More Than Just Bikes, More than Just Riders

by Euan Munro

After a stressful but enjoyable day at Lothian Flyer I was inspired to put some words on paper about how it was made very evident to me recently that this club is so much more than just a bunch of people riding bikes (and swimming and running).

Yesterday, Alan Dean — who was organising today's race — had a bad crash of his own and punctured a lung. With less than 24 hours' notice, John McMillan, Alistair Webb, Phil Darby, Ken Whitson and Emma Borthwick pulled together, sorted the admin, chased down equipment from all over the place, and made sure everything was ready. More people put their hands up to add to our volunteer pool that then helped the race go ahead smoothly and safely. Without all these people we wouldn't have had a race with riders travelling from all over to compete, and we wouldn't have had our own James Burnett getting his first road race victory.

This kind of thing isn't new, though — a few weeks ago, Rob Bloor and Graham Jones were seriously injured in a crash on a group ride. In the days after, members went to visit them in hospital, and at the very next race, Alan Dean himself bought them a card we all signed when at the Pippa Handley race. No one asked Alan to do it, he just did.

Then just last week, I went round to Graham's house to pick up some equipment for the Lothian Flyer, and when I turned the corner into the garden, I found Peter Ellen already there, quietly getting on with some urgent work that needed doing. Nobody had made a fuss about it – he was mostly enjoying the opportunity to joke about Jonesy's plums!

None of these things happened because anyone was asked to do them. People just noticed what was needed and did it. These are also things that I happen to know about and there are countless other acts of kindness going on in the club all the time. Thank you to everyone who has, in ways big and small, supported each other and the club.