East Texas Biker: We Change as time goes on ...

Well, sort of. Some things may never change. But for me ... this post is about.... my perspective that has changed the longer I'm in The Association.

Over a decade ago was my first contact with a member of the Association. He'd been in a poker run the day before up in Fayetteville AR, and rode down for a charity ride in Greenville. Have to admit, I was a lil' impressed he was doing 2 in 2 days, quite a distance apart from each other. But it'd be another 3 or 4 years before I ran into someone with the backpatch again. Then I reached out to local chapters' CC and got an open invitation to ride with them.. but.... nobody ever reached out to me with info. Just the invite. Kicker was I'd just started a chapter with the Iron Indians so my brain was somewhere else. Had I ran into the CVMA local folks a few months before, guessing things would have played very differently in my life and I've have joined the CVMA over a decade ago. Still, it'd be 2017 before I ran into more folks here locally (Snake) and .. I finally connected up with folks. It'd be March of 2018 before I finally went on a ride / meeting with the local guys. Few months later I was patched in.

I joined to ride with my fellow vets. Simple as that. Didn't realize it was a 501c3. Didn't join to raise funds. Didn't join to go out of my way to help others. Didn't join to 'make new friends' ; I had/have plenty. I simply wanted to ride. Nothing more, nothing less. Except. I did make new friends. I did have the want to help other Vets. But, damned it ... we didn't ride enough. Hell, as a group we still don't. But my brain slowly began changing. I started taking things a lil' more serious as time went on. When I joined we had a younger CEB at the helm and things were somewhat relaxed and a party of sorts when we were together. Quite a few hellraisers in the mix. I really dug it. Then our CC got into hot water over a pic that was taken at ROT. I personally didn't think it was a big deal. Still don't. But all hell broke loose and drama ensued. He ended up stepping down for other reasons (well, at least publicly) and Grandfather stepped in. Things calmed down a lil and I soon realized we had two camps. The wild fuckers and the old calm fuckers. I'd somehow overlooked all this or maybe.. I just didn't care. I was older but hung with the wild ones. Then we got a new CC, younger less mature guy and ... things were okay. I was having a good time, but .... didn't agree with everything I saw. My give a shit fact was still low so it all worked for me.... but ... didn't always like what I saw. But hey .. I'm just a member here for the ride, right? I joked all anyone had to do was pay their dues and show up annually for a meeting, right? Now I was doing a lot more than that but was aware of the bare minimums needed to stay above water (In Good Standing).

Well, around '21 we had a changing of the guard and for the first time .... things started to bother me a little bit. I saw different personalities conflicting within our chapter. I was starting to question motives of a few folks. I was aware of transfers that seemed to create a change, or at least want a change. I brought this up a few times but was 'assured' none of that was happening. But .... I'm now watching. Still, I'm here for the ride. Having a great time. Over the last few years ..... found myself in a Road Captain position but stepped back when I realized I wasn't going to play games with certain folks on the board. I stepped back as webmaster when there was a power play for it and I honestly didn't give a shit enough to play. I stepped back as PRO when I was interim, realizing most in the chapter didn't give a shit and to be honest.... I didn't much either. At least, not enough for that position, at that time. I reminded myself, I was here for the Ride! Now what Ride (?) I'm not sure; most weren't riding. Well, I was. Looking for any and every excuse to head out. Sanctioned Event? I'm there. Regional? I'm there. State? I'm there. Nationals ? Iron Butt coming up! Breakfast ... Lunch ... bar .. Lets Roll! Along the way met some great people. Gotten a few in the chapter to do those rides with me... but ... is it all about the Ride? Well ... sort of?

Along he way as time goes on I've changed. Gotten a lil more serious about it all. One thing that has happened to me along the way is I've begun to question why some folks are 'in' or not? I mean .... if someone shows up once a year for a meeting, or an event. Hell, maybe they even caged to it, why are they even in? I realize there is more to life than the Association but what has really got me paying attention to this is when you realize someone has been in say ... ten years... and all that time .. they barely participated. I get it we go through spurts, then busy .. then not ... but ... what if their entire time ... you rarely see them. When they show, they swipe .. sit quietly in the corner .. then disappear.

Now ... I get some folks don't mix well in crowds. I get some of us have issues. Some have PTSD issues. But I'm basically saying .. if one barely rides ... if one rarely shows up .... why ..... are they here? Over the last month I've had to look deeper into folks history due to a shake up. I was simply trying to get a feel for 'who's who' but then realized I saw a trend of sorts. A trend that .... bothers me deep down. When you have folks that been in over a decade and they have been to only several sanctioned events and a handful of meetings... you have to wonder.. WTF?

This past year I made a big push to get folks to pay their dues. By May ..... I was tired of it. You realize a few folks (not all) that aren't paying ... aren't even around. You check on them... they are fine... just ... not around. Then you look deeper and .. they've never been truly involved. So .. it gets me to thinking about it all. Come Jan 2025 I'll do the big annual push to pay dues early. I'll push a lil more in Feb .. Mar .. but .. got to tell you, if one of those folks barely showed up during the year .... never participates with the Chapter..... I won't be chasing them down. By July, they may find themselves on the outside looking in, and my give a shit factor about will be zilch. Literally.

Quality over Quantity has become my new thought process as of late. This whole post was really about just that.

Now .... Saturday got a meeting to ride to with another Chapter, following weekend out of state ride to a sanctioned event... LETS RIDE! It's the core reason I joined in the first place.