Following British Cycling’s release of their latest guidance (The Way Forward), UK cycling clubs have asked us for the best practice for setting up Makesweat to operate six-person group rides. As the UK carefully finds its way out of lockdown, it’s essential that clubs have a consistent process to demonstrate compliance with British Cycling guidance.
Setting up your six person rides on Makesweat
Based on the guidance, we propose the following;
- Set up two or more venues (starting points) near to eachother, but not so near that they would naturally merge into one larger group. For example, one starting point could be outside a station, the other in the station car park, the other outside a shop near the station.
- Create a events on Makesweat and spread them between the venues; if you have three venues, set up three events that start at 9am, and then the next set of 3 would start at 9.20am.
- Make sure that your event are set to 6 places – this means Makesweat will allow up to six people to book into a ride.
- We recommend start times spaced by 15 minutes or more, as from experience riders do not turn up exactly on time and the goal is to clear the current group before the next set off.
- Make sure your riders know that they must book into rides; there should be a designated ride leader for each event. It is up to the ride leader to check who has signed up to each ride and that riders who have not signed up should be turned away.
If your club isn’t already set up on Makesweat.com, contact nick@makesweat.com for help. (Using Makesweat.com for free events is entirely free.)
Background
- Makesweat.com is a community focused booking system (similar to Mindbodyonline, Eventbrite, etc.) used by a number of UK cycling, triathlon & fitness clubs & organisations.
- Makesweat allows customers & members to sign up to events – indoor training sessions, pilates group sessions, outdoor cycle rides, etc.
- British Cycling mandates a maximum of six person group rides; many clubs tend to congregate prior to rides, and clubs came to us to find a way to avoid a breakdown of social distancing prior to rides.