vetbmwrider
Member
Having not been to a rally for many of years. I cannot find any information if they still hold a camp gears motorcycle training for those 16–21-year-old.
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Is there still a Camp GEARS at the rally
- Thread starter vetbmwrider
- Start date
pglaves
#13338
This a question dear to my heart. After hosting or assisting with Camp G.E.A.RS. for almost 15 years in a row it appears that our personal efforts have been cast aside for something new, or non-existent. It seems CAMP Gears is no more. I personally mourn the death of the program. It seems the frightful lawyers on the Foundation Board decided it was too big a liability. Too risky. Too bad. Voni and I personally assumed that liability risk for 10 or more years and never got sued. Bravo for good parents and great kids despite a couple of going to lunch accidents.
I don't know what the foundation Board now envisions, but I can say without reservation that the person-to-person connections the many students over our 15 - yes fifteen years of involvement - will mean more than what anybody learned how not to tip over their bike will mean We still get messages from students who connected more than ten years ago who have stayed in contact with other GEARS folks classmates. Does the MOA want younger members? Remember Camp Gears as it was Or punt into a dark abyss as usual.
I would welcome a BMW MOA Board or Foundation Board explanation on this Forum as to why they killed CAMP Gears. Or as usual we can suffer in their deliberate silence. Voni and I spent 15 years promoting and hosting camp GEARS only to have it killed. The BMW MOA, and all of us are, it seems, the lesser for it.
gregfeeler
Dances With Sheep
Paul,
I'm not speaking in any official capacity, but it's my understanding that after a couple of years of problems due to late night "tent creeping" it was decided that the camping part was too big of a risk. The responsibilities (read: liabilities) one assumes in today's world when you are entrusted with the care of children is far more burdensome that it was twenty years ago. It's a big loss, in my opinion, but from my view, overall we've lost many good things considered fun and ok to do years ago because of the radical changes in social expectations and the expansion of liability by our legal system.
gregfeeler
Dances With Sheep
The camping part of the GEARS program went away several years ago.
pglaves
#13338
Partly correct. We eliminated the "camp together" part of the program at least two and maybe three years before the last GEARS. At the same time they changed the ages so nobody over 18 was allowed. Several parents of alumni attended a Foundation Board meeting to protest this change because their kids wanted to come back but nobody on the board seemed to care. Now it is gone completely and I haven't seen or heard anything about a young rider recruitment or training program.
As far as I'm concerned GEARS was killed by a bunch of old fuddy duddies lacking both imagination and courage. But that is just my opinion having been involved from its second year until its death by a thousand cuts.
gregfeeler
Dances With Sheep
I've always thought the GEARS belonged with the MOA as part of the rally committees. Also, that GEARS should be "franchised" into a program to teach local club members how to run a mini-version (a weekend) so this information & training could reach hundreds of kids a year on all brands of bikes. Takin' it to the streets, as it were.
dennisdarrow
#4869 Earned Lifetime mem
With all due respect to what Greg has to say, it is just pure BS. Good ol Paul and Voni, and so many others, went way out of their way to pass along the heritage of OUR CLUB. This is just another example of how the "business" side of OUR Club, is deteriorating the pride of belonging. Something to be proud of for sure.
Am outta here but it makes me sick how the work of folks is for nothing. Instead of standing tall with pride, what folks do for the common good is thrown away as being something that "MIGHT" hurt someone. SHAME ON YOU powers that be..................
Am outta here but it makes me sick how the work of folks is for nothing. Instead of standing tall with pride, what folks do for the common good is thrown away as being something that "MIGHT" hurt someone. SHAME ON YOU powers that be..................
gregfeeler
Dances With Sheep
With all due respect Dennis, I disagree with what you say here, but for the complements due to Paul & Voni, and the others who worked not only on GEARS, but just about every other volunteer position in the club over the last 50 years. My friend, you see an evil conspiracy by other volunteers behind everything you don't agree with or understand. Just not true.
