the date stays! June 11-13, 2004 for the spring ride

With some amount of disbelief, let it be stated here, for the final time, that the date decided upon for the spring ride at last week's meeting stands. As we gathered this evening, there was a note of tension, nay, apprehension, that all last week's good work at discerning a date might be undone in a few simple words, like, "I can't come".
It is my priviledge to report, that even as the President brought out "the book", there was no single person present to throw a stumbling block into the finely tuned plan. While pertinent questions were raised: what about the people who aren't here? is this quorum? the usual... the response was in unison, "too bad, they could have come to the meeting, or sent their concerns by blog comment or email". It is destined to be a fine event.
In other commentary:

• Unger was encouraged to be proactive in assessing options for camping other than the Morden campground.


• Fundraising opportunities spread to the Fort Garry Bike Club Golf Tournament. It was thought that a club some distance from most population was highly prudent. Luke certainly has his work cut out.
  
• new merchandise was the topic of some discussion. Marles favoured many items, but started the discussion off with the thought of a new shirt. Hats (nice caps with mesh back and foamy front, old skool like), socks, gitch, and wrist bands were options mentioned. Stongly affirmed were the MEC long sleeve riding shirts. Members could choose their own colour/style and then we would gather them together to have them screened.
  
• some discussion of a letter to Fort Garry Brewing Company, about how they are infringing on our logo, or rather, how there seems to be some confusion over who's is nicer, took place. The motive behind such a letter was rather vague, but had to do with possibilities of sponsorship in the form of $$s for shirts, or maybe a free beverage. This is not new ground, but now that we have a VP (External) as part of the club structure, we may have the framework within which to begin such discussion in earnest.
  
• the idea of retaining legal counsel, (also not exactly new in the context of the previous point) was taken to a new level after the letter discussion, as names began to be bandied about. (This discussion remains "in camera" because we don't want a bidding war for the job to become ugly.) It seemed that a cap for being able to retain such counsel (not actually to do any work, but so we could say we have legal counsel) settled in at around $5, or a pint of Dark.

Present: secretary, Marles, Unger, Jonny, Chris, Penner, Jimmy