A Case for Starting Adventure Riding Clubs.

[eyedragaknee]

This thread is so twisted around, I can't figure who is pissed at who? WTF?
"Why can't we all just get a LONG" ride in over the weekend and quit pissing over small stuff.

To club or not to club....hmmmm.

Solo sounds pretty good right now.

Yanni, I want to hook up with you next year with some buds.

[PO-SLOKE]

Originally Posted by eyedragaknee

This thread is so twisted around, I can't figure who is pissed at who? WTF?
"Why can't we all just get a LONG" ride in over the weekend and quit pissing over small stuff.

To club or not to club....hmmmm.

Solo sounds pretty good right now.

Yanni, I want to hook up with you next year with some buds.

Eyedragaknee , I am with you on this . Wanna hook up some time and ride Solo together one day ? LOL

[ilmostro]

To the best of my knowledge, no one is pissed with anyone.

This site has grown exponentially in the last few years as has adventure riding in general. With either comes caveats.

One that Jack is trying to rectify is trying to find a home for those that enjoy organized rides with like minded folk that lie somewhere between the standard enduro/hare scrambles crowd and the pure tarmac folk.

ADVRider.com has to contend with the sudden commercial viability of the site, protecting the site's name and content and keeping profiteers away or where they belong. (Shirts, hats, stickers, mugs, guided tours, dust ruffles, toilet paper, et al)

The intent of this site is to provide a virtual camp fire for folks that enjoy similar interests to share ideas, stories, tips and camaraderie. No one wants to be sitting at a camp fire at the end of a days ride with friends and have someone try to sell them something. Same thing applies here. You also wouldn't want to see someone cashing in on your hard work by misappropriating your property.

I was unclear what the original intent of the thread was, asked for clarification and provided my views. I'm sure Jack didn't mean for his reply to be interpreted the way it was by me.

I am very proud of this site and thankful for it's existence as I'm sure you all are. If I tend to be overzealous in trying to protect its integrity and ruffle some feathers along the way, I don't care, it's better than the alternative. 80K inmates seem to like it here and we'd like to keep it that way.

Carry on.

[yanni23]

Nice way to put things ilmostro. Good post, and now I understand where you are comin' from. Like the man said; carry on folks.

[eyedragaknee]

What they said...best site on the net for sure.

Think about how sucky it would be without being able to go here and find ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jack splash]

Hey: I'm not pissed, I wasn't before, just suprised. I was ready to pack up my carpet bag and get outta dixie!

Anyway, back to the discussion.

Po-Sloke: Thanks for the props on the PB500 rides, I haven't updated the site for a while, and the pic's there are only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. We all really have a great time, it's like a vacation on a dirt bike.

The rides that Yanni is doing, the Shenandoah 500, The Pine Barrens 500, and the Dixie dual sporters events are the kind of rides I'm talking about. If there in Vendors or Regional, it dosen't matter. What I'm trying to do it point out that there are only a few events like that and we need more. IMHO. The way to get them is what I'm talking about. Either start a group or join an existing one.

I know that kind of riding isn't for everyone, OK, don't go. But don't dis the guys that do. Different strokes for different folks.

Between this thread and the one in the Northeast, I think some buzz is starting to happen. That was the purpose of the post in the first place, to see if the inmates want to organize more rides, or just ride amonst themselves.

If the inmates and local guys don't want to do it, then I comes down to guys like Yanni, the Dixie dual sporters, the Pine Barrens enduro riders and the other clubs that host events, we post in the vendors and eveyones happy, just back to where we were. A dozen or so organized rides a year all across the country.

