July 2016: Survey Results
Last month I posted on the club forum: “ It feels like there has been a huge influx of new members over the last 2-3 years. Not so long ago the club run might have attracted just six or seven riders, we now regularly have over twenty and are able to split into two, three or even four groups going at different paces. Where once there might have just been two members racing on any given weekend, there can now be ten or more, and what’s more many of them are getting decent results, even wins. The kit has been redesigned and has helped give the club a much more visible presence in East London and out on the lanes in Essex. The Tuesday Tens have never been more popular and (as long as it’s not raining) can get over 90 riders taking part.
But on the other hand, the club night at the church hall is very poorly attended. In addition to this, the club puts on many races each season (considerably more than other similar-sized clubs) which means a lot of people are required for marshalling and other duties and often the organisers are left desperately scrabbling around for volunteers as race day approaches. This could well get worse in the future as some of the long-standing members who have spent many years as timekeepers and organisers are moving away.
Given all this, I thought it would be useful to get a sense of what we, as members of the club, actually want the club to do. What kind of events do people want to take part in (both cycling and social)? To what extent are members able and willing to help out at events? What kind of club runs should we have? When we know what people want, it will help us make the right decisions about what we should be doing in the future.”
For this reason I carried out a survey to gauge opinion within the club. Here is an in-depth look at the results.
Who are we?
The survey was completed by 43 people (well, kind of 44, but one person only answered a few questions and left the rest), of whom the vast majority (77%) were current members of the club, with five people saying they were intending to join in the future and another four who were lapsed members.
An even larger majority (89%) of respondents were male. While it is true that cycling (or certainly cycle racing) is and has been male-dominated and that you would struggle to find many clubs whose membership was 50/50 male/female, that still doesn’t look like a healthy ratio and I think we should be more active in recruiting more female members.
There has been a large increase in the membership over the last few years and this can clearly be seen in the results of the question about how long people have been members:
The survey suggests that three-quarters of members have joined in the last five years.
The age profile was also interesting. It appears that the average age of our club’s members is somewhere in the late thirties:
Just under half of the respondents said they were members of British Cycling, but without a racing licence. Just over a quarter said they were BC members and had a racing licence, while the same proportion said they were not BC members at all.
Part of the club identity is the kit, which has just had a major revamp with totally new designs and materials. The response to this was overwhelmingly positive: 88% said they liked the new kit and 79% said they wanted to buy more new kit in the next purchase window. There were many comments about this, again most of them very positive (e.g. “Love it! Had very positive comments from multiple total strangers too”), though some wanted longer socks / shorts and one person was worried that it looked like other clubs’ designs.
What kind of riding do we do?
The survey asked people which cycling activities they had taken part in during the last three years. By far the most popular activity was the normal weekly club run (which sets off from Waltham Forest Town Hall at 9am on Sundays) with 51% saying they frequently went on these and just 7% saying they never went on them. Variations on the usual out-and-back club run scored less well: only about 20% had been on either a train-assisted or car-assisted club ride and these people said they had only been on “one or two” of them. Even fewer people had taken part in the women-only rides, but then these have only just started up and there were only 5 female respondents to the survey (and all of them expressed an interest in taking part in them even if they hadn’t already done so).
There were two other activities that a clear majority of respondents took part in (only 20-25% said that they never did them): sportives (56% did these ‘frequently’ or 'occasionally’) and the Tuesday Tens time trials on the Velopark circuit (39% have done these 'frequently’ or 'occasionally’).
A narrow majority of respondents (51%) said that they had taken part in the members-only circuit races at Hog Hill or the Velopark, with most of those reporting that they had done them 'once or twice’. To be honest, it would be difficult to respond that you did these frequently as they are only held once or twice a year as things currently stand.
The numbers drop away as we start looking at other types of races. About 49% had taken part in time trials less busy B-roads, whereas only 10% had time trialled on busy dual carriageways (with just two members saying they had done this more than once or twice). About a third of members had taken part in criterium races on circuits such as Hog Hill, Cyclopark and the Velopark, and about 20% had taken part in road races actually out on public roads.
Comments about other activities included mention of the recent Tour of Cambridgeshire event (which is a kind of race and sportive combined), Audax events and club trips over to France to watch the Tour (including an ascent of Mont Ventoux).
