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Have also noticed it being a bit quite here lately
I am part to blame
Haven’t posted a ride for at least 9 weeks due to an injury
Hoping to get out this weekend, but not confident to lead a ride as yet
Still bloody sore and not sure if I can last a full day
I am guilty of looking at other sites/forums for rides and reports :whistle:
Hope things pick up here as I am not a fan of FBCheers
MurphI guess we all need to keep posting as that is what keeps the site ticking over.
Whether it is rides, jokes, whinging about the kids or just talking shit, post it up
Picture this, it’s you and I at the bar of your local pub. We are having a beer and chewing the fat as such. Below is my mate to mate blurb, thoughts, vent, and rant. It isn’t directed at anyone, any group or religious belief, it doesn’t even cover of my thoughts about who shot JFK, it’s just my opinion.
The site has slowed for many a reason, some say that FB and local FB sites have contributed but sites like DBW and ADV rider forum haven’t suffered. The biggest reason is I see that the main people that carried the site and the work load have either had health issues, bought a business, life has changed or just couldn’t keep doing it for whatever was their personal reason. Hey I am not whining, it was hard work at times, I made mistakes, I learnt that every day is a school day, I learnt the written word is the hardest form of communication to put forward and have understood. :blink:
Yes I started RideADV, while you Fossil and others have tagged it a commercial exercise be aware we don’t make much if any money. What it does is cover my riding costs and shares my love with more people than I can imagine. It’s a user pays ride scheme, you ride you pay the costs is all. You don’t pay more for those that don’t pay, you just pay your own costs. Running OBT full time, and it was a full time gig on the site, behind the seen, with the sponsors, putting on rides, answering peoples requests, putting out spot fires, chasing prizes, and organizing everything in between. The cost of running OBT financially, mentally and physically are bigger than most would imagine. All that said I loved it, met some amazing people that I will always have as friends and for that I feel blessed and would do it again in a heartbeat. I just couldn’t maintain it any longer financially and time wise. I am time poor and with everyone’s lives changing we all and I mean all of us here just ran out of puff. I had always wanted OBT to look after itself, a few moderators to watch it and let it tick along. The site has huge bandwidth demands, it’s massive and the costs are real. Chris and I started this as a charity based forum to give back and grow the sport we love. Many will sit around and tell you what you should do, how to do it but few ever do it and do it well but that’s ok, we cant all do it there isn’t enough people to go around. People like STM and Nickj are two moderators that went above and beyond all the time neither asked for anything but put on rides and always dug deep into their own pockets come auction time to either donate prizes or spend their own money keeping it going. Think about the pokadot jersey, it raised around 500 bucks that Nickj and I paid up for OBT. Do you think Nick wanted it that bad :laugh: , and I happily paid over 200 to get my own jersey back? There are such a large number of people that have contributed to make this what it has been for 6 years, the list is so long I am afraid to list names for fear of forgetting someone but there are so many swimming around in my head now. All of that keeps the site running. Chris has paid for a massive part of the site costs (it was his choice) over the years and I did the ground work, looked after the site and ran the engine room all the time for the last 5 years. We have a huge number of members that helped and continue to do so right through to today. I have always said this site only gives you what you put in. People like Murph, Adam, Galey and others put rides on all the time, they are open to one and all, ALL THE TIME
Some people here now it seems will only ride with blokes they met of OBT, without OBT they may not have met them. Without that come one come all open ride that was always run here they wouldn’t have been given the chance to become friends. Now some of those same people will tell me they don’t want rides in their area because it’s their area, or they don’t want to put it on OBT because dickheads may turn up. Hey that’s ok, but if others had done the same here than those same people wouldn’t be friends with those they now ride with and that’s still ok. All these things contribute to the slow death and quiet times here at OBT. Did we all think we would all grow old riding around together? No life changes, we change, the things that were important change. I no longer have the urge to spend every waking minute doing OBT for the sheer satisfaction of waiting for the next round of being told I am a dickhead or having people talk behind my back because I am having a go and they aren’t but they know better. That doesn’t sound right when I read it back to myself but I don’t know how to write it so it sounds like I am laughing and enjoying my beer with you when I say it :pinch: :whistle: :laugh:
I want this site to continue, I want to be part of it and will do my bit but my bit needs to be less now days. Mick has changed his job and doesn’t have time anymore to do things here, he does the FB thing with his rides now. STM is busy with his shop and the needs of his shop (there is a guy that makes things happen, went bought a business and has grown it out of sight in a short time) STM and Nickj also threw their hands up when the Nundle guys pulled the pin on the Birthday / Christmas ride. Nickj has a business and is busy and currently injured trying to run his business and grow it. Chris has changed his business model and jobs and had some health problems. If you haven’t put a ride on be it little or big on you have no idea what it costs and takes out of you or the sheer enjoyment when it all works. The Nundle crew don’t run open rides anymore and others have quieted down what they do as well here. No ones to blame its just life maybe.
Where does that leave us, as a group, as a bunch of friends?? I don’t know but that’s the facts as I see them. Before you flame me, or rip into me just imagine this conversation face to face at the bar drinking beer together like mates.Cheers
GregMany good and fair points have already been raised as well as a few opinions.
I for one have been avoiding commenting for quite some time and a number of reasons, most of all not wanting to be labelled as a whiner :laugh:Loss of employment, 6 months loss of income (which I`m still trying to recover from), long running family illness , the deaths of a couple of mates and just plain old lack of time & interest did it for me,,,
Yeah, I still lurk around, log in occasionally and do have a look here & there from a moderator point of view, but there`s been stuff all to moderate the past 12 months anyway when I log on, maybe the other guys beat me to it.
My main interest is still and will continue to ADV riding and there`s stuff all interest for that on the site as well, so along with the other reasons I found myself frequenting a few FB pages/ groups and have even been linked to a Hunter ADV group page with a few mates that I get to ride with occasionally.My local solo rides still continue also whenever I feel like getting away for a few hrs or the day and let`s face it, we have some great riding areas within our Hunter region that I can ride to from my door (as do a lot of other blokes further afar).
For sure I`ve enjoyed pretty much every ride, event, gathering I`ve encountered on OBT and have made some great friends that I hope will still be around for a long time yet and whilst I really hope the site can continue, I can fully understand the reasons why if it has to come to an end or fade away :dry:
Cheers from me
have been hanging around this site since almost the beginning have met heeps of new people and rode places i could just dream about before :woohoo: .think i have TB to thank for a fair few of them and for helping out with my 4 day run years ago something i will never forget.i just hope this site just keeps cruising along
.mis the the old days with ktm rat champo and mic and later lc and bob funny buggers(plus a lot of others) but as we all no shit happens :whistle: i still have a look on here most days but generally just ride locally and not that often anymore
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