2016 California Triathlon Member Survey – RESULTS

by | Mar 29, 2016 | News

California Triathlon is a 501c3 charity that provides a premium no-fee membership to over 3,000 athletes around the U.S..  Our mission is to make the sport of triathlon more affordable & accessible by providing the resources, coaching and support needed for athletes to accomplish their goals.  In turn, we encourage the membership to pay it forward and support great charities including Bike MS, City of Hope and Shriners Hospitals for Children.
Our experience indicates that members who buy into the mission and get more involved are most satisfied and have a greater say in the forward direction of the group.
90.5% rated a 4 or 5 and an additional 8.9% rated a 3.  Most of the 3 ratings were from new members who haven’t had the time to develop an opinion yet.
94.1% rated a 4 or 5 and an additional 5.3% rated a 3.  Most of the 3 ratings were from new members who haven’t had the time to develop an opinion yet.
The 5 most popular activities are:

  1. Epic Rides
  2. Cal Tri USAT Coaching Clinics
  3. VOGO – Volunteer One, Get One
  4. National & Regional Race Series Support
  5. Trick or Tri Triathlon
  6. SPRINT 90 Day Program Powered By Performance Bicycle

It is important to note that there is a correlation between how long the activity has been around and its popularity.  Epic Rides are on their 5th year while Trick or Tri & the SPRINT 90 Day Program Powered By Performance Bicycle were new in 2015.

An overwhelming 88.8% of respondents get the “Just Right” amount of information.  4.1% get too little and 3.6% get too much with 3.6% selecting other.

  •  The 3.6% [6 respondents]  who selected “Too Much” were directed to edit their membership form to control how much information they receive.  Excluding the weekly team note, everything at Cal Tri is opt-in so that is an easy adjustment.
  • 4.1% [7 respondents] who selected “Too Little”.   If you are looking for more information we encourage you to peruse additional sources of information about Cal Tri including:  Monthly Team Meeting, Weekly Chapter Updates, Coaching Clinics, Team Race and Training Events, Website, Forum, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Strava and our new YouTube Channel.
The primary way that our membership gets information is:

  • 58.6% – Messages From Team Leaders
  • 15.4% – Facebook Page [National]
  • 10.1% – Website – CaliforniaTriathlon.org
  • 8.3% – Other
  • 5.9% – Facebook Groups [Chapters]

It is fair to say that our membership relies heavily on the messages from the team leaders with the Facebook page and website taking a distant second and third place relative to being primary information sources.  From a social media POV, we have 4,090 Facebook, 1,768 Instagram and 550 Twitter followers.  We are forecasting a large increase in Instagram and Twitter activity in 2016.

94..1% of respondents indicated that they would either maintain [43.8%] or increase [50.3%] their involvement with Cal Tri in 2016.  That is an overwhelmingly enthusiastic response.
76.3% of respondents indicated that had considered or were considering California Triathlon’s “Get Involved” opportunities.  How can you get involved?

  • Bike MS:  Bay To Bay – Oct 22-23, 2016.  Ride or make a small donation to support Marcos Kou who leads our Epic Ride Series
  • Trick or Tri – Oct 29, 2016.  Race 2016 Trick or Tri and raise money for City of Hope or Shriner’s Hospital at the same time
  • Rose Bowl, Angels Stadium or Carson Center Fundraisers.  In SoCal we participate in fundraisers to raise money for Chapter activities.
  • Cal TRI101 Clinics – Apr 18-24.  Lead a Cal TRI101 Clinic at a local Performance Bike Shop the week of April 18-24.  We provide a great presentation and you get a chance to talk about triathlon.  It isn’t hard to encourage people to talk about triathlon.
  • Chapter Leadership.  Our Chapter leads do a great job and there are always ways that they can use your help and lighten their load.  Many hands makes the work easy.

Select Responses To Specific Questions

ADD ROSE BOWL VOLUNTEERING OPTIONS. 

  • For 2016, there are 14 events starting on May 14.

ADD NO DROP TRAINING [Typically this is a reference to group bike rides].

