AGM News and 2015 Look Forward

Monday saw the club Annual General Meeting. It's an opportunity for the committee members to report back to the club on how things have gone in 2014 and give an idea of what we might be doing in 2015. Here's a flavour of some of the reports given.

Club Captain (James Hughes) - Club captains role is to encourage and support participation within the club.

In 2014 we saw a return to club related activities. The club run remains the main focus for riders, providing a sociable work out for the varying levels within the club. Recently we've tried to put in organised training such as group TT efforts on the Horne Circuit, and Hill Reps on the Slines Oak circuit. These have proved popular and we will be looking to develop these ideas in 2015. As always new riders are catered for.

Both the summer Bletchingly series, and spring / autumn Crowhurst series were well attended last year. Over recent years these two series's of road bike Time-trials on short sporting courses, each with a social element have come to epitomise what we're doing as a club.

2015 - My Intentions are to get everyone to try something new..... Encourage open TT entries, finding suitable events. Join those that want to road race / track.

Please download the 2015 diary, print three copies; One for work, One for home, and one to attach to your loved one... so they know that you'll be out riding your bike on those days.

Club Social Secretary (Darren Cavanagh)

On the whole I would say 2014 was a successful year for the Bec CC, not only did we turn 90 but we did so with new members, a new social venue, the best Bec Hill Climb and also more riders attending club runs.

The aim of the club in terms of memberships, social events and general feel is always to remain a club with an amount of intimacy where you know each member and can rely on your club mates for encouragement and support if & when you decide to turn to racing.

Furthermore if you want to come along and get fit without being a racer the club runs should reflect the ability to never feel out of place. Of course the club runs have been split a few times this year to ‘faster’ & ‘slower’ groups but with more regular riders this area can continue to grow & develop; the club run is our single largest source of rider enquiry to the club, this is the area to turn enquiries to memberships.

Club BBQ

Thanks to Keith Butler for stepping in at the last minute due to James’s late building works, I’m sure James will step up for 2015!

I’d personally like to see us get a better attendance this year, 2013 was an OK turn out but some disruption we had a lower 2014 turnout. Next Proposed Date Sunday the 19th of July

Club Socials

The club social evenings at the new location of The Crown & Sceptre seem to be going well, the reserved area works and for those coming straight from work the food is reasonable too. The quiz starts at 9pm so meeting at 7pm gives us time to have a natter with the quiz being a welcomed bit of fun. I would suggest that we continue in the same vein for 2015.

Club Rides

With 2015 upon us we have some key ‘social’ or ‘charity’ rides ahead, none-larger than Flanders. With that taking care of winter training I thought it may be worth thinking about the Canterbury 100 as emailed or maybe a late summer trip to do the Yorkshire section of the Tour De France; one to discuss at the Social nights.

The new member rides seem to be one of the successes to the increase of members in 2015 and again I would suggest we keep these going on a monthly basis, maybe moving towards them being lap one of a longer ride for members who would like some faster mileage in their legs throughout the season.

What Next in 2015

Along with all of the great things we have been up to in our 90th year (and long may they continue) I’d like to introduce some new areas of ‘social engagement’ for 2015 that will help us get and retain new members, here are a few ideas

GB Poster 

The guys at GB Cycles have asked us if we’d like to put up a poster in the store, it’s a great idea as it’s our regular meeting place and don’t forget members get 10% discount!

121 sessions

I’ve done a few of these mid-week runs with people who aren’t sure if they are ready to join a club and on balance they’ve worked well, in some occasions it’s given people they enthusiasm to join and in some cases they have decided to get some more mileage in first, either way a great opportunity to bring along new people

Facebook

Coming soon….. A Facebook site that updates in line with the twitter account knitting all of our social media efforts together

Bike Night

As the summer rolls on and it remains lighter it would be great to do some evenings where a few of us can get together with anyone who’s bike needs a service, tweak or even just a good old clean (James!). I think of this as a ‘how to look after your bike 101’ where we can help people on their journeys of upgrades and better bikes, all with takeaway Pizza and a beer!

Looking forward to our 91st year at the Bec Cycling Club and really do think we can get a few more riding members this year whilst retaining that family feel.

Bring on Flanders!

Darron Cavanagh

26th of January 2015