Tandem Club Rally Guidelines

Introduction

This guide has been written to help anyone considering running a Tandem Club Rally. It is intended to be a summary of useful information.

Thinking of planning a Tandem Rally?

You may not wish to take on the job of organising a whole rally but you may have an idea of a location or particular campsite. Among our members are a number of useful people who will help to make it work. So where do we start?
Have a look at the Rally Check list in appendix 1. Use it like an a la carte menu.

Find a site

Maybe you have visited somewhere on holiday or a friend has made a suggestion. For International Rallies sites less than 350 miles from Calais are popular although a successful rally was held in Wirsberg, Germany 540 miles from the Channel ports.

Fix the date

Having found your site and discussed the possibilities with the site owner you need to fix a date. It normally takes between twelve and twenty four months from the first idea to the rally. It can be done in less but is not recommended. Contact the Touring Events Co-ordinator to find out what years are available. Internationals are normally held during one of the first three weeks of August, as this is when most European countries have their school holidays making it easier for families to attend. You will find it difficult to find a week when all the Western European schools are on holiday. Rallies close to the channel ports are sometimes held in the last week of May to include the Late Spring Bank Holiday (Last Monday in May).

Accounts and fixing the price

Financial guidelines are published separately. Set out a basic budget before making any commitment. Copies of this should go to the Club Treasurer and Touring Events Co-ordinator before making any commitment. As a general rule rallies are expected to be self financing.

First steps

You may have already visited the site on a holiday and know the area well. If not then someone needs to visit and get to know the area and make contact with useful people. The local tourist office can be very helpful with suggestions about places to visit.  They will probably be surprised at the distance we can cover in a day. In France the Local Mayor is a useful man to know. If possible visit some likely destinations. Try to make contact with local cyclists; you may be able to enlist their help.

Attractions

At least one of these should be included in each ride, ideally at about 2/3 of the way round the ride, allowing for a shorter journey back Short rides are usually done by families and should be family orientated. Families need shorter routes, as they need longer stops to give the children a break.
It is best to write to the attraction a few months before visiting advising them of an intended visit. If you have included on the booking form an indication of which route sheet people require then you should also have a pretty good idea on how many will stop as well. This also gives a good opportunity to ask for discounted admission. The Rally badge can be used as proof of entitlement to a discount. A folder can be produced that details the attractions for each day and the discounts offered and left at reception for people to read. Bundles of leaflets from the local Tourist Information Centre may also be made available. If organised soon enough then ‘discount given’ can be included on the route sheet.

Badges

Badges are now an accepted part of National and International Rallies; they also help to provide proof of rally registration. They usually depict a logo, the name of the participant, and the event. They are made up by Pat and Mike Strauss.
Address: 5 Upper Hall, Worcester Road, Ledbury HR8 1JA. Tel: 01531 631731, E-mail: Pat_and_Mike@compuserve.com
Pat is very helpful in making up the design and is very imaginative, please avoid small things on the badge, as these will be 'lost' in the scale of things. Contact Pat 6 months or so before the event to check on her timescale for production and the format in which she can accept designs. As you get the booking forms in you can E-mail (or typed/written out clearly if you don't have e-mail) batches of the names, in families, to Pat. The biggest problem is misspelled names, e.g. Clare or Clair. Get it right on the booking form and it's easy (suggest fill out names in capital letters). State on the booking form to write clearly using the name as it should appear on the badges. The cost of badges should be included in the rally fee.

Banner

The club has a large banner which may be displayed on a marquee or at the entrance to the rally.

Bar

Local beers, Real Ale, red and white wine are popular. Whether to include a bar depends on the site owner, proximity of local bars and, in England, the licensing authority. It needs a number of people to help man and organise.

