It's my opinion that Memorial Day brings too many competing problems for hotels, roads, increased patrols, too many other's off work clogging the roads, drinking drivers, etc.
But, we didn't experience any of these problems.....
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Glad you didn't, but that's not the norm. :wink:
BR, Every Tmac I have been to has been fantastic and this one was not exception. I think the Kegs were fantastic idea and a huge hit, it would be great to see them back again. Also thanks to all the lead/sweep volunteers also. Not sure what if anything you do for them but a suggestion would be hook them up with the free meal or some type of small gift/gas card for taking the groups out. Thanks again for all the hard work, and another fantastic event.
Wow I didn't know the gathering was that big. I hope to make it next year and add to that number :-)
With such a big event, which weekend its held is obviously always going to be a conflict or better or worse for a number of people that would like to attend. No getting around that. Just so happens I was able to attend last year since it was the weekend before and I had a great time. The change this year to Memorial Day weekend was a conflict for me as it was a family weekend deal so I got to read the threads, look at pics and dream about what might have been. But that's life. :biggrin:
Chuck
Thanks again Kevin for what I think was the best Tmac yet.
For me, Memorial weekend was a good choice as my anniversary is the 15th and I've missed several Tmacs because of it.
As usual the motel was great and the kegs were an added bonus. The shirts were top notch this year and if you do offer any extras to sell, I'll definitely pick up a spare. I'm not the best to critique the BBQ because I don't eat ribs and I live close to Lexington N.C. and nothing compares to my local favorite BBQ joint.
I'm not the most extroverted guy and it takes me a while to feel relaxed around new people(or even people I've seen once a year for several years), but this time was different for me. Everyone I spoke to or got to know this year and in years past are all such great people and you can really sense a twisted family atmosphere with this bunch. And that's why I think this event will keep going and growing in years to come. Once again, thanks Kevin and look forward to next year :beer:
BR, Every Tmac I have been to has been fantastic and this one was not exception. I think the Kegs were fantastic idea and a huge hit, it would be great to see them back again. Also thanks to all the lead/sweep volunteers also. Not sure what if anything you do for them but a suggestion would be hook them up with the free meal or some type of small gift/gas card for taking the groups out. Thanks again for all the hard work, and another fantastic event.
Thank you sir!
I feel bad as I usually always do or give something special to out volunteer Lead/Sweep teams. For the longest time we gave each one a $25 or $50 Newenough gift certificate, but they stopped that program.
We also use to have Lead/Sweep teams for every group, but Most attendees are repeat experienced riders who know the area so I change the focus to only Scenic & Relaxed ride groups. This is because these two groups would include both newer or less twisty experienced riders and first time attendees to the Tmac, a double whammy IMO.
I apologize to the entire group and especially Jason & Laird who were the Only leads for these two groups except BJJB, I think Kev also lead a group scenic/relaxed guys.
Thank you guys!!! You are the most important part of a Safe & fun ride for these newer and first time attendees!!! :cheerleader:
BR
BTW I guess it's time to change the Scenic/Relaxed/Intermediate ride group names. When we first started the event 10 years ago and after experiencing the Loss of our first member to a crash I didn't want to advertise a Fast or Advanced ride group at an memorial ride, but I guess were past that now.
So if I were to remand the ride groups what are your suggestions?
Slow
Int.
Fast?
BR
Holiday weekend is tough for me because I still have family stuff on those weekends. My plan this year was to go early in the week and ride with the Canuks but that didn't work out either. I'm looking forward to next year no matter the weekend. I may just miss the dinner.
As for groups...change Fast to "invitation only". :goofy:
Thanks to all of you who make it happen.
Wanted to post up my thoughts of the recently concluded 10th Annual TexasMac event of 2013 and ask for thoughts, suggestions and discussions of any issues from this year's event in order to attempt to keep improving on the event.
Most importantly No One was hurt and I'm fairly certain everyone made it home safely to recall and share stories of hopefully great times, roads and people they experienced during Tmac, which is my main goal of the event! Can't say no VFR's were damaged in the making of this event though. :unsure:
First off we had a Record sign-up this year with 82 registered, but for many reasons several folks had to cancel out at the last minute or decided to go deer hunting instead(heal quickly Terry). This left us with 73-74 official attendees, last year I think we actually had close to 77 attendees. 18 people signed up in the last three weeks of registration which is great, but makes it extremely hard to order the correct amount of Tees so that everyone can actually receive their Tees at the event. I always guess at sizes and numbers for late sign-ups, but it never seems to match up. I will be sending out event T-shirts to everyone who cancelled out at the last minute and to anyone I still owe a tee too. I appreciate the members who allowed me to give their Extra tee's to attendees in sizes I was short in. Hopefully just about everyone got an event tee who attended. Look for a thread as I plan on a second production run of Tees and Hats to cover all needs and for anyone who would like to order an extra hat or tee.
