50 miler to motivate myself to get back out on my bike.

So I do think that charity events are good for getting people started, encouraging them to keep going, and providing motivation in the form of 'goals', as well as raising money for good causes.

I know my local CTC/CyclingUK group includes many members who are retired or semi-retired, and devote much of their leisure time to cycling. When you're working and have a family, it can be hard to get out for even an hour a week to fit in 10 or so miles. If you're good at something, it's a mistake to think it must be easy - the truth is that if you're regularly cycling 40 miles+, you're a heck of a lot fitter than the vast majority of people out there, so give yourself a pat on the back, and be encouraging and understanding to others who may still be some way behind you on their journey.

Having recently been through governance reforms with another membership organisation, I'm very aware that attempting to professionalise the governance arrangements can be seen as moving away from our roots. However, an organisation such as ours needs more than well meaning amateurs steering the direction. In my view, the ideal is a mix of member trustees, voted for by the members, and independent NEDs who have a wide range of experience, which appears to be what is being proposed.

One thing that seems odd then, is the expectation that the independent NEDs will become Cycling UK members - surely this removes their independence?

It would also be useful to have a little more detail on how the nomCo will operate - will their role be to advertise vacancies and encourage applications from well qualified member candidates, or will they go further and add a stamp of 'approval'? If the latter, and they will not, as stated, prevent anyone from standing, then how will this be communicated to the electorate? IME, such a mechanism is likely to lead to challenges and bad feeling - it should be up to each candidate to make their own case to the electorate.

CUK is the forum home of bored IT contractors.

https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?q=cuk%20forum

Photo from when we did it



It was 2010, but as you can see the surface was fine, the tunnel was scarily dark, and I don't remember an issue with panniers, but the barriers may have changed since then.

I got a Garmin vivoactive about 3 weeks ago. I really like how easy it is to track different activities - it's got built in running, cycling, swimming and golf. It doesn't, however, have a built in HRM. I haven't tried the swimming yet, but running and cycling are both spot on, and it works with any other garmin sensors (or HRM) that you own.

I'm pleased with it - as well as activity tracking, step counting and sleep tracking, it is a smart watch, so syncs with my phone to provide text and email alerts - something I didn't think I'd be bothered by, but really like - when I'm working I can just glance at the watch to see who the email is from without disrupting my work if it's not important.

Prices on Amazon go up and down - I paid £129, it's currently going for £125. I just noticed a new version with HRM is due for release on 14 April and can be pre-ordered for £209.

Well, as my first post to the forum, I replied that I had booked in advance, and that it had helped with the discipline of the trip in that we knew had somewhere we had to be each day.

My post was disallowed as apparently it "wasn't good enough for a first post" and "reads a bit like robot-generated junk".

I'm not a robot. The log of my trip from 2010 is http://lejog-leblog.blogspot.co.uk/

I am happy to list where we stayed (as was suggested by the moderator) but as our trip was 6 years ago, it's likely to be out of date.