What kind of riding do we want to do?
People were asked about their plans to participate in exactly the same activities over the next three years. There was a clear appetite to do more of everything: every single activity had a higher score for what people hoped to do in the future compared to what they had done in the past.
Club runs were still by far the most popular activity (with more than 95% saying they would be taking part in them at least occasionally). Although few people said they had been on car-assisted club rides (driving up to the race HQ in Ugley and doing a looped ride to/from there) or train-assisted ones (riding out somewhere and getting the train back to London), the number who said they would be interested in them was far, far higher. A good 70% or more said that they would like to do these perhaps two or three times a year. This is definitely something we should try to organise. Obviously car-assisted club runs can be tricky in that there are many members without cars so the logistics can be difficult to work out, but if a date is set for these far enough in advance, it should be possible for everyone to get a lift. These don’t have to be based at the race HQ either - I have considered trying to organise one where we drive down to Ide Hill (near Sevenoaks) and do a ride taking in the punishingly hard climbs in that part of the world. As for train-assisted rides: I rode down to Brighton with three others back in February and up to Saffron Walden in a group of ten or so the other weekend and really enjoyed the experience of getting onto roads that we don’t see every week. What’s more, we managed to get a group discount for the train back to London. The 'Summerhayes Summer Saunter’ usually involves a train back on the August Bank Holiday weeekend too.
There was also clearly a desire to do more racing. Nearly 80% wanted to take part in the club-only crits, about 65% in open criteriums and even 60% in road races on the open road. Similarly, nearly 70% were keen to take part in time trials on sporting courses and almost 50% in time trials on faster dual-carriageway courses (although 49% said that they did not want to ride or race on dual carriageways).
How do we meet off the bike?
In terms of social activities, just over half the respondents said that they hadn’t attended any club social events in the past year. Only seven people said that they frequently attended the weekly club nights at the church hall (and about twice as many said they attended 'rarely’). Personally, I can hardly ever go because of having to work in the evening, but I hear that few people have been going regularly. When I was able to go more regularly a couple of years ago, this was usually after a Tuesday evening club ride around the hills in Chingford. This bumped the attendance up to around twenty or so, but those midweek rides don’t seem to happen any more and evidently things have dwindled since then - not helped by some confusion earlier this year when the venue and day were changed. This was reflected in some of the comments in the survey, which included “I’m not sure what the actual point of the Monday/Tuesday night events is, and indeed when they’re happening. If there was a bit more clarity on the aim of the club nights I’d be more interested. Maybe if we could include bike maintenance/exercises/turbo stuff it would be more interesting?”. I will revisit this later on.
Monthly club nights at a pub (which don’t take place during the summer while we put on the Tuesday Tens) and the annual prize-giving meal were the most popular social events. Full figures here:
Helping Out
As a club we put on a lot of events - many more than other similar-sized clubs. We have the Tuesday Tens on the Velopark circuit every week for much of the summer, two open time trials on the E2 course near Newmarket, three open time trials on the E1 course near Saffron Walden (and club or association events on the same course, such as the Bill Major or the Len Waters events), an open road race near Haverhill and the club-only Len Cooper annual circuit race at either Hog Hill or the Velopark. For these events to take place we need helpers: timekeepers, marshals, people to man the sign-in desk, people to push off, people to judge at the finish line, people to cook bacon sandwiches - the list goes on and on. This has been the subject of some debate and there are many different schools of thought on this. Should we make it compulsory for every member to help out at least once per season? Do we have a large enough membership to justify putting on so many events? Is there an overreliance on the same faces helping out all the time and will these people be able or willing to do so forever?
The survey asked people how many events they helped out at last season. Nearly 63% said that they hadn’t helped at any events, but this included a large number of people who had only very recently joined and so wouldn’t have been able to help out last year. Even when the results are filtered to remove those people, there were still nearly 40% saying they hadn’t helped at any events. About 20% had helped at one event, about 15% at two events, and about 26% at three or more events. This certainly backs up the idea that the burden is not spread very evenly.
When people were asked which events they had helped at, the most common response was the Tuesday Tens (37%), followed by time trials on the E1 based at our race HQ in Ugley (30%), then time trials on the E1 near Newmarket (21%), then the club open road race (19%) and the members-only circuit race (14%).
