You’ve
asked for the whole story, so here it is. This is quite lengthy. But the future
of GSI events hangs in the balance. If you truly love gravity sports and
would like to see GSI continue to grow and gain legitimacy, please take the time
to read this in it's entirety. Thank You. - Tim Cayer. GSI Founder
For
anyone who has been around gravity sports for more then just a few years
you remember some of the nasty politics that have been a part of these sports. Apparently
it is still around. And this time it is taking aim at GSI. For those who are new
to the sports, I encourage you to take some time and learn some of the history
from those who are still around from those days. Gravity sports have lost
some dedicated people because of selfish motives by those who don't really care
about anything more then their own personal agendas. Be that financial gain, or
their goal to control all of gravity sports and those who participate
in them.
When
I formed GSI it was with the intention of avoiding the politics and instead
focusing on the sport. With recent developments regarding MCGF I had decided
that I did not want to become part of the problem and was ready to walk away
from putting on events. If Neil and IGSA want to take over the east coast with
events then there should be more then enough races. Realistically there is no
room for another org. But before GSI fades into history, I owe it to
the racers and the GSI officials who have supported GSI over the years, to
let you decide which direction you want to see your sport and GSI go.
I
have always been of the belief that gravity sports belong to those who actively
participate. Not those who put on races. Racers vote with their dollars by
choosing which events they can and choose to attend. When I formed GSI in
2000 it was with the intention of giving racers more choice then existed at the
time. Not only in events, but also in the way events are run. GSI is
truly a racer-based org. Started by racers and run by racers for racers. There
have been some bumps along the way, but we have always worked hard to address
the racers issues and concerns and have always tried to improve things.
And in turn racers have stepped up to show their support of our efforts by
attending our events. Rider turnout in recent years is proof of that.
Such was the case with last years MCGF, our largest turnout to date. Now with
the actions of Neil "Dr.No" Orta and the MCGF committee, gravity
sports are once again taking a step backwards. That's if the racers choose to
let it happen. Here is the current situation regarding GSI, Neil Orta and MCGF.
Last
year was a turning point for GSI. As I said above MCGF was our largest rider
turnout to date. The systems we developed from scratch were pushed to their
limits. Not only one system, but all of them. Anyone who was at last
years MCGF knows we had some issues. The obvious ones are the ones everyone
witnessed. The not so obvious ones were the ones that were taking place behind
the scenes. These are the issues that I believe racers need to know about.
Before they unwittingly throw their support to Neil and a community that have
made it clear with their actions they have neither gravity sports nor the racers best
interest at heart. Allow me to explain.
Neil
came to GSI in 2002. He was a welcome volunteer at the time because I needed
help getting the gravity bike race scene going for GSI here on the
east coast. Over time Neil (and Kim) became more involved with GSI and we asked
them to become part of the GSI Officials TEAM. (I stress the word TEAM. As in
TEAM EFFORT) Over the years they contributed to the development of some
of our systems. These systems are what make an event work. From registration, to
running the race, to scoring, points and awards. It became apparent that
Neil was a good choice to appoint as the race director because of his past
experience running other events. As race director it was his job to control the
road and the race once I handed it over to him after the riders meeting. It was
my job to make sure that he was doing his job. Until the start of 2007 there was
never any indication that Neil had any issues with the way things were
progressing. I feel that changed starting with the VT race. I had a
gut feeling at that race something was different. But being the trusting
person I am, I believed Neil would never take advantage of any situation
that might harm GSI. An organization he had been a part of for many years.
