Looking towards next year .....

[Greg]

Hey All,
   I hope everyone had a rewarding holiday / long weekend! I've had a few thoughts brewing these last few weeks about this forum regarding organized rides. In 2014 and in previous years, Ray has been terrific in asking people who are inclined to organize rides to please submit tentative dates to him as to when they would like to organize a ride. In 2015 this practice was discontinued. I'd like to propose that we reestablish this practice when moving forward into 2016. Although I believe Ray is the only one with administrative privileges on the actual web forum, I would like to offer my services to Ray and the group in helping coordinate dates for rides. There are at least 3 or 4 of us I can immediately think of that would be willing to put together a ride or 2. If we can get others to contribute that will only add to the variety!
    As people may have noticed after repeated rides with MSTA, there is a "format" to the way rides are conducted. An organizer needs to:
#1. Decide on a route.
#2. Create a route sheet.
#3. Pre-riding the route is helpful but going above and beyond the call of duty. No organizer is expected to do this, and more don't do so than do.
#4. Optional but not mandatory: Name the ride.
#5. Although MSTA wholeheartedly (and rightly so!) stresses each individual is responsible for the choices they make while on their motorcycle, perhaps give a brief description of the "mood" of the ride.  For example, " I'm Bob and I loooove the corners! No one is expected to ride the way I do, but I love a spirited pace" ..... or, "I'm Dawn and although each person is expected to ride their own pace, I love to smell the flowers and take pictures when I'm out for a day's ride".

One final thought for now. Creating a schedule of rides achieves 2 less defined outcomes.
#1. It helps set ourselves apart from the myriad of other posted rides at various forums.
#2. As individuals we all have busy lives with other interests. Having a schedule of rides helps people plan their season's riding from a logistical standpoint. Many of us also have limited budgets on which we can delegate money to this sport (which is very expensive!). Knowing what rides are coming up in a given month, versus waiting until Wednesday or Thursday of that week to learn of a ride that coming weekend, is very helpful.

These musings are my thoughts and I am not speaking for the organization as a whole. My only goal is to facilitate more rides, and enjoyable experiences for all.

Amen,
Greg

[Elk]

Excellent idea. 

I do not have the skills to lead a ride and really appreciate those who do lead.

[Skidd]

+1

Cheers to that. I know I very much appreciated the ride calendar in previous years! Having pre-scheduled rides makes it significantly easier to secure availability on those days. I say that knowing full well that I'm quite the leech of the community - I'm the guy that just shows up for the fun stuff after someone else did the hard part. Occasionally I even manage to misplace my wallet and make someone else fund the afternoon too (Mike)...

[vince]

Sure we can do that. I don't mine leading rides. Names for rides are fine as well I guess. The cave ride that Hope did was nice a few years ago. One with the ferry boat in it would be nice. Maybe the cars and toy on G would be a nice one as well. We need time between dates so that if it rains we can change if we have too. Rides are a lot more fun in the dry. It would help on some of these rides that have not been created that others help with choices of roads or routes. For some of us this is the hardest to do is to put a route together. For some of the leaders they might feel disappointed if someone doesn't enjoy the ride. This for some is the hardest part. Putting the ride together not leading.

[pkpk]

I'm trying to wrap my head around why Vince needs a "fairy" on his ride but that's probably none of my business. 

But I agree with theme rides (cave, toys, etc.)  Some of us get together and just do gravel roads all day (novelty rides.)  I'd be inclined to organize a theme/novelty over the usual twisty alphabet.

BTW, was there any plan of moving all the routes from the Yahoo site to a folder on this site?  I have about 20 routes parked over there from my own catalog.

[vince]

Fixed it for you.

[Greg]

A few more thoughts:
My guideline for organizing a ride is only meant to be just that, a guideline. I know to some people it can feel daunting trying to put together something like a full day's ride and I wanted to show some steps that have proven to work and hopefully make a person who is new to organizing feel more comfortable. I will not deny the fact that organizing a ride does sometimes feel intimidating.  A feeling of "putting your neck out" does creep in sometimes. But if steps aren't taken to put together events by people who are willing to "put their neck out", nothing ever gets done.
They didn't storm the beaches of Normandy by not sticking their necks out. Ok, that's a stretch.

Here's my first scheduled ride. Tri-State Boogie Sunday August 21, 2016. I'll be doing at least one more, probably in May.

Greg

[Ray916MN]

Thanks for the help Greg. 2015 Ride calendar never came to pass.  The usual suspects had surgery, got injured, got romantically involved, went adventure touring, toured the world..... Tony and I left the calendar un-published since we usual schedule our rides to fill in letting everyone else get first pick on dates. It would be nice if more people stepped up to organize rides. I'll generate GPS files for any route if generating GPS files is an issue and Tony and/or I either show up to support every ride or arrange for someone else to support any official MN-MSTA rides

There is no plan to move routes over. Anyone who was part of the YahooGroup and wants to move routes over can move whatever routes they want to move over. To move routes, they must be individually downloaded from the YahooGroup and uploaded to this site. There is no automated process. Frankly since virtually none of those routes had associated GPS files, I find it easier to just create new routes.

[RCKT GRL]

Very happy to work up a route and/or lead.  Having the calendar available will allow us to be a little more organized, as it felt a little sporadic at times this season. 

I think having some of the other events/activities on this calendar would be helpful as well (items such as CarsNCoffee, Blind Lizard, First Thursday, Spring/Fall Crud run, etc).  Not necessarily as a ride we would do, but simply as a way to keep others informed of cycle related events that are happening in their area(s).  I would be willing to help organize/update this information if necessary and warranted. 

[pkpk]

Frankly since virtually none of those routes had associated GPS files, I find it easier to just create new routes.

All of mine are GPS routes and include mapped routes to western MN (Ortonville) and up north.  At some point I will re-upload them here.

[Greg]

Bump. Get your dates sent to Ray, then we can get a calendar posted! 

[Tumbler]

Great conversation so far & great ideas being thrown out there!!  I would like to contribute to putting rides out there for the calendar but need to make sure I can do so first.

I know over the years I have had some that I've cancelled without notice so I wouldn't want to commit to putting rides out there for the calendar until I've proven to others that I have changed my ways.

My first attempt failed miserably but hopefully the next one won't be & will be the first in many that I will be able to lead this season.

[Hope2Ride]

I'd like to organize and lead the cave ride again. I'll pm Ray about the date.