Up next in 10
Open Q&A with Mark to brief our readers on the 502 Club update and general Town Hall on all things Singletrack.
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0:12
hello give a give us a thumbs up or
0:14
something if you can hear me I'm just
0:16
going to sort that light out behind me
0:18
because that's kind of awful Isn't
0:22
it there with me a minute
0:37
if you're hanging around and waiting
0:38
just let a few more people join us
0:40
before we get going uh introduce
0:43
yourself in the chat say hi that's where
0:45
you're going to put the questions I
0:46
guess so uh
0:53
just that's a bit better isn't it that
0:56
lamp is kind of terrible
1:00
[Music]
1:02
that's a little better that's
1:06
it I'm going to turn that light off
1:09
that's even better we'll go with
1:20
that no one introducing themselves oh
1:23
there we go we got ah poop scw how you
1:27
doing uh I will no idea well I know you
1:31
from The Forum that's
1:33
um it's a very familiar username I know
1:37
most people by the
1:44
usernames chips let me just give that a
1:49
white that's better yeah thanks chips
1:52
that was good that was a a bit more
1:54
contrast there wasn't
1:56
it greasy laptop camera
2:00
are we
2:02
good yeah we're all good here Mrs has
2:05
gone for a walk to uh leave me alone
2:08
with you
2:09
guys uh DT Tom 3 UK longtime subscribing
2:14
for in
2:16
devote well glad to have you glad to
2:18
have you here how we doing we got 32
2:21
people let's give another 30 seconds or
2:23
so I got myself a beer for uh for
2:27
this um hi Keith Davey kezic nice is it
2:33
dry up there it's stop raining down here
2:36
no it's a a bit dryer up there and Nick
2:39
from
2:39
Sheffield
2:43
welcome all right hoping you guys have
2:46
got some
2:47
questions this isn't like the mega saac
2:50
live draw I don't have anything prepared
2:52
other than what's in my head so uh oh
2:56
try Sunny spells up there that's good I
2:59
just had um before I went live I was
3:02
looking out the window here there's a
3:03
field at the back of us and uh there was
3:08
see I've got a picture of
3:13
it you can see that there was a deer out
3:15
there that's bright isn't
3:18
it yeah that was just uh literally about
3:21
10 minutes ago that's the view I had out
3:23
of my office
3:24
window um I say office I I'm at home
3:27
this is my home office
3:32
all right let's have a look at these
3:33
comments before we get
3:35
going uh oh ASA Vincent vmg Scott that's
3:39
your username I'm guessing and Chris
3:41
Wood uh
3:44
canuk
3:45
right lots of iconic mountain bike
3:48
destinations popping up here Hide I'm
3:51
not sure about hide though is that an
3:53
iconic mountain bike destination Adrian
4:02
ah okay how are we doing there's near 50
4:06
people here that's that's
4:08
great so I guess I'll kind of uh make a
4:13
start I guess um I'll give you a bit of
4:15
a a debrief of where we're at right now
4:19
with the 502 campaign then I'll I'll be
4:23
watching the comments and please throw
4:25
questions into uh into it ah lee how you
4:29
doing in North umberland iconic mountain
4:32
biking destination for sure and sunny
4:35
Wales brilliant Wonder who'll be the
4:37
first person to tune in from overseas or
4:40
if anybody will tune in from
4:42
overseas we shall see right okay any
4:45
single track staff is watching just to
4:48
put a bit of pressure on you know chips
4:50
is there
4:54
obviously hello yes I've got you chips
4:56
why is your your username your name has
4:59
little spanner next to it what does that
5:06
mean possibly because you have access to
5:09
this channel maybe you could uh mess
5:11
around with it right okay I don't want
5:12
to keep you too long we're not going to
5:14
drag this out um yes you have the
5:17
power um you want to know where we're at
5:20
because just over a week ago I put out
5:23
the
5:25
um uh news that we were in the spot of
5:28
bother find eventually which is you know
5:30
which is true I wanted to be really sort
5:33
of honest about it
5:36
because I know how these things kind of
5:38
work which is that um sometimes you you
5:42
love a website you love a a magazine you
5:45
love um a brand which is kind of Z gist
5:49
moment uh they're in the news at the
5:51
moment the whole cona Shenanigans and
5:54
they suddenly close down and it's a
5:56
shock to everybody and half the time so
6:00
many people then start saying well if
6:02
we' known maybe there's something we
6:04
could do about it so I wanted to make
6:06
sure that everybody knew the situation
6:08
so that if the worst were to happen
6:11
nobody was you know well surprised would
6:13
all be upset obviously certainly we
6:15
would but so I just thought right well
6:19
let's let's be really honest with you
6:21
guys we' we've always been kind of as
6:23
honest as we can be with how things
6:25
operate here at single track and um for
6:29
those who don't know I'm pretty sure you
6:32
do um I'm Mark I'm co-founder with chips
6:37
who's uh in the comments and watching
6:40
this now we own single track that we are
6:43
the shareholders that's it you know
6:45
there's just me and chips 5050 we are
6:48
the shareholders so when it comes to um
6:54
it's it's one of those unique things I
6:55
guess with a small compan is the fact
6:57
that the we the only shareholders we
7:00
have to Panda to is ourselves and so
7:02
it's it's very much in our best interest
7:04
to make sure that single track keeps
7:06
going and is sustainable and that's what
7:07
we're trying to do and the first step on
7:10
that was is basically to let you guys
7:12
all know how tough things are right now
7:14
and they're tough for everybody so it's
7:18
it's um just trying to keep an eye on
7:20
the comments and make sure I don't miss
7:21
anybody uh merfield West
7:25
Yorkshire oh you're riding around toan
7:27
all right that's Oliver Kelly hi Oliver
7:30
and Simon white has joined us squirrel
7:32
all right from
7:34
Devon and
7:36
Rick brilliant okay so where I was I yes
7:39
telling you sort of about you know our
7:42
kind kind of philosophy here is to be as
7:44
open as we can be with you guys and so
7:46
at least then the power of what happens
7:48
is is kind of I don't know it's kind of
7:50
everybody's and and uh if if you I I put
7:55
it out that if you guys feel that we're
7:58
worth supporting if you think you get
8:01
value from what we do then I was want to
