Club Run Riding: Complaint

[jon avery]

[quote="marco"]Jon we never had a single route before, its a recent thing to get beginners comfortable but its gone too far now and I think it is stifling certain areas of the club.

[Dan_K]

I'm not often able to ride a Saturday club run so a Sunday run would be really good.
I'd be willing to lead some rides too. Would I need to be a VC for this? If so, how do I become one and what's involved?

[Dombo]

[quote="Sean Hogan"]Marco. How will our CRC ever find out as he never surfs the virtual badlands we all know & love as the forum.

[Dan_K]

[quote="Sean Hogan"]Speaking up is not encouraged amongst VCs, or so I've heard.

[Snoop Doug]

[quote="Antloony"]Perhaps if the time keeping was of a higher standard the groups could be sent off with a little bit more time inbetween them. I think were up to a 9.30 average now before the TG gets away. Surprising how much more traffic there is at this time as apposed to 9.00.

Food for thought maybe? Though judging by the efforts in the past to get back in line with the advertised start time is nigh on impossible to get people there on time.

[Snoop Doug]

[quote="marco"]Nice one Dan, not sure what the protocol is because Alboy recently offered his services to our CRC and was rebuffed which is a shame as he has a lot of solid riding knowledge from being schooled in traditional bike clubs during the 80s and 90s and isn't afraid to speak up.

[Jon C C on a Bianchi]

you don't need to be a VC to get more involved with the club, just do it, problem is that we need VCs that can ride with the faster groups, a lot of our VCs do the 15,16 and 17s, I'm not a VC,

[Marcus]

Jon you missed some out........

[Alan M]

It is always open to individuals to offer advice in the interest of safety

[Jon C C on a Bianchi]

[quote="Marcus"]Jon you missed some out........

[quote="Snoop Doug"][quote="Antloony"]Perhaps if the time keeping was of a higher standard the groups could be sent off with a little bit more time inbetween them. I think were up to a 9.30 average now before the TG gets away. Surprising how much more traffic there is at this time as apposed to 9.00.

Food for thought maybe? Though judging by the efforts in the past to get back in line with the advertised start time is nigh on impossible to get people there on time.

[Amy]

Ha, I'm surprised I'm still a VC, the number of times I've spoken up in the past. Still think the best way to get someone's attention would be a mass resignation of at least most of the VCs...

But Jon is right, you don't have to be a VC to get more involved and to make a contribution. I've made several suggestions for VCs especially the faster ones and, as Ant says, they didn't fit the criteria

I'm waiting till the next committee meeting to see what I do...

[Snoop Doug]

@Ant nice to hear from you bud, hey it's a shame and perhaps I should have said something sooner silence only compounds the problem probably. Trouble is, when too many people for very understandable reasons prefer to aim for conflict avoidance, that can leave the door open for other more dominant, even sometimes aggressive behaviour. It's a tough balance but when you have a group of people working voluntarily in support of an organisation, the balance and mood is very important. I have to take stress in the working environment, but not when I'm doing something where I'm giving my time (for me/my read anyone of course) gratis. So when these things begin to affect personal wellbeing it is time to step away. At least for a while eh.

@Alan it should be, but sadly that is simply not the case in ACC. Sad and true. According to British Cycling "The welfare officer is a confidential contact for anyone with any concerns about the welfare of club members." When I raised legitimate concerns regards timing and safety on behalf of members I was belittled. It was implied that because I personally did not attend club runs regularly, I was trying to stir this stuff up from a position of ignorance. I was encouraged to leave. And in no uncertain terms I was told to leave the running of the club run to others. All I did was raise the concerns of club members to committee in my capacity as welfare officer. Someone who did stand up for me was shouted down, quite literally. And in a public place too. I can't decide quite how to feel about that, shameful comes to mind.

Here's what I put in my April 2009 committee report. I don't know, maybe I could have worded this more diplomatically but to this day I don't think it warranted what followed. Judge for yourselves.

[quote]Safety

Numbers at CSS on Sat morning continue to be a concern to our members (and quite possibly Southern Railways and their customers by now). This is a nice problem to have don’t get me wrong, but we’re an accident (or argument) waiting to happen. We have a problem starting the club run on time. We publish departure times and then don’t stick to them. Almost without exception when I go to CSS I get there for 9 (as requested in the comms sent out) and there’s barely a handful of folk there. We then drift in and clog CSS up for a v long time. There’s lots of chat about this on the forum and v little of it is positive. In summary our members think why bother to turn up at 9; the club run train is never there at that time. One release valve for that is the growing number of alternative club runs heading off which may ease pressure. They will certainly be good for ACC in other ways as we’re seen out and about on different roads and spending in different cafés. Suggestion. In order to minimise disruption why don’t we consult with the members, would you like to kick off at 9, 9.15 or 9.30. See what the majority say and then go with it. This may feel awkward for a couple of weeks as we send groups off knowing more folk are yet to come but trust me, once people realise we’re a well oiled departure machine, they’ll get with it. We’ll be there less time, there’ll be less of us at any one time and the risk associated with clogging up CSS carpark will diminish. I did wonder if the club might want to make a donation to a charity approved by Southern too as a goodwill gesture?

[Jon H]

An example of four (and more) abreast riding from our website homepage:
[img]http://www.addiscombe.org/images/acc_group.jpg[/img]

Talk about shooting yourself in the foot

[Elliot M]

Hmm, good point...