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Motorcycle Safety and Awareness
Welcome to think bike, the podcast about all things motorcycle and the voice of motorcycle safety and awareness in Alberta. Your host is Leanne Langlois.
Liane:Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of think Bike. We are in oh my god. It's already the mid season review, and I am joined by our vice president of, AMSS, Sean Conner, and our producer, Bryn Grimbus. Hey, guys.
Bryn:Hello. Hello.
Liane:Hello. That was
Bryn:Can you believe how fast this year is going? I I can't.
Liane:It was just winter.
Bryn:Yeah. And it'll be just winter again, but let's not worry too much about Yeah.
Liane:That's all right. I mean, as long as we're Sean and I are getting some riding in and everyone else, I guess that's all really that matters. I wanna start this mid season review really kind of getting the crappy story out of the way which is not as crappy as previous years but we have recorded at the time of this recording, we have found that there is at least eight fatalities in the province of Alberta. Some interesting things about this is, well, first they're all male which tends to be the dominance in these awful statistics anyway. Yeah.
Liane:But there's only one that has happened outside of city limits. And I can't really fault the guy even though it was a single vehicle. Dear or unpredictable, we had an episode about that last season.
Bryn:Think it you know you know what, though? When you're driving around the city, I I gotta be honest, driving around in a car like I do, I'm not thinking deer. Right? I'm just not. And and there's a lot of deer through River Valley in the city of Edmonton and in Calgary and on the edges of the city.
Bryn:It's not something I think about. Now when I'm really driving, I think about animals all the time. The other thing too is that there's a lot of other animals. There's rabbits. There's coyotes.
Bryn:But for some
Liane:reason Porcupines.
Bryn:Porcupines. You're right. We just don't think about animals driving around cities or cycling around cities. I so you're right. I don't know.
Bryn:Do if you guy do you guys think about animals when you're riding?
Liane:Not so much in the city. I mean, I saw a couple moose on the loose in my neighborhood on Canada Day, which it doesn't get more Canadian than that. Out in the country, I think Sean would agree, like, not in the city, but out of the city, it's a hunt for deer.
Sean:At dusk as well, sort of early in the morning and in the evenings. Yeah, that's when I look out.
Liane:Yeah, there's a certain time of day that they are out, but yeah, that was our one rule and our oldest person who's passed away this year topped us out at 51, which is way too young to have that kind of an incident happen. But everything else has been within city limits. And I don't know if this is winning, but Edmonton's winning with five to Calgary's too. Like that's not the game I want to be playing. No.
Liane:But even with Calgary's too, Sean, like you're down there. There's a lot going on, but like one of the two was legitimately a driver changing lanes on Stoney Trail and you would think with news breaking of a fatality on a Ducati Pentagalli, you would think that bike would have been doing something dumb and it wasn't. It was just riding along and some dude changed lanes.
Sean:Yeah. Happened to me the other day. Stoney Trail. Just driving I went out for lunch from work, and it's all Stoney Trail.
Bryn:Hey. Can I bring up another thing here too, Sean? What's the what's the situation for construction like on Stoney Trail this year? Because I cannot remember a season like this one in Edmonton for construction. It's absolutely insane getting from downtown to the West End can take about forty minutes at some time.
Bryn:And I'm thinking, wonder if there's an impatience factor coming here.
Sean:Oh, I see that. Yes. There is a lot of construction in Calgary. It's not so much in Stony Trail. I only do the sort of the Northeast to Southeast corners.
Sean:Deerfoot is a nightmare. Always. It's ripped up from Glen I have to go through Glenmore and Deerfoot and I don't, I just avoid it altogether.
Liane:Yeah. Was ripped up when I was down there in the spring.
Sean:It's a two year project for that expansion.
Liane:Ridiculous. The other fatality you had down there was at the June and it was speeding of course. So that's where I think Bryn, like where we see a lot of impatience, it's not just with construction, but just drivers in general because in Edmonton it has all been rider error allegedly. And it's hit somebody hit a building, somebody was speeding, illegal passing on a solid when a vehicle's slowing to turn left within the city limits. Usually we hear that one out rule.
Liane:Ran a red light and hit a vehicle turning left, like speeding and hit the curb and then a tree. Like it's just like, I don't know what to do with this anymore. It's been five years at the same thing where the majority of fatalities have been at the hands of our own community.
Bryn:See, to me, all of those are impatient issues. Right?
