Meet our groups: Fife and Kinross CTC

Happy, companionable, friends: Fife and Kinross CTC celebrates its centenary this year
Based just across the Forth Road Bridge from Edinburgh, Fife and Kinross CTC has been providing leisure cycling opportunities for Cycling UK members since 1921. Chair Linda Body tells us more about the group

Our history

Our centenary

We celebrated our founder, William Browne, with our Founder’s Run on Saturday 23 April, to which everyone was welcome. We also had an exciting programme of other events planned.

Our rides

We call our rides Rendezvous Rides, which means we meet at cafés and each week it’s in a different area. The demographics of our club are also a challenge and we therefore have Rendezvous Rides with different venues each week so that everyone has the opportunity of travelling either a short or a long distance. We use social media to arrange meet-ups for travelling to or from the rides.

We have a weekly Saturday ride and a two-weekly Wednesday ride in the winter, turning into a weekly ride from April to September. As it’s our centenary year, we are also looking at having a few led rides on a Sunday.

Our Rendezvous Rides sometimes visit other areas such as Edinburgh, Falkirk, Tayside or Perth. We also have an annual lunch, which members of the Edinburgh CTC often attend.

Our members

Fife and Kinross CTC has lots of members, but they don’t all regularly cycle with us. The age of our regulars is rising, the youngest being in her 50s and the oldest in his late 80s.

Our highest number of riders last year was 21 and, other than that, we had seven rides of between 10 and 17 members between May and December.

Our favourite cafe

Our Rendezvous Rides visit different cafés every week so we don’t have a favourite, but we all love cake wherever it is served!

Our routes

All of our members will have different favourite routes, but one of mine is over Knockhill, where there is a motorsport venue and great views, then onto Powmill Milk Bar for lunch. Then home by going back over Cleish Hill with wonderful views over Lochleven, where Mary Queen of Scots was incarcerated for many years.

A relatively short ride of about 25 miles, but hard work nonetheless owing to the elevations.

How many volunteers do you have?

There are six people on the committee, but three don’t have specific roles

Do you have a club kit or dress code?

Yes, we have club kit, but it isn’t obligatory to wear it, especially in inclement weather.

What is the group most proud of?

Reaching its centenary year! We still have many members who were very exuberant in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

What three words would you use to describe the group?

Happy, companionable, friends.

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