No 19 : October 2004

Compiled, edited and largely written byMIKE HARRISON

Cycle Forth – who is it for?

1. For our 1000+ members, living in the triangle bounded by Lindisfarne, Dumfries and Edinburgh.

2. For all cyclists in that area to publicise the activities of the club, the services offered and to promote membership of the club.

It’s the Editor’s view that too much of it is for members only, so here’s a bit about us for the non-members, and if members don’t recognise themselves then they need to look about a bit more.

What is CTC?

“The UK’s national cyclists’ organisation” is the official answer. As the text under the logo says, it is “Working for cycling”. It’s been doing this now for 126 years, so it should be good at it. It campaigns to make cycling possible and safe both on and off road for all types of users – utility, recreational and sport. There are now many cycle clubs which cater only for sport, and many campaigning groups which concentrate on facilities for utility cyclists. CTC works with them, not in opposition to them.

CTC is also a local organisation. Members form local groups (called “Member Groups”) with a local structure and local programmes of activities, events and campaigns*. In addition to the national (UK) and local (DA) structure, Scotland and Wales have for long had a national (country-based) management group. Now with the English regions being developed, Scotland and Wales have become the template for a UK-region-based grouping.

So structure: CTC – UK > CTC Scotland – Region > Lothians DA – local ‘club’.

Boring, boring, I’m not interested in history or administration, what do you actually DO?

Well, we ride cycles (mainly bicycles, but a few have three wheels). We ride as a group quite a lot – all day Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.

All 1000 members, three times a week?

No, not all members for 3 days a week, usually about 10-25 each time.

All day?

Well in winter it may be dawn to dusk – but the days are very short. We start at 10:00. Some will stay out until the cows come home, others will go for part of a ride and then cut off to get home to do other things. Weather will very occasionally kill off a ride completely, but the normal worst-case is – start off, go a few miles, dive into a café, then abandon. It’s almost unknown for no-one to make the effort to start out.

Where do you go?

Anywhere in the Lothians. Quite often straying into Scottish Borders (remember even Carlops is in Borders), Falkirk District, and crossing the bridge into Fife. Sometimes the destination is published in advance, more often it’s turn up and see what the leader has planned.

If you are not sure and want to try riding with us, phone or email one of the leaders to talk about it (see back page). They will advise and suggest which might be the best ride to try. If you are worried about our speed being faster than yours, don’t – we will adjust to you (some may secretly be hoping that you will bring the speed down!).

Is riding bikes all you do?

You might think so, with the time some spend in the saddle, but we have members who work to make things better for cycling – some deal with technical things like cycle tracks and paths, cycle parking, cycles on trains, cycling to work and school. This usually involves working with or lobbying politicians and officials, often just getting them to “Think bike”. Some actually do practical things like improving paths and gates. Most of these involve people who belong to other organisations as well, so we have to work with them.

If I joined CTC, what would I get out of it?

CTC is a not-for-profit organisation, and I hope that you would also consider what you could put into it besides your money, but below is a quote from the website, which I hope answers the question:

CTC is the UK’s national cyclists’ organisation and has been protecting the rights of cyclists sine 1878. We are an independent voice because our funding comes form our members and supporters. This independence gives us the power to play the role of advisor at a local and national level, pressurising to preserve the cycle-friendly countryside and fight for cycle routes to open up access to the rest.

Some of our notable successes just recently have been:

• Trained 100 cycle trainers
• Prevent destruction of Bleasdale Area of Outstanding National Beauty
• Embarrassed Euro Car Parks for charging for cycling parking
• Influenced the creation of the Scottish Countryside Outdoor Access Code
• Helped to develop Greater Manchester’s pedestrian / cycle audit

We are a not-for-profit organisation that is funded through members of the public choosing to join us. In return for support we offer members:

• campaigning for safer cycling
• on & off-road route information
• local groups and national events
• 6 issues of Cycle magazine (worth £18)
• insurance, travel services & holiday providers
• £5m 3rd party liability insurance & cycling-related legal claims advice

Many members believe that the last two points alone justify the membership fee.

So how do I join?

Go to the national website (www.ctc.org.uk) with credit card in hand or phone 0870 873 0061, but come along and meet us at any of the rides or any other events listed in this newsletter.

* Footnote: The DAs may wax and wane, be created or die, depending on local enthusiasm, but every member of CTC is also a member of the local DA based purely on their address. So if the Lothians DA were to be disbanded CTC members with Lothians addresses would automatically be reassigned to an adjacent DA.

Secretary's Corner

AGM

The Lothians DA AGM will be on Monday 25th October at 19:30 in the Saughtonhall Community Association Hall. There’s seating there for about 60 people - that’s about 5% of the membership. It would be good to have standing room only. This is your one formal chance to have some say in the direction the DA takes and to define the remit of the committee for the coming year. Just ‘more of the same’ is a recipe for stagnation and decline. CTC is a club, and clubs exist because like-minded people get together with a common purpose. Touring and enjoyment of cycling may be the main one, but for 126 years CTC has also been a promotional and campaigning organisation. The social habits of our members are not the same as they were 30, 15 or even 5 years ago, and we need to be alert to this to match the needs and expectations of the members.