BBQ/Picnic - traditionally held on the last night

The tandem club has 2 stands and 4 grills. These will hold an oil drum cut in half. The stands will fold away flat after the event. These drums can usually be acquired in the area and so aren't carried from event to event. To prepare them, cut a drum in half with an angle grinder, then put in some fuel and burn them out. Each will need 20kg of charcoal and need lighting about 2 hours before the BBQ. Alternatively it may be possible to hire BBQ kit locally or a local butcher may help in return for a bulk order.
Include details in the rally programme on how it is to be organised. The route on the day may be arranged to pass a local butcher. People may be able to order in the morning and collect in the afternoon. Special discounts may be negotiated.
Butchers may be prepared to offer a â€menu€™ so that meats may be pre-ordered. One grill should be reserved for vegetarians.

The area around the grills should be marked off and young children kept at a safe distance. Alternative arrangements should be considered in case of inclement weather.

Booking Form

A standard booking form layout is available (Appendix 3) which may be amended to suit. An on-line booking facility can be made available on the Tandem Club website www.tandem-club.org.uk together with downloadable copies of the form in A4 rather than the A5 of the journal copy. Rallies are open to members only and the following statement should be part of the booking information:
U.K. residents must be members of the Tandem Club. Overseas visitors who are not members are welcome to attend but they will not be covered by the Tandem Club’s third party insurance.
Event organisers need to submit their information to the Webmaster (see the name shown on the Major TC Events page) as well as to the TC Journal Editor. To see how your page will look in the Journal use the following settings. (These guidelines
have been set out using them).
Page Size: A4
Top Margin: 1 cm
Bottom Margin: 1 cm
Left Margin: 1.4 cm
Right Margin 1.4 cm
Font: Arial 14
The page is then reduced by the printers. Event booking forms are not normally made available on the website until published in the TCJ. The booking form is usually published in the TCJ approx 5 months before the event. It is worth putting in some further reminders and information in subsequent Journals.

Journal publishing dates as of December 2010 are December, February, April, June, August, October. See the deadline for copy submission in the front of a current TCJ.

Bread & milk

If there is no shop on site a local milkman or baker may be prepared to visit the site each morning. Around 8 o’clock is a good time. It may take an hour to get round the whole site at a big rally. Also useful for keeping up stocks for the tea and coffee
at reception.

Cancellations

People's circumstances change so cancellations will happen. Early cancellations can usually be refunded in full. Later cancellations may only get a partial refund depending on the stage that rally finances have been committed. It may be possible for late bookings to take over a cancelled booking.

Chairs and Tables

Useful inside a marquee for reception and evening events. For large gatherings people will happily bring their own camping chairs and tables. Around 10 tables and 50 chairs appears to be about right.

Children'€™s Club

The club holds a stock of materials for use by children. Ideally volunteers should be separate from the main rally organisers. A rota works best with 2 or 3 people each day running the activities. About an hour and a half starting around 8.30 has worked well.

Ideas from previous rallies

  • Collage from old magazines
  • Mural painting
  • Cress growing
  • Postcard decorating for grandparents
  • Sweet making (I have recipes)
  • Flag making
  • Model making
  • Designing a cover for the journal

We are not covered for child care, the activities that we do run for the children are run with the proviso that they are supervised by their parents or delegated responsible person and not those organising the activities. The activities are there to keep the children amused whilst one parent is preparing for the day not as a babysitting/crèche facility. The activities should have a signing in/out book and I suggest that in the info pack you give out to participants it states that children should not be left unattended. The children therefore remain their parents' responsibility.

Closing date

When setting a closing date for bookings allow time for badges and T-shirts to be produced. Arrangements with the camp site will also be a factor. Build in a few days extra to cater for unforeseen circumstances. Around 4 to€“ 6 weeks is normal.

Club Shop

Consider contacting the Club Shop for stocks of items for sale. There are various ways of handling this depending on the facilities available. Current details may be found on the Tandem Club Web Site http://www.tandem-club.org.uk/_clubshop.htm

Flags

3 flags have been bought for 2023. These push into the ground, responsibility of the quartermaster

Generator

For powering marquee lights or providing electric hook up where no other power is available. Hire cost for Ringmer 2010 of 150kva generator and distribution equipment for 40 electric hook-ups and 120litre fuel bowser and pump cost £1413 with diesel
fuel of 920 litres costing £945. Total £2358. Expensive option should only be considered where there is no alternative.

