Is there still a Camp GEARS at the rally

Omega Man said:

I would be surprised if this was some Machiavellian plot.

Click to expand...

Trust me, you would be surprised.

Let me ask you this... what would you call not giving Forum leaders key information to post?

Circling the drain

Visian said:

… 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.

Click to expand...

Really, that's the best you can say, Ian? I don't believe someone has a right to criticize something without offing a better alternative. So, how would you accomplish this? How do you run a club without some kind of management? Anyone can throw rocks - that's easy, but it takes actual work to build something with them. All I'm hearing on this tread is the sound of breaking glass.

Personally, I'm very disappointed - but unfortunately not surprized - about all the negativity here about something most of your have had no direct experience with. It's January, many have PBS, and here is a chance to join a dog pile. To validate what I'm seeing, only one person who has posted to this tread has shown any interest in doing something pro-active to put together a plan for a new GEARS. He posted a PM to me and I will give him all the input he wants. OTOH, Ian takes a leak on the idea in public.

Well this thread certainly makes me want to get involved with this loving and understanding community that communicates with each other of differing perspectives so well. Keep up the good work.

mikegalbicka said:

Well this thread certainly makes me want to get involved with this loving and understanding community that communicates with each other of differing perspectives so well. Keep up the good work.

Click to expand...

Exactly. A personal irony is that one very negative poster to this thread has told me many times that all the negativity on this Forum is driving current and potential members away. Maybe the overall bitchiness in the world today is just to powerful.

mikegalbicka said:

Well this thread certainly makes me want to get involved with this loving and understanding community that communicates with each other of differing perspectives so well. Keep up the good work.

Click to expand...

Which is why this thread should be in the Clubhouse so that people bitching won't cause what you're talking about (at least nearly as badly).

It's not broken glass you're hearing, its the sound of frustration.

adamchandler said:

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.

Click to expand...

Adam - please do everything you can to re-ignite Camp GEARS. It was a brilliant concept if not a fairly long-term play.

My suggestions are to publish a call for volunteers in all our media channels and to commit this to being an activity that the volunteers themselves run, with modest guidance from all the powers that be.

I can provide you with TONS of photos from events past if they are needed. A lot of them belong to Paul Bachorz.

Ian

Below is Paul B... sharing his thoughts on using SmugMug! He is working on a Forum post showing a Camp GEARS rider pounding in a tent peg. Try as I might, I can't find that post!



on edit...

A bigger idea, touched on earlier in this discussion is to develop a program with greater reach. Blend the GEARS concept with a "learn to ride and then join our club" pitch that can be supported by local clubs and dealers. If MOAF were to do something like this, I might even buy my first raffle ticket!

This type of event would be consistent with the strategy represented by this graphic, which has been shown many times at Board meetings by the Chartered Club Liaison:




on second edit....

How could I forget? Dylan Lane volunteered to provide FREE training for Camp GEARS at the 2011 national rally's GS Giant adventure event. I didn't get any pics of the Camp GEARS riders on the adventure track we we built. You should have heard all the liability experts after *that* one!



The GS Giants attracted a lot of younger riders to the MOA. Dylan went on to emcee the national rally's closing ceremonies for several years after he joined.



.... last edit

Full disclosure on Dylan... he first came to the MOA in Montana, 2008... site of the first adventure track at a national rally, courtesy of Randy Owens.

Thank you Paul & Voni and other past camp GEARS volunteers

PGlaves said:

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.

Click to expand...

Paul, I want to thank you, Voni and the many others who made Camp GEARS such a magical place for young riders. I am in your debt for your dedication to & enthusiasm towards young riders.

My tree oldest sons attended GEARS in Sedalia, MO riding with me from KY, and my then 15 year old daughter and the youngest of the 3 boys along with my 4th son took part in Lebanon, TN. My daughter was hoping to go again this year and is disappointed that there is no Camp GEARS to attend. I have purchased raffle tickets and donated to support the foundation and am sad to see a great program that has directly inspired my kids to get involved in riding. At the end of the program in Lebanon my daughter's words spoke volumes - "Dad I want a motorcycle." (She is now in the market for a good used G310 if anyone has one for sale.)

I have long felt that GEARS should be expanded to reach more young riders. Most acknowledge the need to attract young riders, but are not willing to do what it takes to do so. I would love to see regional camps held yearly. The advantage of tying to the MOA Rally is a suitable venue and a greater likelihood of finding enough volunteers. It also has the advantage of letting the young riders attend the rally and volunteer while there. I'm not sure many clubs have enough non-grumpy old farts to host GEARS...

ChockB said:

I have long felt that GEARS should be expanded to reach more young riders.

Click to expand...

Agreed. And the most effective way to expand this, imo, is through a cooperative program with local dealers and clubs… a “learn to ride” safety day. Camp GEARS would be a central part of this.

I am pretty sure that BMW NA would support this, much how they did years ago with cooperative support of dealers advertising in the ON.

MOAF could deliver educational content and meet their tax obligations.

Dealers could benefit by displaying bikes and making sales contacts.

Success involves a packaged approach, with press kit to gain coverage in local media, event marketing kit (stock ads that can be placed in local & social media, a video presentation for the event), a registration system, a volunteer communications channel, and local members to support. Also important could be relations with local MSF experts and/or other qualified training partners.

Believe it or not, there was a trailer full of G310s to be made available to support this… about 5 or so years ago. I think it would be better to put true beginners on a smaller, more docile electric bike.

This way, the events are easier to access than driving/riding across the country to a single event per year. Plus, there are more of them, and… it gets the BMW and MOA love out to more people than our current communications channels reach.

This same package could be staged at events like MotoAmerica races, Overland Expos, large festivals.

Is this the kind of product/service that you’re talking about, kbasa?