brendan and i had a meeting today with the ceo of cycling wa chris thompson and the development officer toby hodgson, about the possibility of setting up a cycle club.  as most of you know it is something we have been toying with for a while but we really didn’t have the numbers of people racing to make it worthwhile.  however, the last race of the season at joondalup and the response that lorriane has received for the upcoming pemberton race, has seen such a high level of interest that we thought we should act.

so some info to keep everyone up to speed.

why become a club???

initially it is because we have so many people racing that we thought that we should have some support behind them in an official manner.  to get a racing licence you have to join a club.  why not join our club instead, because at least you know where the club fees are going.  it also gives some structure behind who we are and what we want to achieve.  we will be setting to goals and objectives for what we want to do as a club.  these will be broadly aimed at allowing a pathway for people to make the step from casual weekend cyclist to a proper road racer.  how we develop these things will be not up to me, but up to the club.  another reason is so that the group has more than just one person running the show.  i appreciate the support that many of you have given me over the last year, but as you all know, i will not be in perth forever, so this gives us a succession plan.

what will change???

the saturday and sunday and thursday and public holiday rides will not change in their format or intent.  however, what we will be looking at is some form of club fee and licence to protect us in the event of an accident.  this “us” is both the rider (with personal insurance) and the club (with public liability).  we are working with cycling wa at the moment to table just what your options are as far as cost and benefits.  as part of our objectives, this licence will also help those people take the next step to participate in some of the low key races as a stepping stone to bigger things. 

so i don’t want to race, what about me???

well, we cannot force anyone to join the club, and i am loathe to stop anyone from riding with us just because they haven’t joined.  however, we will be continuing the social events that we started last year and will be running them as club activities.  if the aforementioned cost/benefit paper still doesn’t do it for you, then we will have to see what we as a club can do for you as you know that my goal has always been to get people on the bike.

what do we do now???

well, if you want to get involved, our next step is to write a constitution and an example can be found here.  i will be having a go at drafting one and will post it for comment as soon as possible.  we then need to hold an agm to elect office bearers.  there will be six positions – president, secretary, treasurer and three committee members who will hold various roles (marketing, event organising, team manager, etc).  the agm will be at the coffee shop after the saturday ride on jan 24th.  i know that it is a long weekend, but we need to have this done asap so we can get the club affiliated with cycling wa and give our riders a club to join.  for those that have already joined a club, we will look at the possibility of changing after we have set ours up.

so, if you want to be involved let me know, by sending me an e-mail.  also, we will need nominations for the office bearers roles before we can vote at the agm.  please send in your nominations via e-mail. 

please don’t let this just pass by, it gives everyone a good opportunity to become involved in how we set up and run a club.  if you have any concerns, or feel that we are heading in the wrong direction, please get in contact with me so we can see what we can do for you.