Before You Ride
If you are new to Club Rides make sure you introduce yourself to the ride Leader. On a Club ride if you are inexperienced it may be best to start at the back of the group with an established member. It is important that your bike is well maintained and roadworthy. Ensure that the brakes work the chain is lubricated and tyres are inflated with no major signs of wear. If you have anything battery powered make sure it is charged, this especially applies to eBikes, make sure they are fully charged before riding. Use of mudguards for winter rides is recommended. If you use cleats check their condition.
- Bring a couple of spare inner tubes, tyre levers, a pump and a multi-tool
- Lights, front and rear – even during daylight hours the weather can change
- Money
- Mobile phone with your emergency contact number set up in the “Emergency Call” tab on the lockscreen. You can find tutorials to set this up online including on YouTube. There are button links below
- The what3words locating app is used by the emergency services to find you and is therefore worth having on your mobile, please click the link button below.
- CE approved Helmet
- Waterproof/windproof jacket, gloves, overshoes, layers can come off, no one likes to be cold.
- A drink in a Bidon (waterbottle)
- Snack
- A form of ID
- Eat before you ride
- We also strongly suggest that you carry an emergency contact number that others can access, your saddle bag is a good location
- Cycling specific sunglasses can be very helpful
- Its a good idea to have 3rd party liability insurance, club membership will give you this.
When on the Road
Always, always, check the road especially behind before manoeuvring and changing road position. Other cyclists can be hard to hear and there are an increasing number of electric vehicles on the road which can emit little noise. This is especially true on cold rides when your ears may be covered. Riding using ear buds to listen to music will greatly reduce your awareness of traffic. Do not stop beside or undertake lorries and articulated vehicles.
Weather and road conditions are constantly changing so it is in your best interest to remain observant at all times. On any group ride it is important to make others aware of potential risks and look out for each other. Use lights if visibility is poor, some do on every ride.
Potholes, dropped / damaged drain covers/metalwork and loose surfaces on corners are a specific risk as we ride, so draw the other riders attention to them by pointing/waving and shout out if necessary. Puddles can contain potholes and large amounts of standing water can develop at the roadside, it is best to avoid these, point them out.
Road surfaces can be slippery when damp so exercise caution especially after fresh rain. Under these conditions white road markings can also have less grip as does metalwork and both of these are best avoided especially when cornering.
If traffic flow reduces, even blocking the road ahead requiring a change of speed, lead riders should initiate a call out to the group “slowing” or “stopping” as appropriate, while raising their arm above shoulder height as a signal to gain the groups attention. Parked vehicles may also be a hazard and lead riders should move to avoid them, while indicating their presence with an arm signal behind their back which following riders can then use themselves to the rest of the group. Vehicles will pass the group from either direction so if necessary call them out ( car up / car down ) to give everyone a warning. At junctions, look, taking time to evaluate the road and traffic conditions, stopping if necessary.
When riding single track country lanes, exercise caution, listen for, and be prepared to take avoiding action as a result of an oncoming vehicle. It is advisable to keep to the side of the road on blind bends to avoid a head-on collision, keep looking ahead and over hedges if possible. Pull over and make use of passing points if traffic is held up behind you .
Livestock regularly roam the hills in the area, some finding their way close to and onto the road. Riders on the front of the group should warn everyone of their presence while slowing down as their movement can be unpredictable. When you see a horse and rider ahead that you plan to overtake, to avoid startling the animal call out a warning well in advance ” bike passing” or something similar and also communicate as you get closer. Pass slowly allowing them plenty of room. Stay alert to the reaction of the horse and any communication from the rider.
Local councils have installed many traffic calming measures such as central islands, unfortunately these create “pinch points” where cyclists become vulnerable to overtaking vehicles. As a result it may be prudent to ride in the centre of the carriageway, this is referred to as “owning the road”. After establishing that it is safe to do so, take this action if the carriageway is too narrow to allow safe passing by following vehicles, Return back to your normal road position as soon as you are able.
