Changes @ the CCC

[salgeek]

Thanks Morgan & 2trakR. I just felt bad that my question led to a series of posts that I'm sure made some uncomfortable.

 

[The Bottom Line]

"..TBL also started on (and still has AFAIK) a quad, Polaris I think. bbarel is right about his Rhino and related desires to romp around with it..."

It's funny how you guys so desperately 'want' to assume this is about RUVs and those darn 4-wheeled guys who want to destroy 'your' trail system.

The fact is (which you would know if you bothered to attend any meeting that wasn't on a trail or at a trailhead and 'convenient' for your having 'fun' that day)....that my time has been spent demanding that the general public be given access to your leadership and even my own.

For example, when you stand up at a public meeting and ask your motorcycle leader exactly what percentage of our trail system should be FOREVER designated "motorcycle only" (the one question nobody wants to answer that is so critical to our cooperation)...and he turns around like this :fft: and shuts right up(!) with absolutely nothing to say further....you quickly realize that simply 'shining the light of day' on these kind of guys will take up much more time than what could possibly ever be found for expressing your 'personal' views on the trail system.

Couple that fact with the realization that you must alter your prepared statement at these advisory board meetings to fit in 'extra' response time for whatever crap they try to shove down the pipe 'next' in the 3 months (or better, if they see fit) that you haven't heard from them or anybody else regarding orv issues...and you can see why guys like yourselves don't really like to talk about the actual issues themselves very readily.(it's much easier to pigeonhole some guy into who you want people to believe he is... than actually go and see for yourself at these past meetings and shake his hand like a man afterwards).

For example, 'again'...I'll just simply throw out the number "$4 million" for the umpteenth time in this discussion....any 'takers' yet?

Didn't think so.

 

[The Bottom Line]

TBL

A large portion of the interface coordination communication between orv groups necessitates that urgent consideration be applied to the philosophy of commonality and standardization. At the same time, however, any associated relevant supporting elements must utilize and be functionally interwoven with the preliminary qualification limit. With regards to the specific goals, any associated relevant supporting elements are symptoms of the ills besetting a large group, of ORV’ers, or whomever, dedicated to the evolution of the systems specifications over this given time frame. Similarly, the incorporation of additional orv program-oriented sub constraints requires considerable cost analysis to arrive at the sophisticated outline to which you speak.

Agreed??

Mully
Life Member - AMA - Senior "A"
District 15
VSTA
HDMC
"CCC"
and all around nice guy..............

Thanks for the response....I'll use it to explain what kind of guys you are to the rest of us out here interested in discussing issues and not the same 'ol rhetoric. Looks like you're next in line for President of the CCC for sure! (Rondeau 'himself' couldn't have replied any more eloquently!).

 

[Mully]

:rotfl:

It's all good.

Mully

 

[MWEISSEN]

Whew, now maybe we can get back to the original subject of this thread!

2TrakR, with the resignation of Bill Chapin, do you think there will be a lot of changes at the CCC? If so, what kind?

 

[JUSTRIDE415]

uhh I heard that it wasn't really a resignation but you know how the grapevine works. I wouldn't really trust it

 

[2TrakR]

do you think there will be a lot of changes at the CCC? If so, what kind?

If there are any changes, I hope they are all for the better of the Club and, of course, the sport itself.
There are changes happening right now, but they are as much a part of the transition process as anything. For example, I am handling membership mailings and the database itself until we get a new Executive Director.
There are changes regarding trail maintenance, who gets what and how it's handled... Difficult to say if that would have happened with or without Bill in his previous position. Since they are positive changes, I would suspect they would have been happening regardless.

More importantly, if you have ideas for change (and more importantly improvement) the Club would like to hear about them. Now is a time we can make some serious modifications to the way we do business.

 

[MWEISSEN]

Thanks Jeramey on the update. Glad you asked for some ideas:

1. Trail maintenance is probably on a lot of people's minds, and the ability to keep trails maintained better, develop some level of erosion control on uphill/downhill sections (tough in the sand we've got!) would probably top the list.
2. I've thought a long time that special trail and scramble areas for kids and family riding would really help keep our sport growing.

Having raised 3 kids and gotten all three on bikes when they were young, I witnessed the real struggle they had in maintaining control of their small-wheeled bikes on our current trail system. As a result, two of my kids have had negative experiences riding and have given it up. One still rides, but only enjoys riding on a track because of the condition of our trails.

My kids actually had the most fun riding when they were young in open fields where they didn't have to worry about trees or whoops and could concentrate on learning how to use the clutch, shift, brake and generally handle the bike.

Such an area would give the riding public a chance to give these kids some basic skill training, and to see if they enjoy riding, if it were allowed to be ridden without a training license for a limited amount of time.

This area (or areas) would also be great places for training sessions for these kids to get trail certification.

Our current regulations regarding the access of these trails to young, starting users also ends up being a "catch 22". You can't legally allow a child younger than 16 to "try" dirt biking to see if they like it before taking a training course on public land.

Of course there are real logistic, access and misuse control of such sites.

Heck, I've toyed with buy 40-50 acres of land, setting this up and doing it myself.

Overall I consider us fortunate to have a group such as the CCC to be our advocates with the state government. Yeah, we can grumble about certain things, but on an overall look, I believe that the CCC IS the reason we have so many trails here in this state. MANY THANKS TO THOSE THAT GIVE THEIR TIME TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN!!!

 

[Trailridin]

I have to echo these sentiments. We are truly lucky in this state to have such a great club. I can think of changes made in just the last few years in regards of embracing technology from the updated mapbooks to the new dual-sport routes. The club has shown great strides in recent years in these areas. If I had to give one area of improvement, it would be to increase communication to the members. For instance, it was unknown to me (a CCC member since 1996 or so) until last summer that some counties in the northern lower allowed ORV use on county road shoulders, and these ordinances had been in place for years! :think:

I think a step in the right direction would be to keep the club website up to date and to devote more of the magazine to current issues. I also think you are a prized member of the board Jeramey for frequenting these forums, getting us important information fast, and setting up a good dialogue with members and fellow off-road enthusiasts. I believe these forums have done a lot to increase membership.

 

[morgan]

As a result, two of my kids have had negative experiences riding and have given it up. One still rides, but only enjoys riding on a track because of the condition of our trails.

Yeah, I've seen this happen a couple times in relation to DualSporting too. Some fellas leap right in there feet first but with the wrong bike and/or no experience. Ya gotta hand it to them----they really try hard but the sandy sections (and sometimes single track sections) just kick their butts. Then the next thing you know they have given it up totally. The only way to head this off as far as I can figure would be better communication (as to what to expect out there) and perhaps some mentoring out on the trail. Someone to show the new guys how to plow through the sand, how to read the roll charts, etc.

I believe these forums have done a lot to increase membership.

For the love of Pete, something like this is what we really, REALLY need: http://atvoffroad.net/forums/index.php . This ATV group is relatively small in comparison to the CCC and yet their means of communication is light years a head of us (the CCC).

I mean could you imagine having something like this through the CCC website? The sharing of information, questions answered like right now----not to speak of out of staters dropping in and seeing what Michigan has to offer.

I'm pretty sure Jeramey has the need of a CCC forum at the top of his list.

 

[2TrakR]

Yup, a CCC forum and two mailing lists. One list for announcements only (we kind of have this now, but barely) and one for general 2 way communication. The latter would allow you to sign on/off and communicate not only with Board type people but more importantly with fellow CCC members.