OOS town council meeting(its pat's party and he'll cry if he wants to)

Should we close this thread and start a new one?

  • Yea

  • No

  • Idc


Results are only viewable after voting.

A Potted Plant

Honorary Sod
I miss these impromptu rides, all this planning and formalities has taken a toll

This was what I was trying to get back to we're all grown ups. Tell me your heading out and I'll try to join.

I wanted to wait till we all met to bring up my idea but I'll say it here to plant the seed. The mods on strava should be the core group of OOS. 5 or 10 ppl who can step in and post a ride on the fly. Yes our ride isn't official but I'm more about getting out and having a good time. Even if someone is made a strava mod doesn't mean they have to act on it they have it just in case a late minute cancellation happens or what not.
 

qclabrat

Well-Known Member
This was what I was trying to get back to we're all grown ups. Tell me your heading out and I'll try to join.

I wanted to wait till we all met to bring up my idea but I'll say it here to plant the seed. The mods on strava should be the core group of OOS. 5 or 10 ppl who can step in and post a ride on the fly. Yes our ride isn't official but I'm more about getting out and having a good time. Even if someone is made a strava mod doesn't mean they have to act on it they have it just in case a late minute cancellation happens or what not.
I like the rides which pop up to fill voids, but also need to see where we'll be a month out so that I can plan accordingly. Seems the rides lately have been in NNJ which leaves folks down south out of luck or drive 100+mins to make a ride.
 

A Potted Plant

Honorary Sod
I like the rides which pop up to fill voids, but also need to see where we'll be a month out so that I can plan accordingly. Seems the rides lately have been in NNJ which leaves folks down south out of luck or drive 100+mins to make a ride.

No reason not to have 2 rides on a day, there are so many of us, we'll find a balance
 

Victor I

aka Ridgehog
I like the rides which pop up to fill voids, but also need to see where we'll be a month out so that I can plan accordingly. Seems the rides lately have been in NNJ which leaves folks down south out of luck or drive 100+mins to make a ride.
Part of the reason is it’s the same few people that keep leading the rides and happen to live in north New Jersey. The other reason is certain parks in north New Jersey have done better this winter than other ones in central New Jersey. It’s also winter so it’s mostly die hard riders. I expect you will see more diversity come spring.
 

mtbiker87

Well-Known Member
I like the rides which pop up to fill voids, but also need to see where we'll be a month out so that I can plan accordingly. Seems the rides lately have been in NNJ which leaves folks down south out of luck or drive 100+mins to make a ride.
I can't see why we can't have both. The "listed " ride with pre-designated leader, and pop-ups, based upon the availability of those who can not make the pre planned ride. I'm sure there are times when a member is unable to make the scheduled ride, but still wants to get out and ride a bit with whatever peeps might be interested at the time. Example. This weekend, after spending 10 days in the hospital with my kid, I dont think I can get out at all. But if I could, I'd rather ride Ramapo with Ridgehog, than drive and 1hr plus to ride gravel. Not knocking it..to each his own..but not really my thing. Vic's pop up ride would give me an option to ride with an OOS bud, instead of riding alone, without the extra travel,if I was otherwise unable to do so. If we could keep the scheduled, and unscheduled rides listed separately, without confusing the rides thread with the general BS thread, I see a win, win for everyone. Formal rides get listed on Strava, pop up's? maybe not. If one type of ride ( scheduled VS non scheduled) eventually ends up being more popular,then I would guess that would prove which is the better direction to move forward with in the future. If they both stay even..then awesome. I think Vic has the right of it about the NNJ rides currently dominating. With Huffster's help, I sort of guided the "pre- ride" list KVSP ride, and the Wayway ride. After that, by whatever randomness created the list, it was upstate guys like me that seemed to get picked to lead. I do think it might be a bit more fair to the CNJ guys, if we swapped weekend to weekend between north and south, like Walt was doing last year, obviously, weather permitting.
 
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A Potted Plant

Honorary Sod
I can't see why we can't have both. The "listed " ride with pre-designated leader, and pop-ups, based upon the availability of those who can not make the pre planned ride. I'm sure there are times when a member is unable to make the scheduled ride, but still wants to get out and ride a bit with whatever peeps might be interested at the time. Example. This weekend, after spending 10 days in the hospital with my kid, I dont think I can get out at all. But if I could, I'd rather ride Ramapo with Ridgehog, than drive and 1hr plus to ride gravel. Not knocking it..to each his own..but not really my thing. Vic's pop up ride would give me an option to ride with an OOS bud, instead of riding alone, without the extra travel,if I was otherwise unable to do so. If we could keep the scheduled, and unscheduled rides listed separately, without confusing the rides thread with the general BS thread, I see a win, win for everyone. Formal rides get listed on Strava, pop up's? maybe not. If one type of ride ( scheduled VS non scheduled) eventually ends up being more popular,then I would guess that would prove which is the better direction to move forward with in the future. If they both stay even..then awesome. I think Vic has the right of it about the NNJ rides currently dominating. With Huffster's help, I sort of guided the "pre- ride" list KVSP ride, and the Wayway ride. After that, by whatever randomness created the list, it was upstate guys like me that seemed to get picked to lead. I do think it might be a bit more fair to the CNJ guys, if we swapped weekend to weekend between north and south, like Walt was doing last year, obviously, weather permitting.