Sean:Mhmm.
Bryn:People
Liane:Or lack of skill.
Bryn:Speeding. Yeah. And they're going way too fast for their skill level. And, also, when you take a look at Edmonton and Calgary here in the last five years, the amount of growth on population alone is forcing construction to be doubled and tripled because you can't keep up. Yeah.
Bryn:So I I'm I'm gonna put a lot of this on the fact that people, if they've slowed down in some areas of the city, are gonna try to make it up some way. And I and, I I just I'm just wondering if that's the case. All I know is this. You just gotta be patient whether you're driving a, you know, driving a car or, or riding a motorcycle, slow down.
Liane:Yeah. I would definitely agree with that. Especially on a motorcycle, like we're, we're pretty vulnerable out there and, you know, some people are lacking some gear. I talk often with you know, the road racers as well, once in a while reach out and be like, Oh, another one, hey, and then you hear the rumors of maybe they weren't even a full class six licensed person or didn't take any training. Sean, advice for those folks?
Sean:For people without training, take training.
Liane:I mean, it's funny, but it's not.
Sean:No, it's overall sad. Talking to these people at shows and things and they're all looking quite young and looking for the fastest bike they can afford. And I always forget, I like starting some of the conversations with when they're getting insurance, that's a big factor in the cost. And so they sacrifice their equipment and gear because that's not factored in. But you can insure some of that too, can't you?
Sean:It's almost worth splurging on it because if it's covered, you can replace that, but you can't replace your ankle.
Liane:Well, said our sport is cheap.
Bryn:No. One other thing, when we first started doing this podcast in the early going, was it not the other way around? Were we not having problems rurally?
Liane:And A lot rural and a lot more driver That's
Bryn:what I was thinking.
Liane:Yeah. No, it has switched to a lot more urban and a lot more, like a lot more rider error. And you know, it'd be really great if we could get all of the information on it. Like were they licensed? Were they did they take training?
Liane:But you know, FOIP is FOIP and there's only so much that we can get and we're never gonna push. But until the province lets us fully into all of the aspects of the statistics, like we have to run with what we know, which is a lot of people either out riding their skill levels or not trained or on the wrong bike. And you know, we will have an episode coming up in the second half of the season from somebody who has a hard lesson in getting too big of a bike too quick and why that shouldn't happen. But all right, let's get off the sad train and talk about some other stuff. So we had For the Love of Motorcycles, think it's our fourth edition on June twenty first of this year.
Liane:And for the first time ever, Sean, we had like the worst weather, not the worst, worst, it didn't rain, but
Sean:It rained all night.
Liane:It rained all night, it wasn't great, but you know, what was your highlight of our event? Because we did make the best of the day.
Sean:Because I'm working at the Show and Shine, just watching all the bikes come in. Yeah, it was less bikes this year because it was wet out in the morning. Yeah, I just talked to some really interesting people I've never met before and they said they'd been coming by all the time and yeah, it was really nice to visit.
Liane:It was nice to the
Sean:usual crowd.
Liane:Yeah, and then it was nice to see the Riverlane Ranch guys back out. They were at our first event and of course their bikes cleaned up, but they are incredible bike builders and painters here and local to the Edmonton area and some beautiful Yeah.
Sean:You talked to them quite a bit. Do they do their own work on their bikes?
Liane:Yes, they do. They do their own paints. They do their own fab. Yeah, it was, it's crazy. There's pictures on the Insta and our Facebook of those motorcycles that were in the show and shine from Riverlane Ranch.
Liane:But of course that also, we got to give a shout out to K97 for all of their help in promoting the events leading up to it as well as our newest corporate member, James H. Brown jumping on board with some big sponsorship, Klondike Insurance, After Dark Motorcycles with an assist on those beautiful keepsake awards that were created. And I know I'm missing somebody. Blackjacks of course and the oh, Quest and mobile disc jockey for the first time was entertainment and Robe really rocked it. I had a lot of good feedback from the exhibitors on him specifically, which was great.
Liane:Like you should hire him again. He was awesome. And I'm like, probably will. He sits on our board. And of course, the lovely ladies from the Leduc Arts Foundry for hosting the Kids Zone that was sponsored by James H.
Liane:Brown Injury Lawyers. It was a really like we had great feedback from the majority of the exhibitors that got back to us. We had people come up from Calgary, we had people come in from Lloyd like exhibitors. We had some new people in and they loved it and want to come back next year and hopefully we'll be back to nice weather.