GPX Files

At this year’s Easter rally a couple of people raised the difficulty they had with the route names being too long – their older devices could only display 14 or 15 characters in the route name.  Consequently when selecting a route on their device, the short, medium and long routes could not be distinguished in the 14/15 characters that they could see.

Phil has devised a naming convention. This example is for the  Scaer rally in 2023

   668 SE-S 50k LANVENEGEN TCI2023

   669 SE-M 65k LOCUNOLE TCI2023

   670 SE-L 81k PLOUAY TCI2023

This allowed key distinguishing characters to be visible within the 14/15 characters.

Also, make sure to repeat the ride number in the titles within the route summary sheets

Hill Climb

A popular event at National Rallies. On occasions a Family Friendly hill has been selected to encourage as many members as possible to take part. There is a trophy for this event.

Late bookers

Try to accommodate those who ask if they can still come after the closing date. It helps to promote goodwill. Depending on circumstances they may have to arrange their own accommodation and not be able to order T-shirts etc. Keep the contact
details of those who cannot be accommodated so that in the event of cancellations those people may be offered the cancelled place.

Have some Tandem Club Membership forms available for any non-members who just turn up.

Local Information

So that people know where things are on arrival try to include details of the following including opening times:

  • Where to get bread and milk
  • Supermarkets
  • Banks and Cashpoints (ATMs)
  • Cycle shops
  • Doctors, Dentists and Pharmacists

Maps

Don'€™t be tempted to photocopy commercial maps e.g. Ordnance Survey. The penalties if caught can be severe. In the U.K. specify the O.S. Maps to use and display copies with the routes highlighted in reception for people to copy.

For Internationals locate a supplier of a good local map and include it on the booking form. It is also possible to have maps printed with the routes overlaid.

If the routes are on Rides (in the members area) go full screen on a PC, take a screen print as a JPEG and get a printer to print them on A0 paper. If you have all the places of interest and you do one for every day, this looks great. You can draw on them and suggest get the LONG ride printed. Cost in 2023 was £15/map. It was on openstreet maps, so no copyright issues

Marquee (Party Tent)

A marquee is useful when there is no other covered accommodation available.

Rally Reception, Tea making equipment and Evening entertainment can be sited there. A 6m. x 15m. marquee cost £1322 at Echternach in 2010. It housed 10 Tables, 20 benches and the Bar with additional room to stand and socialise.

Meals

Large scale rally suppers are problematical though rewarding. Problems are really those of size, where it takes an age to get served, especially unpopular with families, as well as the sheer amount of organization involved.
Approximately 20% of the club will be vegetarians. Cyclists eat a lot of salad and vegetables.
Make sure that the vegetarians ar catered for, maybe ask them to go first. Meat eaters will choose the vegetarian option and if non left, people do justifiably get cross.
In 2003, the plates were labelled with '2 per person' for example, this helps to stop food running out.
Schools can sometimes provide meals and if pre-booked this works well as they are used to serving large numbers quickly.

Merchandising

Cycle related traders may wish to set up stall at a rally. Check with the site owners if this is OK. The club does not normally charge for this as they often advertise in the Journal and may provide a useful spares service. Ice cream traders and similar can be welcome at the end of a hot day. Donations from these would be welcome.

Notice boards

A notice board placed at the exit telling people about late route changes is useful. This should be put out first thing in the morning. You can also re publicise the evening event. There is a ‘home made' flip chart stored with the TC Assistant Treasurer (who acts as quartermaster) for this purpose which works very well.
Leave a place where people can put up notices. There is a deal of selling of second hand bikes etc. and this gives an outlet for this. Notice boards are needed to display the marked routes map and all other rally information.

P.A. System

The club has a new P.A. system in 2023 with two microphones. This will cover gatherings in a Marquee. Depending on the nature of the event it may be worth hiring one locally,

Photographs
Arrange for someone to take photographs for the Tandem Club Journal and Website. Ideally they should be different and not published elsewhere e.g. Flick or other photo sharing sites. The club historian would also like a few for the files.

Phones for emergency contact.

