East Texas Biker

Building Brotherhood at the Chapter Level

Chapter Get togethers. Brotherhood and Sisterhood. Time spent with our CVMA® family. So many ways to make it happen, yet... most don't?

Chapter Meetings. Usually, these are monthly and the most obvious. But as of recent I've heard a few people echoing what I used to say when I joined. Too long and Boring. Info discussed of minimal importance. Hell, I couldn't agree more. Unless we're planning something, why should a meeting ever take up a full hour? Personally since taking over as CC, we've been closer to 45 min max. I think that's too long. Hit the high points, New Business, Old business, Good of the Order, lets roll. Actually, no reason that can't be 30 min? Hell, I'm questioning why .. every month? Why not every other month? Hmmmm......

Rides. To me, this is the BEST way to spend time with folks. We ARE a motorcycle association. Yet, it's like pulling teeth to get 50% of the chapter together for a ride. It's simple to get 2-4 bikes together during the week/weekend, but .. what about the other 15-30 bikes? I don't have the answer except to keep pushing and pushing. But the point here is that is where you truly build comradarie. Isn't that why most of us joined in the first place? Hmmmmmmmmm

Bike Nights. When I first joined we had a lot of meetups at Corner Street Pub that folks called "Bike Night". An excuse to get out on a Thursday night during the summer weather and it worked great. Well, that closed down years ago and for whatever reason, we rarely do these now. I rarely see ANY bike nights in the area like their used to be. I don't push it personally for two reasons. One, I travel often and always seem to have conflicts. Secondly, not too many places in the general area lend themselves to this. Good motorcycle parking, central to most members, etc. The Ball Joint in Wills Point is probably one of the better options, but it's too far south for most in my opinion. Hmmmmmmmm

Family Night. I've heard a few complaints on this one... "when I was at my last chapter we had family nights..." Now, this is normally from folks that still have kids which is the minority of our Chapter. However, if THEY would put it together, maybe a lot of the chapter would show? Maybe something like https://shenaniganz.com in Greenville? Wouldn't be my first pick, but if I had kids and wanted to bring them and have other members hang, maybe would? Hmmmmmmmmmm

Other Chapter Events ( Sanctioned, Rides, Meetings, Etc) . This is a big one to me that I utilize often. Throw a leg over the bike and head to other Chapter's Sanctioned events inside and outside of Texas. I've met so many other folks this way and see them all over the place in OK, LA, AR, MS, throughout Texas and annually at Nationals. I own and ride a motorcycle and get to put some actual miles on it this way! But, why don't most others? Hmmmmmmm

So many options and I keep exploring all of them. We have to have our meetings but my thought is keep them short, to the point and lets enjoy our Brotherhood / Sisterhood and spend some quality time as a Chapter together. Perfect example is today we've got a meeting at the American Legion. We've got a plan to ride to Westminster following the meeting. Folks can grab lunch and drinks at the Gar Hole. Get patches sewn on at the Motorcycle Outpost. Hang out and swap stories, and kindle friendships. Here' in an about five hours we'll test that theory. How many bikes will roll? How many will say "I didn't know or I would go." or "Next time ..." .. or ... something else. Hmmmmmmmmm

NATIONALS 2026

What to do ... what to do. Doing the 1k for the FTM is a no brainer. BUT, I've never done the 1500. Doing it in 36 hrs seems like a no brainer. But , 24? Tempting. But, 30? Not too bad. Guessing I'll shoot for the Gold and if shit happens and it well... doesn't happen, gives two other options?

FTM - 1,000 miles.

Iron Butt - 1,000 / 1500 miles

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Saddle Sore 1000 1,000 miles in 24 hours

Bun Burner 1500 1,500 miles in 36 hours

Bun Burner Silver 1,500 miles in 30 hours

Bun Burner Gold 1,500 miles in 24 hours

DTP

Distingued Trailer Program? Maybe, Distingued Cagers? You know... folks that either trailer to everything or cage to everything and have an excuse why their bike is in the garage or on that trailer? Or Cage with a group and want validation for "participating?"

Funny part is .. I've got 3 trailers in my driveway for various vehicles to be transported. I've had several Toy Haulers that I'd used to put my bike(s) in for motorcycle rallys and weekend getaways. But ... always cognizant of the fact that ... we should always be on two wheels when possible.

Problem becomes ... when folks want to normalize or justify, then somehow 'count' ... those cage/trailer moments ... miles ... as legit. Tsk Tsk .....

Which Level are you at?

I've always in my personal life considered that I've had 3 circles of friends.