8:03
give you the opportunity to step in and
8:05
and help us out and the long story short
8:10
you definitely have so the the great
8:13
news is that we have we have that
8:17
massive bill that we have to pay at the
8:19
end of this month that's now covered so
8:21
I wanted to give you an update first of
8:23
all about the the finances and the
8:24
donations that have come in we've been
8:26
absolutely Blown Away by uh the respon
8:30
from you guys it's been incredible I
8:32
will I will let you know basically at
8:34
the moment we've just gone over 13,000
8:37
in donations so that's absolutely that
8:40
was better than I think any of us ever
8:43
thought uh was possible so I can't thank
8:46
you guys enough for for doing that
8:50
that's that's 13,000 in donations on top
8:53
of that there has been um a rush of
8:56
people
8:57
subscribing uh because you know the one
8:59
of the best things that you can do is to
9:03
subscribe we would rather you subscribed
9:05
and got value from us that way rather
9:08
than just donating and not subscribing
9:10
so we hope that everybody who's donated
9:12
is also a subscriber and anybody who
9:15
wasn't a subscribing now is you are just
9:17
as important and and we thank you just
9:19
as much and uh and so that is great news
9:25
on top of that the raffle uh which for
9:28
this first raffle for this got on my
9:30
screen here The canondale Habit
9:32
LT1 um the total tickets sold is I wrote
9:37
it down
9:38
somewhere it was
9:41
1,078 tickets
9:44
sold and uh some of those were sort of
9:48
what they technically call free tickets
9:49
because for the first week we gave you
9:51
the uh the bonus of if you bought um
9:54
four tickets you got another one free so
9:56
that's raised so far 4,000
10:00
£660 so that's sat there at the moment
10:03
waiting for that raffle to end so we
10:07
needed and this first bill I don't know
10:10
what if you don't if you can't remember
10:11
or you you weren't party to my first to
10:14
the email that I sent out to the Merin
10:16
list what we're trying to do here at
10:19
single track is um sort
10:23
of trade our way out of the recession
10:26
that we're currently suffering from
10:30
we are suffering
10:32
um I hey it all started with brexit
10:35
didn't it and then a pandemic so brexit
10:38
was a storm wasn't it uh
10:42
followed by a pandemic which knocked the
10:45
crap out of the bike industry certainly
10:48
the marketing side of the bike
10:50
industry then and and that cut our
10:53
revenue
10:54
streams overnight and I remember we
10:58
actually did appeal to you guys back
10:59
then and some people who've donated now
11:01
also donated at the begin of the
11:02
pandemic and we can't thank you enough
11:04
for that that's you know that really
11:05
bailed us out and the bike industry went
11:07
a bit mad didn't it and thought that the
11:11
um the pandemic Rush of everybody buying
11:15
bikes and getting out and riding bikes
11:17
they thought that that was something
11:18
longterm rather than just a blip because
11:20
of the
11:21
pandemic and uh and then the bike
11:23
industry went a bit nuts and over
11:25
ordered absolutely everything and now
11:27
everyone's sort of swimming in stock and
11:30
we've got Brands like cona giving a bike
11:33
away free when you buy one of their
11:35
other
11:36
bikes um we've heard stories of some big
11:40
brands of certainly one Big Brand in
11:42
particular who was so overstocked that
11:47
they took the
11:49
decision to landfill a whole you know
11:53
tens of thousands of
11:55
bikes because that would have been
11:57
better and cheaper and more in their
11:59
interest financially than actually
12:01
trying to flood the market with them and
12:03
get them out there and then at the same
12:05
time we had the cost living crisis which
12:07
meant that uh even despite the fact
12:09
there were bikes everywhere no one could
12:10
actually afford to buy
12:12
them and it's yeah so it's it's like one
12:17
of those perfect storms perfect storms
12:19
usually come with three things coming at
12:20
the same time there seems to be about oh
12:22
let's not forget the fact that this
12:23
whole thing was the whole Supply issue
12:25
was compounded by the fact that um
12:27
somebody tried to three point turn a
12:29
massive container in the sews Canal
12:32
remember that yeah and that slowed down
12:34
global distribution unbelievably that
12:37
happened at the same time all of these
12:39
things including a sort of cost of
12:41
living crisis around the world and
12:42
especially in this country has led to us
12:45
being hit at both sides of our business
12:47
our business is split kind of almost
12:49
5050 our Revenue comes from you guys and
12:53
it comes from the industry and right now
12:56
that's almost a 50/50 split of our
12:58
entire business
13:00
um a long time ago over 10 years ago we
13:03
were more advertising leaning so like
13:05
about I think in know hey day of the
13:07
early days maybe about 2005 I think it
13:09
was probably about 20% revenue from you
13:12
guys 80% from the industry we've kind of
13:16
we've been trying for years to try and
13:19
re get it so that you guys were
13:22
more um what would should I say more
13:24
involved financially so that we relied
13:26
more on what on the revenue from you
13:28
right rather from the
13:30
industry uh I'd like to see that 50/50
13:32
split move even further toward in in
13:34
your favor but we're only going to do
13:37
that if what we can offer you is of
13:40
sufficient value that you think it's
13:42
worthwhile so we can't be asking you to
13:44
donate long term that doesn't make any
13:47
sense we need to make sure that what we
13:49
offer you as subscribers is worth your
13:53
money and you're happy to pay for it and
13:54
you get what you want out of it and the
13:57
starting point for that is the website
13:59
although we have a print magazine the
14:02
print magazine wouldn't exist without
14:04
the website and it's the website that is
14:06
the key to everything and right now our
14:08
website is um not in a healthy State and
14:13
that's what that's the first thing we
14:14
have to do is fix that we're a small
14:18
team we have two Tech Guys One whom's
14:20
part-time so we have 1.6 Tech guys who
14:23
are extremely
14:25
talented very creative and uh
14:29
unfortunately the way that our website
14:31