Consider giving out 1 or 2 mobile phone contact numbers to all rallyers. The organising team may want to enter each other's mobile phone numbers into their own phones before the event so that in the event of one of the emergency numbers being rung a message could be passed on to others in the team. A dedicated phone may be passed around the organisers from day to day to share the responsibility. It may be a good idea to get a separate mobile number for the rally. There have been cases in the past where some participants get the number of an individual, keep it and then ring it with any issue at a future rally.

Pitches

People like space and what people bring varies from a small 2 man tent to a 4x4 truck, caravan and awning. It seems fairer to give everyone the same sized pitches. If using an unmarked site 8 metres by 8 metres is a useful guide to the area required. A small football pitch will accommodate around 50 pitches. (See appendix 4) Each site may be marked out prior to the rally using numbered pegs. A map of the site could be put in the marquee and people asked to select a site from the plan, go away, pitch on it and then return to write their name on the plan. This also eliminated a potential problem where quite a few people will write on the booking form, ‘we wish to be next to Mr and Mrs xxxx.’ By taking the name sign of their friends with them they could reserve€™ a site for them. Marking out pitches is a time consuming job.
In 2023, all the pitches were pre-allocated for electric. The advantage was no 'first come, first served' and avoided a rush at the start. It also made the marshals job easier as all they had to do was direct
Things to consider
1) Everyone it seems wants to be close to the toilets. Please give preference to blind cyclists
2) Put the tents rather than motorhomes closer to the toilets
3) Ask people who they would like to be close to and allocate. In 2023, about 1/3 wanted this
4) The furthest from the toilets will always be unpopular, but someone has to be there
5) It's really good to get families in the same place
 

An alternative approach is to appoint a couple of members as Site Managers/Health & Safety officers to direct and help people to pitch tents and park their vans leaving the required €œfire spaced€ between units (SIX metres between hard areas - not awnings, in which case 3 metres). Consider having separate areas for lightweight campers and childless parties.

Police

Maybe notify the local police of the event. Please ignore any letters advising holding the event in a stadium as happened in 1998. Advise them that the rides are not a mass start.

Portaloos

Order these early. 1 per 25 people camping is about right where there are no other facilities. Companies should agree to clean them out themselves and service them every 2-3 days. (In 2000 cost 40 pounds for 10 days) Toilet paper may run low be prepared
to check them at least daily. Always put at least 2 next to the marquee. It may be worth considering asking for them to be emptied every 2 days.
Portaloo hire costs: For Ringmer 2010 £790 for 8 portaloos & 2 elsan tanks used as chemical disposals, hired over 2 weekends (more than 1 week's hire), delivered and collected, emptied and cleaned once, damage waiver insurance of 5% of hire cost.
The portaloos were kept locked during the hours of 7am to 10pm as the school facilities were open during this time.

Press and Publicity

Coverage is unpredictable depending on what else is happening in the world. Local TV stations and Newspapers are the usual contacts but consider using a freelance reporter who will submit any coverage to the most suitable outlet. The local tourist office and town clerks may sometimes help. Generally the coverage is excellent and if you want to go along with it, then it provides good publicity.

Reception

This should be manned on the first day from 9am (or possibly earlier to catch those eager early arrivals!) and for a few hours over the next few evenings. Needs to be done on a rota as it can be very tiring.
Families will ask if they can arrive early and stay on after the rally. On a commercial site arrangements need to be arranged with the site owners on how this should be handled. On a school field or other non-commercial site the terms agreed with the site owners will determine what is acceptable. It may be that early arrivals are expected to help set things up.

Refuse

Collection depends on the site used. If the field was part of a campsite, refuse may be collected from a central point. Skips can be hired locally. A black refuse sack can be supplied in the welcome pack and more made available from the marquee.
There is a lot of wine drunk at these events. Details of the nearest recycling facility is also useful.
 

