Summer plans for Vermont Bike Night

[markbvt]

I find that if you want a community thing you need to foster community. That means when I show up Tuesday, I show up to hang out, spend time with people, develop relationships etc.

It is the relationships I develop that will bring me back, and it is the relationships I develop that will bring me around when a ride happens wed night, or fri night or sat or whatever. Yes, it may be a beautiful night some of the Tuesday night; GREAT!!!! I still came to spend time with people. Part of the balance. I can't grow relationships with people if I show up, talk 5 seconds then go on a run with them. I won't really know them.

This is exactly what I was trying to get at, but you said it much better than I did.

You guys all know that I'm not lazy about riding. When I go for a ride, it's usually at least 150 miles -- often 250+. But Bike Night is not a time to ride, it's a time to hang out with other motorcyclists and make friends. THEN go for a long-ass ride on the weekend.

--mark

[Slyder]

I'm assuming the 4 and 5 are very close, and with the idea in mind, how wide are they? I wear a wide shoe, so I need a boot with some extra side-to-side room.

Well I normally wear a 9.5 us, 44 euro I think, and those were too small length and width. They were crushing my feet from the sides so I exchanged them for the 45 euro (10.5 us) and they are just a hair too long, but the width was noticeably better. They're about perfect without having to be custom.

If I were you I'd go a size larger than normal. With the armor and padding they're pretty meaty so to speak. My last boots fit fine in a 9.5 but weren't anywhere near as heavily padded / armored.

[Doc]

This is exactly what I was trying to get at, but you said it much better than I did.

You guys all know that I'm not lazy about riding. When I go for a ride, it's usually at least 150 miles -- often 250+. But Bike Night is not a time to ride, it's a time to hang out with other motorcyclists and make friends. THEN go for a long-ass ride on the weekend.

--mark

Ok Mark. I will direct all the people that come up and ask me about going on a ride at bike night to you.

There in lies my problem. Trying to make EVERYONE happy.

I am continually asked about going on rides FROM bike night. Maybe by planning more weekend rides (under 100 miles Mark, some of these guys need to work on their Iron Butts) will remedy this.

[MotoFreak]

Ok Mark. I will direct all the people that come up and ask me about going on a ride at bike night to you.

There in lies my problem. Trying to make EVERYONE happy.

I am continually asked about going on rides FROM bike night. Maybe by planning more weekend rides (under 100 miles Mark, some of these guys need to work on their Iron Butts) will remedy this.

That is a problem Doc. The only person that needs to be happy is me...we're partners dammit!

You can't make everyone happy. And we are not running this event to do what every rider wants to do. It's our Event, and we have to live up to what we set out to do when we started it.

People are more than welcome to do whatever. But we as the Co-Founders, and us as the VTBN Crew, need to know that this is our Event, we own it, and we have to be there for it. We really can't be running off at 7-730 to go for a ride. I'm sure there will be times where some of us will, or have to check out early or whatever, but I Jason and Mark hit the nail on the head.
I def. think we are on a far better course already with our discussions, ideas, the Street Team, FB Page, and now that we are really getting into setting up a better group ride schedule; getting rides together.
We have to take this one step at a time, and build upon our experiences. What worked, what didn't, and so on.

[catamount]

Um, so now that we have a FB group and FB fan page... can we delete one or the other? It's confusing having two almost-identical entities on there.

[yesterdayze]

Um, so now that we have a FB group and FB fan page... can we delete one or the other? It's confusing having two almost-identical entities on there.

But wait, fan's may not be part of the group....they are just our roadies, groupies, yah now... fan's. The group is, well the group.

Nah, I'm just messing with ya

[MotoFreak]

I think the group makes it easier for everything, posts, uploads, messages...the fan page is for bands with low self-esteem. Of course, now I have to re-upload all the pics, and re-invite the 30 people to the Group Page...so much work!

[Doc]

That is a problem Doc. The only person that needs to be happy is me...we're partners dammit!

Rule #1 of Bike night... Make Big Willey Happy.


Got it.

[catamount]

I wonder if the never-ending duel between the "founders" will ever end.



Doc -> <- Bill

[NobodySpecific]

I will delete the group page if everyone wants me to. I created that one first and then was told to create the fan page, but didn't feel like deleting the group without some input first.

[catamount]

Someone else on the intarwebs made this comparison chart. It looks like the fan page is better for us.

[markbvt]

I am continually asked about going on rides FROM bike night. Maybe by planning more weekend rides (under 100 miles Mark, some of these guys need to work on their Iron Butts) will remedy this.

Weekend rides are absolutely an option. See my earlier post with suggestions about this:
http://www.nestreetriders.com/forum/...tml#post867014

Other thing is, I only ever said it's a bad idea to leave Bike Night less than halfway through, ie, 7-7:30, to go on a creemee run. But if you guys wait till 8, I don't think it would be an issue, since Bike Night's always winding down by then anyway. In June and July, it doesn't get dark till after 9, so there's still plenty of daylight left then.

Just a suggestion.

--mark

[NobodySpecific]

I'm wondering if we should change the advertised hours to be 6pm-8pm instead of 9pm, at least on the facebook page? That way we have more flexibility for leaving early?

[markbvt]

I was thinking maybe just make the winter hours of 5:30-8:30 permanent, so people leaving at 8 really wouldn't be an issue.



--mark

[Doc]

How about we just say stay until you want to leave

[MotoFreak]

Whatever you guys want for the time, just tell me what you think is best so I can put it on the promo's and posters!!!