is currently stacked because our website
14:32
is not just a forum it's not just the
14:34
editorial side of things I think it
14:36
Bears it's worth me explaining it is our
14:39
subscription system it's the way that we
14:41
take money it's the way that our
14:43
subscriptions are managed it's a
14:45
merchandise front it um it's it's a way
14:48
that we deliver services to the bike
14:50
industry when they pay us for marketing
14:52
campaigns so it is far more than just a
14:56
simple website that we update every day
14:58
it runs runs so much of it it even runs
15:02
our what we call our internal dispatch
15:04
cue so whenever we've got something we
15:05
need to post out not just from the the
15:08
shop but things that um you know bikes
15:10
going back to manufacturers and
15:12
everything we we control all that
15:13
through the back end of the website so
15:15
it's kind of like this almost
15:18
um the very Crux of the whole software
15:20
that runs the business is that website
15:23
and so it has to work it has to be
15:26
better not just for our day-to-day op
15:29
ations of how we create content and run
15:30
the business but for you guys it's it's
15:33
got to work for you guys and right now
15:35
it's it's not it's not doing that so we
15:39
are going to we've already started the
15:42
migration we're moving to a system
15:43
called WordPress VIP all right you have
15:46
to understand what that is you can
15:47
Google it if you want it's basically a
15:48
very powerful much faster server system
15:51
with um some of the the best sort of web
15:54
Tech that you can get um we are um a
15:58
very big web website sometimes it's easy
16:01
to think we're just a little tiny UK
16:03
website but we're not we're a
16:05
global um competitor we're we're in the
16:08
same league as pink bike and bike radar
16:11
and all those
16:12
guys and uh so we need a really good
16:16
solid server to run that on and that's
16:18
what we're doing so basically we're
16:19
going to switch to Wordpress VIP
16:21
WordPress VIP runs big websites like CNN
16:25
Al jaaz there's a whole bunch of other
16:27
media organizations that run on
16:28
WordPress press VIP that work's already
16:31
started we've got the bare bones of a
16:33
website already there Anthony managed we
16:35
got
16:36
it I'll show you that you can't see
16:39
because of that glare but basically the
16:41
website's
16:42
there um it's it's not what you're
16:44
seeing day-to-day the the URL from that
16:47
is hidden but we've we've got that first
16:49
step now the trouble with WordPress VIP
16:52
is they want us to pay they don't let us
16:54
pay monthly like our current provider
16:56
Google Cloud does we have to pay them
16:59
massive chunk of $15,000 now and another
17:03
$155,000 in six months time and we have
17:05
to do that every year so we've uh we've
17:07
got a lot of um work to
17:10
do and uh we just didn't have the cash
17:13
to be able to pay that up front uh until
17:15
you guys stepped in and helped so that's
17:17
what the the whole thing was about
17:19
called it the 502 club for obvious
17:21
reasons I hope everybody here
17:22
understands why it's called the 502 Club
17:25
um do I need to explain that is anybody
17:28
in dark about the 502
17:32
club uh let me just go have a look down
17:34
the
17:35
comments oh we got loal sby Bridge rock
17:38
hopper
17:39
70 there we go well 502 is a server
17:43
error you know um basically you get a
17:46
502 error if you come to our website and
17:50
our server can't deal with it and can't
17:51
serve you the website so we thought hell
17:53
let's let's own it it's got the 502 Club
17:56
so the 502 Club is yeah you're all
17:59
members of the 502
18:02
Club so that that's the reason for what
18:04
we're doing here and like I said you you
18:07
guys have been amazing we've smashed
18:08
through that
18:10
first um
18:12
Target um $15,000 is what about I think
18:16
it currently works out about
18:18
12,000 I think that's the current
18:20
conversion rate so we've got the C
18:23
technically we don't actually have the
18:25
cash right now because the money from
18:27
the um all these payment systems that we
18:30
use it takes a bit of time up to a week
18:32
for the money to actually come through
18:33
and drop into our account uh a large
18:35
chunk of it has the
18:38
raffle okay I hope everybody's got
18:40
raffle tickets because the raffle the
18:43
way that this works I said the total is
18:47
4,660 I just refresh that page I wonder
18:50
if it's gone up already it's gone up by
18:53
1010 somebody's just bought two raffle
18:55
tickets if you're there thank you very
18:56
much for that uh the way the raffle
18:59
works is that that money is being held
19:02
we don't have that money that money is
19:03
been held by raffle the company that's
19:07
hosting the raffle the way that this is
19:10
going to work because the raffle ends on
19:12
Wednesday at um 8
19:16
o' and then at 8 o'cl this is my
19:20
understanding we've never used this
19:22
before so forgive me if this isn't
19:24
exactly how it works this is how I
19:25
understand it's going to work the winner
19:28
will be drawn at
19:30
8:00 and they will be
19:33
notified presume they're going to send
19:35
you an email um but it'll be worth
19:38
logging into your raffle account that
19:40
you created in order to buy the tickets
19:42
your raffle
19:43
tickets will the raffle ticket you look
19:46
at your raffle tickets and I believe
19:48
it's the raffle tickets going to tell
19:49
you if you've won or not you check your
19:50
raffle tickets and the winning ticket
19:52
will be labeled so that's that's kind of
19:57
what to expect on Wednesday night so on
20:00
Wednesday night tune into your raffle
20:01
account at 8 o'clock and that's when
20:02
you'll find out now what will happen
20:04
then is we will be uh the the the winner
20:09
then needs to take action and claim the
20:11
price so hopefully at 8 o'cl the winner
20:14
will be online they will see they've won
20:17
and they will click to claim the prize
20:20
so then that will notify your of who is
20:23
the winner and presumably I think we're
20:26
going to get your address and then we
20:28
will will get the bike boxed up and
20:31
we're going to get it posted to you so
20:32
that's going to take a few days when you
20:35
get the prize when it arrives you then
20:38
have to go into your account again and