Speaking of Tees, I stepped up to athletic tees this year for the 10th Anniversary. Did you guys like them?
This was out first Memorial Weekend Event and I didn't really notice any difference myself, but would like to here from attendees if this was an issue for you. The only reason we ended up with Memorial weekend was that when I called many months out to lock in a date it was the Only week/weekend with the entire motel available to reserve!
Please let me know your thoughts related to having or not having the event be on Memorial weekend in the future. Personally I enjoyed having an extra day to recover(Memorial Day) before returning to work and I needed many more to do so as I was wore out.
Also a First, I added Kegs of Beer for this year and wanted to thank Drew @ Highland Brewing Co. in Asheville, NC for some tasty brew. He did a Buy one, Donate one deal for us which I think worked out really well for the most part. A Special thanks to our new event Brewmaster, Purvis(James) for stepping up and picking up and returning the Kegs, taps and other goodies provided by HBC. :cheerleader:
This was the third year using Cash's BBQ for our Saturday evening Awards Party/Dinner and think it was tasty as always. We could always change, but it's nice for me to be able to count on a great meal every time for this event and Mike at Cash's has always done a Great job of providing a very good meal. Again he asks me to provide a guesstament of how many meals a month in advance in order for him to be sure he can cover our needs. Late sign-ups make this a challenge, but think we just had enough food again this time. Thoughts?
Event Leader/Green jersey. This year we also had a new feature, a Green event tee that was awarded each evening to a member for some reason like the Tour De France lead jersey. My thought behind it was as a fun thing that would be passed off to a member each day for some stunt, comment or other funny action by an attendee, but it ended up being focused on Crashes! While we had fun with it and no one got hurt I received some feedback and agree with the fact that we should Not focus or even Reward Crashes!
What if someone did Not return from a crash at the event whether it be from a Hospital stay or worse???
I want everyone to have a blast at the Tmac events, but Safety is my number one concern! I would like ZERO crashes, but it is Impossible for me or anyone to prevent someone from going down with such a large group and on some of the most challenging roads in the country. I'm just Extremely grateful every year when the last rider returns unharmed at the end of the event on Saturday evening of each Tmac. :wacko:
I will either end the Green jersey use or change it's focus away from crashes in future events.
The 10th annual TexasMac could possibly have been the Best event yet! I would be surprised that it's not one of the largest VFR gatherings in the World! We had many first time attendees and even more returning attendees this year, Each and every one of you make this event the success it has been. I want you all to know that if it wasn't for your participation it would not be possible! We raised our glasses to Bruce Williams(aka TexasMac) during our event dinner and will hopefully continue to do so for many years to come.
The weather ended up being really good compared to the forecast a week out and during 5 days of riding I experienced less than an hour of rain. Amazing!!! :woohoo:
Thanks again everyone and please don't let me stay up til 2am enjoying a tasty brew, I'm too damn old to recover. :beer:
BaileyRock
You guys are number 1.
[image: IMG_4622.JPG]
So I missed a good time.
Memorial day weekend will never be a good weekend for me, but having Monday to stick around and recover is a huge bonus.
I've been following the various TMAC threads with interest this year (like other years ...). It looks like it was a great time and, apart from MaxSwell's incident, (which technically wasn't at TMAC nor even the result of human error--get well, MaxSwell!), mostly injury free. Unfortunately for me, I can never get enough time off in May to travel across the continent and back. So my suggestion for improvement is to move the Dragon, the Cherohala Skyway and some of those great NC roads somewhere more central--like Kansas. I'm sure Lee wouldn't object! :goofy:
So my suggestion for improvement is to move the Dragon, the Cherohala Skyway and some of those great NC roads somewhere more central--like Kansas.
I don't want all you crazy people coming here clogging up all my roundabouts and cloverleafs, drinking our beer, eating our BBQ and chasing our women.
But if you can get me those roads without all the Black Iron that would surely follow it, I'd be happy.
As always, it was a hoot. My preference would be prior to the holiday weekend. However, I'm sure I would be there anyway if you continue to keep it on Memorial weekend. :beer:
My VFR and I love this rally and I've been able to attend a few times because it's not been on Memorial Day weekend. For me it's been the first rally of the season on the second weekend of May and the perfect way to start the riding season. It's my opinion that Memorial Day brings too many competing problems for hotels, roads, increased patrols, too many other's off work clogging the roads, drinking drivers, etc. Here's hoping we go back to the earlier time in May, and the current location couldn't be better! Keep up the good work Kevin!! Here's hoping to be there next May.
As a first timer to the event, I would like to say that it was an incredible event with some of the nicest people I have ever met. For me the weekend does not make much difference as the weekend before is our long weekend in Canada. I hope to attend many more and meet the rest of the people that I missed this year.
