Slaw Dog
Welcome to another edition of Ask Vurb Anything. This week we address the reason for an entry fee for the Shred Tour and Slaw gives some solid life advice.
I usually don’t send emails, but I just hated to see what happened because I know for a fact that 25 plus different riders (and probably more that I don’t know about) came and left and went down the road to a private facility to ride instead once they heard about the prices and how the lady at the registration was treating everyone. Then the flat track guys really got screwed because they waited all day to ride Saturday then only got about 2 hours of ride time, then had to wait till the next day to ride just to have them have to pay another fee to ride again. They ALL left Sunday very upset. I want this event to happen again and I want everyone to come back to anoia! Its a very nice place and lots to do and I understand these events cost $$$ but its going to be hard to build back some of these bridges. I mean no disrespect to any of the vurb Moto crew and staff. I want y’all to succeed in this tour and want y’all to come back. But those things need to be addressed in some way. Thank you guys, keep up the good work! (Btw I hope the slawdictions continue for the motocross season, I love reading that before each race haha)
Bird Dog: No harm taken. Here is our thought process on the fees, etc. First off, we do a rev share with the tracks, so we have to bump the prices somewhere. We also provide gate bags, fully prepped track(s), raffles, free photos from professional photographers (which aren’t cheap) and various other events. The out of pocket cost to do this both from our side and the tracks is exorbitant. We work with local photographers and videographers to help give them work and notoriety, we work to bring awareness to local talent around the country, and we work to help prop up our ad partners to drive awareness to their brands.
Our job is to ensure these continue to get better and that we can provide enough value to charge a $20 gate fee for the weekend. The practice fees are the same anywhere in the country, and all tracks would charge to ride two separate days. So we are really only asking for an extra gate fee outside of normal costs to ride a fully prepped facility. The vibe is much more of a race weekend except you get to ride more and don’t have to pay to ride multiple tracks.
I get what you’re saying, but Vurb went out of business once already and for us to continue doing our part to grow the sport, we can’t do these types of events without keeping a close eye on the bottom line. And believe me, that’s not so we can line our pockets. It’s so we can recycle it back into paying our content creators, web developers, designers and events staff to help grow the sport.
Hope this makes sense and, again, I appreciate the feedback. We need people like you to help facilitate the message moving forward. Maybe by explaining our situation and train of thought, you will not only understand where we’re at, but help explain to people why it’s worth spending the extra $20.
And yes, Slawdictions is returning. According to Slaw it’s the best content we provide. However, he now wants a raise due to rising demand for his blogs. Ha!
Slaw, watching you rise up the ranks of the moto media has been impressive. Slawdictions is my favorite column ever. I need some Slaw life advice. I’m 52 and have had many injuries over the years. The wife wants me to stop riding, what should I do?
TJ
Slaw Dog: Thank you for the kinds words. I never expected Slaw to become a favorite of riders and moto parents. But this is where we stand.
Anyway, back to your question. As a Vet rider myself, I struggle with this on the regular. I also have issues and have questioned whether riding is worth it anymore.
Our legal team (I think we have one?) won’t allow me to tell you whether you should continue to ride or not. Only you can answer that question. If you do decide to ride, take the Slaw route: wheels on the ground! Kidding. Kind of.
Look, we’re old, and no one gives a shit if we’re out their butt whipping and scrub a dubbing. To me, a good day at the track is one where I leave with zero crashes and no injuries.
Hope this helps and thanks for reading.
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