As ways to spend a significant portion of your weekend go, standing on a small grassy island in the middle of a busy roundabout exit is unlikely to leap to the top of many lists.
And while this might be a bizarre and confusing start to a story about cycling to some, there will be a small but noble phalanx of readers who are nodding sagely, and very pleased to be able to say that this is exactly what many of their summer weekends consist of.
I’m not proud to admit that it had been some time since I’d last turned my hand to volunteering at a cycling club event – probably more than 15 years – although that is at least in part due to the fact I’ve not been an active club member for much of that time.
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In a past life (though not pre-Cycling Weekly – not much is to be honest) I organised my old club’s open ’25’ for a few years, so standing on roundabouts, or serving tea, is all in my vocabulary. I also have a reasonable grasp of how important (and sometimes difficult) it can be to find enough volunteers as a race organiser. In fact it’s one of the major issues facing modern grass-roots cycling, so it was nice to be useful of a Sunday, instead of lounging around drinking coffee and studiously putting off mowing the lawn.
We were helped by what was a relatively small field and generally clement weather, but all in all it was a rewarding experience and fun, even, in parts – and it was great to finally meet some of my clubmates.
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