Anyone have experience with either of these clubs? I’m thinking of joining one just to meet some folks to train with. I live in Downtown Atlanta so the other tri clubs in the area won’t really work since their group workouts tend to be too far away. The main thing for me is the group swim workouts since I’m finding it hard to get motivated to get to the pool. Peachtree Tri Club does group swims at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center which is the best facility around and super close to my house and work. Members are allowed to swim there outside of the group swim but it costs $7 each time. Another plus would be that the pool has awesome hours which would make it easy to just decide to go (5:30 am until midnight most days). The downside is that the Peachtree Tri Club seems (let me emphasize seems here since I do not have any doirect experience with them) to be pretty Mickey Mouse (very small membership with workouts geared toward total newbies - weekend group bike rides are like 20 miles). Their group workouts just seem pretty limited though their Thursday run in Piedmont Park is 2 blocks from my office which would be nice. The cost is only $100 for the season but you also have to buy a Ga Tech buzz card ($30 I think and then pay $7 anytime you want to swim other than the group session).
The Atlanta Tri Club seems (again from a total outside perspective just based on the info on their website) to be a much larger club. They are affiliated with the City of Atlanta parks department and their $300 membership comes with a pass to use all of the city pools (normally $4 per visit). Their are 3 city pools that are a pretty easy drive for me but the city pools hours of operation are not optimal. They open too late for me to workout in the morning and the pool closest to my office is reserved from 5:30 to 7:30 for a juniors team. That pool opens up from 7:30 to 8:30 to the public but the lanes stay packed so it kind of sucks. I have no idea what the group swim session is like but the facility they do them in is pretty nice. The one drawback with the city pools are the hours of operation. It makes it really difficult to just decide to go for a swim. Their other group rides and runs seem to offer a lot of options but I’m curious how well attended they are since there are so many of them spread all over the city.
Can anyone offer insight into either of these clubs? I would really like to swim at the Ga Tech facility but I also want to join a club that offers more than just a great place to swim. If the Atlanta Tri Club is a happening group then there is another option perhaps for me to get to swim at Ga Tech. There is a masters team that swims there called the Atlanta Rainbow Trout. It is a gay and lesbian organization and I am straight but I’m sure they don’t care and frankly neither do I. I could join that group but I need to find out if they are also allowed to swim at Tech anytime like the Peachtree Tri Club. Anyone know?
I don’t know if it works for you, but I swim at the MLK natatorium on Boulevard a little south of Freedom Pkwy. It opens at 6:30am. I started swimming there and there are almost always free lanes (haven’t shared a lane yet). The only time it is closed is from 530PM to 7PM (I think), then they have a night swim from 7 to 830. The night session is typically two to a lane.
The Atlanta Tri Club seems more adequate w/ workouts and the number of coaches they have. I’ve thought about joining, but I don’t know if I’d go to workouts enough.
Yeah, MLK is where I swim but the morning hours aren’t quite early enough for me. If it were 6 am it would be great. I’m pretty sure the evening swim isn’t until 7:30 but perhaps I need to check that again. It is just so crowded in the evenings that it isn’t enjoyable to swim there.
Yeah, I try to avoid the evening. If I do go, I make sure to get there right when the swim practice is over so I can get a lane. I’ve never had to share a lane with more than one person.
I just wanted to bump this thread to see if anyone would respond who is a member. I met a few folks from the Atlanta Tri Club at the ING Expo. I didn’t get to spend much time with them though. They have an info session next Wednesday the 8th in case anyone is interested. The way it was explained to me at the expo is you buy a membership for the season ($300 for the rest of the year). This gives you free access to all city of Atlanta pools (that normally costs $90 I think), a training plan targeted toward specific events up to Half Ironman (there are memebers with Ironman goal races), and access to 6 supervised workouts each week. I’m wondering if this makes any sense for me if I’m already following my own plan. I see that they entered info on the Tri Clubs page and said that they have 100 members. I’m hoping to hear from current memebers to see if there is any benefit if I’m already following a plan.
I am on the Board of Directors for the Peachtree Tri Club and would be happy to answer some of your questions. PTC has over 130 members to date. The goal of the club is to promote the sport of triathlon in an inviting, low-key and non-intimidating way. Several members are Ironman finishers but we like to create a welcoming environment for people just getting involved in the sport. The club’s website contains a calendar which lists our group workouts. Every Monday is the group swim at Georgia Tech. Every Thursday we do a group run out of Big Peach in Brookhaven except for the 3rd Thursday of the month where we have a coached track workout at Piedmont Park. We generally schedule 2 weekend group workouts a month that vary in location as well as activity. Although group rides are generally in the 20-30 mile range, several members are training for Ironman or other long races and often form subgroups to ride longer distances. The Club also has a private Yahoo Group available only to PTC members which we use to communicate activities with one another. Members often organize rides, runs and other activities not posted to the official Club calendar. The club also provides several opportunities to participate in social and community service activities. In addition, PTC has a members-only Super Sprint Triathlon twice a season. The Super Sprints are targeted to our newer triathlete and give them an opportunity to get of taste of doing all sports before doing to an official race.
In addition to training opportunities in the club, PTC has selected several races in our region to be “Club Races” as an opportunity for our members to compete together and promote camaraderie among members. We have a volunteer coach who writes a training plan for those races and we provide a “race mentor” who organizes a pre-race rally and other logistics for the race.
With regard to the group swim at Georgia Tech, we generally have 20-30 people attend the workout Monday night. The club’s volunteer coach writes 3 different level workouts and you change choose your workout based on your goals. In addition, the Club reimburses members for the cost of the $25 Buzz card required to get into Georgia Tech.
I hope this information is helpful but if you have more questions, let me know.
Thanks!