Motorcycle Independent

Last Monday morning, I quit the riding club I had belonged to.

In one respect, I made the decision quickly, but in another respect, I could see this developing over the past several months. That is, I had this feeling inside that a confrontation would come, but I just didn't know when or how.

I actually eluded to this on this very same blog, back in November of 2006 in a post entitled, "Riding Club Leadership"...

But I hate making enemies, and I can forsee myself making some enemies down the road. When that happens, I'm going to really question my involvement with this club.

I always felt I had great intuition, I knew there was "writing on the wall", but I just didn't know exactly what it read.

A good friend of mine, Tom, who was also in the club, quit as well, on the same day. He actually told me that he could see this coming, even back before I could sense it. But then again, he knew the other two founders better than I. They were the reason why I chose to quit.

Tom and I were two of the four "founding members" of the club, while the remaining two were the ones that I had a falling out over.

I'm not going to spill it all out here in writing, because I sense that others in the club read this blog. I'll only say that I have differences with them in the direction the club should go in. The differences were fundamental enough, that we could not resolve them, nor put them past us. And that's just putting it nicely.

So I'm going to remain "independent" for awhile. That is, I'm not going to ride with any clubs for the forseeable future. I may join a club eventually, but for now, I don't see anything on the horizon.

And here's why. For the past year-and-a-half, since becoming one of the club's founders, I've worked my ass off for the club. I stepped up and organized majority of the rides, meetings, and bike nights. I led most of the rides. I promoted the club across several public access websites and forums. I attended rides with other clubs, and established relationships with other clubs. I created avenues for recruiting new members. I did more for that club than anyone else.

The members who remain in that club, would never have been there if not for me. I may not have recruited them all, but I was the one that gave them reason to join. It was the rides and bike nights that I organized, it was the people I brought together, it was the reputation I built throughout the public, that made it great to be a member.

After putting so much effort into the club, and then to see the other two founders act the way they did, and say the things they said, I simply don't have the inspiration to do it all over again. Even if Tom and I were to take over this club ourselves, and have the other two founders walk away, it still wouldn't be the same. I'd still feel uninspired about giving myself to an organization.

I mean, this is the reason why I quit my regular job, and went to work for myself. Organizations don't love you back, people do.

So for now, I'm going to focus on the people.

Labels: Motorcycles

Posted:   Wednesday, August 15, 2007