In particular, it is important for all Committees that there is a regular turnover of membership. The worst thing that can happen is for a committee to remain with the same members year after year. What usually happens then is that they all either retire (or die) at the same time, and the organisation is left with no guiding hand of experience. Some organisations prevent this with strict rules about maximum number of years of consecutive service. We don’t have any such rules, but it is important that we do continually bring new people into the management of the DA. As well as office-bearers (President/Chair, Secretary, Treasurer) we need general members of the Committee who can turn their hand to a range of unspecified but important jobs. Being a committee member is not over-taxing - there are meetings about once every two months, and members will be expected to volunteer to help with the running of some of our events.

A job which is more demanding in time is that of being a runs leader. Many say they could never lead a run, but they often under-estimate their abilities. We have been very fortunate for the last few years in having Finlay Cairns and Peter Martin who have led the Saturday and Wednesday runs respectively every week apart from times of holidays or illness. This regularity, more than the task of devising a route and shepherding the riders, is the demanding part, but the support for these runs from club members shows that it’s a formula which works. We argue a lot over rotating meeting places (Wed) versus fixed (Sat), fixed destinations (Wed) and unknown ones (Sat) – and I guess it’s the consistency of the standard of leading which has made these two rides successful.

Our problem comes with Sundays. Sure, we have a contact - someone people can phone to ask about Sunday rides, but for a year or two now we have not had a person who regularly actually leads the ride. We have experimented with shorter rides and easier rides (allegedly), rotating meeting places, fixed meeting places, earlier starts, later starts, joining with Spokes rides - you name it, we’ve done it! At the July Committee Meeting we decided to stick with the current arrangements for normal Sunday rides through this winter (i.e. 10:00 at the Usher Hall), but if you have ideas as to what we should do - come and tell us at the AGM. However, following on from some of the events of Bike Week this year, Anne Carter is providing a monthly ride for those who are not attracted to the traditional all-day or faster ride. While this might not suit many of our traditional club-group riders, it is an ideal opportunity for some. Even if you are a regular group rider, you may have friends you know who cycle, but are put off by what they think of as the demanding cycling you do. You might be able to persuade them to try this, or even come along one month with them. If you can do a bit of hand-holding they may be persuadable.

Zoller Trophy

Do you know a member who has served the DA well? The Zoller Trophy is awarded annually to a member who has given time and skills in the service of the DA. They do not have to be members of the committee, neither do nominations need to be made by members of the committee! Nominations need to be proposed and seconded, and a brief statement written and given to the Secretary by 30th September. A small group then selects from those nominated, but can’t do this unless you make some nominations.

Good news from Cycle Forums and Access forums:

• Midlothian is planning to upgrade part of the path between Rosewell and Penicuik
• The Smeaton Path will have its horse-track upgraded, and it is hoped to be able to do something with the Whitecraig section
• The amount of money that Edinburgh has for Cycling, Walking and Safer Streets will be £40,000 more in 2005 than in 2004.

Spokes Edinburgh Map

The print of the latest revision is a little behind schedule. For the future - you can all help to keep all the Spokes maps up to date. When you spot something which is wrong (whether it’s a longstanding error or somewhere where there have been changes) WRITE IT DOWN(!) and then tell Spokes either directly or via the DA Secretary. It’s much easier for the editors to have amendments as they are spotted than to try to gather them all in at once.

RUNS LEADERS urgently needed

We do need some leaders. Finlay is ‘retiring’ from leading the Saturday rides. The ideal would be someone who would lead every Saturday, the next best would be one or two who would make a regular commitment and would share the duties. The minimum would be someone who does attend regularly on Saturdays and who would be a contact and coordinator.

Volunteering to lead a run in advance is actually a lot easier than being pushed in to it at 10:05 while standing at the Commonwealth Pool realising that there is no leader present. Cycle Forth 12 (Sept 2001) had an article about what’s involved. Ask for a reprint of this if you are interested. Talk to David Easingwood-Wilson, Finlay Cairns or any member of the Committee if you could help.

Bike Week review

The August issue of Cycle Talk had a review of Lothian’s events in an attempt to tease out from other DAs reactions to promotional activities. We were disappointed at the low level of support which did not match either the effort or the money which the DA had put in to the organising of the events. As noted in the section in this newsletter about the AGM we do need to have an outreach programme, to seek out new members and to encourage participation by existing ones. We just haven’t got it quite right yet.

For sale.