First can usually count on one hand; the ones that you can call for just about anything and they are there. Your 'best' friends.
Majority of friends are in the second circle. Mine has many dozens in there. You consider them good friends.. maybe even close. Some rotate between the first and second circle over the years. You see them out and about and events, parties, cook outs, work, you name it.
Then the third or outer circle... everyone else? That's the short version of how I view my personal life. Clean. Simple. Sort of ....... but life is complicated. What about our work environments? Or Social environments... well, glad you asked :)

In Groups or Associations or Organizations.. you name it.. we've got the same thing. I'm not going to reference it as circles .. maybe .. levels? Guess it doesn't matter exactly what reference, the outcome is the same.

Level 1: These are the folks that volonteer or appointed or promoted, to positions that sustain the organization. They make the decisions. They show up at most if not all meetings and events. They make the wheels turn. They ensure it continues to exist. But sadly, this is usually a small perecntage. I'm going to say .. and I'm being on the nice side .. .10% Think about that for a second ... a whopping 1 out of 10 "git er' done."
Level 2: These are the folks that show up at most meetings. They show up for rides. They show up for get togethers within the orgainization. Participate in fund raisers. They might wear clothing that shows pride in the organziation. They volunteer if needed sometimes. But ... what's the percentage? I'm guessing best case .. 20%. That means between Level 1 and Level 2 we've accounted for less than a third of an organization. And that's being generous... I sometimes think that second group is closer to 10% also.
Level 3: They show up once in a great while. They chime in on communciation once in awhile. They pay their annual dues (assuming there is any) on time. They show up for situations that require a vote. They are actually the core of the organization (statistically). But they rarely if ever volounteer. They never dedicate their time to the orgnization. They might need to be reminded to pay their dues. Show up annually as a minimum. They are on the rolls contributing to the total body count?
Level 5: Yes I skipped one.. I'll come back to it. This level might be the poisonous ones. There always seems to be 1 or 2 out there in the mix. They bitch. They whine. Or just as bad (worse?), backstab when given the chance. Maybe they rarely paticipate but spew BS when out n' about? Hell, they may put on a persona' of team player when their actions are the opposite. These .... are one of the biggest problems and not always easy to identify .. or .. rectify?
Level 4: Thought I forgot one? These are the slugs that have to be reminded to show up at some point. Those that have to be reminded pay dues EVERY year? Usually have every excuse to not participate or show. Yet ... they might account for 10% of the total in an organization. These folks will wear you out. But, they someway , somehow , meet the minimum standard .. and continue to exist.

Too Harsh? Nah' .. I had to really think about it all. Personal experinece in multiple organizations of the last few decades. I normally just quote the 20/80 rule. I've been corrected a few times lately that its' closer to 10/90. The smaller number is the percentage of people that may do the majority (larger number is a percentage of the slackers) of the work. I've lived by the 20/80 the last several decades when I first heard about it. Hell, you could take it one step further. In some situations (workplace) 20% may account for 80% of a companies' revenue. Wrap your head around that one? Thats why so many companies churn through sales folks every year. My guess is 33% every year jump ship looking for a new Pay Plan .... stumble.. then do it again a year or two later.. and .. again. Funny note. When I'm hiring people and they tell me how successful they are, how much money they made a company, flags go up. Why are they leaving then? Time to dig deeper......

But, back to this one. Level 1 and 2 are the true backbone of an organization. Most people do NOT want to be a Level 1. Me... I've rotated between Level 2 and 1 the last decade and a half, at least in the motorcycle world. I love Level 2, but sometimes you've got to get in the mix at Level 1 to institute change. Or to ensure a proper direction continues. Otherwise... shit can go south and ... one considers' the other levels? No thank you ..............

American Legion : Spring Bash Poker Run

This one has been on my radar for a few weeks. Was in Mexico for two trips pushing it via Social Media, headed out the morning after I got back on the ride .... yesterday! Sadly, only three of us in the Chapter showed up, but .. hey .. we were there. Great ride overall. One note worth mentioning. My last ride on Krimson I'd noticed a small wobble. Yeah.. not so much this time. I got 85 miles on her before swapping here out with Kraken due to the rear tire almost shredding..... 11k miles is all I got out of it. Had two guys riding point out how bad that back tire looked and was actually wobbling going down the road .. huh :)

When we hit the AL in GVL for the final stop, they served us up some grub and then the raffle began. When the smoke cleared , Dutch and I had 50% of the winning tickets! He got about 4, I had 5 of them!!! Funny Shit. We cleaned up!

Great time overall .... so .. until .. next year! Maybe .. 4 of us will show up? SMH

Oklahoma State Mtg 2025

Got a Kitchen Pass from my Bride!