The question “Do you think all club members should be obliged to help out at a certain number of events per year?” split opinions pretty evenly: 15 people said 'no’ (because people may well have work and/or family commitments which prevent them from helping out), 15 said 'yes’ but only once a year and 14 said 'yes’, twice a year. Nobody said three times a year. It’s worth bearing in mind that 49% agreed with the statement “I do not have a nine-to-five / Monday-Friday job so it is difficult to plan in advance which events I can take part in / help out at.”
People were then asked what kind of events they would be willing to help out at and how often per year. Some 64% said that they prefer to take part in or help out at events which are inside London and 51% said they find it difficult to get to events outside of London, so not surprisingly the most popular option was the Tuesday Tens at the nearby Velopark: 54% said they would be prepared to help out once a year at this event and 30% said they would help out more than once. It is fortunate that this is the most popular event as it is also the most frequently held event. There has been some talk about getting timing chips for this event, which would reduce the manpower required - in the long run this is almost certainly the way to go, but we have to see if it is affordable at the moment.
Next most popular were the E1 'Ugley’ time trials, with 65% saying they would help out once a year and 20% saying more than once. This compared favourably with the E2 Newmarket time trials: 56% said they would not be prepared to help at these, 36% said once a year and only 7% more than once. Why is this? Partly because the field is much larger in the E2 events - our '10’ and '25’ events on the E2 can have up to 180 riders set off at one-minute intervals which can mean it’s about four hours from the first rider starting to the last rider finishing. That’s a long time to spend standing by the side of dual carriageway / at a roundabout. By contrast, the events on the E1 usually have a field of about 60 riders which means the marshalling duty is over more quickly. It’s probably also because of the relative inaccessibility of the E2 - you have to drive for an hour or so to get there, whereas not only is the E1 less of a drive (about 45 minutes), but you can also get a train to/from there easily or even ride up and back (if you fancy a round trip of about 70 miles). It may also be that Saturday afternoons (when our E2 events take place) are less convenient for man of our members than Sunday mornings (when nearly all the E1 events are held).
Road races (both the open event and club-only circuit races) fell between the E1 and E2 time trials in terms of popularity for helping out at. It should also be borne in mind that people were generally not saying that they would be prepared to help at all of these events once a year - more that they were prepared to help once a year and they were indicating what kinds of event they were happy for this to be. So the number who could help out for any one event would be lower than the percentages given.
This was a hot topic and got 11 comments reflecting a wide range of opinions: “As an accredited marshal, I also help in approximately 8 other road races”, “Ideally I’d like to be competing in those events where available”, “With a young family finding time to get on the bike is hard enough but willing to commit time if needed. Tuesday Tens is probably the easiest as it does not impact the weekend”, “We should firmly imply that assisting at least once is a condition of membership, but with light enforcement”, “I’d rather race”, “E2 once a year - but only if the drive up can be shared… Otherwise I am out for ½ a day.”, “I started feeling obliged to help in events that I took part in (even if only occasionally). I think it’s hard to motivate people to marshal road races, especially given other time commitments, if they’re not taking part in that side of the club”, “Willing to help with events, but can only do so when I’m not racing in them!”, “I’d be happy to volunteer for any of the above if I’m not racing myself, however I have no experience in marshalling yet”, “Racing members should do their turn and stop relying on non racing members”, “Club-only events I would help with if more frequent but currently I’d rather ride them.”
Given that the Tuesday Tens require the greatest number of helpers over the year (because of their frequency) and given that they are relatively easy for people to help out at (given their location), it was asked “Would it be fair to say that all club members who take part in the Tuesday Tens must help out (and not race) at one of those events?”. The response was clear: 83% agreed and just 17% disagreed. This looks to be something we should implement next season.
Given the risk of being overstretched in terms of finding sufficient people to help out, people were also asked whether we should put on each type of event more often / less often or keep things as they are. The results of this question were interesting as the answers varied wildly depending on the type of event. There is clearly a high demand for the members-only circuit races: 54% said they wanted me more of these, 41% said to keep it as it is and only two people said we shouldn’t do them. We need to look at organising these more frequently - the insurance issues have been taken care of by running them as TLI events and they are obviously popular. In my opinion this should be a priority.
