World Domination according to Keith Butler

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

[quote]MASTER PLAN

Working on the planned increase in membership of BC the figure of 100,000 would mean a proportional increase in the SE to about 13,000 over 5 years based on our present figure of 3466 out of a total of 26466 (i.e. about 13%). That means finding an additional 2600 members each year for 5 years. Can we do it? Is it possible?

If one considers that to the non-cyclist BC usually means ‘competition’
and that the CTC means ‘leisure riding’ and that the insurance cover that each supplies is very much the same we must concentrate on the ‘competition’ aspect to raise our membership.

Competition does not necessarily mean racing. Riding a distance is in itself a competition for many people therefore we must offer ‘competition’
at a much lower level. It also includes those other fun things we did when club riding. Hill climbs, freewheel competitions, map reading, speed judging to name but a few.

If the SKY people are hoping to involve people just riding bikes in and around local parks etc. then we must provide the next step.

There are 162 clubs and associations in the SE Region and each one of them must be prevailed upon to provide STANDARD routes on rides from a local focal point for distances from 10 to, say, 50 miles. These routes must take in local beauty spots and places of interest and take the more scenic and picturesque lanes. The routes must be printed and available in all local bike shops and libraries. They must be on the SKY website as well as that of the local gym, sports or cycling club. Each week one or more should appear in the local paper or ‘freebie’. There must be dozens of rides available but each route sheet must have the name of the local organisation and the address of BC.

The beauty of this part of the organisation is that once a number of routes have been surveyed and printed it is only a matter of reprinting on demand.

The next step will be to provide SPECIAL rides. This will be over a stated distance or taking in a difficult route over the local hills.
‘Bronze’ Certificates will be available to all who finish. ‘Silver’
Certificates can be awarded for those who complete the distance in a given reasonable time (say 12 mph) and ‘Gold’ Certificates for those who do a faster time (say 15 mph). With 160 clubs we ought to be able to provide 3 of these rides in various parts of the Region every weekend.

Every month, at least, there should be a ‘SPORTIF’, with medals or other rewards for those competing successfully. These can be awarded both on time and in age categories. These events should be over greater distances than the SPECIAL rides or at least harder terrain.

The success of the last two will depend very much on the marketing. Every communication avenue that the STANDARD routes utilised must also be used for them. Also they may attract some form of sponsorship as a large number of competitors could be expected. The Catford and other club attracted many hundreds to their, once called, reliability trials.

The entry to a number of Special rides (six?) would qualify a person for ‘free’ BC membership (to be built into the entry fee).

There is rather a lot of organisation here and this is where we need the assistant to Glyn. Sorting out routes is the easy bit. Co-ordinating clubs to organise events to make an understandable calendar will be difficult. However this must be in that person’s remit.

Setting out this pathway must lead to more participation and with it in place the idea can be ‘sold’ to many Councils who will be interested in providing events for their ‘keep fit’ programmes etc.

The next step is the provision of low-level competition. One must look at Inter-pub/school/club/firm/shop relays – a one lap round the houses event on roads closed by the local council as apart of a Fun day or carnival for example. We must try Exhibition races by groups of local riders with ‘come-and-try-it’ races over short distances with the minimum of officialdom for the locals. Have helmet, have bike – race!

We also need to use our existing facilities for more frequently. For example there should be at least two events at Crystal Palace each week with the second session being devoted purely to a single (4th) category or a Junior/Youth/Ladies evening. In each case some Elite or 1st category riders who have a leaning towards coaching should be riding with the field to give advice.

The easiest events to organise are time-trials either round the houses or place to place with categories of gender and age to give a wide spread of awards. To the established racing man/women cash prizes are expected and in many cases preferred but with new comers to the sport the accent should be on provide awards whether they be medals, certificates or trophies.

We could instigate swards similar to those of Audax UK where one gets one point for every mile covered in certain events. The more events the more points.

How much use do our existing BMX, Speedway or MTB permanent courses have and can their use be increased without damaging the facilities? How long does it take to plan and build a BMX track. Speedway circuit or closed road racing circuit? How much does it cost? These are questions that need to be addressed but I think we will find that if we can continue to attract more and more people to our sport the authorities will find the money.

As an aside, but one that should not be dismissed out of hand, is the attraction of local councillors and MPs into our sport. Before the First World War it was considered quite normal for these people to be invited to become ‘Vice-presidents’ or ‘Patrons’. Politicians understand the kudos that our track teams have given to our sport, as they all want to get on a promotional bandwagon, as it is good for their image. Many will be of great use if we need to badger councils into awarding us land and/or money for new facilities.

These are thoughts quickly jotted down following our meeting last Friday.
They can be improved and expanded but they do show that we must have a man in office whose sole responsibility is the implementation of this ’plan’
working with but not necessarily under the RCA.

