Some Spond tips and etiquette

[mfarnham]

[Removed due to pandemic developments ]

[Rolf]

[Removed due to pandemic developments ]

[Mikael]

Dear Spond administrators,
thank you for posting these guidelines. My friend is having trouble with his Spond app and is not able to make Posts unfortunately. They asked me to make a Post for them but I am not sure that it is appropriate to post meatball recipes. They looked over the tips and etiquette documents and they believe that their favourite recipe would not only be well perceived by members, but would actually start a very lively and healthy debate. They remind me about John Dower arguing at some length about the popularity of his tomato based recipe at the Christmas celebration a few years ago even though everyone knows that meatballs should only be served in a brown cream based sauce.

Would you let me know where you stand on the meatball recipe cook-off postings? My friend is anxiously standing by the stove looking through their recipe book...

Mikael

[Claire]

Meatball recipes are always welcome, Mikael's friend! I believe the best spot to share directions for tasty consumables is the "General Banter" subforum.

I look forward to trying out your friend's recipe!

[Rolf]

The latest version of this document (February 2022) can be viewed at this link.

Spond Tips and Etiquette

• All riders must be pre-registered on Spond for every ride they attend, even if it’s done just before the start of the ride.
• Group sizes are limited as indicated by ride events:
• ◦ Road ride group sizes are limited based on the number of riders it’s safe to ride with on the road with traffic (typically 12.)
• ◦ Trail ride group sizes are limited based on both (a) the number of riders that can safely navigate tight trails while respecting other trail users, and (b) the number that will allow a ride to flow cohesively (e.g. the faster the pace, the smaller the group.)
• For the most popular road ride groups (A + B on Tuesdays and Fridays, and Social Sundays), please sign up for your ride level (A2, B1 etc.) and work with fellow registrants to form ride groups in the parking lot before or as you depart. Maximum road group size is 12. Speak up if groups get too large, and don’t be reluctant to split on the road!
• Other road ride events will have caps and waiting lists (e.g. TTTs, special events.)
• You don’t need to Decline events to which you’re invited, but in which you’re not interested. Only Decline a ride if you’ve already Accepted it but you’re not going to attend (sleeping in, switching to another ride, etc.)
• If you decide not to join a ride after having signed up, please always Decline it so our records are accurate. If you wake up at 5:30, and just can't bring yourself to ride, go to your phone or computer, Decline your ride, and go back to bed.
• At most, sign up for one ride and one waitlist. Please don’t sign up for multiple groups, or multiple waitlists for the same ride. Once it becomes certain which ride you’re attending, be sure to Decline rides you’re not going to attend (even if you’re just on a waitlist for the ride.)
• Show up at the specific location and departure time for your ride (see photo on Spond ride event pages for Tues/Fri staging locations.)
• Try to roll out on time to avoid groups bunching on the road. Don’t wait for people. If they’re late; they’ll have to meet you on the road.
• Riders new to the club should identify themselves to everyone in their group. Experienced Tripleshot riders should make sure to help new riders learn the ropes and point out corners/turns throughout the ride.
• If you or your group has been caught by another group, sit up and let them pass. Establish a healthy gap before resuming your chosen pace.
• Please review Tripleshot's Code of Conduct.

The most important person on any ride is everyone else.

[Mikael]

Dear Spond Administrators,

thank you for your work on the 12 Spond Commandments.

It is my understanding that the club continue to use Spond at the request of the Cycling BC even though there is no requirement to maintain something like Spond for PHO rules viz contact tracing or other explicit reason. I think that this is a very reasonable accommodation. Even so, it is my impression that the club no longer records attendance for every group.

The recent announcement from Cycling BC (https://cyclingbc.net/news/2022/02/17/r ... -feb-17th/) implies that Cycling BC is no longer requesting that we continue to use Spond. If that is correct then I think that it is time to revisit the Spond commandments and perhaps revisit the benefits and drawbacks of using Spond for every ride/"discipline"/group/level.....

There was a Spond post that asked for Spond feedback three or four weeks ago. My reading of the posted feedback saw the vast majority of members supporting, or looking forward to, us trying to go back to the old chaos at the start of our rides. I only recall a very small number of members who were strongly opposed....

Are administrators now willing to share their latest thoughts about all this and their interpretation of the feedback received?

Oh and by the way I am now up to more than 30 meatball recipes waiting to be posted on Spond. I am just trying to decide if I should put them all in just one Spond post. I worry that some members will miss a recipe then so it is probably better to make individual Spond posts so that all can comment on how good different recipes are....as if we don't already know the supremacy of Swedish Meatballs!

Mikael

[Rolf]

A few rapid thoughts in response, Mikael (my own and not the board's!)

• The board really only takes an occasional pause in discussing Spond and the possibility of its retirement or replacement with something else. The concerns you and others have raised are held by many board members and are never removed from our active consideration for long.
• Cycling BC never asked us to use Spond. They requested we continue to take attendance, which Spond lets us do.
• The club indeed continues to record attendance using Spond; we're just more relaxed about nailing down precisely who rode alongside whom on every ride and we no longer ask ride leaders to confirm attendance at the end of each ride. Even on those two days a week where road riders can sign up for a ride level and then form groups in the parking lot, we're still recording who shows up.
• Since our current system of attendance and Spond hasn't been drive by pandemic/health considerations for some time now, the most recent Return to Sport update likely has no immediate or direct impact on how we manage our rides.
• I followed the feedback we received on our move to a hybrid system with great interest! But I think I've/we've only heard from a small handful of members. I disagree with your characterization of the feedback, but that might be because I can't distinguish whether the aggregate impression I have is from public postings or private messages.
• There are clearly deeply held feelings on all sides about the best way to organize club activities as we (hopefully) emerge from pandemic restrictions. But among the most impassioned responses we've received have been those in favour of leaving Spond largely untouched, or replacing it with something very similar.
• To my mind, our biggest issue isn't whether or not organizing our rides on Spond is still necessary or the right thing to do, it's the fact that the club relies almost exclusively on Spond as our main internal communications medium. Only 10 people probably still check the forum weekly and we can't overuse club emails (which are only good for club comms anyway.) The intensive use of Spond and its ride-specific chatter over the past 20 months has dragged all our eyeballs with it.
• The weather's really sucked recently and our ridership has remained seasonally low. I think the intention is to stick with our current hybrid system long enough to establish a helpful sample before seeking organized feedback (in the form of a poll?) and considering next steps. I hope members can be patient for that process to unfold.
• The most helpful suggestions for change are ones that address the entire club's needs. Identifying the shortcomings of Spond is easy; but offering alternatives that still preserve its benefits is hard. (If this wasn't hard we'd probably have figured it all out already and be singing kumbaya. )
• I hope people like you keep feeding us all back, whenever a thought arrives. We all rely on fellow members airing out their brains.
• I love meatballs as much as I love cats (and boots.) But that doesn't mean I enjoy reading about them on Spond.