Not, not talking about Gall, Ballard etc.
I'm talking about the blokes who do stuff to help out, that really make you sit back and think "Geez there are some good people involved in this sport!" - stuff that goes beyond the normal bounds of 'not being a cock of a person', 'making sure I get good Ebay feedback' or even 'just being a mate'.
This thread was inspired by a few things that have happened in the last few days:
1. I left my DT1 with Vandy after CD6. The deal was that it would sit quietly in the corner of his garage until I picked it up before the Nats - not too much of an imposition, although a big help for me.
Somewhere along the lines, it got a lot more complex - the (very) short version is that I've gotten him in the pooh with his missus, he's washed it for me, had about 500 phone calls (including while he was on holidays), dealt with some guy I sold some car wheels to, and now taken the bike over to Basil44's place for me.
2. I bought some KLX parts from Greg in Sydney. Jimgau1 offers to go and pick them up - this involves taking time off work, borrowing his dad's wagon, putting petrol into it, driving for nearly an hour out of his way, and storing a big pile of crap that he has no interest in, until I come and pick them up from him.
3. Despite leaving the DT1 in Qld, I've got to get a second bike to Qld, and Noel's trailer has only one spot left. Shit! I call Snowy and he says "Yeah, we've got a three bike trailer, with only two bikes on it, shouldn't be a drama".
OK, so how do I get the bike to him? Quick call to Dennis (oz555ktm) and I'll drop the bike off at his place for Snowy to collect.
No drama for either of them, even though its a half-hour detour for Snowy, and Dennis has to stand out in the cold in a t-shirt.
4. I bought a couple of ITs in Adelaide. Freaky picks them up and stores them for me for a couple of months (rather than the couple of weeks that we'd both intended). Then Tony T picks them up from Freaky, and brings them and Walloway's MX125C bitsa to Harrow for me. Oh, and he goes via Murray Bridge to pick up a Montesa frame for me.
Even tells his wife that she's only allowed to pack one pair of shoes, because his (large) car and trailer are chokka-block full of my shit!
Then he takes the DT1 back to Walloway's place.
And point-blak refuses even petrol money!
So yeah, I reckon they're all a bunch of champions, and are definitely building their stocks of good karma.
I'll bet that everyone has a similar story - let's hear them.