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High Sierra 2017


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Griselda blew a rear shock on the highway only 20 miles into my commute to the event.  I decided it was better to stay home and start the tear down for upgrade rather than ride up and sit around camp all weekend watching the fun.  Have a great weekend...i'll have to meet y'all another time.  Are there any aftermarket GSA rear shocks in the raffle?:lol:

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Calling out Randy Owens for crashing our event. My answer here was pretty clearly a "no." Many people remarked to me over the weekend about it and it did not paint you in a good light for your actions.


You certainly could have reserved a spot at the camp but the question is should you have.


There's a lot of work that goes into planning and executing this event. There are 80 people who paid to register and had to wait on a list to get to come.


Shall I reserve my own spot at Songdog Ranch for next year's March Moto Madness event and then just hang out with the attendees and ride all the trails?


Why wouldn't more people do what you did next year? It would sure save them a lot of money. And then we would no longer have an event.


I find it rude and disrespectful. Happy Birthday, Randy. Please don't come again.
 

Screen Shot 2017-09-03 at 6.19.34 PM.png

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Filed also under "clown" is some guy who showed up Friday without registering.  The camp host, Colleen, told me some guy came and she took $30 from him.  I told her okay but I need to get his $145 from him.  She told me he was in site 77 so I went over there about an hour later.  I greeted him, welcomed him and then asked if he had pre-registered or needed to pay now.  He said he paid the host $30 and I said well the cost is $145.  That's when he got belligerent and said he paid his $30 and wasn't going to pay any more!

Not the right answer!  I basically told him as much and said he's welcome to camp in another spot but this area is a private event with a $145 fee.  He wouldn't budge.  I wanted to physically remove him myself but I thought it wise to go ahead and call the sheriff.  I went and informed the camp host and she said he'd also been belligerent with her!  "Hmmm" I said, "That's all I needed to hear."  So I went back over there and I said you can move your stuff or the sheriff will be here shortly to take you to jail.  He went on an on about already having three beers... he couldn't move his bike, etc...  I said hey that's your problem, not mine.  I think @Jafix or his brother ended up moving the bike but the guy wouldn't budge!

Sheriff shows up and the guy starts arguing with him too!  I think the sheriff got his point across finally because he finally vacated the area.

I never intended to be a dick but once this guy got belligerent, I wasn't having any of it.

So next year I'm making a few changes:

  • Only pre-registered riders are allowed
  • There will be a formal check in process with wrist bands (I think a few snuck through without paying)
  • I will clearly state up front that no one else is allowed to attend the event or stop in and visit, etc... unless they're registered or a special guest who's been pre-approved.  Bring unregistered guests and you'll be asked to leave.
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More on Randy...  I had posted up numerous times on the FB event page (Randy can't be bothered to join the forum, saying he "couldn't remember another id and pw") saying "20 spots left..." "10 spots left" "5 spots left" and even tagged him in one of those posts to let him know they were almost gone.  And once the waiting list was exhausted, I even tagged him again two days before the event, so he not only had plenty of opportunities to purchase a ticket but was even singled out for special attention so he wouldn't miss the event.

I did have to say no to a lot of people which is why I can't let stuff like this go.  People see him there when their friend was rejected and then see me look the other way, well it just doesn't look right.

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I think you are right on target here Eric.  To me it's a simple lack of respect for you as the organizer and LFAR as the benefiting charity.  Through their actions, these types of characters are basically sayin they couldn't care less about the plight of the Navajo or the effort it takes to put the whole event together.

Unfortunately wristbands and/or tighter controls are likely a necessay evil to protect the event from these zero decency individuals. 

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Thanks for the support.  This morning I'm getting deluged with messages to the effect "don't you know who he is?" ...  "he's the elder statesman of riding" ... "he's the godfather of the adv community."

Two things.  First, if he is then he should know better.  Second, it sounds a lot like a "don't you know who I am?" argument and that's precisely the vibe I was getting.  

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With regards to the other squatter, Adam posted on our FB angrily basically that I'm a dick, etc...  He seems to believe there was some kind of alternative entry fee that would allow people to pay just for camping and not for food.  Also that I had claimed this guy was either going to or already had our food/drink, which I never said.  I said whether he has food or not is irrelevant; when an uninvited guest says he's paid all he's going to and isn't going to move then we're talking another type of story.  Adam seemed to believe he also had the authority to bring his un-registered friends there to join us.  Had he simply asked if his friend could stay one night I probably would have been fine with it as long as we had enough room.

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despite not being there and from what i have read, i fully support your actions, as far as these "gentle"men were concerned.

it shows a complete lack of respect and consideration to the event organizer. to the other participants, who paid in full to attend. and towards the charity, since the aim was to collect funds for it.

as for the "don't you know who I am?", sadly there's a lot of that sort of attitude going around.

and as you say, if they at least had the courtesy of asking...

what can i say? some people were brought up and educated. and others were just fed.

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Randy reached out to me yesterday to offer.... what I have no idea.  No apology.  Nothing on his part done incorrectly, just that all he did was camp down from us, visit his friends and ride the area.  And this was AFTER he'd shared the FB post to his wall for his friends as if to display proudly what he'd done.

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Eric,

This was my third year and I had a great time, as usual. In my opinion, you have not done anything drastic or out of the ordinary for an event coordinator. There are only so many checks and balances you can do for free before the cost gets passed down to the attendees. I thought you handled the situations as well as could have been expected. I hope those folks that caused all of the ruckus will take their pride out of the equation and see it for what it was. I also hope that they will try and attend a future event the correct way so we can all enjoy the camaraderie.

Looking forward to next year and checking the event calendars for the remainder of the year. I have to ride that 990 a little better.

 

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On 9/4/2017 at 7:57 AM, Eric Hall said:

Thanks for the support.  This morning I'm getting deluged with messages to the effect "don't you know who he is?" ...  "he's the elder statesman of riding" ... "he's the godfather of the adv community."

Two things.  First, if he is then he should know better.  Second, it sounds a lot like a "don't you know who I am?" argument and that's precisely the vibe I was getting.  

Who cares who he is! To not pay his way is a dick move, plain and simple!

Edited by trawak
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By the way thanks for a great trip, met a lot of great people! Billie and myself felt welcome and Eric thanks for the hard work you put into this!

Also thanks for letting us tag along with you, we had a great ride till the sand snakes started pulling my pig "1190R" to their den?

 

Edited by trawak
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