Saturday Club Rides are still suspended.
As lockdown regulations are starting to ease people are quite naturally beginning to ask when the club can return to normal operation, or at least reinstate the Saturday rides. British Cycling have reissued their Covid-19 Guidance document “The Way Forward” to reflect developments with the pandemic. They give a table showing all the stages of return to normal cycling and they have now decided that we are at Stage 3, which means that club activities can restart provided clubs adhere to the letter and spirit of the current regulations.
The committee have recently discussed a plan by which we could restart Saturday rides including moving the start to Norman Park or using two start points and 3 start times in Hayes. There was also the issue of how to handle numbers at the end of the rides when we would normally congregate at the Hayes Village Café (which has reopened and is pleased to see us provided we follow their rules).
The consensus of the discussions were that the plans may be theoretically workable but in practice there were too many points at which it could all go wrong and we would either lose the goodwill we enjoy in Hayes or fall foul of the law or both. While it is true that the shift from 2 metres social distancing to 1 metre (plus) due on 4th July is helpful, there has been no change on the 6 person rule and that still means that mass club cycling and other sports such as cricket remain impossible. Other clubs have sadly come to the same conclusion.
We must therefore ask for everyone to be patient a little more; new freedoms will come and Saturday rides will return.
Posting rides on the club forum.
In the meantime there is one thing we can all do to help the club. We want to encourage everyone to keep cycling and stay fit and are pleased that there are numerous groups arranging rides under the freedoms allowed by the current regulations. These are mostly rides organised by long-standing friendship group members, they inevitably and unfortunately exclude newer members or those not in the friendship groups.
We are asking that people organising rides post the ride on the forum so others can join in to a maximum of 6 on the ride. For those who want to ride and would like company, please just post up on the forum. You need to be logged in and then follow “Forums/Add new forum topic” and fill in the boxes. You’ll be amazed at how many are out there just waiting for someone to take the first step! The club is inclusive and wants to keep everyone involved and riding.
Please make sure that you check the forum for any other rides posted on the same day so make sure that meeting times and locations do not clash.
Club Insurance.
The committee has to suspend club rule 1.1.2, until the situation changes. This means that while rides will be listed on the forum, the ride will not be an official club ride and that individuals’ insurance rather than club insurance will be the place to go in case of disaster on the ride.
Club Membership.
The club is extremely appreciative that the vast majority of club members have kept their membership in place during lockdown. Despite the suspension of club rides, there are still financial outgoings that the club has to cover and future activities are being constantly reviewed based on guidance from the UK Government and British Cycling. As a sign of appreciation to current club members, the committee has agreed to look into giving all current members of the club a free extension to their club membership. More information on this will be announced soon.
New Members.
With social gathering limited to 6 people and club rides currently suspended, this we that can’t hold our inductions or provide support in finding new members the right group level to cycle with. We hope that soon we will be able to return to some sort of normality but whilst this situation continues, we have decided to put new memberships on hold.
If you know of anyone with an interest in joining us later in the year, please ask them to contact the Membership Secretary through the “JOIN” tab on this website and he will log your interest and be in contact when we resume normal club activities and offer you the full Bigfoot experience!
So, get posting and get riding. Meet other members. Stay safe. Be considerate to others. We will update this notice as soon as there are developments that change things.
You can email the committee with any questions or comments at bcc@bigfootcc.co.uk
