Club Spotlight: Club Ciclista Sant Joan Despí
Every now and then, we put one of our clubs in the spotlight. This time, we spoke with Club Ciclista Sant Joan Despí, a club just outside Barcelona that has been riding together since 1966 and today brings three generations onto the same roads and trails.
About Club Ciclista Sant Joan Despí
Club Ciclista Sant Joan Despí was founded in May 1966. Back then it was a road club, simply because road riding was the only real form the sport took. As cycling itself changed, the club changed with it: today it covers road, mountain bike and gravel, and it has grown into something far more social than a racing outfit.
The club now has more than 350 members, and around 215 of them ride regularly, once or several times a week, always in a group. There are separate groups for different kinds of routes and different levels, so nobody has to ride at someone else’s pace. Mountain biking currently draws the most rides and the biggest turnout.
The club also organises events, and one stands out. LaTravessa is a non-competitive ride of around 70 km with 1,800 metres of climbing, held every year since 1996. Some editions have passed 1,300 participants. On 4 October 2026 the club rides its 30th anniversary edition.
A family club rather than a race team
What sets the club apart is that competition was never the point. It is a family club: boys and girls who learned to ride a bike here grew up in the sport, and have since brought the next generation along with them.
That shows up in who you meet at a club activity. Members of over eighty ride alongside children of eight or nine. There are the adrenaline seekers chasing more distance, more climbing and more committed descents, and there are people who simply enjoy an easy hour on the trails. The club has room for both.
What the club gives its members and its volunteers
For the members, the club is a way to be social around sport, with the effort kept moderate and health kept in view. Cycling as something healthy and enjoyable is both the starting point and the goal.
The people running the club do it entirely altruistically: unpaid volunteers, putting in constant work. What they get back is the enthusiasm of the members who keep turning up, and for a volunteer board that return is what makes the effort worth it.
How Club Ciclista Sant Joan Despí found Cyql
The club went looking for a single place to handle communication with a large membership. They wanted an alternative to the tools they had been spreading across: Strava, Wikiloc, Komoot and WhatsApp. The first are open platforms built to capture your attention, and WhatsApp is closed but leaves no real room for privacy.
Cyql offered exactly what they were after: a members-only space to share photos, routes and ride announcements, a library for the club’s own routes, verified by the club itself, and a way to manage member payments.
Why Club Ciclista Sant Joan Despí uses Cyql cycling club management software
140 members now use Cyql regularly. Leaving the WhatsApp habit behind is a slow road, as the club is honest about, but step by step Cyql’s advantages are combining with habits that have been in place for years.
What they value most is how quickly and easily a ride announcement goes out, and how everything else stays in one place: routes, photos, and the club’s past, present and upcoming activity, all findable by date and accessible to every member. Members can also use the app in their own language.
“Cyql is the all-in-one solution for a club’s communication with all its members, giving them all the information they need and want to have,” says José Manuel Arrojo of Club Ciclista Sant Joan Despí.
Is Cyql right for your club too?
Curious whether Cyql could do the same for your club? Get in touch with us to find out.