Cycling UK Forum

Moderator note: this thread was copied from viewtopic.php?f=22&p=1059637#p1059637
Please use this thread for discussions about clarificaiton of requirements or membership for the CTC Tours

CTC Tours (which are part of Cycling UK) have spaces on the May and September LEJoG tours. The tours are aimed at those who wish to do it in comfort with a bit of luxury along the way.

Dates are 12-31 May and 1-20 September The itinerary, info and booking forms for May are available at http://www.ctctours.co.uk or http://www.2cycle2.co.uk

The September tour's paperwork will be available in late November or early December.

.....

Again full details and the booking forms can be found at http://www.ctctours.co.uk or http://www.2cycle2.co.uk

CTC Tours are open to members of Cycling UK and national organisations that are ECF members.

Since this is a public forum please note that CTC Tours are open only to members of Cycling UK or of national organisations that are members of the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF).

Thanks for pointing that out.

Anyone can join Cycling UK and come on a CTC tour. We get people from all over the world on the tours, though the majority are British.

gaz wrote:Since this is a public forum please note that CTC Tours are open only to members of Cycling UK or of national organisations that are members of the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF).

There doesn't seem to be anything obvious on the website to that effect - only when you get as far as downloading a booking form & reading the small print at the end. I think that is an omission & it should be clearer before you get to that stage.

The site could also do with some proof reading - the tour I clicked on, to see if membership was mentioned further on in the process - "Easter/Tulip Time in Holland, Cycle & Cruise" (ref 1702) says it is in April on the webpage but May when you open/download the prospectus (& that incidentally doesn't mention the need to be a member either as far as I've seen). I've emailed to point this discrepancy out to the tour leaders.

gaz wrote:Since this is a public forum please note that CTC Tours are open only to members of Cycling UK or of national organisations that are members of the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF).

And yet it's not listed as a Member Benefit as far as I can see
http://www.cyclinguk.org/membership/member-benefits

Yes those are fair comments.

It might be better to add membership to the price of a tour and apply a reduction for members. This has been suggested several times but admin difficulties at the CUK end have seemed insurmountable.

The redesign of the main website with the change from CTC to Cycling UK seems to part of the reason CTC Tours have become low profile and are not mentioned as a member's benefit.

We are hoping things may change in the next year.

Halchemy wrote:Yes those are fair comments.

It might be better to add membership to the price of a tour and apply a reduction for members. This has been suggested several times but admin difficulties at the CUK end have seemed insurmountable. ....

You would still have to make it clear that going on a tour also makes you a member of CTC/CUK - something some might not want to do (e.g. disagreements with the direction the organisation is takin, the way the organisation is run, way the organisation makes staff redundant, many possible reasons). So you'd still need to make it clear that the membership is a requirement and included in the cost.

Ian

Whichever way it might be done, you could simply add the sentence from the booking form - "Tours are open only to members of Cycling UK or of national organisations that are members of the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF)." (& maybe a link to the joining page) - somewhere on the CTC Cycling Holidays front page, maybe under "CTC Cycling Holidays is different" (should that be "are" rather than "is" as the next paragraph opens with "We..."?).

Then non-members know from the off that they have to join to participate rather than browsing, finding something of interest, getting to the small print on page 4 of the booking form and then being disappointed or facing increased cost, & in the case of cheaper trips a significant percentage increase.

Is this a new requirement? I had presumed the charityness of Cycling UK would mean they are discouraged from requiring membership for the holidays?

IIRC membership to take part in a CTC Tours holiday is not a new requirement, it was ever thus.

CTC Cycling Holidays is a trading name of CTC Cycling Holidays & Tours Ltd*, a separate legal entity from the Cyclists' Touring Club Limited which is the Charity. The trading activities of CTC Cycling Holidays cannot be conducted by the Charity directly.

* A wholly owned subsidary of Cyclists' Touring Club Ltd since 2000. CTC's Trustees appoint the directors of CTC Cycling Holidays & Tours Ltd. The directors will decide if any change of the CTC/ECF membership rule is required (I have no reason to believe that they will), there are no members to consult.

Edit: My thanks to Vorpal for separating out the discussion from the original thread which was simply an advert for the tour.

Halchemy wrote:Yes those are fair comments.

It might be better to add membership to the price of a tour and apply a reduction for members. This has been suggested several times but admin difficulties at the CUK end have seemed insurmountable.

The redesign of the main website with the change from CTC to Cycling UK seems to part of the reason CTC Tours have become low profile and are not mentioned as a member's benefit.

We are hoping things may change in the next year.
(My emphasis.)

Now that this thread has been split, I feel free to note that the painting of the Forth Bridge continues as normal.

What would be the cheapest way of being 'member-y' enough to qualify to join a CTC tour?

SA_SA_SA wrote:What would be the cheapest way of being 'member-y' enough to qualify to join a CTC tour?

Good question.

Let's assume you don't qualify for any concessionary rates (student, senior, etc.) Does being an individual affiliate member count? If so, find a CUK-affiliated club or organisation with a cheap membership fee and join it. (E.g. Heart of England CC currently £1; Cycle Sheffield £7.) Then apply via that club for CUK individual affiliate membership: full price currently £24.

Most ECF member organisations are national umbrella groups for cycle campaigning, so don't offer individual membership schemes. However I notice that Sustrans is an ECF member. You can become a registered Sustrans 'Supporter' by signing up to pay any monthly amount (no matter how small) to Sustrans by direct debit. By doing so, Sustrans says you receive a number of supporter benefits. Does that qualify you to go on a CTC tour? Anyone tried it?

Cycling UK are a "Full Member" of ECF.

Sustrans are an "Associate Member" of ECF.

The categories are defined here. Since Sustrans are not a "Full Member" I am doubtful that being a Sustrans supporter would qualify in terms of CTC Tours.

Just to muddy the waters the entry for Cycle Nation does not declare a membership category .

Why would they care between associate and full ECF membership?