  • NO DROP OPTIONS.  Each of Performance Bike’s 107 stores has two no drop bike rides weekly.  The beginner is 60 minutes and the intermediate is 75 minutes.
  • MEMBER LED RIDES.  Our members are encouraged to organize group rides, put them on their Chapter Calendar and ask the Chapter leads to promote them.  They can chose whether to make them drop or no drop.
  • COACH LED RIDES.  If you are unsure, plan ahead and check with our coaches to see if a particular ride is suitable for your current level of skill and fitness.  Unless it specifically says, “no drop” assume it is a drop ride.
  • EPIC RIDES.  The name says it all.  These rides are challenging.  While they are SAG supported they are not a “no drop” ride.  Typically cyclists informally cluster in groups.  This would be in line with other big rides like Bike MS or Grand Fondo.

ADD TRAINING TIPS IN WEEKLY EMAIL BLAST

ADD NEW EPIC RIDES

  • The 2016 schedule is a great mix of old and new.  5 of the 11 Epic Rides this year are new.
    • Apr 9 – OC Hills to Sea
    • May 15 – Tour of California Stage 1 – San Diego
    • Jun 11 – Bearrowhead Century
    • Oct 22-23 – Bike MS (Bay to Bay)
    • Nov 26 – Piuma Panorama

CHANGE THE KIT DESIGN & COLORS

  • This goes under the category, if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.  We have a great design that is used in everything from our kits to our team vehicle, Cal Tr1.
  • This also ties into our mission of keeping the sport more accessible and affordable.  Members from 2010 – 2016 can stand in a team photos and looks cohesive.

ADD A BUDDY SYSTEM FOR NEW MEMBERS

  • Our advice is to go to local training events and make friends.

ADD CROSS CHAPTER COMPETITIONS

  • Suggest that to your Chapter lead

ADD MASTER’S SWIMMING [LA Area Comment]

  • If you live in LA, we recommend you look into SCAQ for Master’s Swimming.  They have more swim resources than we could ever hope or want.

ADVERTISE CAL TRI’S SOCIAL MEDIA OUTLETS.  Facebook, Twitter, Instragram and Strava Icons are located at the top of our website.

ADD MORE RACES/EVENTS/TRAINING

  • 25 RACES.  We have a 13 race National Race Series and a 12 race Featured Race Series – SoCal due to our membership there.  Each of the Chapter Leads can support races as they see fit.
  • 13 COACHES.  Each of our 13 coaches leads Chapter training and race simulations.
  • SPECIAL EVENTS.  Keep a look out for special events like open water swim instruction, bike handling skills and run form clinics.

ADD MORE SOCIALS

  • Please contact your Chapter Lead if you have a social opportunity you would like to lead.

ADD A DEDICATED RUNNING STORE SPONSOR

  • We went from Sport Chalet and their 40+ stores in 2015 to Performance Bike and their 107 stores in 2016.  It will take all of 2016 to invest in that partnership.  Assuming we do that right we will look to add a national running store partner in 2017.

ADD A “NEW TO CAL TRI PAGE”

  • Great idea.  Expect one to be up in April

ADD TRI 101/NEW TO CAL TRI

  • We will be conducting those April 18-24 in partnership with Performance Bike at most of their stores around the country.

ADD A SAN FERNANDO CHAPTER

  • We recognize that our membership is growing in the San Fernando Valley.  Our Los Angeles chapter covers a large territory and we try our best to offer activities on our calendar that serve all of the different areas.  We’ve recently started weekend rides from Performance Bicycle in Woodland Hills, and we will have a season kickoff meeting there next month.  Additionally, USAT-certified Cal Tri coach Caitlin Nicholas is based in the Valley. Last summer, she led weekday evening trail runs and brick workouts from Balboa Park; we may offer something like this again if there’s sufficient interest.  If you have suggestions and would be willing to support additional activities in and around the San Fernando Valley, please contact LA chapter lead Anthony Grey at anthony@californiatriathlon.org.