Much had been keeping me busy over the past 6 months or so. I had been spending much of my free time working with advocates for motorcycle and scooter riders in NYC. There is much to fight for and against. The previous year saw many anti-motorcycle legislation proposals, not only in NYC but nationwide!
- We have no motorcycle/scooter dedicated parking in NYC. We have parking meters which spit out a paper receipt designed for your car windshield not for anywhere on a motorcycle or scooter.
- Annual New York State motorcycle registrations this year have increased over 220% from last years $13, to this year's $42 for residents of "down state" counties of New York!!!!!!!! And why? to pay for the MTA's disaster of budget management. Resident's of other states such as NJ, may say, "who cares, we pay more than that". Yes you do, but you don't pay much for the MSF Basic Riders Course, which in NYC is $350! In many states, the course is free! Part of our registration fees are supposed to be allocated for state sponsored safety program, such as MSF courses, and perhaps some driver awareness to properly educate the general (and driving) public about sharing the roads with motorcycles. Instead those funds are spent on Motorcycle Enforcement Training of Law Enforcement!!!!!!!!
So instead of safety what I pay for is harassment! AWESOME!!!!!!!
- Not only is there harassment on the state level, the is even stronger harassment on the local level. Face it, Highway Patrol in NYC have a hard-on for anything that has two-wheels and a motor!!! Unfortunately I strongly believe it's due to many a-holes riding bikes!!!!!! So what are we to do? Once again its the asshat actions of a few that ruin things for the rest of the community.
So over the past 5 months I co-founded a group of moto advocates which called themselves the NYC Motorcycle Advocacy Group. I designed the logo. I designed and ran the website and forum. Created a Facebook group.
I busted my ass working to make things as professional as possible because I firmly believed that was what our community deserved. If my name was to be attached to something I didn't want it to be half-assed. I know what is possible with a good team! I'm used to accomplishing much with/from very little everyday at work, .....again with a good team.... This is where the disconnect begins.. Everything I did (including the
EPA survey I conducted and has been used around the country by the American Motorcyclists Association as well as state level MROs) came from my love of the motorcycle community not only of NYC, or the tri-state area, but all the motorcyclists I've come to meet across this country, and those I've chatted with around the globe! Face it,
most moto people are very cool!!! I proudly did the work and put in all my energy, efforts and abilities for I couldn't do it any other way. This is something that is important to me and was my choice to do what I can!
Well as we all know motorcyclists are very independent people. In fact, ask any one riding a motorcycle why they began riding and chances are very good that the word "independence" will come up. Well long story short I increasingly found myself on a very different page than other team members. My vision of what we could be doing for the NYC community and how to achieve it was clearly not shared. Our Venn Diagram showed no intersection. A team member's head and ego swelled to the point I didn't think it was possible for it to fit under a helmet anymore...from other team members? well, just a plain lack of initiative to move forward became increasingly frustrating for me. The best part of my decision to leave is it will now allow me the freedom to PLAY and HAVE FUN!!!!! to look at motorcycles as a source of joy, to no longer suffer from my left eye twitching at the thought of another team meeting which routinely lasted over 5 hours each getting sucked into minutia and the end result with little to show.
So I'm finally free and I'm looking forward to a great track season, I've been asked to coach for
Absolute Cycle!! This helps me out greatly on my financial front to allow me to ride at the track. I would not otherwise be able to afford to do as many days as I would like to ride. It also is something I think I will genuinely enjoy and get something out of! Wow what a concept! (<~~insert sarcasm here).
I love sharing both my enthusiasm of riding a motorcycle and my love of the motorcycle community! If I can teach someone something while I'm having fun all the better! First trackday weekend: APRIL 18-19 @ NJMP.
The countdown has begun!!!!!!!!!
