Right, I'm off.

Ooh. Does this mean I might seek promotion to Grammar Nazi #1 ?

 

I'm still waiting for the members wives and dogging section

 

Cant say much really apart from good luck mate and all the best but on the other hand why make an anouncement that you are leaving? Personally I would have just not bothered with signing in again.

I for one have been on a few rideouts and yes generally the start point is usually a common meeting point but I have taken in roads that I never knew existed. If I had not joined this site I would not have been to Wooten Bassett, an easter egg run, camping last year done a track day and met some genuine people that are not out for something. Whilst I am not the quickest rider I have not (well perhaps on a couple of occaissions) been made to feel that I was not welcome.

Take a look back at the rideout section and you will find that most of the posts are from the same handfull of people so that must surely tell you something?

As for anyones beef on here with other people surely that must go to show that we are all different? Also if anyone has a problem with someone have they tried the good old fashioned way of speaking with them rather than via an electronic format?

I for one like this site and long may it continue. Isnt there a saying that goes somethnig like horses for courses? If it is not for you then bow out and cut your losses.

Like I say good luck, enjoy your rides with who ever and where ever they take you but most of all stay safe

 

Maybe this is the problem with starting a gym membership! But seriously, folks, I don't have a long history of biking to draw from. I know only what I have picked up from the current membership here (including when some were in The Other Place [ahem]). I haven't even ridden that many miles in all, so am a bit of a tyro. I guess though I do understand that a person develops a liking for a particular style of riding, like RW persists with an enormous cruiser (watch this space) and Les prefers something 6feet from the ground. I imagine this extends as well to a personal liking for trackdays or long, adventurous tours or mixing up the same routes and doing them just a little bit better than the last time.

I would rather you stay, Finchy, since I might learn something else from you, but then I do have to spend some time on my bike to be able to benefit from the experience of others, and I hold my hand up here and admit that I simply haven't found much time this year to do it. And I'm being selfish too, because not everyone wants to dawdle around waiting for an 'Improver' to catch up!

I'll be sure to try to find my way to north Kent soon.

 

It's good to see a variety of views and I can understand the frustration with the fact all rideouts seem to start in the same places.
To be honest, this site started due to a group of us (all of whom lived more or less in the same area) deciding we didn't want to be part of the "other" site any more. So I suppose, by default, most of the early activity started down this neck of the woods.
If I had one criticism of our actions, I would say we have not done enough to spread our wings into areas such as Kent and Surrey as much as we should have. Hence, we should have done more, and should do more, to attract people from further afield. Ironically, in the last few months we seem to have picked up a number of new peeps from the Crawley/Horsham area so perhaps it's now working and more rideouts seem to be heading slightly further afield of late.
On a personal level, I'd love to do more rides but circumstances prohibit that at the moment. Last year, for example I did H's Cafe on Weds night a few times but this year...not once.

Like any forum...it's what we, the members, make it. We can't all agree all of the time and it would be boring if we did.

 

Sorry to be boring, but... I agree

 

its a age thing and its all megawatts fault someone has to take the blame

 

+1 I agree it's all Alans fault, mind you his stories from the dating sites are quite hilarious.

 

I am a newbie on this forum but I have been a part of a few other forums (both cars and bikes) for many years, including another Kent based one that I think we all know of!!!

The first thing I want to say is well done to the admin guys and girls for allowing this post to stand. I can think of other forums where it would be deleted within minutes due to it not kissing the butt of the "management".

This Isn't just an SEC thing but in general a "forum" thing.

I find a lot of people on other sites moaning that rideouts are never in their area, too far away or go on too long. However, they never seem to actually take the initiative to post their own rideout. They are normally too happy to let others do the work of working out a route, leading and making sure everyone is happy and wiping their nose for them.

I do sympathise if the original poster was trying to get rides sorted with no support, that is tough, but, what I have also found is that people tend to form their own groups and start sticking to certain areas for the rides - almost becomes habit. This actually makes it very hard for new members to get involved.

That said, I have been on a couple of things now and met several of you guys and it has been great, very friendly and I have really enjoyed myself.

A forum is what you make of it, it is sod all without its members and I do believe you get out of it what you put in.

 

I am on a lot of specialised Forums and some are downright obnoxious, let alone rude to each other. What I like about this one is the gentle banter, when you do get to do some of the ride-outs, it's great to spend time with some of the characters.
Anyway some ride-outs and the rallies can be a long way from yourself, some are local, you can't be close to everything.
Unless you have a camper and a trailer.

 

I've met up with a handful of people from here, erm, a very small handful thinking about it, but that's mostly my own fault. All the rides and meets do tend to be some distance from me and I can't be arsed for a long ride in the evening to one of the meets or for a long ride to meet and go for a long ride! Plus I generally don't like to arrange things in advance anyway, it's usually a spur of the moment thing for me. I may have a rough destination in mind but I often change my mind or divert down a different road. There is a small clique of people that arrange things on here, so inevitably they are going to arrange what's convenient for themselves! If you arrange something further from the regular attendees, they aren't going to bother, but there's also a fair chance that the more casual members aren't either. I'm not much of a joiner, but the forum is mostly friendly so I'm quite happy to pop in from time to time.

 

mmm camper and trailer

 

Bye

 

4 fek sake, I go away for a couple of days and the treads still running. I believe he's in Australia bye now.