20:40
click some sort of confirmation that
20:43
you've received the prize when you do
20:46
that and only when you do that will
20:48
raffle release the cash to us so there's
20:51
probably going to be a good week to do
20:54
all of the logistics there it's probably
20:56
going to take a week um before I think
20:59
that cash will become available to us so
21:02
that's the situation we're in right now
21:05
as the the quickest way that we receive
21:07
money is by people subscribing so if
21:09
there is anybody who's not yet
21:10
subscribed please consider that if you
21:13
know somebody who should be well that's
21:15
the other thing we're going to do hope
21:16
in a few weeks time if you're already a
21:18
subscriber you're going to be able you
21:20
will get some kind of referral code that
21:22
you can share and if anybody uses that
21:25
code to then subscribe you get a a cut
21:28
you get a reduction in your next
21:31
subscription not entirely sure how
21:33
that's going to work but basically you
21:35
will win and they will win too so
21:37
hopefully we're going to give you guys
21:39
the opportunity to go out there and see
21:41
if you can find as more
21:43
subscribers because ultimately single
21:46
track will
21:48
survive if we've got more of you guys we
21:51
need more uh subscribers um cuz you know
21:56
basically if our subscriptions grow we
21:59
know we're doing it right so um so
22:02
that's where we're at um
22:06
t-shirts I know a lot of you are looking
22:08
forward to the t-shirts if you if you
22:11
donated oh well actually if you donated
22:15
50 pounds or more I wrote in the text
22:17
over50 pounds and um sorry if you were
22:21
one of those people who were confused by
22:23
that and then actually donated
22:26
51 um
22:29
but anyone who's donated 50s is going to
22:32
get a t-shirt 50 PS are over so don't
22:35
panic about that thank you to all those
22:36
people who double check that they were
22:39
going to get a t-shirt by paying 551 uh
22:42
that was my that was my mistake that was
22:45
a that was too vague of me um so
22:47
t-shirts honestly when we when I put the
22:50
T-shirt offer in at the start I thought
22:52
we might be doing a a run of 50 t-shirts
22:55
we're going to be having to order at
22:57
least 200 150 t-shirts that's the state
23:02
of the way things are at the moment
23:04
Amanda's working on the T-shirt design
23:06
she hasn't finished it yet it's going to
23:09
be based on the hamster thing uh
23:11
hopefully there's going to be a a wheel
23:13
in there we're going to go for sort of
23:15
um it's not going to be just a white
23:17
T-shirt or a black T-shirt it's going to
23:18
be probably that hamster color so it's
23:21
like a sort of a light brown cast to the
23:24
to the t-shirt we think and I can give
23:27
you a bit of AE so I don't know you can
23:29
see here these are some of the sort of
23:32
Doodles that Amanda's come up with so
23:35
far so and we're going to make the T
23:38
we're not going to do that thing with a
23:39
t-shirt of making a massive print it's
23:43
going to be subtle it'll be kind of
23:45
probably a small logo is sort of you
23:47
know like there so we're going to keep
23:49
it so we want it to be one of those
23:50
t-shirts that you know you're not afraid
23:52
you you know as modest as you all are
23:54
you would want to wear you know and not
23:57
have people staring at you because
23:59
you've got this enormous massive hamster
24:00
on your chest or anything like that so
24:04
um that's where we are with that uh
24:06
it'll be a few more weeks yet before we
24:08
get those t-shirts because Zoe is
24:11
collecting all your sizes if you've not
24:13
told Zoe yet what your T-shirt size is
24:15
please email her and tell her she's got
24:18
a big spreadsheet she's got your name on
24:20
it already she just needs to know your
24:22
T-shirt size okay uh will there be a
24:24
size guide published good question um it
24:28
depends on which t-shirt we decide to go
24:30
with our traditional choice of T-shirt
24:32
has been always been like a gild down
24:34
heavyweight um we will probably base it
24:37
on something like that uh but yes when
24:39
we know exactly what the t-shirt is
24:41
we're going to print this on then we can
24:43
actually give you an idea of the sizes
24:45
what we're going to do is we're going to
24:46
over order maybe 10% on each of the
24:48
sizes because undoubtedly there's
24:51
there's even if we put a size guide up
24:53
there sometimes you put them on and you
24:54
think ah damn I've chosen the wrong one
24:56
we want to be able to have a a limited
24:59
ability to swap your T-shirt out if if
25:02
you order a small and you should have
25:03
been an extra large we want to be able
25:04
to actually send you out the right size
25:07
so um we will give you gr more
25:09
information on sizes as soon as we've
25:11
finalized which specific t-shirt we're
25:14
actually going to print it on um Chris
25:18
is the 50 p a single donation or total
25:22
of your individual donations pay day and
25:25
is the 50 p a single donation or total
25:28
of your individual
25:29
donations payday and I'm sorry Chris I'm
25:32
not
25:33
sure I'm being a bit idiotic I'm not
25:35
sure what you mean by that um somebody
25:38
mentioned about Gift Aid We're not a
25:40
registered charity so the gift aid thing
25:43
that's doesn't kind of work we can't we
25:46
can't uh bump it up by uh
25:51
unfortunately
25:54
um how oh there a good one block up the
25:56
rad how sure are you that WordPress VIP
25:59
will be a significant Improvement and if
26:01
you stick with it what is the strategy
26:03
to fund the annual Buy payments for it
26:05
in future great question right um we are
26:09
confident very confident that WordPress
26:12
VIP is going to make a massive
26:13
difference all right
26:15
um I can't be 100% confident we don't
26:18
know yet exactly what we got what
26:20
problems it's going to throw up at at us
26:22
but what we are confident about is the
26:26
ability of a WordPress VIP system in
26:28
adapts to traffic it automatically kills
26:32
um unwanted traffic you know a lot of
26:34
our 502s have been because of Dos
26:36
attacks from various parts of the world
26:39
we've actually got all of Iran blocked
26:42
most of Russia I think is totally
26:44
blocked if you're in Russia or Iran you
26:47
cannot access our website and um I think