Sean:I know that helps.
Liane:It helps the show and shine. That's for sure. And then we've got the ride to Reynolds coming up on August 9.
Sean:That's right.
Liane:That's one of your favourites. Tell us about it.
Sean:My favourites? I enjoy the ride. I enjoy the museum. I go there quite often. I'm there next weekend, I think for a car show.
Sean:Yeah. It's just a great facility. I think it's the most attended event in Alberta for motorcycles. Like there was easily a thousand motorcycles in that parking lot every time I've been there. And just interesting things to see, new, old, everyone polishes up their little ones and comes out.
Sean:It's a lot of fun. I enjoy it.
Liane:And then where it's set up there too in the, ex what do they call it? Fender Alley or Exhibitor Row or something. I can't remember exactly what they call it, but it's like, I don't know. It's a fun event out of Wetaskiwin, the booming metropolis of Wetaskiwin. But it's got such a great museum out there.
Liane:First half of the season, my guys.
Bryn:Oh yes.
Liane:What are some of your are some of your highlights? Let's start with Sean.
Sean:Like as far as podcasts you've done so far.
Liane:Yes.
Sean:I always found Patrick Lamby really interesting because he's always has the current motorcycles coming out with the current trends, well, because he writes the magazine, right?
Liane:He gets to try them all out and race
Sean:them Yeah. And then the one on electric bikes was kind of interesting because I was looking for one more of electric mountain bike is what I'm for. Until they've improved the range on some of those, I'm not sure if I'll have one.
Liane:Yeah. Patrick is such a resource for us. So happy with him on everything and did the partnership to come back every year and talk to us about stuff. Brayn, what about you?
Bryn:I had three that stood out for me. And one is and and this one I really enjoyed and it was so your kiddo wants to ride. And that was, with, Chris and and, Maya. And Maya. Yeah.
Bryn:I loved it. It was great. Highly entertaining because, you know what? You wanna make sure you pass on your passion, not your bad habits. And I just thought that they, did a great job there.
Bryn:The other two that stood out for me, I thought, Randy Wedler was unbelievable.
Liane:Yeah.
Bryn:And that was riding with an amputee. Very compelling story. And when you realize that, some people just, can't be taken down. Right? They, they have a challenge in front of them, they take it on with a certain degree of gusto and enthusiasm.
Bryn:Even through it all, it's tough. I thought Randy's story was amazing. And then the other one was and it's because maybe I turned 65 this year. Seniors perspective with Marty Forbes was a good one for me because there's a lot of stuff changes when you get into your early sixties. Right?
Bryn:Your reaction times are different, the way your vision is, your hearing. I just thought, Marty brought a lot of stuff to the table on that one, and I am you know, that one is also applicable to people who drive vehicles, cars, not just motorcyclists. So those are the three that stood out for me and what I think has been a great first half of the year.
Liane:Yeah. I'm gonna go with partnerships. Of course, I love absolutely every episode that we do. You know, people might think, I don't know if this is ego or not, but I listened to all of them mostly because I I'm in the conversation when we're doing it. So like when I listened back, I'm actually laughing half the time at some of the stuff that comes out of my mouth, let alone anybody else's, but I'm going go with partnerships on this.
Liane:You know, Moto Aid Stinks is a new type of like way to hone your skills in Edmonton and having Leroy on. And then of course having him help us out with like the mixed bag at the end of all the even numbered episodes. Just a great resource there coming in. Our partnerships with Yubaca and like they step up for all of our events and we're happy to support theirs as well. I was out at their run just the other week, weekend to do the pre ride safety talk and get them out and then ended up helping out at one of their poker stops because they were short some volunteers.
Liane:So I buzzed out to Pigeon Lake and it was it was a great day on the bikes. And then of course, like FMQ, like our counterparts in Quebec and you know, we're still trying to figure out how to get this link to work for their survey and I should have it in time for the August newsletter. I don't know what the issues are with the link, but for some reason it's not working. So thank you everybody for your patience while we keep asking you to click on this link that we're having some difficulties with, but I am working with FMQ's people to figure that out. But that shared passion for safety, and of course then we're just going to end up naming all of them because having Dion to talk about, like Dee Stoats to talk about the paramedics view and what it's like to be a paramedic at the racetrack and why it's important to go to the racetrack.