If you suffer a puncture or mechanical issue shout out so the group can hear you and if possible find a safe place to stop getting off the road so you and the rest of the group aren’t causing an obstruction.
Don’t overlap your front wheel with the rear of the rider in front of you, It’s an easy way to have an accident. Ride at an even pace and avoid sudden changes of speed, accelerating or braking. If you are riding on the front of a group two abreast, keep level with the rider next to you (avoid half wheeling)
When descending, let the rider in front move away from you, braking yourself if required, and maintain a safe distance from them. This becomes more important on poor surfaces and if visibility is impaired. At all times you should ride at a speed where you are able to effectively control your bike.
Dismount and walk if road or traffic conditions make this the safest way to make progress.
Stay alert and be aware of rider positions all around you keeping your sideways movement to a minimum. If you need to change position in the group, signal in advance and tell the riders near you what you intend to do, ensure that you have the space to make your manoeuvre safely..
When eating or drinking only ride one handed when road conditions and the weather make it safe to do so. Potholes and gusts of wind can make bike control difficult.
Take care at level crossings, and tram tracks, always try to ride over them at 90 degrees (perpendicular). When wet they become treacherous and crossing at any other angle than perpendicular will very likely lead to an accident. Do NOT attempt to change direction while crossing them. The same advice applies to cattle grids.
Cycling clothing designed to aid visibility is available, wearing it is a personal choice as is not placing yourself in vulnerable situations. Ride Safe!
Accidents
In the event of an accident and serious injury, if the rider is in the road, taking great care, someone should warn approaching vehicles while at the same time only moving the injured person if NOT to do so would place them at risk of further injury.
If on a group ride make sure everyone moves out of the road
If the injured rider is immobile only move them if that is the advice of a First Aider, let them take control of the situation.
Decide on your location while calling the emergency services describing the injuries and let them advise you.
Remain calm and talk to the injured rider to aid keeping them conscious.
Any rider that has lost consciousness should NOT continue with the ride no matter how minor their injuries appear to be, stay with them until the emergency services arrive.
Notify the police if a vehicle is involved, it is the law.
Contact and notify family / emergency contact : Arrange storage / collection of any bike (s)
Any riders that have no good cause to stay at the scene should continue their journey.
Inform the Club Secretary of any incident asap, you can use the contact form if necessary.
After a Ride
If your bike is wet and muddy now is probably the best time to clean it :-)
Recharge eBikes and other battery powered kit. Check tyres for wear / damage.
This list is not all encompassing, but it should aid you to have a safer more enjoyable riding experience.
1918 to 1945
BETWEEN THE WARS
By Peter Roscoe
By 1918 things were picking up. We bought another whistle and a Primus stove.
In 1919 we bought another stove and a kettle.
We also paid ten shillings for a kettle to be ‘altered’ and a box to put these assets in. This year we really pushed the boat out by buying a football.
In 1921 our expenditure included one pound for an international Clarion football match. By this time our membership had increased to 45 and we had 87 attendees at a social and potato pie supper.
Our archives show that Sam Derby was secretary in 1923. Sam Derby joined the forces and saw action in the Dardanelles, an experience that influenced his political views for the rest of his life. We do not know when he first became secretary but he held the position interspersed with periods as chairman for many years up to 1953. In 1955 we honoured him by electing him our first life president. Sam was a dedicated socialist but did not allow his belief to override his fellowship with his fellow cyclist – people of a different political persuasion were made equally welcome in our club.
Against the background of the international power struggle of the first world war and the hardships of the working classes it is worth looking at the aspirations of those who became socialists:
From the National Clarion handbook 1926
Gaps will be perceived in this agenda but the reference to the Co-operative Commonwealth will probably cover these. It is noted that the monarchy would remain! Ideals are commendable and there must have been satisfaction in having an aim to work for.
However, for many years now we have been one hundred per cent devoted to cycling – many of us regard the advancement of all matters cycling is a commendable aim in itself and some of us work towards this end. Even so the few of us whose membership goes back to the life and times of Sam Derby and his contemporaries are honoured to have known people who believed it was possible to have a more just world.
