Summary of the 2017 Gateway Riders Events and Event Points By Jeff Ackerman

While the emphasis of the club is, obviously, on riding motorcycles, there has been a lot of hard work done by many of our members to make the wide variety of club events held this year possible. As usual, we had a number of “traditional” recurring events, like the rides to St. John Gildehaus and St. Patrick’s in Ruma for their church dinners.

We have also tried to expand the season a little by scheduling some December rides the last four years. We also added a club lunch together on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month late in 2016 that ran into this spring and had a bi-monthly breakfast get together over the winter. While these are like impromptu rides and aren’t point events, they do allow the club members to socialize when the weather may not be suitable for riding. I want to thank Dave Mattis for organizing both the lunch and breakfast get togethers.

This article briefly summarizes the club activities for the last year. The 2017 season started with last year’s Christmas party (Dec. 2016) and ended with Dave Anderson’s third (in a series of 4) Cardinal Direction rides on the first Saturday in December this year. It is good to see the club has a number of newer members that are going on many of the rides. We were even able to spring Dean Olsen from the nursing home for a couple hours to get a lunch out and to attend the spring tech session at Dave Leligdon’s house. It was the first time he had left the nursing home since going there and he really appreciated seeing some motorcycles and members at the tech session.

We had 41 club rides this year, counting the two tech sessions, that someone went on and I got an attendance roster for, while we had 38 last year. There were 44 rides total scheduled but 3 were canceled due to weather. I typically give credit to the ride leader or to anyone that may have showed up at the start of a canceled ride (like Jim Shaw and RJ Campbell for Jim’s late fall ride). We often reschedule canceled rides if I can find space in the schedule. The number of cancellations was down slightly this year to 3 while there had been 5 last year.

Ride leaders showed some flexibility again this year. Marilyn took over Al’s leisurely ride to Hermann in April when he was no longer able to ride and Phil dedicated a scenic ride in June to Al. Phil also led an “eclipse ride” down to Bloomsdale, which was near the center of the band of totality. Jim Shaw led a group on a scenic impromptu ride to Forever Endeavor’s Christmas Open House the week after his late fall ride was rained out. Plus several members filled in for ride leaders that were sick or unavailable to lead at the last minute.

I listed 13 rallies again this year, the same as last year (vs. 16 in 2015). We attended 10 of the 13 rallies that I listed with 12 rallies out of town and the Falling Leaf considered local. The weather was bad for the Hopewell rally and no one apparently attended the Missouri rally (which conflicted with the Burkesville, Kentucky rally) and Chicken rally (on Memorial Day weekend). I also give credit for rallies that aren’t specifically listed and we had a few members attend some of these other rallies.

One or more members attended several rallies that I didn’t list such as the Georgia rally and Swamp Scooter rally. Newer member, Walt Eschmann, attended several out of town rallies (in Tennessee, Georgia, and Idaho) that weren’t on the list. While average out of town rally attendance was up 7% this year (6.6 vs. 6.1), the attendance at the MOA National in Utah was really down. Attendance at the National was only 6 this year, down from 23 or 24 the previous 3 years. The 100° plus temperatures in Salt Lake, coupled with the 70° temperatures at the RA National in Petoskey the previous week reduced the MOA attendance. In fact, 8 members went to the RA National while only 6 attended the MOA National.

The Gateway Riders won the largest club in attendance award at both the Land of OZ and RAMS rallies again this year. However, it is my observation that rally attendance in general appears to be declining at many of the Midwest rallies (your Event’s Director has attended 9 rallies each of the last 4 years and 7 rallies each of the previous 3 years). It appears that age is catching up with a number of previous rally rats, restricting or eliminating their attendance. Ten years ago, with the beautiful weather we had at the Falling Leaf this fall, we would have had more than 700 attendees; this year we had 478. The long-term linear trend for Gateway Rider attendance at other club’s listed rallies has fallen from slightly over 10 in 2005 to about 6½ in 2017 (down from about 7 two years ago in 2015).

In addition to scheduled events, we had a number of impromptu rides this year with Phil or others often sending out a “let’s go riding” note or several different members posting on Facebook for nice days. Because Phil retired last year he isn’t restricted to weekends anymore but was out of town quite a bit more this year than last year. We also had the Bissell’s host an impromptu eclipse viewing party at their home in August.

I had fairly good success getting attendance rosters this year but it still takes more coaxing than it should for events that I don’t attend. Remember, if you go to a rally, lead a ride, etc. please jot down the names and get them to me; email works great and a number of members like Dave Anderson and Chris Kerckhoff have done that. Phil does a good job carrying blank sign-up sheets in his saddlebags while several members email me a list. There were several events, such as some of the rallies or Rider’s Choice, where I believe that some members attended but for which I never got a roster or only a partial roster. I would love to give people credit for all the events they attend, however, clairvoyance doesn’t work. If you don’t tell me, I don’t know, so please get me those attendance rosters.