One map and full details of National Cycle Route No. 7 Glasgow to Inverness. Half price £2.50 Telephone 01890818033 or e-mail alexmassie@supanet.com 

For the diary

Edinburgh’s image

Seen on Sunday August 15th - a group of about 15 young (mid-20s) Germans in South Queensferry by the High School all on touring bikes with 2 to 4 panniers each, heading towards Edinburgh. Presumably they were following the Route 1 signs. What kind of impression of our cycling facilities does this give them? The commuters between S.Q. and Edinburgh (and there are quite a number in each direction) struggling along this path in the dark - what do they think of our ‘facilities’? Are cyclists ‘road users’? We have fought the ban on cyclists using the A90 between the Burnshot Gate and the Echline junction since it was first proposed, both on grounds of principle and practicality. On August 24th we heard the decision - we seem to have lost as the ban is going to be implemented on safety grounds, but the good news is that it will not be implemented until improvements are made to the alternative route. Save the badgers Save the foxes - Save the bats - Save the cycle path Where have you seen these slogans? On the Roseburn Path. I can’t say anything about the badgers, foxes and bats, but cyclists and the cycle path are not threatened. A much more serious threat is the places where on-street running of the trams is forced by lack of space for a reserved track. This includes bits near Newhaven Harbour, Constitution Street, Leith Walk and Princes Street on Line 1. As far as the Roseburn Path is concerned, details are still to be worked out, but the ‘limits of deviation’ (the space in which the lines may be laid) will allow for a continuous pedestrian/cycle path, and three meetings have been held with t.i.e. and cyclists to resolve difficulties. The cyclists were Tony Grant, Sandy Scotland and Mike Harrison. If you want to hear from an expert, Hugh McClintock from Nottingham University is the guest speaker at the Autumn Spokes Public Meeting on November 25th - watch Spokes literature for venue information. Hopetoun- the last word After many setbacks the kissing gate at the Blue Gate has been modified (by the hands of Peter Hawkins) so that bikes will fit inside the box (though recumbent trikes will not - so that’s Mikes Thomas and Harrison left out in the cold!).

Scottish Outdoor Access Code

You will have kept reading about this in Cycle Talk as the Bill has been making progress through Parliament, and the implementation is starting soon. An important part is the role of the Local Access Forums (one for each District in Scotland). In our area Peter Hawkins is a member of the West Lothian and Edinburgh forums, Mike Harrison of the Midlothian one. What about East Lothian and Scottish Borders? Can some member from those areas tell the Secretary if forums exist, and whether any cyclists are members (either core or corresponding). For those who are not aware of modern committee structures, many organisations have realised that large committees don’t get much done, but that many people might nevertheless have contributions to make, so more and more there is a core group who attend meetings while there is a larger group who receive papers, join in e-mail discussions, perhaps participate in full meetings once or twice a year, but are excluded from the regular face-to-face more executive meetings. The range of interests regarding Access is quite extensive, and so many of the Access Forums have gone for this kind of structure. We have been fortunate that in the National Access Forum John Taylor is representing the views of all the cycling organisations. On a Local Access Forum, cyclists may be represented by, for example, a Spokes member, a Sustrans Ranger, a member of a Mountain Bike Club, a CTC member, or even someone with no particular affiliation. It may be that one person represents walking, cycling and riding. It’s up to all cycling groups to liaise with whoever it is to make sure that their views are put forward.

2004 Memories

Autumn now, and already the Scottish Vets and the KM164 are memories. There was a good Lothians turnout for the Vets. It would be nice to see more at the other open Scottish events – e.g. the KM and the Grampian Rallies. It would also be good to see a few more travelling to join in either DATC or Audax events even if only occasionally. All the organisers put a lot of effort into managing these events, please support them.

This year’s lunch is on Saturday December 11th at Edinburgh First, 18 Holyrood Park Road (behind the Commonwealth Pool) – 12.30 for 1.00pm. The cost is £17.50 for a 3 course meal. Please select your choice of meal from the menu (1 item from each course per person!) and return with a cheque made out to Lothians DA.Your choice is required with the booking.

Please cut out or photocopy this form and send as soon as possible to:

Anne Carter, 47 Hay Drive, EDINBURGH, EH16 4AG

NEW for Autumn:

CYCLING IN THE CITY ON SUNDAY

Short of time/energy for a long ride?

Want to stretch your cycling beyond going to the shops or work?

Worried that a club ride would go too fast or too far?

Then join us for a short, leisurely and sociable ride of approximately 12 miles over two hours.

Where: Meet at the Toucan crossing at the West end of The Meadows (croquet club on the opposite side of the road, just before Brougham Place).

When: Starting October, on the first Sunday of each month at 9.45 am for prompt 10.00am start (for those who need to be back before the Sunday Roast is burnt!)

Food: It is advisable to bring water/other drink and some food (e.g. banana) in case you run out of energy during the ride.

Contact: If interested contact Anne Carter (0131 657 2189) – or just turn up on the day.

GENERAL RUNS INFORMATION

Saturday runs start from the Commonwealth Pool at 10:00, every Saturday

Sunday ordinary runs start from the Usher Hall at 10:00, every Sunday

Sunday short runs (see paragraph below) start from the Meadows at 10:00 prompt 1st Sundays

Wednesday runs start from the spot listed above at 10:00 and go to the listed destinations - usually arriving about 12:30

On all runs - bring a packed lunch & drink. We often stop mid-afternoon for tea & scones, but normally eat outside at lunchtime. In winter on Wednesdays we eat our packed lunches inside a hall.

Wednesday Winter Runs

Wednesday Winter Destinations