I agree with Rufrydrsc2 about the green shirt. It is not something that anyone wants to have to wear and I think most people would think of it as an incentive to have a clean day of riding and to stay within their limits.
I just can't wait till next year!! :fing02:
It's my opinion that Memorial Day brings too many competing problems for hotels, roads, increased patrols, too many other's off work clogging the roads, drinking drivers, etc.
Thank you Kevin and everyone else that attended and helped. This was my 3rd TMac and I think they get better and better. The familiarity with the people and the roads
grows each year so it's no surprise that each year gets a little better. The green leader jersey fit the spirit of the event IMO. I was concerned about holiday weekend traffic
in the mountains and while traveling back home on Sunday but, there weren't any problems that I encountered.
Be well everyone...............see you next year!
I swear I didn't take this line from my Grandma, a Cubs fan.
I don't even like baseball. Maybe next year. :comp13:
Sounds like a good time was had by all. :beer:
I wish we had west coast or central US get together more than once every 3 years. Maybe next year..
How about awarding the green jersey to the day's best lead/sweep rider, determined by a group vote?
If you had extra tees and were willing to offer them for sale there might be interest on the forum, I'd take one just to support the site.
It sounds like a lot of organization to pull this off, hats off to you BR and everyone else for a good meet.
Had a great weekend. Thanks for everything Kevin!
-Love the shirt this year.
-Beer was great.
-BBQ has worked out great each year.
-Memorial Day traffic seemed pretty good. Like the extra recovery day. But it does conflict with a popular family weekend.
-Green jersey - fun idea. But it turned into a crash celebration.
Loved the beer, shirt, and all the folks. Great time had by all! Now if we could just ban all the LEO's....no offense Timmy. It's an event I look forward to every year, keep up the good work!
Bailey - you bare most of the weight of organizing this awesome event - pick the weekend that works for you, and let it be known as far in advance as possible.
You'll never be able to satisfy everyone - as hard as you might try!
Special thanks to all that donated SWAG for the prize portion of our event - I think its safe to say it was a classic sitcom that was evolving in front of us! Great job to CornerCarver and Timmythesmalldickedsmurf now known as Timmythecop.
I had a great time, was great to catch up with old friends, and had great rides. Already trying to figure out how to make another trip happen before the summer is over!
Intercontinental flight prices should come down...... :goofy:
BR,
It was an absolute pleasure to meet up and ride with you all at TMAC. I only wish I could have been there for more of the weekend. I was at the tail end of people who registered, and the tail end of people who ate barbeque, so I won't complain about only getting one rib :) If there had been more barbeque, I surely would have demolished it. Love the T-Shirt though, definitely stick with the higher-quality.
Huge thanks go to the ride leaders. Next time, lunch is on me. I learned more in that two days of riding than I have in the fourteen years since I took the MSF course and got my license. Kevin and Ken and the boys showed me what a VFR (and a Gold Wing, for that matter) is capable of. Huge props to them.
As a proud recipient of the Green Jersey, I say continue the tradition. It is most certainly not a reward. I will forever remember the epic chewing outs and weeks of merciless ribbing that would follow mistakes I made during my first year as an officer. I have earned several unfortunate nicknames that only my fellow morning watch officers will understand. They insured that I would pay better attention next time and not take lightly things that could have been fatal mistakes. Our first instinct, after surviving a mistake, is to downplay the seriousness of the mistake because we came out unscathed. We want to make ourselves feel good, but it is far better for us in the long run to be not-so-gently and persistently reminded that we are engaging in a life-threatening, high-risk endeavor, are very capable of making life-ending mistakes through inattention and over-excitement, and have a pressing need to be humble and attentive to nitty gritty details.Especially for us young bucks, the Green Jersey is a humbler. I learned that I can carve really low, but my reaction to gravel is wrong and needs to be improved. And I learned that at the cost of some scraped up fairings, and now I have some further incentive to make sure I work on that skill. It's odd that we as humans are more motivated by peer pressure than actual risk, but that is the mechanism we have to work with, so let's make the best of it. We naturally want to hide from and minimize our errors, to ignore them rather than learning from them, and we benefit greatly from not being allowed to do that. And hopefully, the public rehashing of our mistakes can serve as a good training opportunity for everybody else. I
If nothing else, the "leader" jersey helps all 70 attendees keep in mind that any one of us is, at any time, capable of screwing up and getting hurt. I think it helps keep everyone on their toes. I say we stick with it, so long as it is painful. I don't think it was an award, and I'm pretty sure Vadis agrees with me :)
Good stuff, thanks for the feedback and great to meet you and have you join us Danial. :beer:
If the Green jersey is used in the vein of of what you suggest I think it is a positive reinforcement of pier pressure to Not screw up, there is nothing to prove just a desire to enjoy a great day riding with friends and tell tails, some of them true to our friends at the end of each journey! :woohoo:
BR