We Are Live
And we are here to stay.
When I first conceived of the idea for North Country Rider Magazine in January of 2010, I did not fully appreciate the effort that it would take to bring the magazine to life. Along the way several decisions were made and I thought the readership might be interested in them
First there was the name. The original name chosen was Adirondack Biker. We tossed that name because the name Adirondack did not really define the geographic area that the magazine was destined to cover. Because of the TV show Son's of Anarchy and the negative image that it has given to the term Biker, more than one person we talked to said the word Biker should not be in the name. So the search was on for a more appropriate name. Wives are wonderful creatures and mine is no exception. I considered Adirondack Rider but there are clubs in both Glens Falls and Plattsburgh that use that name. As I was pondering a name, from the kitchen I heard Karen say, "North Country Rider" and the search for a name was over.
There was the decision of the format. Originally we considered creating the magazine in Adobe PDF and sending the PDF files to the subscribers. There were several advantages to doing this, but the biggest disadvantage was the file size and the expense in both dollars and bandwidth to transmit the magazine. We then decided to make the format an e-magazine and our research led us to Press Publisher which we feel provides the perfect environment to house North Country Rider Magazine.
The theme was the easiest decision to make. It just felt natural. We did not want this magazine to be about motorcycles. Every major motorcycle magazine published covers them all. We wanted this magazine to be about the people that ride the motorcycles, the places they go on them and the things they do when they get there. The theme of "Places to Go, People to See and Things to Do" just seemed to fit perfectly.
This was not a journey taken alone and I would be remiss if I did not take this opportunity to thank some individuals who helped get this issue published.
First there is my better half. Karen spent countless hours working on the Schedule of Events and the Directories as well as editing my work. Besides the physical effort involved in putting the magazine together there were the mental exercises required to determine the feel of the articles and the layout of the web site. When a dealer would ignore me or piss me off she would be the one to remind me that we are new and in time they will warm up to us.
I visited Sporty at Sporty's Iron Duke Saloon and explained to him what I was doing and asked him if I could interview him for the first issue. The cooperation and encouragement that I received from him were invaluable and the article is pretty cool too.
Then there is Brit at the Boars Nest Inn. She was hosting the annual meeting of clubs to publish the coming season's schedule of events and invited me to join. This was my first chance to meet a larger audience and test the waters. Once again the encouragement received from everyone at the meeting was positive. Brit also provided us with the schedule of events in electronic format which made our import of that data much easier.
Jim Hull is the president of Chapter 80 (Timberjacks) of the Booze Fighters MC. Jim is a very close friend of mine and I can count on him being honest and upfront with me. His encouragement and help in establishing connections within the rider community was invaluable.
Beard at the Trails End Inn in Tupper Lake is assisting us in our attempt to obtain the schedule of events for the riders in the northern part of the coverage area. Beard and I have yet to meet face to face, but somehow, I feel that we are friends and every time we talk he makes me believe that we are doing the right thing with the magazine.
I ride a Honda Fury which I purchased from Sportline Power Products last June. I stopped by and spoke to the sales rep that sold me the bike and asked who I would need to speak with about advertising. After explaining to him what I was doing he directed me to Glenn Kelsey. Glenn was instantly excited about the magazine and we spent a great deal of time reviewing the concept. I left with a commitment from him that was unlike anything I could have ever expected or dreamed about. This session with Glenn really cemented in my mind that we were heading in the right direction.
Anyone who rides in the coverage area knows about Americade. Bill Dutcher and I are acquaintances and I sent him an e-mail explaining what I was doing and that in some future issue I would like to cover Americade. Once again I received positive feedback and an offer to assist in the article when I was ready to publish it.
The hard work is over and we are up and running.
Now we need your help. We need subscribers and you can help us by convincing your friends and fellow riders to subscribe. The fact that you get the current month's schedule of events and the following month's schedule of events mailed to you monthly as part of the notification news letter should be plenty of incentive for other riders to subscribe.
Ride safe and ride well.
Ed Frulla
Publisher