Daves Photo Page
dbeck
November 26, 2002
Description:
I started riding ATVs in 1996. My brother in-law purchased a Honda 300 4x4 and I knew that if I was stuck sitting around the cabin while he was out riding it would make me crazy! I purchased a Honda 300 4x4 and 9 months later bought a second ATV which was a Yamaha Wolverine. At the time, the Wolverine and the Polaris Scrambler were the only two sport utility ATVs on the market.In 1996 there was only one ATV web site on the entire Internet. The site was a personal site made by Dave Dossett (ATVDave.) I started ATV Connection in 1996 and it was the first commercial ATV web site. I took what I learned from CompuServe and AOL and I built community features into our ATV Internet magazine. I added email discussion forums, a web-based discussion forum and an ATV chat room running IRC. These were all ahead of their time and are widely copied today. Being a pioneer in the early days of the Internet was difficult. There was no road to follow and most of what I tried was trial and error.I remember sitting at the computer at 11:00 pm at night watching for the last update on the traffic statistics for the day. The first time we had 12 people visit the site we celebrated! Then it was 100, 500, 1000 and now today we have over 200,000 unique readers each month from over 50 different Countries! We grew from one web server to ten and became our own ISP in order to support the bandwidth and hardware needs driven by ATV Connection Magazine.We've come along way since those early beginnings in 1996. But our focus to "connect ATVers" from around the world and to provide an informative, interesting and a fun place to visit has remained unchanged. As we continue to grow we'll be in a stronger position to do more for the ATV industry and community and especially to support the efforts of ATV clubs.Its been a privilege and an honor to serve the ATV community these last 6 years. I look forward to seeing what the future holds as the industry grows and more people become involved in the sport.In my photos below you'll see pictures of my current passion. I've been flying Powered Parachutes for two years. I'm a basic flight instructor and have taught 7 people how to fly so far. One of the most rewarding things is to see the look in a person's eyes right after they soloed for the first time!
I started riding ATVs in 1996. My brother in-law purchased a Honda 300 4x4 and I knew that if I was stuck sitting around the cabin while he was out riding it would make me crazy! I purchased a Honda 300 4x4 and 9 months later bought a second ATV which was a Yamaha Wolverine. At the time, the Wolverine and the Polaris Scrambler were the only two sport utility ATVs on the market.In 1996 there was only one ATV web site on the entire Internet. The site was a personal site made by Dave Dossett (ATVDave.) I started ATV Connection in 1996 and it was the first commercial ATV web site. I took what I learned from CompuServe and AOL and I built community features into our ATV Internet magazine. I added email discussion forums, a web-based discussion forum and an ATV chat room running IRC. These were all ahead of their time and are widely copied today. Being a pioneer in the early days of the Internet was difficult. There was no road to follow and most of what I tried was trial and error.I remember sitting at the computer at 11:00 pm at night watching for the last update on the traffic statistics for the day. The first time we had 12 people visit the site we celebrated! Then it was 100, 500, 1000 and now today we have over 200,000 unique readers each month from over 50 different Countries! We grew from one web server to ten and became our own ISP in order to support the bandwidth and hardware needs driven by ATV Connection Magazine.We've come along way since those early beginnings in 1996. But our focus to "connect ATVers" from around the world and to provide an informative, interesting and a fun place to visit has remained unchanged. As we continue to grow we'll be in a stronger position to do more for the ATV industry and community and especially to support the efforts of ATV clubs.Its been a privilege and an honor to serve the ATV community these last 6 years. I look forward to seeing what the future holds as the industry grows and more people become involved in the sport.In my photos below you'll see pictures of my current passion. I've been flying Powered Parachutes for two years. I'm a basic flight instructor and have taught 7 people how to fly so far. One of the most rewarding things is to see the look in a person's eyes right after they soloed for the first time!
