O.K. Gang I just added some new custom fields to our profiles. As we begin to grow I thought these might help us find training partners, ride share, and racing buddies. Basically they are drop down fields that will allow easier, more reliable searches in the member search functionality I just enabled.

[url]http://www.trifuel.com/forums/memberlist.php?do=search[/url]

The new fields are:
1. [B]Nearest Metro[/B] - I added a long list of major cities around the country a world. This will allow you to more easily find other members in SF Bay Area or London, without having to know that San Ramon is in the SF Bay Area. Location field is now called Hometown and will be used as is for narrowing down where people are and if they're in close proximity to you.

These next fields are too bring a little clarity and refinement to the "Skill Level" field. We'll still use that one for overall triathlete skill level, but I've added new fields to establish skill level in each discipline as well as the race distance you're focusing on. So...

2. I created a set of [B]Endurance Level[/B] drop downs - Swim EL, Bike EL, Run EL. The old Skill level is just a fill in field so what people enter can vary. As well it is an overall Triathlete skill level. These new Fields are geared toward each discipline so you can find training partners or buddies with similar strengths and weaknesses. I changed it to Endurance Level instead of Skill because I believe it's more appropriate for us. You could be an excellent bike handler, or run sprinter but maybe not so good on the long endurance stuff.
[B]The numbers should be based on your percentile ranking among your age group competitors in your Primary Distance of Focus. 10=top percentile, 1=bottom percentile.[/B] Most races will give you your ranking in each discipline for AG and Overall.

3. Which creates the need to determine what distances you're training for. So, [B]Primary Distance of Focus[/B] will help you find others with similar goals and quantify the EL numbers above.

So, as you can see on my profile to the left I have Endurance Level: 4,7,6 (swim, bike, run) for someone focused on Olympic Distance. You can change and update these as your training progresses over the months and years.

All these are meant to hopefully give you better access to other members with similar goals, in your area, etc. to make your triathlon experience a better one.

I've also created one other checkbox field for if you have a trifuel blog (on [url]http://www.triathlonlife.com[/url]), if you click yes a link to it will show up under you profile in your posts. As will the new fields above.

You can edit your profiles in your User CP, or follow this link:
[url]http://www.trifuel.com/forums/profile.php?do=editprofile[/url]

Please give me any feedback you may have - thanks