Join the Club
Clubs are the backbone of the cycling scene and community, and an invaluable source of knowledge and advice that can help you improve as a bike rider.
Right now during COVID times, we are taking applications via email and can always meet over Zoom to get to know our new rider applications.
Here’s why you should club together.
Meet like-minded riders
Clubs have personalities so finding one that matches your interests is a great way to meet like-minded riders. Our club is centered on racing and training hard over the winter months.
New roads and routes
Fed up of repeating the same old rides every time? There are plenty of Strava routes that can help you find a new ride.
Club ride leaders are expected to keep a ride on suitable roads, which means knowing the back lanes and quieter B roads, so a clubrun is a great way to add to your repertoire of rides and get a feel for an area.
Coffee Time
Every good clubrun includes a cafe stop. That makes social club rides a great way to find out who does the best lemon drizzle cake among the cafes within riding range.
Racing
Racing is the backbone and makeup of this team. This club has been in existence for over 14 years. There are many riders on this club with over 20 years of racing experience that can help teach and mentor new riders joining the team. We accept all riders on our team whether they are new to the sport or have been racing for a long time. Our goal is to help guide you and coach you to become a better rider, learn how to handle your bike at speeds and in group rides.
Companionship
You might like riding alone, and that’s fine, but club rides give you the chance to chat while you whizz along, and they’re one of those rare social situations where you won’t be considered odd for wittering on about bikes.
Being in a group is also invaluable if things go wrong. You should have spares, tools, food and drink with you anyway, but if you suffer a significant mechanical the chances are there’ll be someone in the group to fix it.
We have a policy that no rider is left behind on club rides. Fitter riders might get a bit frisky on hills, but they’ll wait for the group to reassemble at the top. If you’ve over-reached a bit, and the ride turns out to be further than you can manage comfortably, you’ll get help in the form of a wheel to follow or even a helping hand up hills.
Training
As mentioned above, our club run training sessions. These can be a high-speed on-road ‘group pace lines’; more structured sessions on an off-highway circuit; or a room full of turbo trainers at a gym or community centre. Nowadays we are also competing in Zwift races too.
Being able to tap into coaching expertise is a big advantage of a club, whether your aim is to get into racing. Moving up categories should be one of your goals you want to achieve when joining at team.
Skill building
Riding with a club is a good way to learn useful road skills. It’s a bit circular, as they’re mostly the skills you need to ride in a group, such as warning of hazards and following a wheel, but anything that teaches you finer bike control is a good thing.
Discounts
Our clubs offers various types of discounts to riders who join us. Discounts vary depending on the products that are available to the team. We support the sponsors who support our team. Bikes can be purchased from our local bike shop Edge & Spoke. Other cycling manufacturer discounts apply once joining the team.