This has been on my radar for a couple of years, but it's the same weekend of The Steel Horse Rally in Ft Smith, AR. I've always chosen the Rally ... until now. I was looking at the dates, but wasn't serious about either this year. A few weeks ago was SCOM/SHINDIG in Amarillo and we caged it due to our travel schedule prior to that. And after that weekend, I was nothing short of exhausted. We'd been traveling for something like 19 days ... Hawaii, Phoenix and Amarillo. Steel Horse would have to wait a year I told myself. But I was itching to put some miles on. Still, the weather sucked... really sucked. However, I noticed a bright spot in the forecast. I'd considered rolling up Friday .... but .. wasn't sure. However, nothing but Blue Skies Sat-Mon ... So, I'm scheming. I've realized I've got a few buddies partying it up in Ft Smith. Instead of getting a room in OK, decided to roll up 200 + miles that morning, hit the meeting and quickly head out the door 170 miles or so to AR. My buddies that had dropped in there are set, no rooms avail for me, but Tim had a spare bed ... so ... I've got a plan.

Up EARLY ... slam a lot of java and finally throw a leg over the bike as the sun is coming up. I should have just grabbed some Interstate but I've got a fetish for two lane roads. So, up Hwy 69, to 75 and then wiggle my way up on 2 lanes NW into Ok City. Problem is... I rely on my bikes GPS this time and damned if it didn't fuck with me a few times. I'm thinking .. "WHY am I on THIS road??" more than once. Finally, pop up Google Maps on the phone and between the two, scooting along no issues. I normally go old skool and print out a map that I've verified prior, but like I said... I've been dragging ass. Lesson learned! Meeting starts at noon, I pull up at 1100 hrs, and head inside. Now.... I'm smiling and glad I made the journey. Inside I find Skrape and his contingent. Crayon is in from AR. See a lot of familiar faces from the OK Chapters. Mason our NPRO is in with his contingent from AZ. Burner is with them and speaking to the crowd as he's running for NPRES; we finally get a real face to face to chat. And our Region V rep is here as well; always good to see Lefty whom is our future NSEC. Whew, lot of Big Dog's in the house! Man ... had to break away for a few Bloody Mary's there at the Legion's bar, chat with the folks in there for an hours or so. Overall enjoyed the Meeting which thank god was short (less than 2 hrs). I'm soon sneaking out the door, on the bike and headed East!

Before I joined the CVMA, I rode with the IIRA and made a lot of lifetime friends. Three of them have been in Ft Smith for a few days and I'm rolling in for a reunion. When I pull up around 1700 they're in the Lobby waiting for me, hand me a few cold ones and we're catching up! Donnie and Stump are always trouble together, but guessing Tim has been babysitting the last few days? LMAO. Well, hour later we're headed out to grab some grub, listen to music, lot of adult beverages and ... well .. a great fucking time! After a great dinner, we hit the bars and finally end up at 906. Great Cigars and .... 7-3 is in the house! Run into my brothers Chief (Mic) their CXO, Lil Joe (previous CC?) and Ozone their CSEC. Great night! The time flies by waaaaay too quickly and it's midnight, I'm exhausted, few others are feeling no pain .. and time to crash. I'm thinking I'm going to be out and up early and head home .. but .. Tim and I find ourselves chatting for the next several hours catching up on old times. In all these years, I don't think we've ever had that productive of a conversation. I could have chatted until the sun came up, but... had some miles to put on Krimson.

Up around 7, we're all moving and loading bikes and ... after twenty minutes or so of BSing, we're all headed out. Damned that went by quick! On a positive note, glad we quit consuming beverages before midnite; actually feel pretty good with 4 or 5 hrs of sleep. Stump and Donnie and rolling SE, Tim is finishing the loading up and I'm headed SW. Its about 60 deg, sunny and warming up. I'll grab a lot of throttle keeping it about 10 over, but as I get closer to Texas, I'm in the triple digits often when I can see the traffic ahead of me .. or .. lack of. I'll pull up before 1pm, and after a quick shower and change, 12 minutes later mama and I are headed out for Sunday Funday! Most can't believe I show up ... hell I can't either. I'm friggn beat! I'll sleep over ten hours that night. Having fun is work!

Next year.... Steel Horse it is. It's on the calendar ;)

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Adam Sandavol : COMBAT VETS - CVMA

How awesome is this? I remember back in '19 he raised a shit load of $$ for the CVMA with the HD Guinness record held in Paris Texas. Then again a few years later. Now, over $20k up in AR? Well done!

$21,600 donated to the #CVMA to help our Veterans and my motorcycle given away as promised Huge THANK YOU to every one of you Proud Americans who came together to make this happen & my friends at @pigtrailhd None of this is possible without all of you. Together we did some good yesterday

Final Ride of Feb ... ?

