Truth..you are right. You need to know the club you are in and the club needs to know you, the rider. So it works both ways. Now there are many clubs out there that are more concerned about the number of members and not the quality of the members. WOS for example, we don't care how many so much as having good riders. You want to be able to trust the guys riding around you. Otherwise they are just putting you at more risk to crash.
Without going to much in depth, WOS has many guidlines and rules to ensure more safety and a better quality member.
Clubs are a hard thing to start and keep alive. Us, in WOS can vouch for that. But once you find a good club, you'll find more than just a good group of guys and gals but a good group of friends...and that is the backbone of WOS.
*WOS advertisement over for now!