26:51
China's can be in but we've had problems
26:53
from China so but all of that we have to
26:56
kind of uh manually block those by look
27:00
doing technical things with IP addresses
27:02
and blockings things well WordPress VIP
27:04
takes care of all that so one of the
27:06
things we're very confident about is all
27:09
of that kind of crap that Anthony and
27:11
Andy have to deal with almost on a daily
27:13
basis that doesn't actually improve the
27:17
website at all they're just firefighting
27:19
attacks or they're firefighting or
27:20
trying to hunt down bugs that have
27:23
suddenly stopped your images from
27:24
uploading into the forum for example um
27:28
a lot of that will be taken care of for
27:31
us by the WordPress VIP system and so
27:34
very confident that both Anthony and
27:36
Andy will have a lot more time to spend
27:40
actually creating things for the website
27:43
creating things for our members actually
27:45
improving things bringing in more
27:47
functionality that you've been asking
27:48
for for years so I'm very confident that
27:51
we're going to be in that position in
27:53
terms of funding it I said in the
27:57
original p to you guys that um it it's
28:01
not a great deal more expensive than
28:04
what we're currently paying the problem
28:06
we've got is not having reserves of cash
28:09
and again in that email I sent out I
28:11
explained you know fundamentally that's
28:13
my fault because we've kind of never run
28:17
this business as a kind of profit making
28:21
thing to actually build up reserves it's
28:23
all single trackers you know in terms of
28:26
for me running this thing
28:28
I've always been happy that we've paid
28:30
the bills and people got
28:32
paid in retrospect because of a perfect
28:34
storm of recession and advertising and
28:37
the bike industry shooting itself in the
28:39
foot all those things have come together
28:42
to mean that that that's kind of put us
28:45
in a tricky situation
28:47
because if we had been sort of more if
28:51
we' run the whole thing more as a sort
28:53
of a profit making Enterprise would have
28:54
had reserves and would able to get
28:56
through this so that's kind of why um
29:01
we're kind of in this
29:03
situation and but in terms of the server
29:06
and the cost of the server we currently
29:08
pay monthly and that's that's easy to
29:10
manage it's a cash flow thing it's easy
29:12
to manage monthly payments um with
29:15
workers Erp they actually on if you're
29:19
if you're paying less than
29:20
$100,000 a year for your account and
29:24
what you pay depends on traffic um then
29:27
you you don't get a monthly option
29:29
unless you're paying them over £100,000
29:31
$100,000 a year so us coming in at a
29:35
$25,000 year level we they weren't going
29:38
to give us a monthly option
29:41
I negotiated on behalf of you know our
29:45
situation and they did relent and allow
29:47
us to do a buy annual
29:51
so if we get switched if we manage to
29:54
get the old site Switched Off we're not
29:55
going to be paying effectively what
29:57
we're paying there we were paying
29:58
basically £2,000 a month for our
30:00
existing server setup and all the tech
30:02
that will stop and we'll move over to
30:05
Wordpress VIP with its single its two
30:08
payments a year so that means that once
30:10
we've got through this month and we've
30:11
got the new site up and running we're
30:13
not going to have a monthly payment for
30:15
six months so the the overall annual
30:19
cash flow should we should be able to do
30:22
it because we're going to be saving
30:23
£2,000 a month so that should allow us
30:26
to pay the bill in September for for uh
30:28
the next half of the year so that's the
30:31
that's the financial model and that's
30:32
how we're um but of course we've got to
30:35
get through the year and a lot of thing
30:37
has to go right for us for that to
30:40
happen and right weas
30:45
VP
30:50
uh ah yes Chris yes yeah I get you now
30:53
yes um we will be checking through the
30:56
list um that's a good point
30:58
um I can't say that we were going to do
31:00
that but you've made a good point and
31:02
we'll definitely do that so yes we'll go
31:04
down Z zor will go down the list and if
31:06
you're in there twice and it's your two
31:08
donations get you over 50 Quid urine for
31:10
a t-shirt we're not going to be stingy
31:11
with the t-shirts so um don't don't
31:14
worry about that we
31:15
will uh so yes Chris get get your total
31:19
donation of 50 Quid you're in the club
31:21
for a t-shirt have we got enough coffee
31:24
for when 250 t-shirt owners Rock up yeah
31:26
that's a good question uh
31:28
we've got the um we got the
31:29
infrastructure the coffee machine uh
31:32
anyone who's been to our office knows
31:34
that we have one of the most famous
31:35
coffee machines in the entire bike
31:37
industry we have uh a a a weer coffee
31:42
machine is it weer or is it Vega chips
31:45
how do you pronounce it I think it's
31:46
weager isn't it w g but whether it's a
31:50
um yeah and we've got beans as chips has
31:54
just said in the comments we've got
31:55
beans over the road we can always stock
31:56
up on beans that's not a problem
31:58
uh so yeah the coffee machine we have
32:00
interesting story if anybody doesn't
32:02
know it it's the oldest actual asset
32:06
that single track actually
32:08
owns when it was about
32:11
2002 Vega all right Vega right thanks
32:16
chips um when we um when we got started
32:21
I think it around about 200 we started
32:23
2001 2002 we got our first office in
32:26
todan which is just around the corner
32:27
for where offices now it's a tiny little
32:30
shop and uh honestly the the entire
32:33
office was smaller than our current
32:34
kitchen and chips was living down south
32:39
he moved up and there was a flat right
32:41
above the office and he moved into the
32:42
flat right above the office and I
32:46
remember one evening CH I think chips
32:48
you were bidding on a a different coffee
32:51
machine on eBay you didn't win that one
32:54
but you contacted the guy who was
32:56
selling it and he said oh I've got
32:57
another one if you're interested chip
32:59
said yeah I'm interested and the guy
33:01
says right well meet me in the car park
33:04
of the service station on the m62 at
33:07
9:00 tonight with
33:09
cash and uh I think was it 300 quids I