Routes

Acquire some decent maps of the area, at least 1:50,000 if possible. Plot out ideas for routes which include likely places to stop for lunch, toilets etc. We normally offer two or three distances each day all starting out or finishing together. 25 – 35 miles 40 – 50 miles and over 55 miles. If you have access to the Internet use www.bikely.com or a similar route planner and start plotting your routes inserting the directions as you go. The advantage of this is that you can copy the ‘cue sheet’ into Microsoft Excel or similar and print out a route sheet with distances on it. These make route checking a lot easier.
It helps of you use standard abbreviations: XR = Crossroads; TJ =T Junction; Y=Forked Junction; Lights = Traffic Lights (Not Pedestrian); Rdbt= Roundabout; R = turn Right; L= Turn Let; Forward = Straight on; SP Signpost. Note: TL could be interpreted as Traffic Lights or Turn Left hence Lights and L. For a full list of suggestions see: http://www.ctc-maps.org.uk/website/help/abbreviations on the CTC web-site. Armed with the route sheets try to get a group of people to help by visiting the site together for a few days and checking these routes out adding details such as direction signs, cafes, lunch stops, playgrounds and other useful information. People like to be reassured that they are going the right way so include local landmarks and permanent features. Put more detail in rather than less, if the turn is difficult to miss then say so and put a permanent structure in the notes just after the turn for a check. If you have access to a computer, mark up the routes at the end of each day. That way if anything is not clear it can be rechecked before you leave.

There are three options for maps:

  1. Have them specially produced for the rally.
  2. Source a suitable commercial map and include it as an option on the booking form
  3. Have people supply their own maps – suggest a suitable one.

If the routes are good then the event will go well. People will most dislike it if the distances are wrong. If a family has to do 40 miles instead of 30 then it will be remembered!! Try to put the best researched route on day one, that way it doesn’t leave a sense of mistrust in everyone's mind subsequently. You can never hope to get them spot on. As a general guide people should be asked to take a map as well. Grid references (in the U.K.) at each turn is very helpful. Most people can read a map and every
little helps. Put village/town names that you pass through in bold on the sheets. If routes are run anticlockwise in Great Britain, driving on the left, or clockwise in other places where traffic drives on the right this reduces turning across the traffic.
Please forward a full set of routes to the Touring Events Co-ordinator. These may be used again in the future.

Signs

The amount of signage to be put out depends on the event and proximity.
Signs that can be put out are:

  1. Directions to events. Please put these up if at all possible. Put up signs pointing to the site marked Tandem xx, especially useful for out of the way places.
  2. Around the campsite. There are large signs in the boxes marked Toilets, etc. as well as a few blanks. Tandem Club colours of Bright Blue printing on Fluorescent yellow card stand out well.

Shower units

An expensive item but essential if no other facility. 5 showers per 400 people have proved sufficient. Book with supplier very early as demand can be high at holiday times. Hire costs for Ringmer 2010 4-bay trailer showers cost £1031, hired over 2
weekends, delivered and collected, damage waiver insurance of 5% of hire cost.
In 2023, this was a disaster. A shower unit was ordered, it never arrived, monies paid in advance and we had a devil of a job getting the money back. Along with portaloos these hires are problematic due to servicing. Try to get a company that the campsite/local recommend

T-Shirts

T-shirts with the rally logo and name are popular. Include them on the booking form as demand is difficult to estimate.
Adult sizes S,M,L,XL,XXL. Children€™s sizes 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12.

Tea Stops

On the routes these can be broadly divided into 4:

