Over 150 riders
About us
A passion for cycling.
Welcome to Falkirk Junior Bike Club, focused on riders aged 4-16. Our vision is to provide a safe, fun and social environment where young cyclists can develop their own talent, identify their own interests and achieve their own ambitions.
4–16 year olds
What does the club do?
We aim to give all our members the best experience of the sport, allowing them to develop a broad range of skills and to live an active and healthy lifestyle.
To achieve this we run regular coaching sessions delivered by qualified coaches focusing on all of the essential skills and techniques to develop well-rounded cyclists. We also run rides on the range of paths and trails around Falkirk for riders to develop bike fitness and raise awareness of the extensive network locally.
For those riders that want to race, we encourage and support participation in competitive events. These events can take place all across Scotland and beyond, with currently around 60 riders competing at different local, regional and national levels each year across a range of disciplines - from Mountain Biking to Cyclocross to Closed Circuit Racing.
We are a young club with big ambitions. We want to open up and promote cycling across our community and continue to develop different areas of activity. We aspire to run day and multi-day trips to trail centres such as Glentress and to host more events following the success of our inaugural Dirt Crit in May 2019 (read here).
We are also further expanding our general club activities to enhance the growing social scene within the club and to increase the number of riders competing at a higher level.
Our story
We held our first sessions in April 2016.
It was recognised that there was a lack of provision for youth cycle coaching in the Falkirk area so a small group of committed volunteers came together to establish the first ever club catering for young people.
Initially there was around 10 riders in attendance weekly, however this quickly grew, as the club benefited from the surge interest in cycling following the 2016 Olympics, and ran a range of initiatives such as Summer Cycling Camps and Come and Try sessions to boost membership numbers.
We base our sessions at different locations in the Falkirk area, such as Kinneil Estate, Canada Wood, The Helix and Larbert High School, to enable us to best deliver coaching for different cycling disciplines. and cater for individual needs.
Our coaches are all qualified and undergo regular training to ensure that they continue to deliver high quality, engaging sessions. What is a bit different about our club from other cycling clubs, is that most of our coaches are young people. In fact, from April to June 2018, we partnered with Scottish Cycling to undertake a trial for reducing the age to become a qualified Level 1 coach from 16 to 14, and we successfully put 7 candidates through this, who are now a core part of what we deliver as a club.
In addition to our coaching sessions we also run a range of led rides, MTB Skills sessions, race prep sessions, Summer camps and host an annual Club Championships to provide additional opportunities for all riders in the club.
The age ranges allow us to tailor the sessions to the riders ability.
Each block has a broad focus, with Mountain Biking, Cyclocross and Road Cycling being our focused disciplines as a club.
Wellbeing and Protection
We are fully committed to ensuring that all riders, parents, coaches and officials have only positive experiences when participating in our sport.
The welfare of our club members is hugely important to us, and we work tirelessly to ensure that we offer an environment that is safe and welcoming for all.
To support this, we have two Wellbeing and Protection Officers – Lesley Archibald (wpo@fjbc.scot) and Tom Whalley (wpo2@fjbc.scot).
As a Scottish Cycling affiliated club, our Wellbeing and Protection Officers do not hold positions as club coaches, so that they are impartial, should there be an issue with the delivery of a session.
In accordance with Scottish Cycling’s Wellbeing and Protection Policy our Wellbeing and Protection Officers will:
Ensure all persons working, either paid or unpaid, with children and young people at the club are fully aware of what is required of them and operate within the guidelines of the club, the child protection policy and codes of conduct
Conduct the administrative work associated with processing of information on volunteers/ staff (PVG scheme applications, self-declarations)
Liaise closely with club volunteers/ staff ensuring that agreed procedures for the prevention of risk are followed
Counsel/ advise the club committee on matters of policy relating to wellbeing and child protection
Advise/ circulate details of opportunities for volunteers/ staff to undertake training
Act as the contact person for coaches, helpers, club volunteers, parents and participants on any issues concerning the wellbeing of children within the club, as well as matters relating to child protection (poor practice or alleged abuse) at the club
Ensure all incidents are correctly recorded and reported in accordance with Scottish Cycling policy and procedures
Coaching, leadership and governance
Governance
Our club constitution outlines the functions and rules under which we will operate and clarifies how club procedures work. The constitution, together with our club polices help the smooth running of the club.
our coaches
Supporting the development of our coaching and leadership team is an essential part of the success of our club.
We were the first club in Scotland to have Level 1 Coaches qualify at the earlier age of 14/15 as part of a trial run in conjunction with Scottish Cycling in June 2018.
Seven young people undertook the course and have since contributed over 1000 hours of coaching in the club and the community after all passing with flying colours.
our committee
There to support the club and our coaching team, our committee is made up of volunteers with expertise in a wide range of areas, from wellbeing and protection to fundraising, and is responsible for overseeing the clubs activities.
Communication
The club sends regular email communications to all Parents/Guardians. Please ensure we have the most up to date contact details for you. You can do this by filling out the member details form here.
We have a closed Facebook group which all Parents/Guardians are invited to join, you can find this here.
We have three main social media channels: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We post here regularly with pictures from our club sessions, event reports and general club news. Please follow them by clicking on the icons at the bottom of this page.
In the event of a session cancellation (which is extremely rare) this will be communicated to all Parents/Guardians by 0730 on Saturdays and 1600 on Wednesdays. Initially, an email will be sent, followed by a post on the closed Facebook group, and further posts via our social media channels. We may also send out a text to the emergency contact numbers held on file to advise.