Think on these things and churn them about at the next Board meeting.

Keith Butler

[George]

Yes speaking to Keith down at Charlwood on Saturday morning, he suggested it would be a great idea for Addiscombe to run a club reliability ride.

I totally agree with this and am offering to hep with the organisation of such an event.

We have so many members that would love to do this, its the next step up from just social clubruns.

May encourage a few people to dip their toe into something a little more competitive.

A route card would be given to each rider and on completion each rider would receive a certificate for their acheivement.

The event at first would be open to just ACC members and could be in either July or August.

[Snoop Doug]

[quote="George"]Yes speaking to Keith down at Charlwood on Saturday morning, he suggested it would be a great idea for Addiscombe to run a club reliability ride.

I totally agree with this and am offering to hep with the organisation of such an event.

We have so many members that would love to do this, its the next step up from just social clubruns.

May encourage a few people to dip their toe into something a little more competitive.

A route card would be given to each rider and on completion each rider would receive a certificate for their acheivement.

The event at first would be open to just ACC members and could be in either July or August.

[Snoop Doug]

[quote="marco"]I havent had time to read all of Keith's plans yet but here's something that I think would help

Cat 5 racing.

First 5 races of a persons racing career is category 5. If they come in the top 20% then they are automatically moved up to Cat4. If not then they stay in Cat5 for the rest of the 5 races, then move up to Cat4 automatically.

This way people's first races are done in smaller, slower, probably more fragmented groups. There's less chance they will get dropped and more chance they will get hooked. Think of it as racing for people of our J4f and 15s Saturday groups.

And yes Im only suggesting this because I can't think of other reasons why people would want to join BC rather than for racing (CTC / LCC seem to cater for everything else already). One way of getting more people into racing is by lowering the entry bar.

[Tony]

Taking a big step back first....why the desire for a massive increase in Membership? Where's this all going and is it some place we want to go? Isn't the drive for endless growth (or at least the perception of endless growth) best left to the workplace / politicians?

I'm all for more opportunities for people to enjoy more time on their bike....but the post below suggests to me that BC's objective is numbers first and then thinking about how to achieve them rather than providing opportunities for people to enjoy their leisure time on a bike.

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

Tony,
You have hit the nail firmly on the head.

It is, at the end of the day down to cash - funding for our wonderful sport. Sport England have changed the goalposts from "medals" to "bums on bikes" and this is being driven form the top down by......you've got it....politicians.....who can point and say "look at how healthy the nation is now that we've all scrapped our cars and go everywhere by bike".

Agree or disagree with the philosphy of the "numbers game", that is the reality, and if BC come up with the goods, will be handsomely rewarded - with enough cash to run a Tour de France team I would guess.

As I represent ACC and the cycling world on the BC SE Board, comments such as yours are invaluable feedback, so keep em coming (good or bad) and I'll pass em on.

[Jon H]

I know this may be a bit radical, and I don't want to be labelled as a trouble-maker, but how about one unified body to represent cycling and cyclists in the UK?

[George]

[quote="Tony"]Taking a big step back first....why the desire for a massive increase in Membership? Where's this all going and is it some place we want to go? Isn't the drive for endless growth (or at least the perception of endless growth) best left to the workplace / politicians?

I'm all for more opportunities for people to enjoy more time on their bike....but the post below suggests to me that BC's objective is numbers first and then thinking about how to achieve them rather than providing opportunities for people to enjoy their leisure time on a bike.

[-Adam-]

[quote="mrP(Boonen)VT"]handsomely rewarded - with enough cash to run a Tour de France team I would guess.

[Ivor]

[quote="marco"]Cat 5 racing.

First 5 races of a persons racing career is category 5. If they come in the top 20% then they are automatically moved up to Cat4. If not then they stay in Cat5 for the rest of the 5 races, then move up to Cat4 automatically.

[Michelle]

Re: Cat 5 racing.
Would it be a good idea to run training camps before the Cat 5 races? This is because the standard of Cat 4 bike handling can be so bl**dy appalling. So it would mean that those who come along who don't ride much in a group, would start to get the feel of it, and would be less of a liability for those who are used to group riding.

And you can only progress to the race if you have done your training session beforehand.

We did some of this at the Womens Team Series training day in March, even though I am used to riding in a group, some of the skills were really useful, and also it meant you could pass on your skills to others if you were better than them, or the other way round if you were worse than then.

I know it's not an idea to get bums on seats, but it's an idea to make the 4th cat races a bit safer.

[quote="-Adam-"][quote="mrP(Boonen)VT"]handsomely rewarded - with enough cash to run a Tour de France team I would guess.