Strictly speaking, how many people does it take to organise our year round ride programme? And the answer is, more than you might think!
We’re fortunate that Cycling Dumfries is made up of people happy to volunteer time to attend meetings, contact the council about active travel issues and whip up the all important baking for ride sustenance. In fact, sometimes it can seem there’s a whole army of volunteers, but we are in fact quite a small band of dedicated enthusiasts.
Our year round ride programme is a fantastic success, with turnouts getting on for 20 people, even during our winter rides. This typically means splitting the ride into two groups, to ensure safety and to be considerate of other road users. On the day itself we are often in need of four ride volunteers, not just the two we’ve normally operated with.
At the risk of sounding like an Oscar awards acceptance speech . . . firstly, thanks to everyone who comes on the rides – you are what makes them a success! Secondly, thank you to everyone who volunteers their time on the day, to lead the ride or marshal the ride as a back marker – you mean the rides can go ahead. Next up, huge Hollywood handshakes all round to our star bakers who provide sustenance and morale in the form of cake. And finally, thank you to the “behind the scenes” volunteers, who spend their time coming up with the routes, advertising them via the website, Facebook, emails and posters, sending social media reminders in the run up to the rides and writing post-ride reports – you create the rides and spread the word so people have a ride to go on.
In any given year we organise around 20 rides, plus a few bonus ones such as the Wild Goose Festival and campaign rides to highlight problem areas for cycling. Averaging at around two rides a month, we welcome anyone who would like to be involved in baking, leading or back marking as a ride volunteer, taking photos or videos of rides, writing it up afterwards, or getting the message out via social media. You may also think there’s something extra you can add – we’ve had great contributions such as historical guides to accompany our ride routes.
We are in particular need of ride volunteers. This doesn’t have to be in the form of a leader; back markers to bring up the rear of each group are just as essential. And it would be great if you can confirm before the day if you can volunteer on the ride. It makes the job of the ride leaders more comfortable, knowing there are volunteers to help out.
If you think you could help out, or would like some more information, email us at cyclingdumfries@gmail.com or message us on Facebook. Alternatively, you can chat to one of our committee members/ride leaders/bakers/backmarkers/content creators at the next meeting or ride you are at. Our volunteering is very ad hoc, and we are open to any contribution, large or small, regular or otherwise.
We also know that not everyone can volunteer all of the time. Whether you come along on a ride as a volunteer or participant, please know you are always welcome.
Cycling Dumfries 