Our membership had declined to 33 in 1926 and we paid one pound nineteen shillings to the miners relief fund. We affiliated to the CTC in 1928. At that time we were still very much a club with an accent on socialism. It is then very surprising that we had so much opposition from other sections when in 1999 we proposed that the National Club should affiliate to the CTC – this organisation being portrayed as having its roots in the world of toffs and not the working class like the Clarion. Up to the early 1960s when we enjoyed club runs of between 20 and 40 people things would from time to time get out of hand –
A minute dated April 1928 resolves that ‘We pay more attention to orderly riding i.e. ride in twos’. To this effect it was further resolved that the whistle be reintroduced to be blown at the discretion of the captain and sub captain. Always democratic we also resolved in 1928 that a vote should be taken whether or not swimming should be indulged in on any particular club run.
It appears that our track team of Ellis Barlow, I Taylor and E Clarke won the team pursuit championship at the 1929 National Clarion Sports – a minute records that ‘if possible we should exhibit the Prague Statuette in the Co-op Furnishing Department for one week’.
In 1930 our membership had risen to 56, we played two football matches and we rescinded a ruling that there should be no gambling on club runs. The following year we joined a football league and in 1932 we had to buy a new football. We waited until 1933 to buy the football shirts, which cost us one pound twelve shillings.
Cycling, of course, was our main activity and we lost ten shillings and seven pence on a novices 25. Our non-cycling activities were broadened in 1935 when we joined the billiards league. We bought an attaché case in 1938 for one shilling – this is still a club asset!
In this year our socialist ideals were still relevant – we made a grant of two shillings and six pence to a Spanish food ship. This, of course, would be related to the Spanish Civil War.
The addition below is kindly supplied by Bill Mitton and his wife Pat (nee Twigg), who have also been keen cyclists all their married life
Tom and Nora Twigg. Bury Clarion members in 1930s
Tom and Nora lived in Chesham, Bury. They were employed at Bury Slipper Works, and were married in 1939.
They did cycle tours in many parts of Britain and recorded their adventures in photographs. One album shows tours between 1934 and 1938 in groups of cyclists numbering between 6 and 10. Nora is the only girl in the group photographs. She would be between 16 and 20 at the time, and Tom was between 19 and 24.
THE WAR YEARS
The first meeting after the outbreak of war was on the 4 October 1939. The only reference in the minutes to this threat to society as we knew it is ‘That when normal times are again reached the club revert to the old run book instead of diaries’. The attendees would not have been aware of full impact of the shattering events that were to follow. At that time our membership was 35 and this, not surprisingly, fell to 26 in 1941 and 1942. In those darkest days of the war we continued our activities but much of members’ spare time would be taken up with service to the nation – air raid wardens, fire watching activities and other auxiliary services.
Monthly meetings were discontinued and we made do with an AGM. We did, though, manage to find time to arrange comforts for those in the armed services. Apparently Wilf Partington who many of us knew served along with G Yates, T Baines and W Holland. Members also resolved to comfort themselves by organising a Christmas ‘house social’ in 1941. In 1943 our membership increased to 33 – this may have been the result of the CTC suspending its activities for the duration of the war. We know that Charlie Westlake joined us at this time and stayed with us forty years before returning to the CTC. A point appreciated only by those who cycled throughout the war was that they had to use some of their clothing coupons for capes and shoes.
THE POST-WAR YEARS
Ordinary meetings resumed in April 1945 just before the end of the war. No reference was made to the war in these minutes but a return to normality is seen in the resumption of an annual programme of club runs. Our culture of working with other local cycling clubs is seen in a positive response to a request from the West Pennine Road Club for help with marshalling their mountain time trial on the Holcombe circuit. In 1948 our membership had risen to 61, this would not reflect the full extent of the post war boom in cycling activity as the CTC had resumed its activities.
This year we ran our first public dance at the Derby Hall and made a profit of twenty five pounds seven shillings and sixpence. Dances became a special feature of our activities right through until the 1960s. Not only were they good for the social side of our club they were also a very good fundraiser. All kinds of other social activities were organised – Blackpool weekends, potato pie suppers and the annual attendance at the Easter Meet of the National Clarion.