33:13
think it was 300 quid he wanted for it
33:15
this is in 2002 so Chip said I'm bobbing
33:18
out I'm going to buy a coffee machine
33:20
and honestly he left and I thought
33:22
that's the last we're going to see of
33:23
him he's going to be he's going to be
33:25
found in a ditch with 300 quid Less in
33:29
the morning but uh Hey press so we
33:31
turned up later that evening with a
33:33
coffee machine it took two of us to
33:34
carry all the way up to his flat because
33:37
it was the size of a small washing
33:40
machine and um and that coffee machine I
33:43
think at the time chips was about it was
33:45
about 15 years old at the time so it's
33:47
now about 35 nearly 40 years old it's
33:50
been serviced every year and every time
33:51
chips comes into the office he gives it
33:53
a good clean and gives it a good service
33:56
and uh and it's still going strong and I
33:58
think it's it's had so much replac on it
34:02
now that it is literally uh the coffee
34:04
machine equivalent of triggers broom uh
34:07
I think the only the the outside case is
34:09
probably the only thing that's actually
34:11
original on it so yeah the coffee
34:13
machine can knock out some seriously
34:15
good coffee so we will be able to deal
34:17
with it I don't I'm kind of hoping that
34:19
all 250 of you don't turn up at once and
34:22
also we run a bit of a hybrid office
34:25
situation we're all in on a Wednesday so
34:27
if you're going to come and knock on the
34:29
door it's fine we want you to um best do
34:32
it on a Wednesday there's there's more
34:34
people to chat with on a Wednesday and
34:37
uh we'll you know so do that right more
34:39
questions let me see all right someone
34:41
said an actual serious question about
34:43
what
34:43
happens if VIP doesn't work yeah we can
34:48
wind you back it's an annual contract
34:50
only so we probably we'll be stuck with
34:52
them for a year especially if we've paid
34:54
six months up front um but after a year
34:57
we could um we could wind it down and
34:59
and move I don't anticipate that I think
35:02
I'm very confident that WordPress VIP is
35:04
going to be a very very good thing for
35:06
us um it's yeah it's hard to explain
35:12
without being horribly geeky and techy
35:14
just how good it is um and there's a
35:17
reason why some of the biggest
35:18
publishing companies biggest media
35:20
companies in the world actually use it
35:22
and we're going to be one of them that's
35:23
going to be cool uh let me see could
35:26
they collect the tea well yeah you can
35:28
if you're in the neighborhood and you
35:30
come like on a Wednesday or give us a
35:31
heads up that you're coming and if you
35:33
want to pick up your t-shirt in person
35:36
then yeah why not let's do that Zoe's
35:39
probably going no stop don't do that but
35:41
yeah no I don't see why there's a
35:42
problem with that do we have decaf death
35:45
before decaf is uh is kind of the Mantra
35:48
around
35:49
here if if if you want decaf coffee then
35:53
we We've Got Tea you can have a cup of
35:55
have a cup of tea is there any caffeine
35:57
in
35:59
yeah let me see can I
36:04
just
36:10
H uh Adrian are you allowed to sell off
36:13
products you've done with after reviews
36:15
or do you have to return them to Brands
36:17
we never own any of the kit that's sent
36:21
to us um quite often that's made clear
36:24
on invoices we'll get an invoice
36:26
certainly some distributors will send us
36:27
an invoice with the bike and the invoice
36:30
is to us and it is um we we will get a
36:34
full credit on that invoice once we
36:36
return the bike so sometimes they do
36:38
that quite often that doesn't happen but
36:41
still we've not paid for it they've not
36:44
sent it to us in with the with the
36:48
express understanding that we will own
36:50
it it's always theirs so everything that
36:52
we get for test never belongs to us and
36:55
if it's ever asked for back it goes back
36:58
all bikes the you know 99% of all bikes
37:01
go back we can't sell them we don't sell
37:04
any of the test gear we you know quite
37:06
often Brands will say no keep it make
37:08
sure it gets used but we still we don't
37:10
sell it however we're kind of uh hoping
37:14
that the raffle thing will kick off in
37:17
regards to that and that we'll be able
37:19
to offer some really cool prizes that
37:21
are definitely um in return for the
37:24
brand giving us the bike in order to
37:26
give it to you to so it's kind of a de
37:28
facto sale isn't it but no we don't
37:30
receive stuff um and sell it it's kind
37:35
of I think many ways that's kind of I
37:38
don't
37:38
know that's immoral it's not ours to
37:41
sell unless it's been specifically given
37:44
to us so um let's see what else we got
37:47
Mains electricity pressur water in a
37:49
metal box what could possibly go wrong
37:50
well yeah it's it's a better oh I
37:54
remember when it came chips brought it
37:56
in and it was a three F power supply so
38:00
I had like four wires sticking out of
38:02
the thing and uh so chips went down the
38:06
road to our local you know sort of DIY
38:09
place and said hello does anybody have a
38:11
plug that I can put on this and um they
38:14
sort of there was lots of breathing
38:17
sucking in between teeth of electricians
38:19
at that point any we we got it fixed it
38:21
got changed it's plugged in it's plumbed
38:23
in it has its own water supply and
38:25
drainage it's literally like a was
38:27
machine it has to be plumbed
38:29
in um coffee flash mob we can only knock
38:32
out what well actually we could it's one
38:34
head so we can get like we get two
38:36
espressos at a time so if you want to do
38:38
a coffee flash
38:39
mob there's going to be a queue for
38:41
quite a while it uh but we're pretty
38:43
good at knocking out coffee from this
38:45
thing pretty pretty fast um so
38:49
yeah uh poop
38:54
scoop oh that's really nice thanks
38:56
thanks poop that's
38:59
good uh thanks for the uh for the the
39:02
good luck wishes there Chris as well um
39:04
hopefully we'll be out it'll work and we
39:06
we'll get through this and we'll thrive
39:09
on the other side um we would offer a
39:12
reffle prize whenever you do on Matt how
39:15
ah cool drop me an email if um anyone
39:18
who's listened to this in the with the
39:20
ability to offer up some raffle prizes
39:22
