How do you arrange club spins

yop

Folks
We had our AGM last night and a point that came up was the organising of club spins, mainly on Sundays but Wednesdays were also an issue.
How do you lads organise yours, taking into account time of year and weather.

What appeared to be an issue on the Sunday spin was that the majority turned up Sunday morning and it was down to 1 or 2 of the more senior lads to determine the direction and distance. The point was made that some days this can be 70k or other days it could be 100-120 km and that people were without enough food or the wife/husband weren't told (for those single lads, you need to keep the wife updated on your ETA!!! ).
It was argued that its sometimes down to the weather, you wouldn't do 100k+ on a bad windy day for safety reasons etc.

So how do plan and organise routes/distance etc. Do you set a provisional route a week/day in advance and then change it based on conditions.

Also on a Wednesday night what turned out to be 2 groups of 10/15 riders heading on the same route, we had got to 60 people turning up.
Again what is the approach here.

Sorry for daft questions, but just trying to get an idea of what others do.

Borderfox

Two groups

QueensGael

Assign designated routes, distances and leaders (existing members) ahead of time. That way it's not left to the same senior people each time, and everyone gets an idea of what it's like to share the load of club work.

Orwell does this - probably more than what's needed for a smaller club, but should give you an idea of how to organise it. It takes a bit of time, but once you get this up and running it runs itself for the most part.

yop

QueensGael wrote: »

Assign designated routes, distances and leaders (existing members) ahead of time. That way it's not left to the same senior people each time, and everyone gets an idea of what it's like to share the load of club work.

Orwell does this - probably more than what's needed for a smaller club, but should give you an idea of how to organise it. It takes a bit of time, but once you get this up and running it runs itself for the most part.

Excellent. Could I take a copy of that if that is ok and customise it for our club. If not no problem at all.

99 senior members and 28 juniors registered last year and probably increase that by 10% this year, think its time for us to formalize this and that would work a treat.

QueensGael

I don't own the doc, but you can make a copy and customise for your club. Enjoy

yop

QueensGael wrote: »

I don't own the doc, but you can make a copy and customise for your club. Enjoy

Appreciate that.

Hi Ho

Might get some ideas here - http://www.a1coaching.net/time-assess-sunday-group-ride/

seamus

Orwell have basically put their entire logic/process around spins onto the website:
http://www.orwellwheelers.org/sunday-spins/spins-group-leaders

As QueensGael says, once you have the routes and the designated leaders organised well ahead of time, it pretty much runs itself.

The main issues which crop up on the day are large groups - 15 is the biggest group that should ever go out on the road - and not having enough leaders. If you find yourself with loads of groups and not enough leaders, split the groups by skill/experience. Faster groups are expected to be able to ride without any kind of leader, and a couple of more experienced riders are each asked to take the lead of a junior group.

The routes themselves aren't hard-and-fast but should be stuck to where possible. People may have planned on a certain route and time, so if the group leader decides to make it up as he goes along, it can cause confusion.
But obviously where conditions dictate, routes can be changed or shortened. I remember being in a group ride at this time in 2010 that was planned to go from Dundrum-Glencullen-SallyGap-Manor Kilbride-Brittas. As we came across from Glencullen, a bitter wind and driving sleet descended upon us and we were drenched and freezing by the time we got to viewpoint. At that point we made the decision to abandon the spin; a couple of guys decided to bull on but the majority of us made our way home.

Beasty

QueensGael wrote: »

I don't own the doc

We used to, but managed to get "a new club" to take him off our hands....:pac:

youtheman

All our club spins are arranged via Facebook. The route is planned and stored on www.ridewithgps.com and a link put up on the 'Events' page on Facebook. If you have a GPS then you can download the route directly onto your device. People are asked to 'Join' the event so that we know how many are turning up. In the Events section on FB the route is described, where we are going to stop, what the average speed will be, and any other relevant information.

We use www.yr.no for a good weather forecast.

martyc5674

youtheman wrote: »

All our club spins are arranged via Facebook. The route is planned and stored on www.ridewithgps.com and a link put up on the 'Events' page on Facebook. If you have a GPS then you can download the route directly onto your device. People are asked to 'Join' the event so that we know how many are turning up. In the Events section on FB the route is described, where we are going to stop, what the average speed will be, and any other relevant information.

We use www.yr.no for a good weather forecast.

What if you have members with an aversion to joining face book? (me for example!!)

youtheman

martyc5674 wrote: »

What if you have members with an aversion to joining face book? (me for example!!)

You just get your young child to show you how to use it...!!!!.

Must admit that I have a FB page for the sole purpose of managing my cycling activities.

bedirect

have a look a Met Eireann 5 day forecast on a Thursday. its usually fairly accurate for Sundays weather. so plan your distance accordingly

dancrowley

martyc5674 wrote: »

What if you have members with an aversion to joining face book? (me for example!!)

We have a similar situation here, but we've found a way around it via using WhatsApp groups. If they're totally against having a facebook page, but want to stay in the loop, then this is the next best thing, i think.

yop

dancrowley wrote: »

We have a similar situation here, but we've found a way around it via using WhatsApp groups. If they're totally against having a facebook page, but want to stay in the loop, then this is the next best thing, i think.

Thats a good idea also.

I changed the excel sheet kindly provided by QueensGael and presented to the main people in the club and they seem very happy with it.

I'll also put up the idea of WhatsApp thanks.

I think a link to the excel file off our FaceBook and club site should help no end.