Langebaan Cycling Club: As you all know, a short while back, I was posting about starting the official Langebaan Cycling Club, which would cover road and mountain biking disciplines. We managed to make some headway in our brainstorming and sought advice from another successful club, which was very helpful and then my daughter was born and my focus was naturally shifted elsewhere. The person involved needed to shift his attention to a family emergency and thus we were both called to focus on our families. Since then, not much has really developed in terms of Langebaan Cycling Club, hence the silence. And when I have time to think about the club - mostly when I am out training - I start to wonder how will the club actually benefit the cycling community of Langebaan and perhaps the West Coast - at a later stage? We have Nikki Hammond who administers the Langebaan Cycling Community page, who is doing a phenomenal job with the page, not to mention the inclusion and encouragement of newbies and social cycles for the cycling community. Nikki has taken the initiative in this sector and should be commended for doing so. Yet, I still ask, how can the establishment of a club benefit the cycling community? 1) Are we looking for a "club house" with one central meeting point to socialise, talk cycling and start and end our social rides? 2) As we have the benefit of access to the Country Estate, we have various locations around town and the privilege of being able to cycle within the WCNP (Wild Card or not), what exactly can the club do for the community? 3) It would be unfair to cyclists for a club to "take over" these areas and suddenly insist on a membership fee for right of access to these areas, where the current situation is cyclist friendly any way. 4) In my opinion, the club would need to provide additional benefits for its members such as 1) establishment of new routes and access to private land for club members only 2) upkeep and development of current tracks and routes 3) social rides and negotiation with at least one restaurant for a membership discounted fee on breakfast / coffee after the social ride 4) seeking discounts and support of various club supporting sporting agents or stores locally, including CycleWorx 5) a possible negotiation with SANPARKS and Postberg landowners for access for club members only etc 6) and last but not least the visibly association of the club by means of a common club kit and club ID in the bike. The club would have to be a success in order for cyclists, newby and experienced, to WANT to be a member. If this is what the club can achieve, sign me up! I am more than willing to sacrifice personal time and energy to start Langebaan Cycling Club. Be warned, its not an over night job, this is something that can only be developed over time. And for this we need the support and understanding of ALL cyclists within our community. Jon Amira CYCLEWORX LANGEBAAN
Posted on: Wed, 04 Sep 2013 09:08:25 +0000
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