2024 Central Texas Rider Survey

survey

May 7

We received 147 survey responses between April 2 and April 22, 2024. On behalf of the Board of Directors, thank you everyone who took the time to provide responses! This data will help guide the organization.

The completion rate was 67% with respondents taking on average 11 minutes and 23 seconds to complete the 52 questions. Our members represent 65.74% of respondents. It was communicated from the beginning that the survey would be comprehensive (read: lengthy) as we have not surveyed riders since 2014. This survey was hosted on Survey Monkey which offered many benefits over Google Forms in terms of question types and results analysis. The biggest benefit being that respondents could exit out of the survey at any time. The survey was frontloaded with the most relevant questions at the beginning.

One hundred percent of respondents live in Texas, which was anticipated as the ad campaign was geographically targeted. The majority (56.55%) of respondents live within the city of Austin, those who don’t residing in the following counties: Williamson, Travis, Bexar, Bell, Bastrop, Comal, Coryell, Dallas, Hays, Johnson, Tarrant, and Tom Green. Including the Austin respondents, most riders live in Travis County (67%) with the next largest group being Williamson (15%).

Of respondents who preferred to answer, 85.6% are male, 12.8% female, and 1.6% prefer “They/Them”. This question was skipped by 22 individuals. Our riders are predominately male by a large margin. Per Singletracks magazine, 15% of their readers are Female, so there is room to boost participation in our organization, and also nationwide. Average rider age is 49 years old, and twenty-two individuals (16.54%) indicated that they are a veteran of the armed forces. One hundred percent of riders said they ride for fun, with Fitness (92.38%) and Challenge (85.71%) being the other big reasons.

Most of our riders (51.85%) have been riding for over ten years and consider themselves “Advanced Intermediate” (37.78%). There was an even split with riders who consider themselves “Intermediate” (37.07%). We have a lot of seasoned riders in the region, with 22.22% of respondents feeling strong enough to call themselves “Advanced”. Only 2.96% of respondents considered themselves beginners, although this could possibly be expected as new riders would not be absorbed into the sport enough to be targeted by this survey. As expected, riders consider themselves most proficient in the Cross-Country discipline followed by Enduro and Downhill. Slopestyle, Freeride, and Dirt Jumping are not particularly popular.

Riders primarily use Facebook (86.67%) and Instagram (64.44%) and very few people reported using X, TikTok, or Mastodon. A few folks did write in “Discord” for the open ended part of this question. Only 2.22% of respondents said they do not use social media. Facebook is how most riders hear about ARR group rides and trail workdays, with the Austin Mountain Biking group (60.91%) and official ARR page (56.36%) leading. The Austin MTB Trail Conditions Facebook group and ARR Meetup Alerts are also helpful. Our website and Instagram account have room to grow. We have good reach on our newsletter with 64.29% of respondents saying they read it. Strava (78.85%) has the highest usage for ride tracking apps, followed by Trailforks at 44.23%.

Riders would prefer to start group rides at 9AM (50%), with 8:30 (16.36%) and 8am (15.45%) being close behind. The ideal distance for a group ride is 15 miles. Brushy Creek, South Austin Trail Network, and Suburban Ninja were the top picks for alternate Sunday ride locations. Reveille Peak Ranch, Flat Rock Ranch, and Forrest Creek Ranch all took the podium for Saturday ride venues. Skill building and session rides are what RLAG respondents are most interested in, followed by social rides. Riders indicated they do have time for post ride activities like swap meets or bike maintenance classes with 66.36% responding “yes”.

Top opportunities that volunteers find interesting include Trail Crew workdays (53.64%), Ride Sweep (47.27%), volunteering as special event staff (30.91%). Trail Crew volunteers would be most interested in learning about new trail design, how to improve trail safety, and proper trimming and pruning. Most respondents are unavailable during the weekday (53.85%), but when they are, Monday and Friday are tied (25% each) for availability.

The best night of the week for movie night is Saturday (26.53%) followed by Thursday and Friday tied at 24.49%. For both weeknights and the weekend, 7pm (45.36%) is the best time to start this event. If we were to charge for the event, 40.91% of respondents said they are comfortable paying $5 per ticket, and 37.27% said $10 is acceptable. Only 9.09% of respondents felt that we should not charge. This is good news as Oskar Blues has closed their Austin taproom and they used to give us the space to do the event. We are looking into Alamo Drafthouse, but costs would be significant.

ARR Members are mostly aware of their digital subscription to Mountain Bike Action magazine, and the discounts through Expert Voice. When asked to rank some suggested benefits for ARR members, the top choice was “Discounts at Local Bike Parks” followed by "Group Skills Clinics”. In terms of merch, riders mostly want shirts (80.30%), stickers (45.45%), and hats (24.24%). We did not include “Jerseys” in the survey since we are already have these ready to roll out. Members are mostly (55.71%) not interested in attending an annual public board meeting, though we are still considering it.

Riders mostly participate in TMBRA and Team Trail Party races, but for the most part the data shows that racing is not very popular with >75% of respondents choosing “Never” for each race series. There was also not a lot of interest in some of the recurring weekly group rides, but those who do mostly attend Crank N Drank, followed by The Peddler shop ride. Riders are mostly interested in Group Rides, followed by an MTB Festival, and then Skills Clinics based on weighted averages. An MTB Festival and Skills Clinics are two great opportunities to increase club membership.

The top pick for each category is as follows… fun and easy: Walnut Creek; fun and challenging: Brushy Creek; not fun but challenging: Lake Georgetown; Not fun and not challenging: Mary Moore. It should be noted that 68.37% of respondents claim they have never been to Mary Moore. Walnut Creek (26.73%) is the home network for many riders, followed by Brushy Creek (21.78%) and Circle C Metro Park (12.87%). Circle C Metro Park could be an excellent opportunity for growing ARR’s presence in South Austin. Walnut Creek (22.77%) rose to the top as riders pick for favorite network, followed by the Barton Creek Greenbelt (10.89%) and Reveille Peak Ranch (9.9%).

Respondents picked XC/Enduro/DH Trails as their top choice for amenities, followed closely by a Bike/Skills Park. Berms and Rollers are the leading features that people like, with wall rides and skinnies being the least popular.