I'm IN!! Thoughts from a long-time member and trips leader

[ananae222@gmail.com]

To My Fellow Cyclists,

Like many of you, I have had a life-long love affair with the bicycle. What a sense of freedom and pure joy I feel whether I’m setting out across the country or across town for an errand. When I signed up for leadership training with ACA, I met people with a philosophy of how to be in and travel through the country that perfectly aligned with everything I believed was right about the world. That training allowed me the opportunity to lead numerous trips for this organization and the confidence to teach teenagers to set out and explore this world on two wheels, which I have done for a few decades. That is only the beginning. To say that Adventure Cycling is fundamental to who I am would be a gaping understatement.

What is going on right now is breaking my heart.

I understand that:
   Organizations do and must change with time
   People involved often disagree with what change looks like, especially when founders are involved
   The process of finding the way can be fraught with difficulty
   The end result might be dissolution

I think we are better than that.
   
Here’s what I would like to say to the leadership:

   I appreciate you – all of you. You who care for the ideals of ACA whether for 50 years or one. Thank you for all of it. The disagreements that exist within this group, yes, I think of you all as one group, are tense and have brought us to this point. I believe that the power of holding this organization together belongs to you. If the outcome of this building vote, either way, is met with cheers and victory shouts by one side and grumbling, anger or frustration by the other, then we have all lost. The outcome of this vote needs to be seen as the place you all role up your sleeves and get to the difficult and rewarding work of rebuilding – together. That might not be an easy thing to hear.

   So, I have two questions for each of you who are in one of these camps.

1.   Are you truly and honestly interested in the well-being of ACA as an organization, not just in being right and having it go completely your way? Think hard about that question before reading the next.
2.   Are you willing to sit at the table with those who don’t share all your ideas and talk out a way forward?

I believe that unless some kind of coalition can work this out and offer to the membership a plan to move forward, a split or demise is likely.

This is my opinion: If this membership were offered such a plan knowing that it was drafted by both parties, you would be supported, perhaps in ways you can’t predict. (This is the part about WE ARE WITH YOU.)

As for me, I’m in!!!! I can’t imagine my life without these people, these stories, this wind-in-my-face love. Let me know what it takes.

Here’s what I would like to say to the membership:

Please don’t leave. We are the ones who know the words-can’t-describe joy, elation, despair, camaraderie, and life-changing value of putting our butts in the saddle, feet on the pedals and riding. Maybe we don’t like every little thing – well, as I keep learning, that’s the way life works. I just think this isn’t the time to be the kid on the playground who takes his toys and goes home. If we don’t do this, who will?! As much as you can, put into this as you have gotten out of it and see the hard times through.

Thanks,   Renee Fredrickson

[John Nettles]

Renee,
I agree with your posts and reasons and like you, will gladly sit at a table with opposing/differing views and try to work on a compromise that betters ACA.  If you have noticed, I have been one of the more involved members on the Forums for decades trying to help old and new members with questions. 

The problem I see is that for the past 3-4 years (ever since the board was no longer elected by the members but by the board itself), things have just gone downhill in almost all aspects that they claim they want to rebuild (the very things they let go). 

Currently, radical change to right the ship is needed but it seems current and recent past leadership has shifted away from bike touring as a whole to more specialized and political goals and padding their salaries.  If they ideas worked, fine, but it has been an abject failure. Plus, the top 5 Execs cost ACA close to $600k in salaries and benefits when ACA is hemorrhaging money. 

You can see I have repeatedly asked for clarity on questions posted in the sub-forum but very few were answered.  I asked Nicki, the Vice President of Communications, why the delay and she said they are only  answering via emails!  However, she said all answers will be given AFTER the vote which to me screams Pelosi's "we most pass the bill before we can read the bill" comment. 

At the beginning of the second round of voting, I was on the fence which way to vote.  Since then, I have lost all trust at this point in current Leadership, primarily due to them refusing to answer questions.  I mean, Nicki is the VP of COMMUNICATIONS yet she can't spend communicating with the members via the Forums (which they created) to answer questions that lots of people want answered and thinks one on one emails is more efficient?  I still think highly of the workers like Amy Wally and the others who actually gets routes created during all this turmoil. 

However, until members see a valid SPECIFIC reason AND value to remaining a member, I see a continual decline and an eventual termination of the association unfortunately.  I personally will remain for as long as they will have me, primarily to help people like Amy and the others create routes.

While I will vote No (if they ever get the "expert" computer company to send me the voting instructions) we also have eliminated ACA from our Family Trust (a high 6-figure donation) all due to the Leadership's action or more accurately lack of action over the past few years.  I see no reason to give money to a sinking ship that has no desire to work with others or even have the decency to respond to its members. And I am probably not the only one who feels this way. 

It is a very sad situation ACA has plummeted (membership and division) like this but that was caused mostly (but not all) by the past few years decisions of the board and leadership.  Until new leadership is in place, I fear nothing will change but truly hope I am wrong as I truly want ACA to succeed.

[David W Pratt]

It may be legal, but spending capital for operating expenses seems a lot like a Ponzi scheme.