  1. Commercial tea stops. These are the easiest to arrange, depending on the size of the event if they have seating for 40 then there is usually no problem as tandem rides come through gradually rather than en masse. Good tea stops are well used to a throughput of up to 2000 in a day so don'€'t worry too much. There is no need to book tables as in any respect you won'€™t know exact numbers or times. To warn or not to warn? Warning teastops has issues, they will ask for numbers and expect that number to stop, times are problematic. Get it right, it works, get it wrong and you have an angry proprietor on your hands. The other way is to simply aim the stops for a place where there is choice. This works well as rally goers understand that if a place is full they move on
  2. DIY. Find a good open spot and tell people where it is. If there are toilets and a playground close by then all the better. You could as was done in 2023, go out and buy a cake for everyone, set a table out and dish these out as riders arrive, it works very well. Rough cost is £1/person
  3. Pubs. Pubs will lay on tea stops. Be specific about what you expect and the price. To make it worthwhile make this the morning tea stop and send all the routes through it. About 10-15 miles from the start is good, as a result most will stop and you can tie the time down quite well. i.e. they will arrive between 10am and 11.30am. Isolate the pub from other choices, so don'€™t book a pub when Scoffs the cafe is next door. Explain to the landlord that you cannot guarantee that everyone will stop, they will understand this. Put that this is an arranged stop on the route sheet so that people know that you and the landlord have made the effort. To negate the issue, prepay out of the booking fee.
  4. Women€™s Institute etc. When this works it€'s a lovely option. In 2000 we used the local Cats Protection League as a tea stop. For £1.00, a cup of tea and a large slice of cake were supplied. The ladies will usually find a venue. The only hang ups are as above. To sweeten the pill suggest a minimum take, e.g. £100, if they don'€™t reach this (unlikely) then the shortfall will be made up. In 2023, two places were prepaid, two hotels and everyone loved it. Expect to pay £6 for a coffee and cake. Try to ensure that the coffee comes from a variety of sources, not a lone person on a posh coffee machine, this can really delay matters.

Tea, coffee and biscuits.

These are supplied in the marquee. The club has a Burco electric boiler (missing in 2023) and 2 electric kettles kept by the TC Quartermaster and usually some (in-date hopefully!) tea and coffee left over from the previous event.
There are also some cups and a washing up bowl. Children soon cotton on to the free supply of biscuits! About 6 pints of milk are needed a day, cyclists prefer semi skimmed. UHT is a good idea as a main stay or back up.
In 2023, no biscuits were supplied, there was also a small fridge that kept the mil cool
Please remember the children, squash and large bottles of Tango are popular, as well as blackcurrant juice.

Time Trial

Run at Winksley and Ringmer. In order to comply with the various regulations it is better run under the auspices of a local cycling club.

Velocio Trophy

Since 2000 this has been incorporated into the National Rally. There is a separate set of guidelines for this event.

Water

Make sure that water is available from at least 3 or 4 taps.

Welcome Drink

Welcome glass of wine, very good for first night as gets everyone together.

Amounts: 50 bottles for 360 people (not everyone drinks) it may be possible to arrange sale and return or use the excess in a raffle. The tandem club are red wine drinkers. The ratio is about 2:1 Please don't forget the non alcoholic drinks and children. 8 bottles non alcoholic such as Schloer, Appletiser, 20 litres orange juice, 12 litres Coke/Pepsi.

Wine, get everyone to bring a glass or cup but have someone organise the measures. This reduces on waste and clearing up but have a few disposable wine glasses available. Consider cardboard wine cartons, used in 2023, these were 3 bottle equivalents, weighed less, stored better and far easier to recycle. These were laid out for people to help themselves and when empty replaced.
Local beers can be popular.
Local delicacies are sometimes offered as well.

Write up

Please arrange separate write ups for the Tandem Club Journal and Web-site. It is nice if the organisers can do this. For ideas on format look at previous rally reports on the Tandem Club Web site: www.tandem-club.org.uk/_rallies.htm

Appendix 1 - Rally Check List

Try this check list, you do not need every item or facility and some will depend on the site owner or local officials. Don’t let the length of the list frighten you; some rallies have been successful with the minimum of organisation.

 

  • Name of site
  • Location
  • Number of pitches
  • Pitches with electricity
  • (Amperage)
  • On site accommodation
  • Distance from nearest town
  • Distance from Calais
  • (Internationals)
  • Marquee or other covered area
  • Bar allowed
  • Can you persuade other people
  • to help with any of the
  • following?
  • Rally organiser
  • Routes
  • Provision of maps
  • Bookings (on line eliminates
  • errors)
  • Rally reception
  • Welcome evening
  • T-shirts
  • Media relations
  • Tea & coffee at end of rides
  • Public address system
  • Children’s club
  • Evening events
  • Cycle Jumble
  • Cheese and wine tasting
  • Tandem Games
  • Last night barbecue/picnic
  • Cycle shops
  • Technical evening
  • Local events