Ottawa Valley All Terrain Vehicle Club Newsletter
May 2005
The season is well underway and we’ve had our first couple of events. Membership is around 100 which is 32% higher than last year.
News
We will be voting on a special motion at our next regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday May 18. The motion to be put forth will read as follows:
"Effective immediately, the Founders position is to become a purely honorary position with no functional responsibilities and the honorary Founders position will no longer be eligible to receive a lifetime paid membership."
Process to be followed
· The Executive will raise the motion detailed above and will explain why we are putting said motion forth. TIME LIMIT 5 MINUTES.
· If he chooses to, our remaining Founding member Neil Bennett will present his case as to why the motion should not be supported. TIME LIMIT 5 MINUTES.
· Members will have the opportunity to ask questions and make their points of view known. TIME LIMIT 10 MINUTES.
· If someone seconds the motion, a written vote will be taken immediately after the motion is seconded. The anonymous votes will be tallied by members other than the executive and the Founding member.
Notes:
1. Only club members may be present and can vote on this motion.
2. The above stated motion will be put forth and voted upon at the May 18th/05 meeting, regardless of whether or not any individual club member is in attendance.
Please attend the May 18 meeting to ensure that the wishes of the membership are accurately reflected in the vote..
Newfoundland Trip
We had a very informative session on April 13 hosted by Bill Cuthill and his wife. It looks like a great trip and so far we have eight club members committed to touring “The Rock” the week of August 12. There is still lots of room since up to fifteen riders can make the trip.
Trail Maintenance Day
We had a turnout of 25 bikes or so for the Fun Run and Trail Maintenance event on April 16, probably the best turnout yet for a work day! Some of the trails needed a lot of cleanup - Straddlebug and Butternut had a lot of trees and brush down. The weather was great though and a good time was had by all.
In spite of a miserable day 22 bikes showed up to brave the weather on April 23. It rained pretty much throughout the day with a few brief breaks. It was also pretty cold - by the end of the day several of us had trouble squeezing the gas due to numb hands.
It took us over three hours to cover the first 13 kilometers of the route. Given that this was about fun and not kilometers, that was a good thing.
This year the riders were broken out into two groups. With this set-up there was no waiting around which suited everyone just fine.
GPS Course
We had 22 people show up for the course including quite a few non-members. It was a wet and cold day which might have kept a few people away. After about two hours of classroom instruction the group hit the trails to test their new GPS navigation skills. Many thanks to the instructor Steve Knobel and his assistant John Galway for donating their time - about $500 was raised for the club!
Congratulations to Mike Devereaux who has already raised over $700 for the Charity Run with the help of his co-workers at Canadian Building Materials. Mike has a huge head start on the “largest donation” prize – lets see if anyone can outdo him! The Charity run has been rescheduled to Saturday Sept 10 due to feedback that August is not a good time for many people.
Wed. May 18 - General Meeting at the Twin Oaks Motel 7pm
Agenda
Discussion of new developments with EOTA
Form organisation committee for Charity Run
Review of events so far
Open forum discussion – how are things going, suggestions for improvements
Members only vote on change to Founding Member position as detailed above
Rick Walker has been working on this event which was a lot of fun last year. The plan is to leave Ompah Saturday morning and ride to Bancroft (about 180km!) where we’ll stay for the night, and return on Sunday.
Rick has reserved a block of 10 rooms at the Bancroft Motor Inn at a cost of $70.95 (one person per room) or $80.95 (per room with two per room). If you want to go you must contact the motel and make your own reservation 888-219-4900. They will hold the block of rooms until 2 weeks before the trip.
Sat. June 25th Club Fun Run
Sat. July 9th Club Fun Run and Meeting
Brief update on club activities and handout additional posters and pledge forms for the Charity Run
Sat. July 23th Club Fun Run and Trail Maintenance
Tentatively we will trailer to Sudbury and try some of the trails in the North !