Club Development
Much has been said in recent years about the benefits of cycling, some more obvious than others. Cycling is a great way to lose weight, gain aerobic fitness, improve heart condition and enhance health generally. It’s also a fun way to see the countryside, a green form of transport and the best way to avoid stressful and frustrating traffic jams. Arriving at work invigorated by an early morning ride, and calm and stress-free to boot, takes a lot of beating; a great way to start the day. It’s also an excellent way to combat the tension that accumulates through the day on the evening ride home, whilst building up a healthy appetite for dinner!
Here in the beautiful Tyne Valley and the rolling hills and plains of Northumberland there’s no better way than cycling to get out out there and enjoy it. Cycling brings us closer to nature than sitting in the cocoon of a motor car, isolated and insulated from the sounds and smells of the great outdoors, and moving so fast we don’t even have time to appreciate the sights.
The aim of Tyne Valley Cycling Club is to bring all these benefits within the reach of everybody in and around the Tyne Valley, and to help them enjoy them to the full. TVCC recently was granted £10,000 from Awards for All, funded by the National Lottery, under the project title “community cycling”. As the name suggests the objective is to attract members of the community to the benefits of cycling, in its many forms and at every level.
We’ll be using this grant to promote the club with a view to increasing membership to include people in the community, many of whom would not be aware of the club or the advantages of membership, and helping them to get the most from their cycling in a relaxed supportive atmosphere. Cycling is a social as well as a healthy pastime and its enjoyment is much enhanced by sharing it with good company.
We want to encourage people at all levels and from all disciplines to get involved. We’re particularly keen to recruit new members to form a mountain bike / off-road group, a leisure group and a ladies’ group. These groups, and any others that people want to form, can have representation on the committee so they can decide what they want to do and run the group to meet group member needs.
Why join a club to do this?
Well, existing members have a lot of experience and can offer advice on such things as choosing the right bike, setting it up for maximum comfort and efficiency, suitable clothing, ride routes, road safety and much more.
We have a level 2 qualified coach who can work with novice and intermediate riders to improve their technique and competence, and who is taking further coach education so he can also work with competitive road and time trial riders. We have another level 2 coach, a lady this time, currently in the British Cycling coach education programme and due to be certificated in early 2009. A third member will join this programme as soon as the commitments of a brand new family member allow!
The club has 12 bike trailer so groups of up to 12 can travel easily and cheaply to venues of their choice for group activities - see the Off-Road page for examples.
The club is committed to organising regular On-Road and Off-Road events to meet riders needs. We’ll be using different venues, sometimes the trailer, sometimes hiring a minibus, sometimes riding out from home so there’s sure to be something for all.
But whatever you want to do then we’ll support you and let you get on with it, and we’ll always be there when we’re needed.
We have lots of other ideas so keep checking out the website to see how it develops but don’t just go on-line - get on your bike and join the go-ahead club in the Tyne Valley!