I had wondered if people would feel that the Tuesday Tens were held too frequently, but this was not the case: 71% said we should keep it as it is and twice as many people said we should do more of them than said we should reduce the frequency. For time trials on the E1 and the E2, there was a majority voting for the status quo: 61% for the E1 and 53% for the E2. Hardy anyone wanted us to do more time trials. About a third of respondents said we should we do fewer time trials (on both courses), while 8% said that we shouldn’t hold races on the E2 at all.
What should we do more of as a club?
In addition to putting on more members-only circuit races (see above), there was a clear appetite for several other things. A significant number of people expressed an interest in these activities: midweek evening club runs (62%), track sessions at the velodrome (59%), trips abroad to watch pro races (such as recent trips to catch the Tour de France and Tour of Flanders) (59%), training holidays (such as recent trips to Majorca, the Peak District and the Yorkshire Dales) (56%), and (as discussed earlier) train-assisted club runs (44%).
Again, there were many comments given in this section. Some were keen to say that we should be more involved in using the velodrome (especially given that our members are drawn from the areas immediately surrounding the Olympic Park). Others wanted more access to training and coaching, whether this be formal (i.e. qualified coaches delivering training sessions) or informal (educating people how to ride properly in a group on club runs). Another popular activity (which I must admit I had forgotten when I made the poll) were the Athletes Lab training sessions in central London.
Weekly Club Nights
As mentioned earlier, only a small number of members regularly attend these. There have been various attempts over the last few years to make these more alluring, some of which have met with success (e.g. roller racing nights, meeting in a pub once a month, having a midweek Chingford club run before the club night - these have seen about twenty people come along sometimes), but I have heard that there have been nights when hardly anyone has turned up. I asked a some questions to gauge people’s feelings about this.
Firstly, did people agree that it was important for the club to have weekly meetings? This was totally inconclusive: just under 30% said it was, almost the same proportion said it wasn’t, and the majority said that they didn’t know. This question attracted lots of comments: many of these said that although they thought it was important to have meetings, it wasn’t necessary to have them so frequently - that it would be better to have them once a month or fortnightly. Also, several people were unhappy with the current venue (the church hall on Havant Road).
People were asked if they preferred to meet face-to-face to discuss cycling with their clubmates or if they preferred to use social media. Again, opinion was totally split on this one: 38% preferred to meet while 36% were happy to use the internet instead. Clearly there has to be a place for both sides: there are enough people who want to meet up (and who feel strongly about it) that this should definitely continue (although perhaps the venue and/or timing should change), but there is also a sizeable group that either don’t want to or can’t attend meetings and who find it easier to use social media. There were several comments from both sides of the divide which make it obvious that it is impossible to expect everyone to do one or the other - some people are never going to use the internet and some people are never (or hardly ever) going to go to meetings.
Next I asked about the two potential venue changes: we have had monthly pub meetings for two or three years now (in the off season when the Tuesday Tens aren’t running) and there was an experiment earlier this year to shift the weekly meeting to the cafe at the velodrome (although ultimately this seems to have caused confusion as to which night the club night was and where it was). Of those who expressed an opinion, people who preferred the pub nights outnumbered those who preferred the church hall nights by two-to-one. However, in the comments that were received it was clear that some people would feel excluded as they didn’t want to go to a pub and also there were some that felt that although it was a nice location for a social event once a month, it wasn’t an appropriate place to discuss club business (and so shouldn’t entirely replace the 'normal’ club meetings). The velodrome cafe was even more popular: four times as many people said they wanted to meet there than at the church hall. The bulk of the comments received on this one were negative: it seems that a large silent majority would like to go there, but those who don’t want to go there feel strongly about it (issues included the noise, the price of the drinks and the fact we could be 'slung out’). Perhaps there is another location that could be considered? It certainly seems there is an appetite for change.
Club Runs
The club runs have been going from strength to strength over the last three years or so. We are now able to split into at least three groups most Sundays: usually a fast group (19-20mph) and a medium fast group (17-19mph) plus at least one social group going at a more leisurely pace (perhaps 15mph, though it depends who is involved). Two-thirds of respondents said that club runs were more important to them than racing. Moreover, club runs are by far the most popular club activity and for many people are the way they first encounter the club, so it is important we get them right.