1901 to 1918
From a Bury Times article at the time of our 50 years celebrations in 1951 we learned the following:
On a January day in 1901 seven determined ladies mounted bicycles, adjusted their flowing skirts and straw boaters and rode slowly through Bury’s streets. They ignored cries of ‘shame’ and ‘hussies’ from outraged pedestrians and the boos of children running alongside. Following the ladies at a respectable distance came 20 men, also riding bicycles. Those 27 had a mission, besides founding the Bury section of the National Clarion Cycling Club that day, they were intent on preaching Socialism as soon as they reached Tottington and Greenmount villages.
Our archives are incomplete but we do have the original cashbook in our possession. Alas half the first page is missing but the beautiful copper plate writing reveals the following were in membership – A and W Smith, J H Jackson, C E Hill, J H Hammer, A Wolfenden, J Yates, W Rothwell and A Hill.
We know nothing of these people except that they were probably as focussed on socialism as they were on cycling. They would ride bicycles that we would probably find uncomfortable; through the towns they would have to cope with both setts and tramlines; in the countryside not all roads would be metalled. Those that were, were constructed by scattering pebbles onto hot tar resulting in a surface hazardous at the edges and not a joy to ride on until the pebbles were compressed into the tar. For those of the generation that had experience of these roads, this was how resurfacing was carried out into the 1940s (and until the 1960s in Scotland). Our founders would not be experiencing the joys of cycling on the cheap as cycles were expensive and pneumatic tyres were a relatively new concept.
By 1905 we had 27 members and the annual fee was one shilling about a twentieth of the weekly wage. In 1908 we bought a whistle for the sub-captain – someone, no doubt, will know the different commands that blowing the whistle communicated. In those days we were providing some kind of insurance which apparently also included accidents – this lasted until the early 1960s. We kept going through the 1914-1918 war although membership not surprisingly fell.
Tandem All Time TT Records
TANDEM RECORDS
Womens All Time TT Records
10 MILE TT
[table id=3 /]
25 MILE TT
30 MILE TT
50 MILE TT
100 MILE TT
12 HOUR
24 HOUR
Mens All Time TT Records
10 MILE TT
25 MILE TT
30 MILE TT
50 MILE TT
100 MILE TT
12 HOUR RECORD
24 HOUR RECORD
Cycling Advice: Reducing Risk
Before You Ride
If you are new to Club Rides make sure you introduce yourself to the ride Leader. On a Club ride if you are inexperienced it may be best to start at the back of the group with an established member. It is important that your bike is well maintained and roadworthy. Ensure that the brakes work the chain is lubricated and tyres are inflated with no major signs of wear. If you have anything battery powered make sure it is charged, this especially applies to eBikes, make sure they are fully charged before riding. Use of mudguards for winter rides is recommended. If you use cleats check their condition.
When on the Road
Always, always, check the road especially behind before manoeuvring and changing road position. Other cyclists can be hard to hear and there are an increasing number of electric vehicles on the road which can emit little noise. This is especially true on cold rides when your ears may be covered. Riding using ear buds to listen to music will greatly reduce your awareness of traffic. Do not stop beside or undertake lorries and articulated vehicles.
Weather and road conditions are constantly changing so it is in your best interest to remain observant at all times. On any group ride it is important to make others aware of potential risks and look out for each other. Use lights if visibility is poor, some do on every ride.
Potholes, dropped / damaged drain covers/metalwork and loose surfaces on corners are a specific risk as we ride, so draw the other riders attention to them by pointing/waving and shout out if necessary. Puddles can contain potholes and large amounts of standing water can develop at the roadside, it is best to avoid these, point them out.
Road surfaces can be slippery when damp so exercise caution especially after fresh rain. Under these conditions white road markings can also have less grip as does metalwork and both of these are best avoided especially when cornering.