KRAKEN (L) and KRIMSON (R)

I've been all over the map this month. Got back to Tejas a few days ago. Hell, didn't unpack until literally an hour ago. But two days ago Bear posted to the Chapter asking who wanted to Ride! Well... huh .. nobody but myself replied so off we went yesterday at 1300.

I rolled up to the VFW in Tawakoni at EXACTLY 1300... whew! I hate being late; perfect. I decided to ride KRAKEN this time out... I've had that bike just over a year and had ... 350 miles on the odometer. Whoops! I need to start riding all of them in the mix a lil more vs just KRIMSON that I got about a year ago.

Well, we roll south to the Ball Joint in Wills Point for a couple of colds ones. Bear knows the new bartender (the infamous Anna), swap some stories, chat with the other patrons and decide to roll towards Emory to Sidekicks. Few years ago they had a "NO COLORS" sign up which is a no no off limits for CVMA so wanted to see if they'd really pulled it down. Yep... so we're in there for a few cold ones.

Finally, back on the bikes and back to Tawakoni with the temp right around 70 deg and Sunny ... perfecto!

Got them both out front for a bike wash and oil change (500 mi and 10k miles) .... damned this weather is finally awesome again. Ready to do some riding in March!

Lets Roll!

Ball Joint (Ultra: Official Beer of Riding Days)

Sidekicks

Groups IO | GIO

Written about this subject a few times. Found this where I'd covered it the most : GroupsIO .. Tricks!

At the core, our Meetings are our official communication tool/process. Minutes are produced from there for historical purposes and distribution to members. But what about between meetings? GIO has become our defacto Communication tool in the Chapter. I got drug in screaming 4 years ago when it was instituted, but .. I'm probably the biggest proponent of it today. Proof? As I type this there are 4180 messages in the general area for all members, of which I've authored over 1,000 of them. I about shit when I saw that yesterday. In that mix of over 4,000 messages are 469 Topics. That's what .. about 10 messages/replies for every topic on average? Sounds about right.

Kicker is, it's an awesome tool to get info out and more importantly, to keep it all archived and visible for searching past data out. Problem is.. most don't know how to use it. Every week or two I hear something along that line. I honestly don't get it. I know guys that were computer studs back in the day and they can barely operate a smart phone nowadays. I know guys that are gurus with some of this stuff and use nothing but a smart phone, but no desktop or laptop at home. I'm not that guy. I use my Samsung Smartphone religiously. But, I'm typing this and most of my communication from a wireless keyboard attached to my laptop, connected to a large monitor. Fuck that tiny phone keyboard crap. JS. Hell, my cell phone is wirelessly connected to my laptop and I can text from this keyboard on my phone. I can take my calls on my laptop.

Hopefully, if you're reading this you went to the first link I posted above to review GIO basics. It's so simple and efficient it's scary. But, too many people don't get it. But, those same people don't necessarily understand FB or X/Twitter or god knows what else they use. Tik Tok? LMAO. No thank you .. js. I used billboards and forums religiously for decades, maybe that's why I find GIO simple to use? Hell, the CVMA has a National Forum that by my calculations, less than 10% of the Association utilizes. There is a HUGE amount of data in there that most .. all .. should be aware of. But, like I said.... maybe 10%. SMH. I've said for years 20% do 80% of the work in all aspects of life. Ten percent .. twenty percent..... close enough.

Sadly, I don't have an answer for a 'best' option for communication. Email? Some never reply. Cell phone? Some never reply/answer. FB? Some don't use it. Those that do, sometimes don't check it. So, what to do? GIO. Get with the Program or .. left in the dark. I don't have the answers. You can only spoon feed this stuff to a certain degree.......

First Ride of 2025

Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhh..... Snow is gone and mostly melted. Woke up to 31 deg temp this morning, sipping a hot cup of Java and thinking ... "it's a Ride Day!"

Announce it on GIO for the chapter to be aware, pull the bike out, start it up for the first time in a month (on a tender) and ... throwing codes. Have no idea what's going on but after several restarts and 10 miles, they finally clear. Only error left is one saying I've got a problem with my FOB; guessing it needs a new battery in it. Oh well. Four of us are meeting up in Lone Oak to drop off a Patch/Vest with one of our members whom ... well... had to 'repatch' in, due to missing annual dues. Great excuse to ride?

We head out on 2 laners to Longhorns' place, then find some BBQ for lunch and work our way home the long way. We decide to blow post our homes and head to SWG for a cold one. Well, for the others besides me; I'm still in "Dry January" mode but have to admit I was tempted. If I'd realized there were some Zero Alcohol Heinekens in the cooler I'd have had one or two. Oh well; water it is.

When we roll up home 140 miles later, over 4 hours has gone by. Temps are into the low 60s. Sun is out. I've got a smile on my face. It's 2025 Riding Season and I'm ready. GOD BLESS TEJAS!