I asked people how important certain elements were for club runs. The two most important were having a designated ride leader for each group and having an agreed expected speed for each group (65% said both of these were 'very important’ and almost nobody said it wasn’t important). This is something we need to think about. The problem is that you can never guarantee that the same people will be out every week. At the faster end of the spectrum, on any given weekend some will be racing rather than doing club runs. And of course, people have family commitments / holidays / injuries / illnesses. So we can’t expect the same people to lead groups every single week. I have been trying to co-ordinate the faster groups via Facebook and the forum so that people know in advance what we are planning to do - this has tended to focus on the expected speed and on the route, rather than designating anyone as ride leader, but it seems that in future we should always try to have one person who fills this role.
Only 28% said that having a route in advance was 'very important’, but another 61% said that it was a good idea. We have been building up a bank of suitable routes on ridewithgps.com - we tend to choose one for the faster groups a day or two before the club run and then post the link on Facebook / the forum so that people can download onto their Garmins (if they have one). Also, I’ve been trying to harmonise it so that the fast group routes go through High Beach (as the social ride always does for its second pick-up at 9:45). In the past, we have often set off to the east via Chigwell or Lambourne End, but I think it’s good if we can go via High Beach (usually going up through Chingford and doing one of the many Epping Forest hill climbs, rather than the more direct route up the Epping New Road) - this gives people a second chance to meet us and also allows a brief breather and an opportunity to switch groups if they realise the pace is wrong for them.
The final question was about a cafe stop. The social rides tend to have a cafe stop, but the faster group rides don’t: if there aren’t any punctures to deal with then you can end up riding 50-60 miles without stopping at all. This is good in as much as you can get some decent training in and still get home for family duties (which many of us have) by some time between 12pm and 1pm, but it does mean a certain social element is missing. I’ve met a great many people on rides, but it’s difficult to have much of a conversation on the road and it’s difficult to know what people look like without helmets and sunglasses obscuring virtually all their features. While 21% said that a cafe stop was 'not important’, 53% said it was a good idea and 26% said it was 'very important’. I think this is something that we start to try to build in to the fast group rides as well as the social ones (while, obviously, recognising that there will be some people who have to get back earlier - we can always have a designated point where the group splits and some head home while others push on and then have a coffee).
Social Media / The Internet
Finally, I thought it would be useful to gauge how many people are aware of and actually looking at the various web presences the club has. By far the most popular was the club’s Facebook page, with 88% saying they viewed it. Two-thirds also said that they used the club forum - this is encouraging and reflects the fact that the forum has somewhat sparked into life this year. There are certainly a lot more posts and discussion there than there used to be and it is important that we use it as not everyone is on Facebook. Approximately one third said that they followed the club’s twitter account and the same for the club’s instagram account.
About 72% said that they looked at the club’s semi-regular e-mail round-ups. At least one person commented that they haven’t received one for some months. As far as I know, the mailing list is linked to the club membership part of the British Cycling website. If you aren’t receiving e-mails it may be that you have forgotten to pay your subs? Or it might be that you signed up using an old e-mail address? If it’s neither of these things, it’s probably best to get in touch with Steve Maunder to sort it out.
Some commented that the club’s website needs an overhaul: firstly, to update the design / logo / photos to reflect the new kit and secondly, to increase its functionality. At the moment the website does very little apart from link to the forum, the Facebook page and other sites. As this may well be the first thing people come across when googling 'Lea Valley CC’, we need it to promote the club effectively.
Some people have requested that we have a 'secret’ forum alongside the 'public’ one, i.e. one that you have to log in to in order to read it. This could be to discuss club business which is not meant to be shared with the whole world, or, for example, to discuss tactics in upcoming races. Many other clubs have forums that work like this. At the moment, there is a 'closed group’ on Facebook called 'LVCC Race Squad’ where such discussions can take place, but again, this excludes people who for one reason or another don’t want to use Facebook. There are currently 40 people in that group (though some have not been active for some time) and 37% of people doing the survey said that they used it.
Last, but not least (in my opinion) was the club’s tumblr blog which I write. This was seen by only a rather disappointing 26%. It has become a de facto replacement for the old '90 rpm’ newsletter and contains photos, videos, race reports and all kinds of news. If you’re reading this sentence, you’re looking at the blog right now. If you haven’t checked it out before, why not have a look at last month’s blog: leavalleycc.tumblr.com/post/145978903058/june-2016-new-kit-new-record
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