A Statement Concerning "Riding Gravel"

Back at the beginning of December 2023 I announced that all my reviewing work would be appearing here on this blog. I said at the time that I couldn't really say anything more about the situation. Well, now things have been wrapped up in totality with the site "Riding Gravel", and I have ended my part-ownership in that entity. So, now I can talk about it. 

First - Why talk about this at all? I think it is fair to say that readers of that site and this blog may have some questions that pertain to my association to that site and may wonder what happened there. I have noted some of these questions recently. That is why I feel a bit of an obligation to those supporters of mine to give them somewhat of an explanation as to why I left that site. 

That said, I am not going into any personal feelings I may or may not have and opinions on what may have gone down with my former partner. Speculations will not be a part of this. 

Okay, so I think it is fair to say that I had expectations of being compensated for my contributions and in the beginning, I did receive a fair share of revenues when advertisers did pay the site for advertisements. However; that started to dry up in 2022 and there were also the issues with getting the "Riding Gravel Radio Ranch" podcast uploaded on a regular basis for whatever reason that was due to. All I know is that it was a bit of a source of frustration for me. My former partner was supposed to be helping with that. So, I took that into my own hands and started the podcast production and publishing myself. Then I broke that off from "Riding Gravel" altogether. 

My initial plan was to stop contributing to that site at the end of 2022. However, an email which was sent to me and my former partner from a potential advertiser promising a $5,000.00 spend came in December of 2023. This advertiser was coming on, in large part due to myself, and the contributors to the site, being writers there. I felt an obligation to that loyal advertiser and supporter of mine, so I decided to stick around for 2023 and see what would happen. 

And all throughout 2023 neither I, nor any of the contributors, were compensated once for our contributions to the site. That much is fact. So, I decided after the advertiser's obligations were met that I would cease writing for the site. I asked my former partner to be released from our agreement. Then, a week or so ago, the settlement came through which effectively ended the partnership and released me from the former agreement. My compensation wasn't anything to write home about, but at least it was something. 

So, to sum up: I asked to be released from the partnership agreement mainly because I was not being compensated for my work and because of the difficulties involved in dealing with my former partner. I regret that it came to that, and I apologize to any former and current advertisers, to the companies that entrusted myself and the contributors with review work, and especially to the readers of that site, who enjoyed my content, and the contributor's content, but will no longer will see our contributions there. 

As stated, the contributors who came on due to their relationships with me are also no longer contributing to that site, and that is of their own volition. I did not ask for them to end their work with that site. To be sure, the contributions of Matt Gersib (MG) Michael Troy, (Grannygear) and John Ingham, and with the podcast - Dave Roll, (N.Y. Roll), and Andy, amongst a few others, were central to whatever success we enjoyed at that site and brought untold opportunities to myself, the site, and enriched the lives of the readers and listeners to a degree that cannot be measured. They all contributed without compensation as well. I owe a LOT of my own success to these individuals and I would not have come as far as I have without any of them. Many thanks to these folks for being such great people to work with! 

And with that I will not be mentioning this again. I just thought it would be good to clear the air since I have noted a few misconceptions and questions about my actions voiced on the internet. Hopefully this will answer any of those questions and clear up any misconceptions about my actions since December of 2023 in regard to Riding Gravel.