OCD stands for 'Ordre des Cols Durs' - 'the club of
the hard cols' - a French cycle club of which we are the
British-based English language equivalent. OCD Cycloclimbing
acts mainly as an information exchange for cyclists who enjoy cycling in
the mountains. If they wish, Members can claim pass heights each year and
progress through grades of membership. Otherwise they can
simply enjoy the magazine and the e-group; Members are of course encouraged to contribute to the
magazines and pass guides.
How to join OCD Cycloclimbing
Membership is for anyone with an interest in
mountain cycling. Subscriptions are the same for claiming and
non-claiming members. Only one subscription per address or
group/club is required (as long as one copy of each magazine is
enough and provided that only one batch of claims is sent each
year). Application Form
SUBSCRIPTIONS are £14 for UK members and £20 outside the UK,
both lasting for 8 magazine issues. The magazine is published 3 or 4 times
a year; overseas posting is by surface mail. Payment should be sent to:
Membership Secretary, Rod Dalitz, 2 Frogston Avenue, Edinburgh EH10 7AQ.
CHEQUES must be payable to "OCD Cycloclimbing" and must be
in pounds sterling - we are charged 7.50 UK Pounds per cheque for
conversions from other currencies. If you also want guides with a
single cheque then this is perfectly acceptable.
FOREIGN PAYMENTS may be made using US dollar or euro notes, postage at your risk, but not other currencies.
Please note that membership records consisting of:
date of joining, name, address, expiry date of membership are
retained on a database. This information is not made available to
anyone unless they are helping to run the Club. However, if you do
not wish your details to be held on the database please let us know.
Benefits
The Guides are produced from the
feedback of Cycloclimbing members and are available at a discount to Members, so please keep
us informed! Information on other areas is also available, often
from old OCD magazine articles - contact the Touring Secretary.
OCD Cycloclimbing also maintains a small library of books and maps
available for loan to members only.
Club Rules
Non-claiming Associate Members may join to the end
of the following year while they accumulate claims or indefinitely
if they do not wish to make claims. It is hoped however that they
will join in contributing information and magazine
articles.
The OCD starts from 1960 the earliest to which
you may back-date a fully recognised claim
Grades of Membership start at 20,000m to join
the U.K. club as a full member. French Membership starts at
50,000m and there are further grades at 100,000m (Officer), at 200,000m
(Commander), at 500,000m (Honorable). The top grade is at one million metres
(Venerable); this has been reached by
three of our Members so far.
Claims are put together by adding the summit
heights of cols crossed or peaks reached. Note that
a col has higher ground on both sides of
the route at its summit and there are different valleys starting
in front and behind you. It is not good enough to get only part
way up a valley, however long
Candidates' honesty is assumed
A summit cannot be claimed more than five times per year
You must be climbing as you reach a col. A
second col which starts from a lower one can be claimed but not
vice-versa
Lists to the Claims Secretary should be in the following form:
Date
Name of Col
Location/Map Ref.
Height, m
Notes
23.6.97
Stelvio
N.E.Italy/ Michelin map 218, panel 17
2757m
**
etc....
** the notes are optional but we would like to
hear of points of interest, whether you enjoyed the route,
preferred alternatives, surface quality, gradients, remote and/or
helpful hotels or campsites and anything else to improve our
guides in a way you would have found useful. (It's very helpful if
you also give the OCD pass number from the guide).
Claims are for the year to Dec 1st and should
be sent to the Claims Secretary by Jan. 31st, address as above or
per the latest magazine. The lowest worthwhile summit is usually
taken as 300m but a lower struggle can be claimed if you
insist!
THE 100 COLS CLUB
A French club for which we are the UK
contact, membership is open to anyone who has cycled up at least
100 different cols of which at least five per hundred must be over
2000m. A Col may only be claimed once in your cycling career. Cols
must be identified by name on a recognised map or equivalent.
There is no minimum height requirement. A claim for 100 Cols Club
should take the same form as for OCD Cycloclimbing but the pass heights do not
have to be totalled. Rules in English.
Claims should be submitted between 1st Dec and
31st January - the first claim will be for Cols ridden to date,
subsequent claims for new Cols ridden during the year. You can
send in claims via OCD-UK.
