Club Captain Manifestos

AMY ROBINSON

My aims as Captain is to bring everyone together as a club – club run, alternatives and TG – to interact and gain an understanding of each others activities and to encourage more members to help in running the club and its events.

Hi, I’m hoping most of you already know me as one of the Vice-Captains and that I’ve been helping organise the Saturday club run for many years now. For quite a few of you, I’ll have been one of the first people in the club you’ve spoken to when you came along for your first ride! Anyway, Captain Jon is standing down this year and I’d offered to take over given that I’ve been doing most of the work of late as you may have noticed.

I’ve been cycling from a very early age with my Dad on the tandem and with the CTC. For my Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award, I trained schoolchildren in cycling proficiency.

I would also like to ensure that everyone stays as safe as possible by adhering to the club code of conduct – a well-disciplined group is like a properly oiled bike – it just feels so much better as well as safer for all involved. Apart from keeping the club run organised and maintaining the agreeable nature of the club, I would really like to help encourage members to try out some of the different aspects of cycling such as racing, time-trials, hill-climbs, sportives, cyclo-cross and reliability rides or to just come along and watch and support those who do such events.

I would also like to have more sociable activities organised for people to go to and meet others from different groups across the club. I won’t be able to do all of this on my own so I would love for more people to step up and help so that no one is too burdened.

We do currently have vacancies for a social secretary and a sportives secretary so if anyone is interested, do put your name forward and get others to help you. I’d also like to re-instigate the Isle of Wight trip in the autumn. Maybe I’ll even get a few of you into touring! Easter breaks anyone (2 days riding somewhere, 2 days there and 2 days back)?

So please come along to the club AGM and vote!

PAUL HONE

Key Objectives

• Represent the club’s interests with the relevant authorities & organisations.
• Be a supportive leader for all club members
• Promote and encourage safe & enjoyable cycling for all abilities
• Increase participation in club events and activities
• Promote and support cycle racing
• Win the Tour de France

Why Me

Hello All. I am the VC for the Training Group and have been a member of Addiscombe for about 15 years. I have participated in various sports over the years and started cycling regularly in my older age. I still race but do not take it particularly seriously as I did with other sports when younger. My main priority these days is to enjoy my riding.

I decided to apply for Club Captain as I feel I would make an effective leader and motivator for all club members. I have assisted and mentored many riders in the TG and would like to share my experience with all members. I am looking forward to welcoming new members, helping all to ride safely and achieve their personal objectives – this could be just to enjoy a 17mph Saturday ride once week, or to somebody who wishes to progress into racing.

Our club run is currently one of the best in the country thanks to Jon et al and I believe in a “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” policy so I do not intend to make any major changes to our Saturday ride. For some, it makes sense to use the same route while others may prefer alternative rides and I believe we should have both options available so riders can choose whatever they prefer. Cycling is an all weathers activity and I would like to encourage more participation over the winter – remember “there’s no such thing as bad weather only bad clothing”. Rider safety is important to me and I would like to collect more information about any incidents we have on our rides so we all can learn lessons and reduce the risk of further events. We only have one official ride on Sunday and I would like this increased so people have additional options.

We have a healthy membership of about 300 members but only a handful of members are involved in running the club. I appreciate most of us are too busy these days to attend AGM’s/Committee meetings and its not the way things happen in this digital age. While the committee will always make the final decision, I would like all members to have their say on the direction of the club and if elected, I will send out a survey questionnaire to find out what matters to you. Questions would include club ride format, safety, racing, club kit, social activities, cycle trip etc.

The club is more about the Saturday ride and runs a number of activities during the year. We run member only Time Trials and Circuit Races which riders of any standard can participate in. I would like to see more entries in these events and have a number of ideas to share with the organisers to make them more appealing to all. Sportives are very popular these days and it was good to see a number of members at “Big Tim’s day out” I would like the club to target a sportive next year and would hope to get a discount if we enter on mass. I would also like to see the return of the annual dinner in some format.

There is a new school being built near Lloyd Park in Croydon which will have a new cycle circuit and would make an excellent facility for the club to use. The Headmaster has approached the club and expressed an interested in working with ACC with using the track. I have met the Headmaster and have kept in touch and he will keep me informed on progress. I would like to investigate the possibility of creating a youth development team. We all know that Geraint Thomas started riding for a local club in Cardiff and went on to winning the Tour de France. Croydon has a larger population than Cardiff so it is not unreasonable to think there is a potential Tour winner out there waiting to join Addiscombe :).

Sporting Achievements

If you would like to have your say about the future of the club, please come to the AGM on the 5^th.

See you on the road