If traffic flow reduces, even blocking the road ahead requiring a change of speed, lead riders should initiate a call out to the group “slowing” or “stopping” as appropriate, while raising their arm above shoulder height as a signal to gain the groups attention. Parked vehicles may also be a hazard and lead riders should move to avoid them, while indicating their presence with an arm signal behind their back which following riders can then use themselves to the rest of the group. Vehicles will pass the group from either direction so if necessary call them out ( car up / car down ) to give everyone a warning. At junctions, look, taking time to evaluate the road and traffic conditions, stopping if necessary.
When riding single track country lanes, exercise caution, listen for, and be prepared to take avoiding action as a result of an oncoming vehicle. It is advisable to keep to the side of the road on blind bends to avoid a head-on collision, keep looking ahead and over hedges if possible. Pull over and make use of passing points if traffic is held up behind you .
Livestock regularly roam the hills in the area, some finding their way close to and onto the road. Riders on the front of the group should warn everyone of their presence while slowing down as their movement can be unpredictable. When you see a horse and rider ahead that you plan to overtake, to avoid startling the animal call out a warning well in advance ” bike passing” or something similar and also communicate as you get closer. Pass slowly allowing them plenty of room. Stay alert to the reaction of the horse and any communication from the rider.
Local councils have installed many traffic calming measures such as central islands, unfortunately these create “pinch points” where cyclists become vulnerable to overtaking vehicles. As a result it may be prudent to ride in the centre of the carriageway, this is referred to as “owning the road”. After establishing that it is safe to do so, take this action if the carriageway is too narrow to allow safe passing by following vehicles, Return back to your normal road position as soon as you are able.
If you suffer a puncture or mechanical issue shout out so the group can hear you and if possible find a safe place to stop getting off the road so you and the rest of the group aren’t causing an obstruction.
Don’t overlap your front wheel with the rear of the rider in front of you, It’s an easy way to have an accident. Ride at an even pace and avoid sudden changes of speed, accelerating or braking. If you are riding on the front of a group two abreast, keep level with the rider next to you (avoid half wheeling)
When descending, let the rider in front move away from you, braking yourself if required, and maintain a safe distance from them. This becomes more important on poor surfaces and if visibility is impaired. At all times you should ride at a speed where you are able to effectively control your bike.
Dismount and walk if road or traffic conditions make this the safest way to make progress.
Stay alert and be aware of rider positions all around you keeping your sideways movement to a minimum. If you need to change position in the group, signal in advance and tell the riders near you what you intend to do, ensure that you have the space to make your manoeuvre safely..
When eating or drinking only ride one handed when road conditions and the weather make it safe to do so. Potholes and gusts of wind can make bike control difficult.
Take care at level crossings, and tram tracks, always try to ride over them at 90 degrees (perpendicular). When wet they become treacherous and crossing at any other angle than perpendicular will very likely lead to an accident. Do NOT attempt to change direction while crossing them. The same advice applies to cattle grids.
Cycling clothing designed to aid visibility is available, wearing it is a personal choice as is not placing yourself in vulnerable situations. Ride Safe!
Accidents
In the event of an accident and serious injury, if the rider is in the road, taking great care, someone should warn approaching vehicles while at the same time only moving the injured person if NOT to do so would place them at risk of further injury.
If on a group ride make sure everyone moves out of the road
If the injured rider is immobile only move them if that is the advice of a First Aider, let them take control of the situation.
Decide on your location while calling the emergency services describing the injuries and let them advise you.
Remain calm and talk to the injured rider to aid keeping them conscious.
Any rider that has lost consciousness should NOT continue with the ride no matter how minor their injuries appear to be, stay with them until the emergency services arrive.
Notify the police if a vehicle is involved, it is the law.
Contact and notify family / emergency contact : Arrange storage / collection of any bike (s)
Any riders that have no good cause to stay at the scene should continue their journey.
Inform the Club Secretary of any incident asap, you can use the contact form if necessary.
After a Ride
If your bike is wet and muddy now is probably the best time to clean it :-)
Recharge eBikes and other battery powered kit. Check tyres for wear / damage.
This list is not all encompassing, but it should aid you to have a safer more enjoyable riding experience.