I think the best clubs are the ones that aren't actually clubs. It's the kind where the only "membership fee" is to buy a shirt that has the club name on it. The people in the club can be all kinds. The clubs that are laid back and don't have 'coaches' for the club. The best clubs don't have a president and all of that. The best 'clubs' just have athletes out there training, mostly good for long rides, together and kicking each others' arses. This is always in my humble opinion, as others may enjoy the type of club that i don't. The main thing is, you need to have a core of people that ARE the hard core people and they need to be the type of person that is friendly and attracts other people. Remember, a club is supposed to be fun, and it's the training with those people that makes it fun.

-Eric

Hot single women.

The club I am in seems to be a lot of middle aged dudes. Obviously being at a college you have the advantage of getting a younger demographic, with a splash of more seasoned veteran's drawn from the faculty of staff population.

I think a great club would be a lot like a great team in any other sport. People of all abilities, with a common passion, who also like to party hard when the training and racing is done for the day.

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"When I first had the opportunity to compete in triathlon, it was the chicks and their skimpy race clothing that drew me in. Everyone was so welcoming and the lifestyle so obviously narcissistic. I fed off of that vain energy. To me it is what the sport is all about."

One that's run by triathletes, and not cyclists (who race bikes only in triathlon relays)...

Our local triathlon club is very much like what RocketDog was saying. We have no coaches or elite triathletes but just a solid bunch of male & females that have fun training and racing together. We started 7 years ago and basically had no membership dues and ran it with about $100.00 budget. That included monthly newsletters. Basically the $$ came from local sponsors that I sold on the club idea that triathletes like spending money and I could get them in their door. Now, our club is on the top and everything is going better than ever expected. We now have a solid core group that are totally focused on our mission, put on a youth tri for almost no charge, have our own race going into its second year, local sponsors that believe in who we are, national sponsors, merged with our local Velo club which did nothing but make us stronger, more $$$ than we count now, and even have Coach Troy coming in town to film a video with us. Also, we made a committement in the club to win ......and that we did, the 2004 Mideast Region Club Champions. What makes a good triathlon club, everyone working together and leave your ego on the race course. RocketDog.......are you with the RocketDog tri club in ILL ? If you are........get that club back for 2005 and competing.

make sure that it's not the same people doing all the work year after year. You need others to be able and willing to step in and help run the club.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Yep, from the club in IL. Can't promise anything about '05. Where are you from?



-Eric