Junkman we had a general club meeting with a ride and a meal in June. The attendance of which was probably less than 30% of the membership. The HOT100 was a big topic of that meeting and we urged members to volunteer to help. I am not sure why we need to hold another meeting to repeat that. I am sure that we asked for volunteers through the newsletter and likely this message board. I hope that the membership realizes how important the volunteering is to the HOT100 and will have signed up to work the ride. I brought up the topic of off-calendar rides with the officers at our July meeting. I will bring the off-calendar rides once again at the officers' meeting in August with new thoughts from this series of back and forth discussions. I will address this with the full club at the September meeting required by the by-laws.

Bill G.

And your point is? That was June. This is July and August is around the corner. There are still roads and people eat every day. We could use the reason "because it is Saturday". That is a perfectly fine reason to have a eat & ride. We could talk about the weather if bikes or HOT are off topic. It really doesn't matter - only an excuse to ride and eat.

Perhaps a little relaxation in the discussion is called for. It seems like some are entrenched in their positions and taking the discussion personally.

"Less than 30%" means little. People are busy & most don't get involved in the club's day to day or even regularly attend club rides.

Regarding rounding up volunteers and "how important it is", sending email blasts or posting on the board helps but is probably the least effective way to get volunteers. Personal invitations work and a face to face or phone call is required for that. It is really only high priority to a few. Others simply show up and pay a fee or help day of or whatever.

I simply threw the HOT comment out because it is getting close to time and I haven't heard status or seen a list of outstanding positions and expected that we're light. I also expect that those who make it a priority are taking care of it as they always have.

Peace.

Junkman....I resent the HELL out of those comments! "Most people are busy"....."personal invitations and phone calls are required"....WTF man??!!?? What gives you the impression we officers are not busy. I'm at the office 10 hours a day plus another 8.5 on alternating Saturdays. Therefore, what little personal time I have to give to this club is not good enough for you all??
Its attitudes like this and other complaints that my generosity and service for this Club is going to end 12/31/12!!!

Keith, Bill, and all others involved in this thread,

First and foremost, Keith please take a step back for a second before you decide to step down. I don't think anyone in the club would want you to do that based off differences in opinion here. I see Junkmans point even though I think he is just looking for a free meal! :) However, I do agree that maybe there should be an impromptu meeting maybe before one of our weekend rides to address the topic at hand. Obviously, there are two sides that feel very strongly about "off calander rides" and how this should be handled going forward.

Bill, I would think that in addition to the official club rides listed on this website and in the newsletter there should also be a "unofficial consensus ride" posted for each weekday/weekend ride as well. It could be made perfectly clear that this ride is for those that may not be able to make the regularly scheduled ride or due to personal circumstances that may arise and that this ride will not count towards club miles and that the secondary insurance will not apply to the riders who participate. Personally, I don't see many who would opt to do this unless there was truly a personal scheduling conflict or just an issue with the start location of the official club ride. This would/should solve the constant bickering and division this topic is causing amongst club members. I would think that the officers would want to make this exception so as not to lose any club members.I believe that if the officers truly care about the input of its members it should be addressed now and not later.

As it relates to the HOT 100, I think that Junkman did a poor job of wording his concern regarding members involvement and where we stand with volunteers. I think he is just looking for some transparency. For those that truly care about this event and want it to succeed, I think it might be beneficial to update the club on the status of the positions of need and whether or not they are being filled. Keith, I don't think he was questioning your commitment or how you are handling your duties as an officer. I think you work really hard to grow and make the club experience as enjoyable as possible for those members who simply wish to show up and ride.

I hope that this issue will be discussed amongst the club members and not just at the next officers meeting. Maybe if we can get club members involved on this matter and each have some input as to the outcome members will take club matters more seriously moving forward. In closing, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the officers and those that take the time to coordinate the club rides for their time and efforts. I hope to be more involved going forward. I think that we have a great opportunity to grow our club and bring in more fresh legs! That is it for me folks. Hope to see you all on the road soon!

David Koonce
AKA Sandbagger

David,

Yes, I will definitely let the membership have an opportunity to speak upon this topic (not just the officers) as this is a very hot topic to the club as a whole. The problem that I see with an impromtu meeting is that the results of this discussion needs to be recorded. Also, we need to have a large group of members to be at the meeting. Our rides are not necessarily starting at the same location so there is a disconnect there. Right now the first ride that I know of where both groups will be together is the HOT100 preview. We were supposed to be together this weekend but the CZ ride was moved to Bell Buckle by the ride leader. Also, I have not seen the August ride calendar yet. I am not trying to make excuses but we need as much of the club's collective voice on this one as we can get. We do not even get that when we hold our general club meetings which are ride/eat/meet. The best turnout we get is the "Kick-off" ride.

Bill G.

I must make a correction to my post concerning the rides being together this weekend. The CZ ride was left with an open start time and location by the ride leader. The ride was not moved as I originally indicated. So there was no evidence that we would be together this weekend. Please accept my apology for my mistatement.

Bill G.

Keith, much is lost in emails & posts. I didn't intend to imply anything about your schedule, activities or amount of time devoted to the club. I apologize.

I've re-read your posts, Bill's and mine and have decided not to respond. Let's leave it at that for further discussion when appropriate.