Liane:We've just had a fantastic well, I guess we're gonna name everybody we can't forget, brides and the rolling barrage. So that rounds out the first half of the season. They're all my favorite.
Bryn:Also, one of my favorite episodes is the one where you ride and you go to a location and win a million dollars. I thought that one was fantastic as well. That wasn't on our podcast, was it? No. They didn't do that podcast?
Bryn:You can't win a million dollars? Well, what kind of show is this?
Liane:Who's gonna win million dollars?
Bryn:Never mind.
Liane:Yeah. Who's giving away who's sponsoring that? Wrong
Sean:podcast. Sign up for that.
Bryn:Wrong podcast. What was I thinking? So sorry. Well, when you figure
Liane:out what podcast that is, can you please let us know? Because Sean and I
Sean:Yeah. Will ride.
Bryn:I was highly entertained by the looks on your faces.
Liane:That nobody
Bryn:else You two are so gullible. I'm telling you.
Liane:I'm like, what are you talking about? Things that are coming up that you guys might think is interesting. So of course we signed on a couple of new corporate members to AMSS this year. One being James H. Brown Injury Lawyers and the other being Argyle Motorsports.
Liane:Like, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome. Thank you very much for joining us in our in our fight for motorcycle safety and awareness. So I'm hoping to get both of those organizations on in the second half. I saw a post a week or so ago by somebody with an alias name on the Facebook lands, if anybody knows who Leroy Baggins is. I do know what his real name is, but I'm not saying that just yet.
Liane:Had a really great post about we're gonna title this episode, So You Want a Leader Bike. And it's it's, you know, buying the right bike to get going and not buying the biggest one because you think that that's what you need and what happens when you do? And he had a pretty gnarly crash, I think it was August 2024, that he's still recovering from but as he would put it, living his best life. And that is all the details I know about this but it's become a passion of his to push people to get to the track and hone your skills on a racetrack so you're not doing it on the street. Long overdue that we've talked about, it's come up before is should we be wearing headphones while we're riding or listening to music or the wind, you know, the wind on the half helmets, like your ears.
Liane:You know? The older we get, we're losing our hearing anyway. Why would we do some things to make it happen quicker?
Bryn:I'm not a big fan of listening to music when I'm driving or, or walking. I I like to hear the sounds of the world around me. I I don't mind hearing well, it's important to hear the sounds of sirens, things like that. I don't know. Everybody's a little different, I guess.
Bryn:But for me, the entertainment is just being out. Just being out there, making my way around a little bit. I I that's that's important to me, but everybody's different.
Liane:So for me, it's a distraction that helps me stay focused. If I have the music in the background but I can still hear the traffic around me, it's what helps me. You and I talked about this brand even listening to podcasts. It keeps you active listening so you're always aware.
Bryn:But you have a radio in a car for that, and that way you could hear everything. Noise canceling headphones, we've got earbuds now. Right? It cancels out everything, so you've gotta leave it on the other mode so you can hear what else is going on.
Liane:And I agree with that. My helmet is equipped with a comm system that is built in it. So I actually don't have things in my ears that are noise cancelling. Sean, what do you ride with?
Sean:Usually nothing. A couple of times I've I've got an iPod mini shuffle thing that I throw If I'm doing a day trip or multiple day trips by myself, when I start singing to myself, I'll pull it out just not so I could listen to how it's supposed to be sung.
Bryn:Yeah. By a professional. Yes. Exactly. Yeah.
Bryn:Okay.
Sean:I don't like the sound of my own voice.
Liane:You don't wanna go to karaoke?
Sean:No.
Liane:I'm going to get you up to karaoke in Nelson. That's going be super fun. It will be. I did it last year. And then I know that we or we like we have one of our mail bags either upcoming before.
Liane:I don't know. I lose track of all of them. There's a little chat about airbags, but we're gonna bring Justin Knappik back. You know, for me he's the expert on all things gear being like a not just a fire captain but also on track performance and you know, that riding school heavily involved with the CBSK, the the Superbike series that just came through Edmonton again for the second year, which is pretty cool even though it got a little damp on the Sunday for them. But, yeah, you know, Justin and I were chatting the other day about apparently we're we're twinsies with our x 15 showy helmets and our Logan Evans race suits and our airbags, our tech sevens.
