London clubs - London Dynamo, Kingston Wheels, Dulwich Paragon

djhnz

I'm trying to find a cycling club to join. New to London and would like a race orientated club which has a good social aspect to it too. Is there any real difference between all the bigger clubs? I'm based in Battesea/Clapham Junction so not sure which one would be more convenient to get to (road/traffic wise). Maybe Dulwich paragon would be the easiest to get to, but hard to say without doing the route there. I see London Dynamo only seems to do Richmond park on Saturdays which isn't that appealing, although the Sunday ride looks good. I would really prefer something in Surrey/Kent predominantly.

Anyone got some experience with the different clubs? I'm 28, so ideally want a club which has plenty of members of similar age. For me cycling is just as much about the social side as the racing/training side. Would also like to find something where members occasionally organise some rides out of London (and even the UK) where events or the like are on.

Thanks in advance!

rubertoe

Islington.cc

timmyotool

I'd pick the one with the best kit

imposter2.0

timmyotool wrote:

I'd pick the one with the best kit

That would be CC Hackney then...

Hanners

timmyotool wrote:

I'd pick the one with the best kit

Brixton

Matthewfalle

Why not go out riding with all of them and see which one you like best?

You can also quiz them about what they do.

Or, how about, crazily, riding with all of them whoever you want?

Matthewfalle

Or, crazily enough, why not make some friends to ride with who won't leave you to walk home 10 miles from home?

Just wonderin'.........

kingstonian

Matthewfalle wrote:

Or, crazily enough, why not make some friends to ride with who won't leave you to walk home 10 miles from home?

Just wonderin'.........

Out of curiosity, why do you say that?

djhnz

Matthewfalle wrote:

Or, crazily enough, why not make some friends to ride with who won't leave you to walk home 10 miles from home?

Just wonderin'.........

Well..that was my reason for wanting to join a club. I don't know anyone in the UK yet.

bobmcstuff

Kingstonian wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

Or, crazily enough, why not make some friends to ride with who won't leave you to walk home 10 miles from home?

Just wonderin'.........

Out of curiosity, why do you say that?

Mathewfail has a vendetta against clubs based on nothing as far as I can tell.

Have never experienced this behaviour he thinks is so common - Maybe it's different in London but I've ridden with 3 clubs and have never been left to my own devices after a mechanical. I would not still be riding with them if I had.

kingstonian

bobmcstuff wrote:

Kingstonian wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

Or, crazily enough, why not make some friends to ride with who won't leave you to walk home 10 miles from home?

Just wonderin'.........

Out of curiosity, why do you say that?

Mathewfail has a vendetta against clubs based on nothing as far as I can tell.

Have never experienced this behaviour he thinks is so common - Maybe it's different in London but I've ridden with 3 clubs and have never been left to my own devices after a mechanical. I would not still be riding with them if I had.

Me neither.

I happen to ride with one of the clubs mentioned in the thread title and have never seen or heard of anyone intentionally binned on a ride.

vpnikolov

Velosport CC.

http://www.bc-clubs.co.uk/velosportcc/

ryan_w-2

Go with one you can actually keep up with...

slowbike

bobmcstuff wrote:

Kingstonian wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

Or, crazily enough, why not make some friends to ride with who won't leave you to walk home 10 miles from home?

Just wonderin'.........

Out of curiosity, why do you say that?

Mathewfail has a vendetta against clubs based on nothing as far as I can tell.

Have never experienced this behaviour he thinks is so common - Maybe it's different in London but I've ridden with 3 clubs and have never been left to my own devices after a mechanical. I would not still be riding with them if I had.

I've ridden with two clubs - one rider in one club thought my mudguards (Crux RR IIs) were insufficient for the conditions and he shouldn't be getting so wet and dirty riding on my wheel (it was a wet day and the roads were filthy) - the others in the group thought he was a knob too ... and the other club I've ridden with didn't stop for coffee let alone cake - so I took my own (coffee - not cake) - that showed them!

Neither club would abandon anyone in trouble, my own club have left me (and others) mid ride - by mutual agreement - last time they had longer to ride home than I did and I was on home turf, but had suffered up the final hill - no point them hanging around for me. When on a club ride, if we see another rider looking like they might need help we ask if they're ok - Likewise, my wife had a puncture on a ride - another local club ride stopped and assisted - so not only are your own club riders looking out for you - other clubs riders do too.

As for which london club - no idea - I've ridden with a couple of members from the Kingston Wheelers - nice guys - but then there will be nice guys in all the clubs no doubt...

dulwichiron

Dulwich is great - I'm a member.

We have an introductory ride on the 1st sat of every month that will give you a flavour of the club and will take you out on our standard Saturday route. http://www.dulwichparagon.com/index.php ... tory-ride/

cgfw201

I avoided all clubs named in the title on the basis of them having horrendous kit which doesn't appear to have changed since about 1983. They're probably all ok for finding you somewhere and some people to go for a ride though.

Lots of smaller clubs out and about too now.

slowbike

cgfw201 wrote:

I avoided all clubs named in the title on the basis of them having horrendous kit

you're wearing lycra ... does it get any more horrendous than that?!

okgo

They all have a fair few racers, those clubs, though not sure how easy they are to join these days with the member numbers?

We're in SW London (mostly) and are a race orientated club - Paceline RT - got about 50 members mixed age, but many around 30, many on this forum also.

dandrew

plus 1 for Dulwich Paragon. Circa 650 members, rides most days. Just about every cycling activity catered for, i.e. track, road race, cross, TT's chain gangs etc etc. There are several training camps each year in Spain and Sri Lanka.
The intro ride ( book via Rider HQ ) gives an idea of the club ethos. You'll find lots of people of your age/ability. We socialise in the cafes on Crystal Palace and also now in the brand spanking new pavilion at Herne Hill Velodrome!!!

awavey

timmyotool wrote:

I'd pick the one with the best kit

that would be Islington.cc again then actually I used to quite like the London Phoenix kit few years back, the colours at least, no idea if the kit was any good, but the red/yellow/black combination had a nice kind of vibe I associated with Raleigh to it,but theyve changed it recently and its more red white black with just a hint of yellow, and Im not as much of a fan

timothyw

Islington kit is decent, Gregario's better:
http://www.gregarios.co.uk/cycling-club ... herts.html

There are undeniably a lot of ugly kits out there though.

Ben6899

I'd nominate Islington CC, but I actually think we're oversubscribed and would benefit from a plateau in membership levels for a bit...

Matthewfalle

But don't you want to pass all your experience and tricks of the trade onto new people to make them safer, better, stronger, faster more efficient cyclists?

Surely can't call a closed shop on membership when you're in and have access to all of the above plus much much more.

Keel hauling that's what it is.'

rubertoe

Ben6899 wrote:

I'd nominate Islington CC, but I actually think we're oversubscribed and would benefit from a plateau in membership levels for a bit...

Its Mahoosive....

rubertoe

The OP could always start his own club

I Vote Matthewfalle for chairman as I know his love for clubs.

Ben6899

I suspect he prefers treasure and fancy parrots. For this week at least.