Are CTC members happy with the direction of the CTC

[hazychris]

A quick update on Corallian now we're two months in:
* We are now at 20 paid up members - half our first year (ending Oct 2017) target of 40 paid up members
* There have been 15 club rides since 1st October, and our weather record has been awesome
* Club members have covered over 4500km on club rides since 1st October
* Marketing plans are being drawn up to recruit new members when the Spring has sprung.
* A club discipline of riding has easily been established with the result that rides are safer and more sociable than most of us have experienced with other clubs.

It feels like the club has now got into a clear rhythm and we have established our identity and culture.

Starting a club up is never easy, but if you are clear what you want, and how you are going to get there, it's great to watch it develop a life of its' own.

http://corallian.cc

[landsurfer]

Happy to see your a new, successful, club.
There have been many "new " clubs formed as a result of CUK / CTC lack of direction.
It would appear your Cycling Club is one of the few that offer anything new ... i hope.
Others seem to be trying to set up as traditional CTC clubs .... but what does that mean ?
I have recently, with thought and heart searching, resigned from a new "CTC" type club, as all they where trying to do was to be a copy of a CTC that disappeared 20 years ago.
If new clubs arise from the modern marketing and media driven version of the CTC Ltd. that now exists then that can only be good thing.
New "Clarions" one would hope.
As a member of CTC Ltd I have absolutely no idea of how the club / charity / limited company, is run.
Who actually runs it.
If i actually have a say ...
Is it worth campaigning to "get back our club" .... or is it too late ...
Is CTC / CUK just a logo on the inter web ????

I wish there were those for and against the current management with a clear constitution for members to accept or rally against.
Because believe me ... it really is not clear ...

[PH]

A quick update on Corallian now we're two months in:
* We are now at 20 paid up members - half our first year (ending Oct 2017) target of 40 paid up members
* There have been 15 club rides since 1st October, and our weather record has been awesome
* Club members have covered over 4500km on club rides since 1st October
* Marketing plans are being drawn up to recruit new members when the Spring has sprung.
* A club discipline of riding has easily been established with the result that rides are safer and more sociable than most of us have experienced with other clubs.

It feels like the club has now got into a clear rhythm and we have established our identity and culture.

Starting a club up is never easy, but if you are clear what you want, and how you are going to get there, it's great to watch it develop a life of its' own.

http://corallian.cc

Well done. If you were local I'd be tempted to do some rides with you.
But, and this isn't in any way intended as a criticism, it isn't what I'd expect a CTC member group to be doing.
Your strapline "Sociable leisure rides for enthusiastic cyclists" won't appeal to those with a bike in the shed that might with some help and encouragement become enthusiastic. There's no touring rides, I've always felt the unique feature of CTC rides was the T Going places of interest, rather than for a ride. The types of bikes in the photos, are all basically road bikes, the whole image is one that for me wouldn't sit well with a CTC group.
It's your club and you're taking it in a direction you want it to go and I can see you're going to make that work. But in doing so something else has been lost. I like that I can ride with any CTC group and although there are differences, I'm pretty sure of the sort of ride it's going to be.

OT - That's a very slick website, would you fancy PMing me the details if it's built on a template?

[hazychris]

Thanks for your wishes, landsurfer.

You raise some really important points, and ones that we considered when we decided what we wanted to be and how we were going to go about it.

1. Our new club needed to have a focused identity beyond the fuzziness of "something for everyone" - we found that to be too dilutive of effort.
2. The "traditional CTC club" didn't really inspire us, and the "new CUK" was too distant from what we want to do - be a riders club, not a charity supporter.
3. The tagline of "Sociable leisure rides for enthusiastic cyclists" was born - we didn't want to encourage non-riders, and we don't want to race - we want to be in that Goldilocks zone in the middle.
4. Above all else, we wanted to be able to make all the decisions about how the club was constituted and managed. We want to control our vision and destiny.

In all honesty it feels great to be freed from the shackles of an incoherent and badly out-of-date "Member Group Handbook" and a closed shop of membership that does not support members who are not aligned to the charitable aims and means of CUK.

Fundamentally though we've found that there's a better relationship between energy in and fun out!

[PH]

Is it worth campaigning to "get back our club" .... or is it too late ...

On a local Member group level, there's more help and support being offered now than at anytime I've been involved. Ride leader workshops, annual member conference, help with publicity, better viability on the national website. The rules on how many times none members can ride with a group are under revision and the ability to pay monthly removes a barrier for those short of cash.
There is a gulf between NO and MGs, and it needs to be closed for the benefit of all, neither side always look like they're working towards that.

[gaz]

As a member of CTC Ltd I have absolutely no idea of how the club / charity / limited company, is run.
Who actually runs it.

Bedtime reading here.

If i actually have a say ...
Is it worth campaigning to "get back our club" .... or is it too late ...

