[Jim Goldie]

I have read with interest some of the thoughts of the members above and on another thread. There are a number of great ideas coming forward from the membership and it is encouraging that members feel so passionate about the club and are willing to take some role in developing the club further.

I like the idea of linking cycling into a SQA framework, but this is not something the club should do, it is a role of Scottish Cycling (SC) or Cycling Scotland (CS), depending on the outcomes from any SQA award. When I worked in Glasgow as a Go-Ride Coach, I linked with some excellent schools to offer free in-school coaching, but the pay back was some buy in from the schools. We had a product, free coaching in the school, they would have to buy into the concept and commit to staff training or a development activity.

Whilst at SC, I produced a school’s booklet, which I may be able to get a hold of. This might give the club some idea of what can be offered. The problem with cycling is the number of products and development tools out there, the landscape is messy to say the least. It needs streamlining and made fit for purpose for FWCC.

There is an off-road circuit in Irvine, which is not used very often. I believe there is an active travel hub near to the circuit as well. This is a great opportunity to provide traffic free cycle coaching and skill building activities. The site does need some maintenance from NAC, but a great opportunity for the club.

Do we know if any schools have bikes?
The bikes do not need to be road bikes and to be honest cheaper MTBs are much better for in-school coaching. We have to remember that the bikes need to be robust, easily serviceable and take pupils over a variety of terrain. If schools do not have bikes, CS have some options around funding from time to time, which schools can apply for.

Is there a dedicated cycling officer in any of the three local authorities (LA)?
I mention all three LAs as we have a membership across all three LA areas. In order to make the connection and run any potential development programme, we would need professional support.
There are two cycling clubs in Scotland that have paid development officers, but this is not an easy task and certainly not something I would suggest for FWCC at this time. The way these paid posts are funded is via sportscotland Direct Club Investment in partnership with the club and at times the LA.

Led Rides
I joined FWCC to take part in the variety of rides every week, that has not happened so far due to the pandemic. If there is an option to work up what the club organised rides are and have dedicated ride leaders for each ride. This is all that is needed, a calendar, brief description and who is the lead rider for that ride.
The club is very diverse in what it offers, from the Sunday social to the Bun Run and Marine Drive crit, with everything in between.
I do not feel that we are far away from this, it is just the pandemic has led to some fractures in the delivery of the rides.

New Members
Over the summer months, when we could meet up, Mikey helped a couple of new riders integrate on club runs. This made for an enjoyable experience for the new riders and made them feel welcome from that start. This should be a blueprint for newbies, someone able to help support and take control on rides to ensure the newbie does not get spat out the back or left feeling rubbish about their experience at the club.
I was a new member and although I joined at the worst possible time, when the lockdown was eased, I was able to join group rides and really enjoyed the club spirit.

Constitution
I am not privy to the previous constitution, but I have read the current one and there is nothing out of the ordinary in it. The club in an Unincorporated Organisation, which means that any financial liability falls onto the committee and membership.
There are options to help avoid this, but they do take time and someone would have to help the club. The club could become a charity or a CASC, both help with the legal status of the club and provide some protection for the club committee. The downside is the paperwork that is needed to change the status. I have helped a boxing club become a charity during lockdown and they managed it in four months, but that was with help from me and an organisation that specialise in this area of work.

Writing a development plan is the easy part, actually being able to implement the plan is much harder. Most of the membership will have fulltime jobs, finding new volunteers is never easy, but it can be done. It is not a one man job, this is a big job, no matter how much or little the club decide to do.

Just to give you some context to what I have written above and my sports background.
I have been working in sports development for close to 20 years. I have worked with Scottish Athletics, Scottish Cycling, South Lanarkshire Leisure and I am currently employed by Glasgow Life.
I have worked with a wide variety of clubs, to help them develop, seek funding and provide guidance on club governance.
I am also a Level 2 Cycling Coach with Road and Time trial, BMX and Cyclocross add-ons.

I am happy to help, but like everyone I have a lot of commitments.

Apologies for the mind dump.

[Jim Goldie]

Tried to join the ride and it was saying there was a problem, has it been cancelled? Thanks

[Jim Goldie]

Sounds like a good plan to me, see you at 9.30 at loans

[Jim Goldie]

Hi Ross, 6.20 is the time they meet, I just got a message from Brian McCutcheon.

[Jim Goldie]

They leave Kilmaurs at 6.25 from the main street, near the cafe and chinese

[Jim Goldie]

I am awaiting confirmation from the Kilmaurs guys, but they should be there tonight. This will be the first night of steady riding at MD, makes a difference from chewing your bars and hanging on for dear life.

If the weather is good, it would be good to see a few members there and working together to keep the legs turning over.

[Jim Goldie]

This is the link to a short video of the decent after Moniaive on Saturday

[Jim Goldie]

I am all ready for a day out, got a pass.

Looking forward to my longest ride in a good number of years.

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