The average ride attendance was similar (up just slightly) as compared to last year. However, the party attendance was down significantly: 27% with much lower attendance at the Christmas and New Year’s Eve parties. In general though, the average party attendance had been going up for several years. We had 5 club sponsored parties again this year, with the Christmas party and the pool party (with a spiffy new liner in the pool this year compared to last year’s empty pool). The St. Patrick’s Day party has replaced the Valentine’s party as a regular party. In addition, we also had the hot dog roast the week after the rally, which I have treated as a club ride (like the progressive dinner) rather than as a party.

We had 10 general meetings (excluding the Pool Party meeting), and the 42^nd Falling Leaf rally this year. Having a December general meeting separate from the Holiday party was something we also did this year. Average meeting attendance was down 8% this year.

The weather for the Falling Leaf rally was good again this year and 478 attended, down slightly from last year’s 486. Only 44 Gateway Riders attended the Falling Leaf this year, down from the 50 last year. A summary of attendance at the various types of events is given below along with the best attended (maximum attendance) for each type of event: meetings, rides, and parties.

The Progressive Dinner and Christmas party remained the most popular ride and party, as they have been for more than the last ten years. The Christmas party was the most attended event with 55 members and 11 guests but was down significantly from the previous year (72 members/17 guests). Surprisingly, the best attended meeting this year was January with 37 members followed by December with 35. The best meeting attendance usually occurs in the spring; last year it was April with 43.

Three sets of average attendance numbers are shown below. All these averages don’t include the canceled rides, or, those rallies and rides for which I didn’t get a roster (i.e. the averages only include events someone actually attended). There were 3 canceled rides this year and 3 listed rallies which had no attendance or roster. They are based on members only, and don’t include guests. We typically have one to several guests at each event, so total attendance is even higher than shown here.

The first set of average attendance is calculated on the 41 local club rides including the two technical sessions but doesn’t include rallies. The second set includes the 41 rides plus 9 out of town rallies I listed (the Falling Leaf isn’t in the average because it would distort the numbers). The third set shows the attendance average for just the 9 out of town rallies I listed (again, without the Falling Leaf, which would distort the numbers).

Attendance Summary:

The weather canceled only 3 rides this year as compared to 5 last year. There were also 3 rallies listed, which no one attended or at least I didn’t get a roster. However, there was a wall of rain from west of St. Louis to east of Columbus, Ohio, which made attendance at the newer Hopewell rally in eastern Ohio, unappealing. Ride attendance was similar to last year (up slightly). Newer members make up a significant portion of the local ride attendance.

The rally attendance was up slightly, 7%, even though the attendance at the MOA National was down significantly (6 vs. 23 or 24) from the last several years. The weather was too hot at the National while the weather was great for the Land of Oz and RAMS rallies, encouraging attendance at those rallies. The Gateway Riders took the largest club in attendance at both the Land of Oz and RAMS rallies. We also won the largest club in attendance at both these rallies last year. I encourage everyone to think about attending more rallies next year; they are always a good time. It does appear that we are getting lots of new members and a wider mix of members on the club rides, which is good for the future of the club.

Meeting attendance was down again (8%) this year and is at the lowest level in several years. Party attendance was down 27% this year, to the lowest level in a decade, after being up 10% and 11% the previous two years.

Overall membership, at year end, appears to be down slightly compared to the last two years (107 in ‘17 vs. 118 in ‘16 vs. 113 in ‘15). About 86% of the members (92 of 107) attended at least one event this year compared with 88% last year and 86% the previous year so this number is holding pretty steady. The median number of events attended this year was back up to 6; it was down to 4 last year but was 6 the previous year. The average number of events attended by a member this year was 8.7.

Ride Leaders: These are the people who spend their time and effort to arrange, organize, facilitate, and lead rides or events. Ride leadership includes items like leading rides, collecting money at the Christmas party, hauling supplies to the hot dog roast, and similar efforts. This year we had 16 members get ride leader credit, which is just under one in seven members, and is up significantly from last year’s 10 members (with 13 in 2015 and 16 in 2014). It is good to have more ride leaders, offering more destinations and riding styles for members to choose from, and it spreads out the work. If a few more members would lead just one ride it would make it easy to fill out the ride schedule every time and provide a wider variety of rides.

If you don’t like the pace of the club rides or the destinations, or have a neat new destination in mind, you can solve this by leading a ride to where you want to go, at the pace you want to ride. Without the hard work of the ride leaders, we wouldn’t have the wide variety of events that we have, which is the main reason to have the club. While some rides may be a simple, straight from memory ride, like leading the group to St. John’s Gildehaus, others take hours of planning and preparation to organize and execute like Dave Anderson’s 4 Cardinal Directions ride series or the GS rides. Phil Sulfstede and I were the top two ride leaders again this year.