The members still elect (most of) the Trustees. All the Trustees are bound by law to act to pursue the Charity's objects in the public interest, not the direct interests of the members. There are items that require a statutory member vote at AGM, members can put other matters to an AGM vote the Trustees will not usually be bound to the outcome. You'll have to judge for yourself whether that amounts to having a say.

I'm not sure what you mean by "get back our club", we are where we are as a result of votes made by our members, IMO we still have our Club. The Club is now a Charity, that clock cannot be turned back.

[hazychris]

Good points PH - and spot on the money.

We found that the "CUK formula" did not really support a bunch of mates who want to ride together and maybe draw in like-minded riders, so we have consciously not applied it. Horses for courses, as you say.

The area has not lost out as there is an existing and successful club CTC Wantage, renaming to Cycling UK Wantage, that does cater for new and returning and gentle cyclists, but was struggling with numbers to appeal to all segments of the membership. One such segment has broken away to become Corallian. We intend to complement, not compete. Being independent, Corallian will be more accessible to people who didn't / don't want to join CUK.

The website (sadly for the greater good) is bespoke for the club, developed pretty much from the ground up, so isn't readily templateable or copied / adapted. We were clear exactly what we wanted, and the Chairman is a whizz at such things. Had we commercially developed it, there would have probably been 100 man-hours of coding, not to mention business analysis to get it to be the right thing in the first place. Previously we have found that the website can be the greatest asset a club has. It can also be the greatest cost. My advice to any club is to find a member who is a software developer and make something awesome. PH - if you want some insight as to what we have underpinning, let me know. If you're not an IT guy, it might hurt your head a bit though!

"Touring" is an interesting word. We're just really "riding" at the moment in the winter season, but rides during longer days will always have targets of places or scenery of interest, and diversity of location. Touring, riding, it's shades of the same thing. The same ride can be "touring" to some people and "just riding" to others!

As an example, three Corallians on a holiday in September did an awesome "ride" to go and visit the UNESCO World Heritage site of Navacelles, or was it "touring" - route and some pictures can be found here: https://www.strava.com/activities/718812462. We didn't have panniers, and we were all on slinky road bikes, but there was a bit of beardage going on....

Cheers,
Chris

[landsurfer]

"GET OUR CLUB BACK" is a phrase that seems to keep arising in posts by some longterm forum members, not CTC Ltd Members, forum members.
There seems to be a great difference in these to groups in their approach.
I have met with ex members of CTC Ltd, at a high level, they said .... and discussed the current club / charity situation, and frankly am baffled ...

[hazychris]

BTW, PH, the "traditional CTC club" Corallian split from did a "ride" yesterday, the pictures of which can be seen here: http://www.ctcwantage.org.uk/rides.php?id=2794

16 riders. 14 on road bikes. 1 on a flat barred hybrid with road tyres. 1 on a Chas Roberts traditional Audax bike.

The times are a-changing in some "traditional CTC clubs".

[PH]

The area has not lost out as there is an existing and successful club CTC Wantage, renaming to Cycling UK Wantage, that does cater for new and returning and gentle cyclists, but was struggling with numbers to appeal to all segments of the membership. One such segment has broken away to become Corallian. We intend to complement, not compete. Being independent, Corallian will be more accessible to people who didn't / don't want to join CUK.

I misunderstood, I thought one was replacing the other. I'm lucky that my interests are well covered locally by either CTC groups or Audax rides, so much of it there isn't time to do all of it I'd like.

if you want some insight as to what we have underpinning, let me know. If you're not an IT guy, it might hurt your head a bit though!

Yes please. I look after our website, but I think the time has come when we need some outside help. I'll PM you an email address.

[Barred1]

"GET OUR CLUB BACK" is a phrase that seems to keep arising in posts by some longterm forum members, not CTC Ltd Members, forum members.
There seems to be a great difference in these to groups in their approach.
I have met with ex members of CTC Ltd, at a high level, they said .... and discussed the current club / charity situation, and frankly am baffled ...

The fact that you are "baffled" is perhaps the nub of the whole issue - from your earlier post at 9.44 you seem to be supporting CTC/CUK by just going with the flow but then criticising it in the same breath - and saying you don't know how it runs ..... your position and comments baffle me.

B1

[thirdcrank]

... Sorry tc - the chairman, David Cox is retiring/resigning. It is he that I refer to as 'captain of the ship'. It's all in 'Cycle'. He probably feels that it's a job well done and that he needs a rest. Personally I've not liked it all, but I do wish he'd stayed to deal with it if it doesn't all work out.

And I'm sorry to return to this bit but I thought I'd already posted that a cox isn't the captain of a ship - the Titanic or otherwise. Think "rowing boat" think "coxless sculls." Think of creeks and paddles.