London cycling clubs
Discussion
They all seem to have a bit of a reputation in one way or another. Is this just inter-club rivalry or is there no smoke without fire? Are the significant differences between the clubs, with some more biased to road racing or crits etc?
I'm based near London Bridge so I have a lot of clubs to choose from. I'm tempted by road racing (or long distance stuff in general) and fancy a fast midweek chaingang but will probably struggle to commit to a rigid schedule.
I realise the natural answer is to go and try all of them but is there any collective PH experience that can help me narrow this down to a shortlist?
I'm based near London Bridge so I have a lot of clubs to choose from. I'm tempted by road racing (or long distance stuff in general) and fancy a fast midweek chaingang but will probably struggle to commit to a rigid schedule.
I realise the natural answer is to go and try all of them but is there any collective PH experience that can help me narrow this down to a shortlist?
Ponk said:
From my (limited) experience of racing near London Dulwich Paragon, Kingston Wheelers, London Phoenix, North Road CC and East London Velo are always well represented. Particularly the first three clubs.
Rob will have the run down as he will know them all well.
It does depend what you want to be honest. Certainly I know lots of guys at Dulwich, Dynamo and Kingston (these are the largest clubs, with over 600 members each)Rob will have the run down as he will know them all well.
Dulwich - active club, decent midweek chaingang out to SE - lots of racers right from 4th cat to strong 2nd cat (nice blokes too)
Dynamo - again very active, their midweek chaingang ride (and saturday morning) are in Richmond Park, lots of groups based on ability, lots of racers across the board, though not many at the real sharp end anymore as they mostly left to go to teams etc
Kingston - Lots of club riders going out, Sunday club run (meets in Surbiton), midweek chaingang type rides common, either out to box hill or flat loop out to Brooklands and back round, less race focussed the the above IMO, and last year the formation of the club I am now in (Paceline RT) has seen most of the racing folk from Kingston move over.
Re the others, I don't know a huge amount about them as I'm SW based, but they certainly will have most of the above, but maybe not the same variety owing to smaller membership numbers, however the downside with the large numbers is that there is possibly waiting lists to get into these clubs (unless you're a woman). But if you do want any more advice or recommendations of people to speak to from any of those clubs let me know and I can point you in the right direction.
All things being equal Dulwich makes most sense as I'm 15 minutes from Dulwich and often pass them on their club rides.
I'm not entirely sure what I'm after in all honesty. I like longer rides at a fast pace, so I tend to end up riding solo most of the time or slow social rides the rest. It'd be nice to find a few riders who like the same thing but I also think I'm probably unlikely to improve much further without joining a club. I quite like the idea of road-racing (thinking it's like sportives but 'proper'). It all feels like a necessary evil rather than something I'm actively excited about. Hopefully I'm just naive to what I'm missing out on and I'll be kicking myself for not doing it sooner.
I'm not entirely sure what I'm after in all honesty. I like longer rides at a fast pace, so I tend to end up riding solo most of the time or slow social rides the rest. It'd be nice to find a few riders who like the same thing but I also think I'm probably unlikely to improve much further without joining a club. I quite like the idea of road-racing (thinking it's like sportives but 'proper'). It all feels like a necessary evil rather than something I'm actively excited about. Hopefully I'm just naive to what I'm missing out on and I'll be kicking myself for not doing it sooner.
I'm a member of the Kinsgton Wheelers club, I really enjoy the club, website & shiny new forum . They have runs every sunday come rain or shine as well as the Work dodgers midweek runs that seem to happen at least 3 days of any week. I'm not into the racing side, it's more the social riding for me at a steady pace in a group that i just enjoy like an addiction , as said earlier we meet at Surbiton on sundays & thay usually have around 8 rides at different speeds & terrain & you just go on the ride of the one you fancy, obviously i don't go with the speedy boys because i couldn't keep up with them but i'm sure you could Gruffy . I know they are looking to get shot of the dormant members & add new members that are going to be more actively involved. I did hear that Dynamo's are not taking on any new members & that joining a club is getting harder & harder as more & more people are looking to join cycling clubs & i'd say it took me a good 6 months from contacting KW to actually becoming a full member.
Looks like Dulwich are the obvious choice for me. Compulsory newbie rides only happen on the 1st Saturday of each month though, which means October is my first chance this year. I'll see if they're flexible but it perhaps may be that my schedule doesn't lend itself to club membership.
I've been given to understand Finchley Road Team only accept Cat 2 racers and above or women. That was six months ago when I was looking into clubs, things may have changed. Indeed their website indicates that they're more open, so it's not impossible that I was misinformed.
What I discovered in general is that there are traditional clubs, typically with a heavy racing bias, and latter-day clubs, which may have a broader appeal and may also be more inclusive. If you're serious about racing, I'm told membership of a traditional club can be advantageous in gaining entry to popular races, as well as providing a peer group of established racers to encourage you and against whom you can measure progress. The less traditional, newer clubs would still suit someone who wanted to try racing, but they might put just as much emphasis on, say, social rides and mini-adventures as they do on competition and may not be ideal for those already racing seriously.
If you're happy to consider north of the river then CC London and Islington would be possible latter-day club choices, if that sort of club might suit. Islington I haven't ridden with but I've met the guy who runs CC London, Ian Watson, and rode Rapha HOTN with them. Sunday club runs start in East Finchley, but of more interest to you might be the midweek morning and evening training sessions around Regent's Park on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. They've also got some longer club runs, like London-York, going on during the year. I got the impression Ian does like to encourage people to get into racing so they could be a good fit if their north London bias doesn't put you off. Possibly the biggest drawback might be that I am intending to join myself
(as a second-claim member, mostly for the mini-adventures, once I've settled on a more local club to join for regular club rides).
What I discovered in general is that there are traditional clubs, typically with a heavy racing bias, and latter-day clubs, which may have a broader appeal and may also be more inclusive. If you're serious about racing, I'm told membership of a traditional club can be advantageous in gaining entry to popular races, as well as providing a peer group of established racers to encourage you and against whom you can measure progress. The less traditional, newer clubs would still suit someone who wanted to try racing, but they might put just as much emphasis on, say, social rides and mini-adventures as they do on competition and may not be ideal for those already racing seriously.
If you're happy to consider north of the river then CC London and Islington would be possible latter-day club choices, if that sort of club might suit. Islington I haven't ridden with but I've met the guy who runs CC London, Ian Watson, and rode Rapha HOTN with them. Sunday club runs start in East Finchley, but of more interest to you might be the midweek morning and evening training sessions around Regent's Park on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. They've also got some longer club runs, like London-York, going on during the year. I got the impression Ian does like to encourage people to get into racing so they could be a good fit if their north London bias doesn't put you off. Possibly the biggest drawback might be that I am intending to join myself
(as a second-claim member, mostly for the mini-adventures, once I've settled on a more local club to join for regular club rides).anonymous said:
[redacted]
I think all clubs have people doing sportives.Serious clubs would be ones with heavy representation at races and I guess for them, tri events/Ironmans etc.
Certainly Finchley only taking 2nd cat or above is quite rare, not heard that one before, though I suppose our club is a bit more like that, but we only want people that are competing at any level and are happy to give back to the sport by helping put events on.
Edited by okgo on Wednesday 27th May 11:25
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