Tripleshot Cycling

Rolf’s statement before the AGM Q&A
September 28, 2022

Before we open up our Town Hall Q & A, I think this is a good moment to reflect on how our club has changed and how those changes affect both the role of the board and interactions between the board and our membership.

Tripleshot has undergone significant transformation over the past year or two. Keeping up rides during a pandemic required us to introduce a huge amount of structure and make more use of online tools. But we also grew a huge amount, welcoming well over a hundred new awesome members who know nothing of the Tripleshot that existed before Spond and before Covid.

With growth comes natural growing pains. And it’s been our job to face down the threat of that growth causing us to lose some of the very things that have made Tripleshot so great — things that attracted each and every one of you to the club.

Our oft-quoted, unofficial ethos is “The most important person on a ride is everyone else.” The same extends to our culture OFF the bike. Members have come to cherish a community where people listen to each other, approach differences of opinion collaboratively, and act generously toward each other.

Our board this past year has exemplified this culture. With expanded responsibilities and an “all hands on deck” approach to decision-making, this past year’s board made decisions — often daily — about all manner of club activities. And though we always strove to manage by consensus, we often disagreed. In some ways we are a very diverse group of people who come from different and sometimes opposing viewpoints. But we’d talk an issue through, listen to each other, and find a compromise when necessary. We enjoy very high levels of trust, mutual respect, and open-mindedness — more than I’ve ever seen on any other board or organization. No factions, cliques, or allyships formed, and none of us approached issues with an agenda or with overly rigid thinking. We’ve come out of virtually every debate unified.

But that’s just 10 people who are in almost constant contact.

If we’re going to expect our membership to make the most important person everyone else OFF the bike, they need to be able to COMMUNICATE. With both the growth of the club and our reliance on Spond for most information sharing, our membership suffers from having reduced opportunities to communicate.

In order to keep Spond functional as a ride-planning and club management tool, the board this past Spring had to shut down open posting by members. But we failed to provide an effective alternative.

We fear these communication issues have unfortunately given some members a sense of being cut off from both the board and from each other. It’s eroded even further the sense we used to have of a small community that worked stuff out all together, over coffee.

Unfortunately, it’s also reduced the trust some members have in our leadership and has led to some backlash over various decisions we’ve taken. Some of those reactions have been disrespectful to us as individuals and sometimes as a group. These fractious interactions have taken up huge amounts of board volunteer time and energy and, in some cases, have seriously eroded the commitment and motivation of some of our most dedicated volunteers.

Some of these issues are again inevitable growing pains as we push 400 members. But some follow on from our inadequate opportunities for effective communication.

With these challenging interactions in mind, we pledge that when we interact with you — our members — we will employ the same empathy, understanding, and generosity we expect out on the roads or trails … and we ask you to do the same.

We will remain as willing to LISTEN as we are to talk … and we ask you to do the same.

We will respect your time and give you the benefit of the doubt … and we ask you to do the same.

And if we ultimately disagree with you on something, we pledge to avoid taking it personally and letting it affect our broader relationship … and we ask you to do the same.

So while we search for an improved ride management and club discussion platform, we hope you will bear with us and continue to share your thoughts, ideas, and input into our club and its operations. Because everything that’s great about Tripleshot Cycling came from ideas (and ideals) held by its members!

In conclusion, we hope with improved communication and opportunities for engagement like the next hour and over the coming year, we will continue to earn and keep your trust to make important decisions on your behalf.

Thank you!