We can simply label rides like (Official) ride and pop ups show up last minute or labeled as (alternative), we'll see after the meeting I am going to follow @Paul H's direction and wait for the meeting.
 

Paul H

Fearless OOS Poser
Looks like you guys are talking about scheduled vs pop up rides. Good descriptions here BTW. :)

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't we accommodate both in the last year? So I am kinda unclear on what the real discussion here is. You are discussing something that has been done. Or are you guys saying you want one and not the other? One thing Max did talk about that is relevant is who leads rides and how this will be administered.

Something Walt and Vic touched on. I agree with Vic that in the winter months, it's the hardcore guys that will ride in the cold. The reason why the rides have been in NNJ was due to the rotation of ride leaders. Most original members are in the north so the initial rotation favored and front loaded the north. This can be fixed, but will take for someone to sit down and look over the member list, figure out who they are and where they are from. Then, generate a rotation list that balances out north vs central vs south. As new members join, figure out who they are and where they are from and plug them in accordingly. I was about to do this before it blew up but this takes man power which no one is willing to do. I think this is the real issue that needs to be discussed.

Arnold talked about something that I credit you guys on. This is also something Max repeatedly had concerns on. Leading rides. Most of us DGF about guided tours of a park. We are just happy to be out there. If the ride leader knows the park real well, thats just icing on the cake. If you don't know the park too well, someone will assist. Tim helped out Arnold at KVSP, Tim/Vic helped out Chris at Ringwood and Pat helped out Dan at Nassau and all these rides turned out awesome. So what if we went around in circles for a bit? As long as we don't end up as bear food, its a win in my book. Heck, I took Max to Nassau and I cant tell the difference between north/south and we had a great time. If you are looking for a well laid out professional tour? Go pay someone. We never advertised this group to be a mtb tour company. What are the usual comments from new members? Never been there before and met good friends. Never heard 1 person say, wow that tour sucked. I guess that doesn't mean someone might not have thought this but again... we are not a tour company.

So... what are we really talking about here?
Is it the system or the administration? Personally, I think it boils down to who does what. I, at one point said that I should not be involved in these discussions because of my bias. As you can see, it clearly shows but with good reason. In my opinion, it just flat out works. But all it takes is a tweak here and there and with a group of admins driving this thing, I honestly believe its money. I agree with Max in that there should be a core group of admin who will do the workload and make all the decisions. At the end of the day... someone has to do something. Nothing happens on its own. There is no magic.... well there is @Magic but blah.... bad joke. Sorry for the unnecessary tag :p

Oh... one more thing. Some wants this group to grow while others prefer the small tight knit group. Open membership vs exclusive membership I guess? This should be on the table.
 
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Paul H

Fearless OOS Poser
@Paul H ... does MTBNJ have open group membership? IMO I think we should have the same guidelines as them so it doesn’t get out of control.
I assume you are talking about the team. I believe its on an invite basis. You have to be invited to join.
But perhaps @Norm or other team members can chime in and clarify.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I assume you are talking about the team. I believe its on an invite basis. You have to be invited to join.
But perhaps @Norm or other team members can chime in and clarify.

Let’s back up and figure out what you’re trying to do. I think I see now where the suggestion for a new forum came from and it makes more sense to me now. I find this interesting. Should flesh this out more. Let’s talk.

As for MTBNJ we are sort of invite-only but people do ask on at times which produces an invite. There’s not necessarily a defined cart & horse there. Insert Max joke here.
 

qclabrat

Well-Known Member
Good positive feedback, keep it rolling folks. In particular call out what's working and what doesn't.
 

Paul H

Fearless OOS Poser
Good positive feedback, keep it rolling folks. In particular call out what's working and what doesn't.
I think... a few questions needs to be answered because I think there some guys here who does not know how the system works.... or didn't read the first page of the OOS thread. So let me indulge those. Fire away.
 

jklett

Well-Known Member
My $.02 on the whole thing (I'll probably say more today at the ride) is that this is a group of friends who like to get together and ride bikes. By making it too structured it introduces unnecessary stress(although I do agree that it needs some sort of structure being how big it's gotten). I think that is the biggest part of the problem. That and just randomly assigning someone particular weeks to "lead" a ride. Heck, I'd be happy to "lead" every other time once the trails aren't shit around here(hence my ride on the tow path). On the other hand, I also think that it can be intimidating to join up to check it out and be handed a week to lead a ride, especially if that person is a new rider. I also don't think that it should be exclusive or anything like that, anyone who wants to come out should be welcomed like I felt on my first ride with y'all. I have a lot to say but I suck at putting it in words in a way that makes sense.

Anyhow, if the consensus is to make it a formal group(I guess more of a team?) I'll back it and try to take on whatever role is asked of me but I don't think that's where I would go with it if it was up to me.
 
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