Looking back I now believe it was at some point prior to the VT race that Neil
had decided on a plan to make GSI look bad in order to take the MCGF race
from GSI. I decided I would just monitor the situation closely. My choices were
to replace him as race director, or let him continue and make sure he was doing
his job. I decided to let him continue as race director. I knew that at
any point I might need to step in and take over. Which ended up being the case
in VT. In VT, myself and another GSI official, along with a few racers from
Canada who I had asked to come down and help us look at the road did so a month
or so before the event took place. That day we had laid out the
course (actually a bit shorter then the one we ultimately ended up racing)
and took a count of what we thought would be adequate number of hay bales for
the course we had chosen. The day before the race Neil called me from
the hill and told me he had the course all picked out. If it had been left
entirely up to him, racers would have been racing an almost 2 mile stretch of
that road. I explained to him that Jim W and I had already chosen the course. He
disagreed with what we had chosen and we compromised on the course you saw when
you first got there. Hence that was one of the issues we had with the
shortage of hay. What many of you are not aware of is what happened in VT
that made GSI look bad in the eyes of the State of VT. And made my job of trying
to get back there more difficult. Sunday morning the day after the race I went
down to speak with the Park Ranger. She spoke to me (I got an ear full!) for a
good 30 minutes about what had happened the preceding night. Now she was not
blaming what took place in the park that night on Neil. But from what she told
me as a GSI official Neil did not do GSI any favors. This was the first time
ever I had to listen to someone say some not so nice things about a GSI
official. I was embarrassed.
Let
me preface my remarks about MCGF by saying that Beagle Jarvis personally asked
me if I would take over running "his" event in year 2. That is when it
was still on Rocks Road. GSI was running that event before it ever became
a Munnsville event.
By
the time MCGF came around I realized that there was a good chance rider
turnout could potentially push our systems to their limit. But I was also
confident that so long as the GSI TEAM worked together as we had done so many
times before we could get this event off. As
many of you know, Kim had been our registration and finish line person in years
past. That was the job she had volunteered to do for GSI. But by the end of 2006
when I put the call out to the GSI officials asking them who was in for the 2007
season, I never heard back from Kim. At one point I received an email from
Neil asking me why Kim was not on the GSI mailing list. I explained it was
because I never heard back from her telling me she was still interested in being
on the TEAM. Neil explained to me that she wanted a year off from doing the
registrations and scoring but would like to continue with contributing to the
GSI TEAM by giving her input. I agreed and decided that I would take care of
registration and scoring. Unfortunately while I knew the basics of both systems,
(they were after all systems that I first started developing back in 2000) I
wasn't as familiar with either as I should have been. By the time I
got to do registration in NY I knew there were issues with the way it was going.
I was short two GSI Officials that weekend. So all I could do at that point was
work my way through it and try to get it done. Same with scoring. I was working
the finish line at both VT and NY. Because
Kim was the GSI scoring person in years past, she was the only one with a
current copy of the scoring spreadsheet. So
come the VT race I asked Neil to get me a copy. What he handed me is not what I
believe the completed GSI scoring spread sheet. It was either accidental or Neil
intentionally gave me an incomplete scoring system knowing full well that I
couldn't make it work with the amount of racers we were expecting.
This is where the problem with scoring came in. With the number of riders
that day and the scoring program I was working with not capable of handling that
many riders, I was left at the finish line with my wife trying to do the best we
could with what I had. During that event as in VT it was obvious to me, after
working with Neil for so many years, that his input and efforts were less
then they had been in prior events. He was aware that with me being down 2 GSI
officials it would be difficult to keep things on schedule. Which I believe is
why as racers started complaining he threw his arms up and told them "It's
Tim's problem", instead of letting me know what was happening. And speaking
of schedule, it was Neil who came up with it. Yes, he did show it to the GSI
officials for our approval. But whenever we raised issues with it he always
quick to assure us that he could get it all in. During both days at MCGF I asked
him if he thought we should modify the schedule given the number of racers. He
assured me there should be no problem getting it in. I trusted him and in
hindsight that is where I made my mistake. I am not suggesting that all the
issues we encountered in VT and NY were because of Neil. I am saying that had
the GSI crew been able to count on him to do his job as he did at past events, I
believe the issues would have been more manageable and the events would have run
smoother.
On
August 6th (only a week after the race) I received a call from Gwen one of the
MCGF committee members. I remember the call well because there was a sense of
panic in her voice. She was calling because she had heard rumors that GSI was
not going to be returning to do the event in 2008. I asked her where she heard
such a rumor and assured her that was not the case. Furthermore I made it clear
to her that should her or the MCGF committee ever have a question with regard to
GSI that I am only a phone call away and to never hesitate calling me with any
concerns. That was the moment I became suspicious of what might be taking place
behind my back. (hence the statement stabbed in the back) Throughout the month
of September I sent several emails to Gwen asking for any updates with regard to
the committee meetings. On October 4th I received an email back explaining
that they were going to meet in a few weeks and that she would let me know where
things stand after that meeting. I received Kim and Neil’s letter of
resignation on October 10th. By the end of October I learned through the
MCGF website that Neil was going to do the race for 08.
