Welcome to Beeston Cycling Club

As I reflect on another year it is good to see that rides have increased from 120 in 2021 to approx 150 in 2022. This increase is good to see but the number of our rides haven’t reached our pre pandemic figures of approximately 300 plus rides. Although we can’t discount the effects of a post pandemic inertia we need to be aware of other potential factures that have contributed to our slow increase in ride numbers and we wish to discuss how to increase rides, participation, socialisation and membership at our AGM.

Speaking with other clubs a common theme is that there are various digital platforms out there to arrange rides and these potentially bypass the wider membership participation. We wish to explore that but also wish to re-establish our website as our active  ‘Club House’, the central point to planning the majority of our rides and events. 

We would like to pay special thanks to the commitment of our executive members  and member representatives for their support to keep the club operational. We would like to pay special thanks to all our members who organised rides, events and races who have raised such a positive profile of club regionally. 

I would like to give a big shout out to everyone who organised rides throughout the year such as: Sunday social, Wednesday chain gang, general steady rides, Tuesday code red, Xmas ride thing, gravel rides, MTB rides, reliability rides, hilly nights and our social nights. In the summer we partnered with British Cycling along with Beeston Road Club to put on a Cycling Showcase, to encourage wider community participation.  

Whilst it is difficult to name check everyone we must thank Terry Daley and Kostas for organising the many Sunday social rides which have been the lion share of our rides this year.

On the 19th of November, Beeston Cycling Club in partnership with other local clubs organised a successful Cyclocross event as part of the Notts & Derby Cyclocross League. For over 10+ years we have put on a great CX event and raised the profile of the club and the NDCXL.  Special thanks goes once again to Richard Shenton, Steve Seamark and the army of helpers who put on this great event. A big thank you to Sarah DK and Phil who continued to feed the legion of helpers. The success of this event is all down to the meticulous planning and the volunteers who turned out on the day and the many weekends beforehand with power tools, spades and clippers to prepare Richard’s vision once again.

Beeston Cycling Mural

After two years in the planning we were delighted to see the Beeston Cycling Mural come to life reflecting the theme of ‘Friendship and Freedom’. This was a great collaboration between Beeston Street Art, Beeston Cycling Club, and Beeston Road Club. A big shout goes to Nigel Turner for his tireless commitment to make this happen. 

Building a successful racing pathway from U14yrs to U23yrs and beyond. With the support of our sponsors, race management team, team managers and Bryan Steel we are enabling our talented riders to develop their race craft in their ambitions to race at the highest level regionally and nationally. We have seen our squads grow from 24 to 40 over the last year which reflects the success and reputation we have created.

With the success of season 2022 we have seen all our riders develop strongly as they compete regionally, nationally and internationally and they have represented the club and themselves with great distinction. We have showcased their great achievements on our social media channels. 

We seized the opportunity to keep and develop our talent and we have taken our successful pathway and developed our Beeston CC Academy that works in partnership with our BCC Race Team. In 2024 BCC Race Team will be looking to apply for elite team status which gives our Academy racers the opportunity to progress to the highest level. 

Events for 2023

We anticipate that we will support a similar number of events during 2022 and we will clarify these at the AGM. We are very grateful for all of our members’ support in helping  and organising these events and we fully appreciate that due to life commitments they can’t always be available. It is our hope that members will offer their support which in turn will provide assurances to those who take on the organisational roles, that we are all here to help them. Equally it is important that the club doesn’t overstretch itself with numerous events and create a helpers’ fatigue syndrome. 

As we look forward to this year we hope to put on these events and more, but we need your support to help organise. If you would like to be involved please contact James beestoncyclingclub@gmail.com

• BCC TT 10, Summer (We need someone to co organise with ICC)  
• Russ’s Memorial Ride, - (We need a route master and organiser)
• BCC Hill Climb: September/October (We need someone to organise)  

·      Club Reliability Rides: Dates TBC

·      Notts & Derby CycloCross League: (We need someone to organise. We have sent out a separate email.)  