Liane:And I just I want a little bit more information than what I can find for a mailbag tip on airbags and just kinda catch up with him on gear. I think it's gonna be a fun second half. I still have some slots open if anybody's interested in filling them with a cool story of adventure or, you know, surviving a collision even, you know, that tough one of losing somebody.
Bryn:Are you happy with the feedback you're getting? We'd like I I think you would love to hear more about how we're reaching people.
Liane:Yeah. I mean, it's you know, the feedback is great. Good, bad, or indifferent. Sure. We take it all.
Liane:You know, I'm not everybody's cup of tea, but, you know, we've been getting some some really good emails about energy. Apparently I have good energy. Look at that. Look at me. I mean, but this really isn't all about like this is really about who we're bringing on and the compelling stories and hopefully we're reaching some people with the variety of guests that we have.
Liane:Sean, have you heard anything from our folks down south about the podcast when you're at shows or anything?
Sean:Yeah, a couple of the Okotoks guys listened to it. And that made me think of like, if you got slots open, we just had three mutual friends go up to Dempster Highway to Tuk Tuk Tuk, and they didn't go together. What? Mean, they've all gone separately. Graham just got back, Chris was there two weeks ago, and then Steve's leaving next weekend, I think.
Sean:Like, I don't know why they didn't go together. They couldn't coordinate their holiday time or something.
Liane:I mean, they all ride together all the time.
Sean:Yeah.
Liane:That would be a good adventure story to tell.
Sean:Get all three of them and compare stories.
Liane:That would be an absolute and if we have to beep it beep it shit show to have those three on an episode at the same time. There would be it would be mayhem.
Sean:Definitely.
Liane:Brin, adventure riders are probably the most chaotic of all of the riders.
Bryn:Well, there's a they got every reason to go up there. Right? To Tuktuktuktuk or wherever they're going. Where are they going? Yeah.
Sean:Yep. Tuktuktuktuktuktuk. That's the end of the Dempster Highway. That was the goal to do that.
Bryn:Great. Great. Great university up there. Maybe they're going up to visit.
Liane:Is there really? Because I don't
Bryn:You've never heard of Tuktuktuk? Ever? Come on, YouTube.
Sean:Ouch.
Bryn:You know? Fantastic. Tuck you. Anyway, let's move on. Are you alright?
Liane:I got nothing. Oh my god. I literally I got nothing.
Bryn:Well, why don't we just move on to the second half of the season then?
Liane:I think that we should, Sean. What do you think?
Sean:Yeah. That's a hoop.
Liane:I'm gonna lose control of this podcast. I probably shouldn't do shouldn't do mid seasons with both of you guys.
Bryn:Oh, well, sorry about that.
Liane:Okay. At the end of the day, you know, just we're not gonna have a mailbag on this one. Just wanted to remind everybody like, let's have a great second half of this summer and do everything that we can to keep those horrible statistics low. That's not just for you guys. It's for your families, your loved ones.
Liane:Everybody wants to see you get home safely. So my tip to sign off would always be well, I'll do my tip last. Sean, what's your tip to sign off?
Sean:Oh, wasn't prepared for one.
Bryn:Let me go first, Sam. Let me let me go first. Never believe half of what you hear from me. It's usually a setup to a really bad joke that I've been telling for years. Okay?
Bryn:That's my tip.
Sean:No name. Jokes.
Liane:Do you got a tip, Sean?
Bryn:I don't. Well, that's okay. Have one for the end of the year.
Liane:Yeah. You'll have one when we close out. You have a lot of weeks to figure that one out. Okay. So mine will be like, we talk about all the time, all the gear, all the time.
Liane:There are reasons for it. Please do it. Please don't skimp out on your gear and your training, do it all. And then like our whole thing this year is be smart. You know, the smart motorcyclists acquire rider training is the acronym this year, the BSmart.
Liane:And I mean, there's limited in Edmonton, a thousand schools in Calgary, a couple in Red Deer, some in Grand Prairie, like just reach out to your local school and if you have to make a weekend out of it somewhere else, please do because it is the difference between not being here and being here. I've had my own close calls and that training saved my life. But we'll sign off as always with the don't forget to follow and subscribe to Think Bike wherever you get your podcast ear candy from. If you have anything that you need to speak to us about or some feedback, you can email us at info@ab-amss.org or come through the website at wwwtripledub as Terry Evans would say. A b dash a m s s dot org.
Liane:From us to all of you, ride smart, ride safe, and think bike. We'll see you out on the road.