Just as a note to all. our ‘club phone’ is a bit of a brick… it holds its charge, most of us use iPhones, androids and the like with pretty short battery life.

Please feel free to pass on the club number as a means to get hold of any of our group to close friends or family should they need to contact us should they not be able to get a hold of you via the normal methods, Signal may be patchy at best, so we’d recommend they send a text to say who they are are who they need to call back.

The battery if not used on the club phone should last a good couple of days.

07572 760 953 if you need it, and the message will be passed on as soon as possible.

If you simply read this website as opposed to our social feeds (we know a lot of people are not on Facebook, twitter etc for various reasons) save this to your bookmarks!

it’s hosted on facebook but you can view all events even without being a member or signed in.

http://bit.ly/blaydonevents

any questions please post below:

First of all 1,309 miles covered by Blaydon legs this week so well done all!

Secondly the Blaydon jerseys are getting spotted and getting some love! So many great comments on the design, Pedalling Squares have done us proud.

Today we went to see Spennymoor Cycling Club in their native County Durham. Some of us drove there, some of us took the plunge and rode there.

Three of the BCC members Rob, Paul and Justin extended the 40 mile loop of the ride alongside a ride home to 100 miles (and maybe a little more)

We had cobbles and hail too quite the mixture, all in all a great atmosphere on the ride a few tech issues tyre blow outs and a rear mech failure caused hassle for a few of us but all in all the ride went pretty much incident free (apart from the Garmin maps being a little fussy and telling us too late about the turns)

Rides like this with a show of around 15-20 show how strong cycling is and how clubs can run really well within a ‘social’ setting.

A cracking stop for coffee, cake (and Guinness for two!) in Hartlepool.

We look forward to either being guests or hosting Spenny again, if you’re a club and you’d like to ride out with us, get in touch. we’d be happy to try and arrange something.

British Cycling Affiliation:
And What it means for Blaydon Cycle Club (BCC)

British Cycling affiliation means a cost of £92 to the club which will be met via a subscription system like many other clubs. BCC was originally set out to be free but for growth, and protection of its members and future it’s a great idea to ‘make it official’ costs will be kept as low as possible and the format of our club and rides will remain on the large unchanged.

The system of payment is currently under review , at our first meeting we agreed on a ‘pay per ride’ model this is to be the one we adapt hopefully upon agreement,  but we need to confirm this will work for the club and comply with british cycling rules. (email has been sent to the regional organizer)
£2 a ride was suggested with all monies covering the affiliation costs and any surplus going into a ‘pot’ to fund club essentials / trips away etc an example could be minibus or van hire if we went away.

The alternate way of managing members is to pay an annual subscription via the British Cycling member centre (again most of this subject to BC ways of working which I’m currently inquiring about so although discussed at length at the meeting there is potentially rules we need to comply with)

This will be fed back to members and before we firmly agree on a proper way of working it will be passed by a majority.

For riders / members your first year is free or discounted as a british cycling member, you receive the basic package or can get a discounted rate on other packages. As of 5/2/14 British cycling state the following benefits for members of our club upon affiliation.

‘Club members who have not previously been members of British Cycling are entitled to a special introductory discount on British Cycling membership. Full details of the discounts can be seen here. see http://bit.ly/Blaydonfirstyear for details.

Club members who are club officials will also be covered by the third party liability insurance when acting on the club’s specific instructions.’

For The Club: Insurance cover for rides and club officials – see http://bit.ly/1cVfM78 for more

Also the Membership tool / area benefits include (we’d stick with our own website still) we’d be to have greater communication with people and keep track of our ridership and keep the club more organised. these benefits are as follows:

a) Club Profile

This feature of the tool allows you to create and edit your club profile page which will appear when people find your club on the British Cycling Club Finder. Attract new members by adding a club picture, logo, kit design and some text about the club. You can easily edit who you are open to, what activities you do and when you train.

b) Website Manager

This is a free and easy tool to create and manage your club’s own British Cycling Powered Website – if you already have a club website, this can be configured to compliment your existing site. Create a great looking website with professionally designed HTML templates. Easily insert content with our drop-in modules, including exclusive news and results feeds from British Cycling. There are no charges for hosting or design and no need to buy or install any new software. You can simply edit your site at any time from any web browser.

c) Membership Manager

Manage all your club members in one place, see their British Cycling membership status and race licence, add new club members and use our free subscription management tool to set up your club subscription fees and collect them from your members.

d) Online Subscription Manager

This will allow your members and new members to pay their club subscriptions using British Cycling’s secure web payment system. All major credit and debit cards are accepted on this system. There is no charge to the club and the money will be paid directly into your club’s chosen bank account. No more hassle of having to pay in cheques, manage spreadsheets or chase members for their money.

e) Newsletters

Send out newsletters to all your club members. Newsletters will be easy to create and look great with our professionally designed templates. You can simply add your own text and pictures, then decide which club members will receive them.

f) Messaging

Quick and easy messaging all from your dashboard.  You can send messages to the entire club membership, selected members, the British Cycling Regional team and the British Cycling Admin team.

g) Activity Manager

Create and list all your club activities on the British Cycling powered club calendar. Enable people to sign up for your club activities in a click. Activities will display on the British Cycling website opening your club up to potential new members.