Meet our groups: Portsmouth CTC on building a cycling community

Portsmouth CTC certainly knows the importance of cake when it comes to building a special community. The group’s Campaigns and Publicity Officer Wilf Forrow says: “We know every café stop in Hampshire and West Sussex, and all of our rides make use of them, so there’s plenty of chance to recover and get to know your fellow riders.”

But it’s also about offering choice, attracting riders of all abilities and sharing skills and information. The group runs almost 400 rides every year – an average of more than one every day. But, says Wilf, “there are obviously more in summer”. He also points to the variety of rides on offer.

“We have a huge choice of rides and destinations, covering fantastic scenery all along the beautiful Solent coast right up into the fabulous South Downs, so every ride is different. They’re a huge mix, from gentle social rides to faster, longer rides and audaxes, and everything in between.”

The group supports New Forest camping week, as well as running multi-day tours in the UK and sometimes to France. “We have regular published breakfast and coffee meets, where past members and non-riders can join us,” Wilf adds.

“During the winter, we run fortnightly social evenings, with presentations from inside and outside the club, mostly on a cycling theme, including a photo competition and a Christmas quiz.”

Communicate, communicate, communicate

Good communication is essential to the success of the group’s many events, and all of them can be found on Portsmouth CTC’s “brilliant website”. In fact, “get a good website” is one of Wilf’s main pieces of advice when it comes to building a more inclusive community. It “keeps everyone in touch and makes it easier than ever to meet up and organise and join rides”.

The website boasts a members-only forum where they can discuss everything cycling related – whether that’s rides, bikes, kit or anything else. In addition, the group sends out “a very short update email every Friday to all members that want it”.

Welcoming new riders

More than a third of the club’s members are women and the club aims to encourage riders of all abilities – otherwise, Wilf warns, cliques can form, “small groups who become detached from the club. We try and encourage all ride leaders to genuinely invite new riders.”

He continues: “We try to break down the gender stereotypes if we can. “For example, we run the occasional puncture repair workshop, or ‘navigating with your phone’ course, although many men need those too. But above all, we try to treat women cyclists the same as men.”

The club uses its website to fully explain what’s involved in each ride, in the different types of rides on offer and in the club itself. They’re currently updating the ride classifications to make them clearer.

But as Wilf says: “It’s not just women – many men are nervous about getting left behind too. We try to welcome every new rider and guide them to the right ride for them while they’re getting their feet.”

The approach seems to work: “We have a mix of men and women at all levels on our rides.”

Encouraging participation

Portsmouth CTC has also had success with encouraging and keeping its ride leaders. “We run ride leader workshops to try and welcome and encourage new leaders, and pass on experience of existing leaders.”

Giving ride leaders autonomy has also proven crucial. “We allow leaders to limit the size of their rides, as we found that most leaders are very uncomfortable turning up to lead a ride and finding 40 people expecting to be taken, especially if the café only seats six people!

“This has resulted in far more new leaders and more great and varied rides.”

Wilf has this to say about the benefits of being part of a club: “Club riding brings more varied routes, meeting like-minded people, making new friends, and giving you a reason to get out on the bike.”

Better cycling for all

The club also campaigns for better conditions for people who want to cycle in Portsmouth, calling for such things as more cycle paths and better cycle parking. It is part of Cycling UK’s Cycle Advocacy Network.

“The club and its website amplify the weight of our campaigning work and deputations, and makes a huge difference to our impact,” Wilf says.

“The campaigning side does bring publicity to the club, but the biggest benefit is the future riders we might gain. Most current members are already fairly confident riders, otherwise they wouldn’t join us, so tend to make the best of the current cycling infrastructure.”

When I ask about Cycling UK’s ‘My ride. Our right’ campaign, Wilf has some words of warning: “We welcome the broadening of Cycling UK from a pure touring club to embrace everyday cycling, but we worry that targeting women specifically might deter men.”

“We would rather see ‘women’ changed to ‘women and children’ on the advertising to make that clearer.”

He also mentions that “most everyday cyclists aren’t going to spend over £50 a year joining Cycling UK, any more than pedestrians would join the Ramblers just to walk to the shops”. A good point!

Portsmouth CTC is one of Cycling UK’s longest-running member groups, and the club turns 100 next year – “Not the riders though!” as Wilf exclaims. It celebrates its centenary in May and we’re looking forward to hearing all about it.