Tripleshot Cycling

At the recent AGM, Norm Mancy dropped an interesting piece of information about the club that I had often wondered about:

The Tripleshot founders expressly decided not to be associated with any one Bike Shop.

Im fairly new to the club- Ive been a member for about 4 years now- and have often wondered about why some stuff is the way it is and other stuff isnt. Every now and again, a Senior member of the club will drop an interesting piece of information like this pertaining to the founding principles of the club and a small piece of the puzzle is filled in.

The club is evolving and is growing like all successful clubs. As it grows, fewer of the founding members may be Board members. I was wondering if it made sense for some of the Senior members to write down the history and founding principles/ ideas of the club so that the club could maintain its ethos and culture and could guide future Boards?

Some of the principles I am aware of:

Its all about the coffee
Its not about you
We dont associate with one specific Bike shop

Some of the principles I am aware of:

Its all about the coffee
Its not about you
We dont associate with one specific Bike shop

We don't discuss baby blues

mfarnham wrote:

Some of the principles I am aware of:

Its all about the coffee
Its not about you
We dont associate with one specific Bike shop

We don't discuss baby blues

Y'know, if there was to be, one day in the undefined future, a kit order that included those gorgeous baby blues, no one would be obligated to purchase or wear them. There are already a number of TS kit designs out there on the roads. Maybe those club members sporting shamefully stretched-out, faded baby blues (and/or those who have to look at them) would appreciate a fresher kit.

Just sayin'.

As always, I'll agree with anyone that dares mention bringing back or allowing as an alternative that which is officially unmentionable!

Barton Bourassa or BB!

Bosie wrote:I was wondering if it made sense for some of the Senior members to write down the history and founding principles/ ideas of the club so that the club could maintain its ethos and culture and could guide future Boards?

Perhaps we could ask Peter to carve them into the famous wooden post where we mount the "Post of the Year" plaques.

For the record, if anyone wants to read the constitution and bylaws, they're posted under the "Club Info" link on the website.

Our incorporation documents do speak to some of those important elements but not nearly in the spirit that I think Greg is looking for

I will ponder this some and will send a draft of some of my thoughts

likely only a half dozen points

cheers

Why I joined TripleShot? As with a few others, I rode with the predecessor group and was there for the beginning. This is how I recall it. My answer is also intended to address previous thread inquiries about the “founding principles”

FOUNDING OF TRIPLESHOT CYCLING

One has to note that Triples hot was the result of an increasing number of riders invading the SpinDoctors cycling group. SpinDoctors had many complementary ideas for a riding group but largely limited to the medical community. Today we still meet at the SpinDoctors meeting location of Dr. Alex Walton’s then offices. Others of the group then included Drs. Chris Fraser, Brian Sinclair, Brian Barry, Richard Backus and Lister Farrar and Bob Cameron. The group was small enough that on Fridays we would go for breakfast together at the bagel shop down town.

As more of the doctors abandoned the group to the newcomers like Peter Lawless, Bill Ethier, Dylan Reeves, Galan Davison, Roland Rabian Mike Buel, Dave Spiers and Jeff George, those that attended rides regularly started to think of themselves as a new group and not the Spin Doctors any longer. At coffee one sunny morning after a great ride up Shelborne, Ash Road and the Waterfront, and on the second round of espressos, (tea in Peters case) the TripleShot group idea was hatched. Of course the name came about because three shots of espresso must be better than two.

Part of the discussion that morning included may of the following ideas:

Founding Principles:

1. Group rides that encourage all riders to participate. A reminder/observation that our “c” rides are now faster that any TripleShot rides at the beginning of the club.
2. Early morning rides to avoid the traffic and to allow busy folks to still ride and take care of their kids and get to work on time.
3. No drops - this is a group activity so that everyone gets better. Keep it safe and disciplined to teach proper cycling etiquette
4. Affiliate with no particular Local Bike Shop. Everyone had different shops that they used and liked. There were already bike clubs with bike shops as organizers or key sponsors and they seemed to unknowingly limit participation from folks who were not part of the particular bike shop clique or tribe. Examples at the time included Fairfield, Riders, Physical Culture, Oak Bay, and Russ Hayes. Oak Bay Bikes has gone some ways to alleviate that in their Saturday rides and woman’s rides. OBB has increased their participation by becoming more like TripleShot. Some of the other rides in town still turn into a knife fight very quickly.
5. Give back to the community (this has developed over time and as the club has gotten bigger and had more capacity through greater numbers of participants)
6. Go for Coffee at the end of the ride to solve the problems of the world, get to know your companion riders, and to keep it social.

All but number 5 were a part of those early caffeine fueled discussions, as I recall.