Thanks KJ. And yes, they were dvertising generated by Google, but I noted that we were being swamped with non-bike related stuff and in any case it did not generate much income. I was getting around $600 per year from that, which along with maybe $4-500 per year from donations about covered my costs. It is around the $1000 mark for my server and application hosting (which incidentally is due in a couple of months).
I much prefer the look of the site now, and part of the impetus for me to do it is noting the increase in use of the Ning site. it seems to have reached the point where people are using it and interacting more and so I think it has started to really come together. And it will do that better with the new layout and no advertising!