·      Downhill championship: October/November (Now named the Stella Russ Downhill Trophy)

·      EMRRL: (We need someone to organise)  

·      Harvey Hadden league: (Someone to support Sam Amps)

·      EMYL East Midlands Youth league: (Someone to support Sam Amps) 

·      Club Cluster Sessions at Harvey Hadden

Summary of some of the proposed events

East Midland Road Race League EMRRL (British Cycling event)

Beeston Cycling Club is one of the founding clubs of the league and it’s overall intention is to encourage the participation and promotion of open road racing male and female in the East Midlands Region.  Race levels are normally Cat 2, 3 and 4 and we have always had team representation in most seasons, recording a GC and Team win in one season with the men’s team. One of the main criteria for maximum team selection by the league is that Beeston CC organise one of the races each year. We are looking for an organiser to take over from the great work Jon Veitch did last year, who can support with all the processes that have been simplified. 

Harvey Hadden Criterium Series League (British Cycling event)

With the opening of the track at Harvey Hadden Sports Centre, some Beeston Cycling Club members seized the opportunity with neighbouring clubs to set up a league of summer racing within our locality. Race levels are normally Cat E,1, 2, 3 and 4 and Junior racing. Over the last 8 years Beeston CC has organised one or two of the events (mainly on a mid-week evening). This has been very successful and Sam Amps has been at the helm for a few years and we thank Sam for stepping forward again. We require someone to step forward to support Sam Amps.

East Midlands Youth League at Harvey Hadden (British Cycling event)

This is a new league that the British Cycling EM region is setting up with local clubs to support grass roots racing and give riders from Under 10 up to 16 years old a great opportunity to race locally. Beeston CC have been invited to support two evening races and Sam Amps has provisionally agreed however he will need support as his working dates may change. We require someone to step forward to support Sam Amps.

Reliability rides description

Generally, a reliability ride is known as a test of a cyclist’s reliability and that of their bike coming out of the winter period. The emphasis is on fitness, self-reliance and navigational skills, although they are also used by competitive cyclists for training ahead of the racing season. They are great way to get in some early season miles and work on your base endurance. The route is not signposted but a GPS route file will be provided before the event. 

There are no planned feedstations this year (subject to numbers that sign-up beforehand), but the route will include cafe options, and will end at a suitable pub in Beeston for an informal post-ride debrief and refreshment for riders. 

The ride is not a race.  Like a normal cycling club ride, it takes place on open roads and without marshals etc. The intent is to have a couple of different length routes with staggered start times to accomodate different fitness levels and finish at roughly the same time. We require someone to prepare the routes.

BC Go-Ride Racing/Club Cluster Sessions at Harvey Hadden

We are using these British Cycling club cluster sessions as an extension from the Nottingham Showcase we held last summer as a way for clubs to promote racing. This is grass roots and hope to encourage young children to get into the sport. The idea is that clubs would hopefully take on X2 sessions to run and promote their club at the same time. We are looking for people to help marshal and do the signing on. We believe this will be August time.

We hope that all of our members will see the clear benefit of these events and be willing to help.
This diverse range of rides and organised events is a great platform but we welcome ideas (with support commitment) to help further enrich the clubs activities and opportunities available to our members and the wider cycling community. Your support will be very welcome.

Investments from club funds Each year we discuss options that are viable for club fund investment. As an Exec we try to represent all members fairly and prioritise items/events that represent value for money for the whole club. It is important to note that the Exec is more than happy to consider all ideas for club fund investment. Any new ideas need to:

·       Promote the club and/or benefit the club members

·       Be available to all members as far as possible (even though not all would necessarily choose to take up the benefit)

·       Come with an idea of costs required and how it might be executed, (e.g. if new shared tools are agreed then we would require someone to source and manage the delivery of said tools, similarly for new events, we'd need support to make the event happen)

If you have any constructive criticism, observations… or even praise(!) regarding anything the collective Club has done in 2022 together with any thoughts for the future. If you can’t make the AGM we then please send your suggestions to James Miller at beestoncyclingclub@gmail.com by the 8th of February.

Finally. We are looking to reintroduce the club awards for end of season 2023. please send your nominations to James: beestoncyclingclub@gmail.com for your Member of the Year last season.

As much as this is a report on the last year we are always looking to develop the club based on members’ needs and aspirations and the AGM is your opportunity to shape your club. May I take this opportunity to wish you all the very best for 2023 and we look forward to seeing you at the AGM.

John McCay, BCC Chairman