I would like to thank Phil Sulfstede for really stepping up to leading rides (both scheduled and impromptu) as usual this year. He always finds some of the best scenic routes to lead the group on. I led the most rides this year with a GS ride, several church rides, and a number of other scenic rides. Jim Shaw and Dave Anderson also led a number of different rides this year. I also want to thank all the others who led a ride or otherwise helped make an event happen this last year.

Ride Leaders: (people who led a ride or helped make an event happen)

Hosts: Being an event host garners the most points per event, 5, because it requires the most work. I really want to thank everyone that took the extra effort to serve as a host for our various club events this year. Phil Sulfstede hosted 3 events this year. Phil had two at his house, with Elaine graciously helping at the hot dog roast, plus he brought his grill and helped BBQ at the pool party. Dave Leligdon (with the tech sessions) and Dave Mattis (with New Year’s Eve and salad for the Progressive dinner) were hosts twice this year. Other hosts for parties and the progressive dinner included: the Ackermans, Dave and Tracy Anderson, the Diazs, the Races, Al (and Jill) Schroer, and Jim Williams (and Gayle). In addition, the Bissells hosted an impromptu eclipse viewing party at their house this summer.

Event Points Ranking: The table below has the top ten event point rankings for 2017 as well as statistics from last year. Most of the names are similar, accounting for the fact that some just below the top ten last year climbed into the top ten this year while others just fell out. The points were more spread out this year than last year, and only one position was determined by the last ride of the season when Rich Leslie tied Phil for 4^th place. There was a large spread between the first 4 positions and 6^th through 9^th. The points are a combination of the number of events attended (see the second table below) along with the credit given per event (e.g. being a host at 5 points is worth 2 ½ rides at 2 points).

This year I awarded two points to anyone writing an article for the Gazette to encourage submissions, through February, which was the last formal Gazette we published. Since then, we have put articles on the new website and Marilyn, while working hard to solicit and post articles, no longer publishes a Gazette every two months. The new website has made it easier to post new articles but it would be nice for a few more members to write some articles so Marilyn isn’t compelled to keep writing articles to help fill the website or doesn’t have to implore people to write more articles.

I held on to first again this year in the events points ranking and earned 7 more points than last year by attending 3 more events. Jim Shaw kept second place this year by earning a few more points (87 vs. 83) and attending a few more events. Dave Anderson moved into 3^rd place this year by earning significantly more points than last year (81 vs. 67) by attending more events and leading more rides.

Phil Sulfstede fell to a tie for fourth place this year. He is spending more time traveling and in New Orleans after retiring and didn’t make near as many events this year (but did keep up his great work as a ride leader and host). Rich Leslie climbed into a tie for 4^th place this year by attending significantly more events (38 vs. 23) and leading a couple rides. The rest of the top ten are listed in the table. Mary Ackerman was again the top placing woman, coming in 13^th with 33 points. Golf has significantly reduced her attendance at club events.

Event Points Ranking:

Events Attended Ranking: Number of club events (including rallies) attended by the member.

Eight six percent of the members attended at least one event this year, while last year 88% attended at least one event. The median number of events attended (the number that 50% of the members attended) was 6 this year; and it was 4 last year and 6 the previous year, while the average number of events attended by a member was 8.7 this year (no 2016 average).

The events attended rankings were mostly similar to last year, with some moving up slightly and some moving down slightly. I was first again this year by attending 44 events. Jim Shaw tied with Dave Anderson with 41 events each. Rich Leslie and Jay Green topped out the top five in events attended. Jim and I attended a few more events this year, while Dave, Rich, and Jay all attended significantly more events this year vs. last year. This pushed Phil Sulfstede, who has been in the top five for years, down to 6^th place (from 4^th last year), even though he attended one more event this year.

The difference between points and number of events attended shows the impact of being a host and ride leader on the final point count. While Phil attended significantly fewer events than Rich, they tied for events points because Phil was first as a club host (15 of his points) and second as a ride leader (for 16 of his points). Those activities that require more effort earn more points.

Events Attended Ranking:

Overall, the club did well this year with the number of different events and the fact that ride attendance and rally attendance was up slightly from last year. Jim Shaw and I have been the top two point scorers the last two years after Phil Sulfstede (1^st) and I (2^nd) held the top two spots for a number of the previous years. Jim and I are riding more locally since retirement while Phil is taking advantage of retirement to spend more time traveling and in Louisiana. However, Phil still leads a large number of rides, which is probably the most useful function for the club.

Dave Anderson, as a relatively new member has been moving up in the rankings and consistently earning more points by taking on more club responsibility by leading more rides and attending more events. Rich Leslie has also been moving up by leading more rides and attending more events. Having a few more members follow their lead and step up and lead some rides would make filling the calendar easier and give us a wider variety of rides.

A bright spot for the club is that we continue to have an influx of new members. Many of them are attending a number of events including rides. Hopefully, we will see the newer members on the leader list in the near future and can get them to organize and lead some new rides.

I look forward to seeing all of you on a number of the club rides in 2018, and remember, I am always looking for the next ride and/or event idea. Please let me know and I will get you on the ride schedule.