it it is always in return for some promo
39:25
you know so it's not you know like I
39:27
said we're not a charity I don't really
39:30
want charity which is a d thing to say
39:33
when you donated isn't it but we want
39:35
it's more I want you to think that
39:37
you're more investing that you're going
39:39
to get something back and that includes
39:41
the people in the industry who suppliers
39:43
with stuff that we we can put into the
39:45
raffle we hope you're going to get
39:46
something out of it as well you get some
39:48
marketing out of it so it's not it's not
39:50
just uh you know a charity we want to
39:53
make sure that we do our bit as um as we
39:56
sit here in this weird place media
40:00
sitting in no man's land between readers
40:02
and the industry we sit in the Middle
40:05
where that's sort of
40:06
conduit so um we want to make sure we
40:08
provide really good value for both sides
40:10
of that
40:11
equation uh let's see Kevin oh you're
40:15
okay you're here now Kevin so that's
40:17
fine uh what are the Hope developments
40:19
for the future website once we
40:21
transferred to VIP and you guys have
40:22
more time good question as well we
40:24
haven't actually got to that so managing
40:26
expectations first thing that's going to
40:28
happen is the website will look exactly
40:30
the same except it will be on WordPress
40:33
VIP so I hope no one's under the
40:37
illusion that we're going to suddenly
40:38
redesign the whole website our first
40:40
thing is to just transplant it from
40:42
where it is onto the new servers and
40:44
it's not a simple job it's not a cut and
40:47
paste of code things it's a lot more
40:50
difficult than that if we do that great
40:52
that's the foundation so we will get to
40:54
that point where the website operates on
40:57
WordPress VIP like it does now it'll
41:00
bring with it bugs not all the things
41:03
are going to be fixed but once it's
41:05
there and it's stable and it's fast then
41:07
we get to work and we get to work on
41:10
fixing all the stuff that isn't working
41:12
right now we get to work on making sure
41:14
that everything that should work does
41:16
work the problem we have at the moment
41:17
is there's so much Tech involved in the
41:19
back end of running the subscription
41:20
system the classified ads all the rest
41:23
of these things there's so many plugins
41:25
which are all individual programs and
41:27
all individual pieces of software and
41:29
what we need them all to do is to all
41:30
work together and communicate and be
41:32
smooth and that's not always the case
41:34
and then we get these really awful
41:36
errors like we change something in the
41:38
cache to make uh the front end of the
41:40
website better or we change the the
41:42
image optimization and all of a sudden
41:44
somewhere something else on the website
41:46
not that you would imagine is not
41:48
related to that suddenly the private
41:50
message function on the classifi
41:52
disappears because we optimized this bit
41:56
over here which is to do with with
41:58
images so that's the kind of spaghetti
42:01
spaghettification that we've got going
42:03
on with the tech the WordPress VIP has
42:05
so much of those plugins just built into
42:08
the core that we're going to get rid of
42:09
all of those things should work a lot
42:11
smoother so first step replicate what we
42:14
have that b done totally stable then we
42:18
get to work on fixing stuff and then we
42:20
can work on the things the the
42:22
improvements of the things that we want
42:24
to do we want to make um um the for we
42:28
actually one of the things we're working
42:29
on we want an app version of The Forum
42:32
so that members can actually just get
42:35
the app on their phone bit like you can
42:37
do with um mom's net has an app doesn't
42:40
it um we've got to be careful with that
42:42
because the thing is that it
42:45
will we' that'll be a member's only
42:48
thing um just simply because of the
42:50
advertising that it would not go along
42:52
with it but yeah so there's there's
42:54
stuff like that we do have other plans
42:58
uh what
43:00
development uh Simon yes that's a really
43:04
lovely thing to say and uh we we
43:07
appreciate that and we we're not blind
43:09
to that that single track is strangely
43:14
important
43:15
although I did say it's kind of light
43:18
entertainment in the mountain biking
43:19
world and we don't tend to take
43:22
ourselves too
43:23
seriously um for some reason it's become
43:27
a really important part of a lot of your
43:30
daily lives and we we we are aware of
43:32
that and which is why I guess one of the
43:34
reasons why we're having this
43:36
conversation now I've talked for 45
43:39
minutes and not drunk my beer so I'm
43:41
just going to have a drink now and just
43:42
let you guys throw some more questions
43:44
in won't be going on for much longer
43:46
than this I don't
43:48
think so yeah gol machine needs an
43:51
article
43:53
on Fresh bruise Friday that's not a bad
43:56
idea we have been trying to get a coffee
43:58
sponsor funly enough um I mean we do our
44:02
own coffee and we've got um Kirby lonell
44:05
who make our coffee want to make some
44:06
more coffee with that's another thing
44:08
that we want to get the time to do is
44:10
develop some more of our merchandise so
44:12
you'll notice at the moment that the
44:14
merchandise part of the website is is
44:16
lacking in
44:17
merchandise um one of the reasons that
44:20
that is is because of the squeezing
44:24
resources and money we've had to kind of
44:25
focus on the parts of the business bus
44:27
that make clear money and the
44:30
merchandise thing sounds like it should
44:31
make a lot of money but the thing was
44:34
Charlie ran our um merchandise he
44:37
retired he literally did retire in
44:40
October Lucky Bastard um but the thing
44:44
with that whole merchandise thing is he
44:45
never really made enough money because
44:48
the cost of having Charlie to run the
44:50
whole thing ate into any profit REM made
44:53
from selling the merchandise so we have
44:55
to come up with a new way of doing mer
44:57
merchandise that's more manageable and
44:58
built into the the business in order for
45:00
it to be an important sort of Revenue
45:02
stream but we're working on that we
45:04
think we've got some ideas we're going
45:06
to do that there'll be some more
