Bike Club

[glueman]

In the latest magazine there's an article on 'Bike Club' which appears to be an initiative aimed at young people. Now I've read the thing three times but it doesn't go beyond a general aspiration so far as one can tell, and even that is hazy.

It's an increasingly common approach with the CTC: bells and whistles, a photo opportunity with youngster, politicians, commuters, wimmin, ethnic minorities, wa'ever; a list of 'partners' - european tax payers money, British tax payers cash, lottery dosh, re-directed council dough, Olympics-R-Us, every last silver-tongued quango with an expensive logo (you can see where this is going) decorating the backscene like wallpaper - with only the vaguest of outcomes.

My son and his mates like riding their bikes so it would be nice to imagine a local 'bike club' might focus their energies in the forseeable future. So why does my cynicism keep insisting Bike Club will do a few mornings in an inner city school, a one minute spot on the Today programme, before fading in the next funding round from ennui?

[rbrian]

Cynicism is the only rational response to the continual crushing disappointments suffered by a natural optimist. As they say, a pessimist is never disappointed. An optimist quickly becomes a cynic, if they have any imagination at all.

[Simon L6]

inner city school bike clubs have reaped fantastic results. Bikes have been recycled, and parents have been persuaded to ride with their kids. One such had an outing 120 strong - a turnout that few CTC club runs can match.

[CliveA]

Hi Glueman

Bike Club is still very much in its infancy right now. The finer details are still being worked out regarding exactly how it will work, and when more tangible information is ready, it will be made widely available.

We've got high hopes for Bike Club, based largely on the very real success of the Cycle Champions programme. This scheme has seen literally thousands of people given the chance to ride bikes who may otherwise not have been able to do so. Thousands of real people riding real bikes - much more than a mere photo opportunity. Encouraging more people into cycling is something that many of us believe is a good thing.

The parade of logos and 'partners' may not be your kind of thing (I understand entirely), but the fact is that it is funding from organisations such as this that enables us to do this kind of work.

So, watch and see what takes shape under Bike Club. It's very likely there will be something to focus the energies of your son, and other children who may not be fortunate enough to have cycling parents.

Clive
Bike Club

[keepontriking]

The parade of logos and 'partners' may not be your kind of thing (I understand entirely), but the fact is that it is funding from organisations such as this that enables us to do this kind of work.

IME all too often the announcements, promises, claims and posturing come to little on-the-ground results. I have spent hours, days and months being promised that this, that and the other is going to happen - including promised cycling projects (and I hate to say also from 'Cycling Champions'). The complete lack of speed or efficiency amongst many of the organisations (and individuals) you call 'partners', along with their disregard for others expenses and time being consumed, can makes it near impossible to deal with them.
Regretably I am starting to think the CTC is falling into this camp.
Sometimes I wonder if they are really just on a 'funding gravy train' to ensure their own existence.

Its enough to make anyone a die-hard cynic.

[CliveA]

Hi keepontriking

IME all too often the announcements, promises, claims and posturing come to little on-the-ground results.

Page 4 of CTC's annual report is worth a read - it talks of 'nearly 5,000 individuals across 90 groups' along with '250 volunteers to help maintain the sustainability of the projects into the future'.

As 'on-the-ground' results go, that seems fairly clear and very positive. There's more about these kind of results on the Cycle Champions section of the website.

[Karen Sutton]

http://pedalpower.asda.com/charity-background.html

[glueman]

Just to catch up, my son and his mates have been attending a very similar sounding scheme run by British Cycling. The early bird, eh..?

[zenzinnia]

I think the British Cycling inititiative is called Go Ride and it links exsisting cycle clubs up to schools to teach mainly cycle sport of all types. I'm hopeing that Bike Club will be aimed more at setting up new youth based clubs at schools and cover more none sport stuff as well. With any luck they will support each other or be able to be run together at least and Bikeability training will be part of it too.

[glueman]

From what I've seen so far (early days) Go Ride has stressed bike handling skills, slow riding, balance, awareness and moves on to competitive aspects later. It would be good to have competitive and non-comp cycling for youngsters.

[CliveA]

Hello again everyone.

I just thought I'd offer a quick update to keep you posted regarding Bike Club.

- Bike Club's essential approach will be to offer cycling activities to youth clubs, after-school clubs and similar, in whatever way best suits those young people. This will be flexible. In many cases, Bikeability will be a part of what Bike Club delivers, equipping young people with vital skills. But alongside this might be projects like providing dirt jumps and off-road facilities, bike maintenance programmes or helping children with expedition planning. We're trying to use cycling as a way for young people to explore and find independence. You could say that cycling is the 'tool' we're using to help youth leaders improve the lives of youngsters. Bike Club projects will therefore vary, as they are intended to address the needs of each group.

- We've nearly finished recuiting the team who will be working on Bike Club around England. There will be 8 officers based in: Brighton/Woking, Exeter/Bristol, Stoke/Derby. Chester/Southport, Blackpool/Lancaster, Darlington/York, Cambridge/Colchester and Aylesbury/Leighton-Linslade. These officers will work alongside existing youth leaders.

- While the existing Cycle Champions programme has served to provide us with some 'pilot' examples of how Bike Club projects may work, the bulk of our work in England will kick off in September, expanding to Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland shortly afterwards.

- We have an interim website that explains Bike Club - http://bikeclub.org.uk. A fully functioning website for young people and youth workers is being prepared.

It's good to see some of you have mentioned British Cycling's Go Ride. Go Ride is a great scheme that focusses, as has been observed, on bike handling and similar skills before moving on to look at semi-competitive aspects of cycling. Go Ride is great but our intention for Bike Club is that it reflects the far broader ways cycling can be part of people's lives. In a similar way, we are full of respect for the work of Sustans and their BikeIt scheme, but we're looking to expand young people's experience of cycling beyond simply riding to school.

Any questions, let me know, and I'll continue to keep everyone posted through http://bikeclub.org.uk.

Clive
Bike Club