I wonder if the never-ending duel between the "founders" will ever end.


Doc -> <- Bill

Hahahaha, I'm the good guy cause I have a green light-saber!!!!

[NobodySpecific]

How about we just say stay until you want to leave

The issue in my mind is that we want a decent crowd no matter what time people show up at (for the advertised hours). If people are showing up at 8:30 just to check it out and there are 3 people, it's not going to be a very positive experience (like was happening with the Creemee runs).

By the way, I love what's happening on the facebook page! 53 fans and a ton of pictures

[Duc802]

Hi All,

I am new to this forum and many of your have already been very welcoming. I do not intend on stepping on anyone's toes by saying this, but I was wondering what the protocol is for trying to set up a bike night in Southern Vermont or Southwestern New Hampshire, or Northwestern MA? I would love to be a part of your Burlington crew, but it's pretty far for a Tuesday night. I would love to get something going in Brattleboro, VT or Keene, NH, or even Northampton, MA! Are there rules to follow in getting this underway? Thanks in advance for you help.

-B

[yesterdayze]

Hi All,

I am new to this forum and many of your have already been very welcoming. I do not intend on stepping on anyone's toes by saying this, but I was wondering what the protocol is for trying to set up a bike night in Southern Vermont or Southwestern New Hampshire, or Northwestern MA? I would love to be a part of your Burlington crew, but it's pretty far for a Tuesday night. I would love to get something going in Brattleboro, VT or Keene, NH, or even Northampton, MA! Are there rules to follow in getting this underway? Thanks in advance for you help.

-B

No toes stepped on there bro. We whole are more then happy to see you get something started up there. We will be glad to help however we can. No real rules persay, but if you want help and input and would like to be an associated group / part of what we have going here then I would recommend coming up on a Tuesday night and we can all sit down as a group and put our heads together, throw out ideas on what works and what hasn't seemed to and see how we can mesh our groups. We would love to see this thing keep spreading!

[MotoFreak]

Hi All,

I am new to this forum and many of your have already been very welcoming. I do not intend on stepping on anyone's toes by saying this, but I was wondering what the protocol is for trying to set up a bike night in Southern Vermont or Southwestern New Hampshire, or Northwestern MA? I would love to be a part of your Burlington crew, but it's pretty far for a Tuesday night. I would love to get something going in Brattleboro, VT or Keene, NH, or even Northampton, MA! Are there rules to follow in getting this underway? Thanks in advance for you help.

-B

PM Sent

[Duc802]

No toes stepped on there bro. We whole are more then happy to see you get something started up there. We will be glad to help however we can. No real rules persay, but if you want help and input and would like to be an associated group / part of what we have going here then I would recommend coming up on a Tuesday night and we can all sit down as a group and put our heads together, throw out ideas on what works and what hasn't seemed to and see how we can mesh our groups. We would love to see this thing keep spreading!

Awesome. Thanks for the support! I wont be able to think about organizing something seriously until the end of March or so. I would really like to come to some of your meetings up North, but it's a haul for me on a Tuesday. Any help in terms of letting me know what works and what doesn't would be very helpful. I have never tried to organize something like this and don't want it to flop. Any help is much welcome!

-B

[Doc]

Hi All,

I am new to this forum and many of your have already been very welcoming. I do not intend on stepping on anyone's toes by saying this, but I was wondering what the protocol is for trying to set up a bike night in Southern Vermont or Southwestern New Hampshire, or Northwestern MA? I would love to be a part of your Burlington crew, but it's pretty far for a Tuesday night. I would love to get something going in Brattleboro, VT or Keene, NH, or even Northampton, MA! Are there rules to follow in getting this underway? Thanks in advance for you help.

-B

Glad I could help!

[LadyTaTa]

I'll be honest, I got lazy and stopped reading the thread about 1/2 way through but I'd love to throw in my 2 cents. I think if you were to do a "destination" or "change of venue" bike night you could look into doing a raffel with the prizes comming from roadside, cycle w/e it is in Waterburry,and local businesses that aren't nescisarally affiliated with motercycles. It is a great way for a new barber shop, sandwich place, or really anything to get involved with the comunity for a relitivlly small investment. You can sell tickets, and award some for a slow roll challenge, loudest bike, coolest w/e really anything that you all decide you want to have a "freindly competition" in. This will promote attandance because they would be able to win something, show off skills, and network.

This change of venue would be great if you know of a restaurant or sports bar that is opening. Commit to doing it 3 times in the summer (or any number you want) in exchange for discounts on food, or something like what we have at donny's with free soda. Making it bigger would be great, yes a lot of work, but think about the networking and ride's that could be organised.

I'd also advertise it as something that bringing a date, gf/wife/bf/husband along is always welcome. We don't just need more riders, but those that support the riders, this was something that I have seen done before that made the bike nights HUGE!

Feel free to pick apart what i say, and comment. I'd love to share what I know, and talk about what would work best in VT.

[catamount]

Just thought of a little something that some people might find useful...

INSPECTION NIGHT.

Last year Roadside stayed open after hours for a BBQ. Well, what if we could convince them to stay open after hours for an extended "inspection session".

That is, the only service they would offer would be a VT state inspection. They could bang out as many as possible during a 2 hour window or something like that.

I know that more than a few of us are over due for inspections.

Couple if with their sales floor being open and we could take donations to cover dogs & soda.

Thoughts?

[Trouble]

I like the thought but I can't get my bike inspected there, even if it is due. I need someone more willing to overlook some non-stock items...