GEARS was about teaching good motorcycle husbandry and touring skills. If it was about passing along the heritage of the club then 10 to 15 kids a year would never save us. The decisions which got us to this point were made for a combination of reasons, some of which I saw first hand when on the Foundation Board for a year. That program took a lot of effort, as anyone who worked on it can attest. As I said earlier, I think it should have become a property of the MOA as part of the rally. I think it could have survived (or could be resurrected) that way. The MOA has the ability to recruit volunteers and the other resources to support and promote this program. In my opinion, the BMW MOA Foundation has only one job, and that is to raise all the money it can, which it then uses to fund other programs in line with it's rider safety education mission. The Paul B. Scholarships are a perfect example. It should not be running programs itself for many reasons. It would follow, that the Foundation could fund part or all of a rally-based GEARS program run by the MOA. I believe that was done on more than one occasion.
The true bottom line is that if enough people would like to see GEARS revived all they have to do is to volunteer to help start it up, and then approach the MOA and Foundation Boards with a plan and ask for their support and approval.
For those watching from afar-
For those that may not be familiar with the GEARS acronym...
Camp GEARS (Gaining Early Advanced Riding Skills) is a two-day camp offered to young riders, ages 16 through 26. Camp GEARS is both a training and social experience for young riders.........from info from a previous rally.
vetbmwrider
Member
I am sorry to see a program that was a positive thing that Paul and Voni built get tossed away.
Visian
look out!!!
I just don't know what to say other than I feel your pain.
Well, that and since this is club business the thread really should be moved to the Clubhouse.
akbeemer
SURVIVOR
It was eye opening when I left the Army and went to work at a state university. Just about every significant decision, project or initiative had to be blessed by the attorneys. These were people who were exceptionally risk adverse and each morning took a moment to take counsel of their fears. In my view they consistently acted in a CYA manner.
powwow
Member
Which is exactly why attorneys give opinions, but the leaders drive the business decisions.
akbeemer
SURVIVOR
Should be, but not always so in practice.
adamchandler
YouTube Mechanic
My sister attended GEARS twice and had a blast. She's now an early 20s female motorcycle rider, one of the most underrepresented groups in our sport. GEARS works and I'd love to see it return. The history of it is completely unknown to me but as someone who gives monthly to the MOA Foundation with an auto donation and supports rider training, I would like to see it return but there may be other reasons for why it's not.
If GEARS is not the answer, perhaps there's another way to reach young and new riders beyond our amazing Paul B Scholarship that I personally have see 5 people become motorcycle riders through their MSF and that scholarship...both of my sisters included.
If GEARS is not the answer, perhaps there's another way to reach young and new riders beyond our amazing Paul B Scholarship that I personally have see 5 people become motorcycle riders through their MSF and that scholarship...both of my sisters included.
Visian
look out!!!
The true bottom line is that if enough people would like to see GEARS revived all they have to do is to volunteer to help start it up, and then approach the MOA and Foundation Boards with a plan and ask for their support and approval.
… and then stand by to watch a great idea get second-guessed into a flavorless bowl of mush.
Our club experience should be made by members, not approved by Boards.
No matter what the idea, no matter what the concept, the board of an incorporated entity gets jammed up (liability) for an outcome gone wrong $$$.
It’s unfortunate how far downhill the liability finger pointing rolls.
Risk assessment is tricky and complicated, especially nowadays. Even the qualifications of volunteers comes into question.
I recently saw a local club advertise that a club ride would be spirited and 20+ over. Probably a bad thing to put into print, online. If anything goes wrong after a statement like that, it becomes indefensible.
If the GEARS event is to be considered, all involved should be working towards a solution to allow it to be viable, safe and negate as much liability as possible.
Everything is great…..until it isn’t.
OM
dennisdarrow
#4869 Earned Lifetime mem
Visian
look out!!!
That's a no brainer, but this is more about control than it is about liability.
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