The confusing issue I'm trying to figure out, and I PM'd a few Mods about it, is where do the Mods draw the line between advertizing and profiteering from the site. In the Northeast forum, a Non Profit organization, like an enduro club can post a thread about their upcoming DS rides etc.
Any event, a ride or a tech day etc promoted by a dealer or Manufacturer has to go into Vendors. But all over the site guys have links in their tag lines to their "sponsor's" or to buy things, some of these guys increase the size and color of the font, and seem to post over and over, all over the site, in what seems to me, an effort to market the product or "sponsor" and that's OK by the Mods. But try to promote a ride, and that crosses the line.
It's seems strange, especially when a Mod says

ADVRider.com has to contend with the sudden commercial viability of the site, protecting the site's name and content and keeping profiteers away or where they belong. (Shirts, hats, stickers, mugs, guided tours, dust ruffles, toilet paper, et al)

But tag line selling is OK, just don't see how that squares with everything else they say.

Jack

[jack splash]

This is OK?


06 TE450
'02 Sprint ST
'00 DRZ-400E (For Sale - PM me for details)
'99 XR650L
'99 Speed Triple
'82 XR500R (For Sale - in bits)


Snowboard Jackets and Pants for sale..click me!


MAX BMW Thanksgiving Party

New York Store: Winning the International GS Trophy in Tunisia 10:30 AM, Nov 22nd


These are copies from tag lines.

Jack

[ilmostro]

Originally Posted by jack splash

This is OK?


06 TE450
'02 Sprint ST
'00 DRZ-400E (For Sale - PM me for details)
'99 XR650L
'99 Speed Triple
'82 XR500R (For Sale - in bits)


Snowboard Jackets and Pants for sale..click me!


MAX BMW Thanksgiving Party

New York Store: Winning the International GS Trophy in Tunisia 10:30 AM, Nov 22nd


These are copies from tag lines.

Jack

The best place for this question would be in the "Ask Baldy, Blame Fish" forum to get the clarification you are looking for. (Good idea BTW as we struggle with this stuff and would love the inmates input)

No sense detracting any further from this thread.

[Anders Green]

My thoughts:

I think Jack is already nearly killing himself with the one non-profit event that he organizes though an existing club... I hardly think that he's looking to 'expand his business'. ("Hooray! I can work another three months for no pay!")

I don't agree that any paid, organized ride will lack adventure. For example, I've heard of this on called "Daker", or perhaps it's called "Dakahr", I don't know, but I know you have to pay to enter, and everyone seems to think it's the shizzy.

I agree that working within an existing structure is the fastest and easiest way to get up and running. AMA seems like the 800 pound gorilla within the bike world in the US, so operating under that makes sense. I can tell you from experience that the initials of the sanctioning body make less difference than the local people on the ground.

Turning an existing enduro club into an adventure club by vote and increased membership would be a drawn out and potentially unsuccessful plan. However, joining an enduro club and "doing your own thing" within it could work, as could starting "just another AMA club" that happened to focus on adventure riding.

Cheers,
Anders

[jack splash]

Hey: So in my orginal post I suggested two methods for creating more adventure rides. Either a group of guys get together and form an AMA Chartered Adventure Riding Club, or inmates join an existing enduro club, and vote in an adventure or dual sport ride. There are pros and cons to both ways. An existing enduro club would have most of the systems and people in place to add an event to the schedule, a new adventure club would not have to host an enduro, which would be difficult if no one in the club had done it before. It would be easier to create a DS ride, and would only take a hand full of guys to do.


So it looks like we are back to where we started.

The guys who would step up, already have.
Yanni, the Dixie Dual sporters, and Anders, who organizes the RallyMoto series have created events in the SE. The Dude has offered to step up, with one or two others, but for most, they'd rather do their own thing. Even the mod thinks organized rides belong with the toilet paper.

Sad.

I hope this thread at least encourages a few inmates to join existing enduro clubs.

Make sure you thank the members if you attend any club events.

The good new is that between this thread and the one in the North East forum, I've got some great contacts from organizers like me to network with. Maybe we can put together a series, or at least a schedule of events that are similar to each other in terms of being "Big Bike" friendly. Some of these events are not on the AMA schedule, (yet) but are worth while trips.

Jack

[Der Stahlhelm]

Originally Posted by eyedragaknee

Ya'll can talk about it. I'm going riding and don't really give a shit where I end up as long as there is food and a bed when I am done.

Spoken with the utmost truth!