45:07
t-shirts coming along that you can buy
45:09
um shortly so we'll we'll take that
45:13
we'll get that going right what the beer
45:14
is the beer oh it's
45:16
actually that's the
45:18
beer every day hazy pale from vocation
45:22
okay local
45:23
Brewery um that's out my be 52
45:26
subscription which I've been trying to
45:28
cancel for 12 months
45:32
and they keep sending me beer keep
45:35
paying for it but um will there be a
45:39
playback for this
45:40
really um yeah I think by default it
45:44
goes into our thing and if you really
45:47
want
45:48
to go back and watch 45 minutes of me
45:51
rabbiting then yeah uh it is it is a
45:54
lush beer it is very nice uh beer
45:57
sponsor is actually today right Fresh
46:01
Goods F we been contacted by a Scottish
46:04
Brewery and uh someone who's actually I
46:07
don't know whether you're in the
46:08
audience here but he's actually one of
46:10
our subscribers and he runs a brewer in
46:12
Scotland and he's going to be he's
46:14
sending us some beer direct to the
46:15
office that we'll put into fresh goods
46:17
obviously because you know beer is
46:19
always featured highly but he's also
46:21
going to send his discount code for you
46:23
guys so um so that should be good should
46:26
be good
46:29
um de-stress and chill
46:32
yes you know what one of the biggest
46:34
de-stresses of this whole thing because
46:35
it has been massively stressful one of
46:39
the biggest
46:40
relieve senses of relief I've had was
46:44
actually telling you all that this is
46:46
the situation and for me personally
46:50
that's is like a huge weight lift it
46:52
doesn't solve anything but just kind of
46:56
um
46:57
just telling you guys has made a huge
46:59
difference the reaction uh that you guys
47:02
have done and the amount that you've
47:03
donated has made such a difference to me
47:07
personally it certainly has across the
47:09
board everybody here at single track is
47:11
just blown away but speaking for myself
47:14
it's been a huge weight off my shoulders
47:17
sort of uh explaining to you guys where
47:19
we're at
47:22
um all right Rick you'll have a beer
47:24
instead yeah yeah there's there's plenty
47:27
but there's always beers FL there's um
47:28
there don't tell chips but I've got one
47:31
of it I've got a very nice bottle of
47:33
tequila sort of um hidden away on my
47:36
desk that was in his big box of booze
47:39
that he didn't take to France with him
47:40
so sorry chairs it's mine
47:43
now oh everybody's now jumping on the
47:45
beer bandwagon
47:47
look coffee there's loads of coffee will
47:50
uh if everybody wants beer we'll have to
47:51
do
47:52
something we'll have to come up with a
47:55
sponsor for that uh uh you always sell
47:57
your mag to oh right you you always sell
48:00
the mag to you your mates cool is that
48:03
another way of getting your money
48:04
back or do you mean you promote it to
48:07
your mates that's that's that's
48:09
cool play the ban I haven't picked up
48:12
that Bano for quite a long time because
48:14
instead I've been concentrating mostly
48:17
on the
48:18
drums that's my big de-stress thing the
48:23
banjo is funny enough all these
48:25
instruments are
48:28
for
48:28
de-stressing uh so some of you might
48:31
know that I've been doing a lot of
48:32
skateboarding the last year or so again
48:35
that is also a mental health thing
48:39
basically the way I switch off is to do
48:42
something that I find really really
48:44
difficult
48:45
because that takes up a
48:48
100% of my brain whenever we do it
48:52
drumming is takes up all of my brain and
48:56
while I'm drumming I'm not thinking
48:59
about
49:01
money and the business I going I think
49:04
about the business all the time but when
49:06
I'm drumming or skateboarding
49:08
skateboarding especially because the
49:09
danger is so high if I if you only gave
49:12
it 99% of my mental capacity at any time
49:16
I would break something and I'm
49:18
desperately scared of doing that but
49:20
yeah if anyone's around in Manchester
49:22
and wants to get into skateboarding
49:24
Greystone Action Sports in s
49:27
uh every Monday and Thursday they do
49:29
adult skate lessons for beginners and
49:33
improvers and it's amazing the people
49:36
there are absolutely amazing so you
49:37
should come along to that if you if
49:38
you're fancy doing a bit Escape they got
49:40
all the gear cost about 12 quid and
49:42
three quid to hire board and you can
49:44
come and join us ah right there won't be
49:48
any playing of the banjo I'm afraid
49:50
sorry poop because well uh I haven't got
49:54
my fingers all gone soft
49:59
any more questions otherwise I think um
50:02
we could wrap it
50:08
up everybody knows my email
50:11
address yeah you know ch's email address
50:13
you know it's Market single track World
50:15
chips at single track world just um drop
50:18
us an email after this if you don't want
50:19
to ask questions in the in the chat here
50:21
and you want to ask something oneto one
50:23
then send me an email that's absolutely
50:25
cool um
50:28
13 pounds for 12 cans of Asda yeah but
50:31
is it drinkable seriously as is it is a
50:35
is a beer for a quid in a can actually
50:37
going to be drinkable I doubt it uh wrap
50:41
it up with a drum roll the thing is Lee
50:43
it's it's an electronic drum kit so I
50:46
could put headphones on but you wouldn't
50:47
hear
50:48
[Laughter]
50:50
anything adab boom Tish yeah that's all
50:54
you're going to get I'm afraid right
50:59
I
51:00
think unless anyone's got any more
51:02
questions that's probably going to be it
51:04
I think 50 minutes of subjecting you all
51:06
to me rabbiting on is about as much as
51:11
anyone should be uh should be taken
51:14
thank you for everybody who's tuned in
51:17
there's like still 73 of you hanging
51:20
around which is remarkable I thought
51:22
there' be a few dozen but yeah um we're
51:26
going going keep going we're going to
51:27
keep surviving
51:29
Adrien and uh we'll just keep trying to
51:32
keep you all as entertained as we can
51:35
and uh yeah thank you
51:39
all I'm going to go and finish my beer
51:42
now it's g a bit flat now but all right
51:45
guys see you
51:51
later just watching the messages come up
51:54
and just making sure to say goodbye to
51:55
everybody
51:59
all right I'm going to press the button
52:01
now goodbye
#Sports