update by peter.
some of you may have wondered what has happened to south african mark lately. he used to be a regular on our rides and he used to be the one that everyone had to chase up the hills on sunday. well it seems that recently he has taken to fishing as the sport of choice. not only that, but a handline from an oil rig off the vietnam coast seems the perfect place to catch lunch. work being that thing that gets in the way of cycling recently, he hopes to be back out with us soon. minus the fish but hopefully the orange jumpsuit remains.
you may have noticed that i have added a multimedia page to the blog. this contains all the photo’s that i took the other day when i was chasing the group around. i had to reduce them down a bit to make it more manageable, so if you need supersized pics, let me know.
there has been some discussion with cycling wa recently about the possibility of our group becoming a proper cycling club. what this would mean for us i am not 100% sure right now and i need to have a further talk to wacf. it could, however, mean that our rides would be classed a club training rides and may be covered by licence insurance in case of an accident. there are other benefits as well, but it would also mean a club fee, licence fee and a proper organisational structure (pres, sec, treas, etc). i am not sure which way we will go with this yet but i would appreciate your comments and opinions, as after all it is your group too.
Hey Guys, You would have my support to do this!
With the riders that do not race by haing a small fee for club membership they would be covered by injury/accident insurance plus other things.
The different levels of membership does suit all types of riders plus enable the club to access state grants for clothing etc to further discount the club uniform..
What South Perth has as a group I have never seen anyway else, with everyone willing to help others and the friendly atmosphere everyone should be proud the Cycling WA has noticed as I can tell you the other clubs dont have what we have!
Pete take a bow:)
I concur with Nico with regards to what, in such a very short space of time, the Rouleurs has become. The benefits of becoming a bona fide club are many; insurance, broader recognition, etc. The flip side is obviously, if it ain’t broke, then…! One of the great things about the ‘non-affiliated’ aspect is that you’re part of something quite unique. And without the burden of bureaucracy (and remember, I work for Western Power), the freedom that offers is significant. Perhaps some more info/research, a clear view as to benefits and risks (sorry Pete, I know you HATE corporate speak like that….), and then a vote on the Blog?
i like the idea. especially concerning insurance. so i guess pete’s place is the designated ‘club room’ ? 😉
Becoming a bona fide club seems like an obvious progression for our group, but we need to evaluate whether the gains exceed any harmful effects. We clearly would not want to lose our esprit de corps and happy informality. The need to have office bearers, club funds, a constitution and the need to attend meetings of various descriptions and act as external officials may do this. Will the financial and insurance benefits stack up against this (given that many of us are covered under other cycling licenses and personal insurance – excluding damage to bikes of course)? The alternative is to belong to other clubs (like Cyclosportif) and ride as an SPR team as we have done this year.
Haven’t looked through this myself but this link may help put things in perspective.
http://www.dsr.wa.gov.au/scripts/nc.dll?DSR.65682:STANDARD::pc=PC_60341
I am bang up for forming our own club but can only assume it won’t be a simple excercise. I am sure we can make it what we want and provided we don’t get too stuffy about it not a lot needs to appear to change.
The other option is we all affiliate/join with an existing club. Not sure how affiliation would work but just putting it out there.
either way, pete’s got the biggest tv outside of nasa so his house becomes the club room. all those in favour?….carried!
btw: Mark, get a real job! 😉
my wordpress blog has a handy little poll tool.
just for fun i added one here:
http://cyclistdiary.wordpress.com/2008/10/23/623.
i’ll take if down if you get one going pete – or just let me know.
Yeah forgot to mention Mark…hows his form…lol
Happy to help out with anything if there is a decision to move towards being a club- the only thing is Lorraine will HAVE to have the role of chief brownie baker for all occasions 😉
Had a read of the materials Chris suggested. Some great stuff there about how to go about it, and from first read, all looks pretty straight forward, academic and transactional. Still, very oriented towards systems, structures and processes – making things “clear” with “accountabilities” and “responsibilities” for “office bearers” etc; eg: ‘it’s important to establish a “constitution” to ensure….’ That said, at the moment, I think you’re pretty generous Pete in saying that it’s OUR club too – you do the lion’s share (read: all) of the work (apart from making those freakin’ A class brownies and getting your place ready to take us in at the breakfasts [thanks Kate and Ben].). Perhaps having a bona fide club and some delegated roles may help to balance things? I guess my experience with ‘clubs’ is that people get elected to an office bearer role, and then feel either “put upon” because there is an “obligation” or end up flogging others to get things to happen (like paying their club fees!!)! When it’s more “free flowing” as it is at the moment, people will generally pitch in when they are either asked, or even better, when they see a need to (without being asked!). In my line of work, I’ve found that the power of people wanting to be part of something “special and unique” with “real” heart, will kick bureaucracy’s ass every day of the week!
Becoming a club is exciting but may or more likely would, change the dynamic of the group at the moment. More structure may need to be put in place and formalised etc.
Pete does so much for the group and if it were to become a club, more than likely he would end up with a whole lot more responsibility. The decision rests with Pete, I am sure he would do a great job if he decided to Make SPR a club (with the support of Kate, Ben and Bub on the way)..
John, where is the option on your poll if you are not fussed if SPR becomes a club or not?? (I enjoy sitting on fences)..