Finally
on November 4 I received the following letter from the MCGF committee.
We
regret to inform you that based on a committee vote we will no longer need GSI
to act as the governing body of Madison County Gravity Fest.
While we appreciate all that GSI has done for us, and we value
the friendship with the Cayer and GSI families, we feel that it is in the best
interest of MCGF to move in a different direction.
Sincerely,
Kim Shea
That’s
it. After 5 years and never once any indication of concerns they had GSI was
out. I immediately began trying to get a hold of Gwen to find out what was going
on. Finally on November 11th I received an email saying this,
"We
feel badly that you were not offered a chance to address our concerns, totally
an oversight. We would like to schedule a conference call between You,
both of us and Neil to address the issues from this past year."
On
November 15th I responded with the following email.
Gwen,
I
wanted to let you know that I will be passing through that area on November 28
at the time of your next committee meeting. Could you please let the committee
know I would like the opportunity to be at the next meeting to address them.
To which I received this response from Gwen.
Spoke to Kim. Feeling is
that we would like to have the conference call.
Then
on November 27th I received this.
Neil and Tim,
Madison County Gravity Fest finds itself in a very difficult place right now. As you both are aware, we made the decision to go with Dr. No Racing for the upcoming years racing.
Tim pointed out during a phone conversation that GSI was not given the opportunity to address the committee’s concerns that were part of the decision to go with Dr. No. Regrettably he is right. We have had a great relationship with Tim and GSI since the start of Madison County Gravity Fest in Munnsville.
Our concern now is that there is obviously bad feeling on both sides. Rather than getting caught up in a “’He said/She said” situation, Kim and I both feel that conference call between the two of us, Neil and Tim is warranted. Both of you have expressed that you feel if your organization is not running the show that there will be a “no-show” of several racers on either side. We would like to try to find a way to have it not come to this.
MCGF would not have been possible these last several years without the combined efforts of all of us and we would really like to come to some resolution that is satisfactory to all parties involved. But please keep in mind that our committee has an overall responsibility to the community in which this race takes place.
Therefore we propose, as mentioned above, a conference call between the 4 of us to air differences, hopefully resolve at least some of the conflict and possible come to a resolution that works for everyone.
Please e-mail us back what time of day, and what days of the week would work best for you so we can try to get this scheduled and resolved so we can all plan and move forward.
Again, we have thoroughly enjoyed working with both of you and optimistically look forward to continuing to work with you in the future.
Sincerely,
Gwen & Kim
This conference call never took
place. Why?
Now I believe all this proves that Neil duped the MCGF
committee into believing that GSI was the problem with last year’s event. And
that he can step in and do what GSI couldn’t. What other reason would they
have for not even giving me the opportunity to address their concerns? And why
would Neil not at least suggest to them that GSI deserves at least one more
opportunity to make things right given all their years of commitment to making
sure this event is a success.
Now I see from some of the posts I am reading it appears
Neil is now also duping the racers. He wants you to sign up for the race early
not so you can get a discount. But rather because he knows that if the truth
gets out before he gets your money, there is a good chance racers will not
support the event.
Does anyone remember these posts by Neil?
“By the way I want
all of you to keep up the imput.....it's how I better the way I run an event.”
08-05-2007,
- This
statement proves he knows he was in charge of the race.
“I DO NOT AGREE!!!!
Caps are not needed at this event yet. ” 08-05-2007
“we
may have to limit the number of riders for the first time in MCGF history”
Jan 22, 2008
Neil
was always free to put on his own events outside of GSI. It’s something he did
in the past. But why go after your own events when you can sabotage someone
else’s and take theirs. The
reason he left GSI was not because as he put it in his letter of resignation
"we have been growing apart..." He left GSI because that was the only
way he could take the MCGF race away from GSI.
Now you know the
rest of the story. Think about it.
The decision is yours. The
choice is yours. The sport is yours. And so is it’s future.
My question to you is; what role if any do you see GSI playing in the future of your sport?