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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 Liane Langelois.
Liane:Hey, everybody. Welcome to the season finale of season six. I can already tell this is gonna be entertaining. As always, I have with me our vice president Sean Conner, and our producer, Bryn Griffiths, who's Yo. You can't see it, but he's making faces, and
Bryn:it's making Quite you frankly.
Liane:I mean... Yeah. Alright. So, yeah, season finale. Oh my god.
Liane:End of season six already.
Bryn:I am not surprised. I saw the weekend forecast, and it looks like it's Alberta coming up this weekend. We could we could get a little bit of snow in the foothills. I just don't... I don't know where the summer's gone, Liane.
Liane:It rained all June. So Correct.
Bryn:Then we have not had really much precipitation in the Edmonton area since the middle of August. My back lawn is actually cracking. The Earth is cracking. It's crazy. And then with the Super El Nino coming this year, I don't know what that's gonna do to our weather.
Bryn:I don't know what that's gonna do for the roads, which you rely heavily on Well,
Liane:we do. We do. Sean, how's the weather down in Calgary?
Sean:It's not too bad right now. We had a couple weekends in a row that had some rain, so it kinda put a damper on some. But
Liane:Yeah.
Sean:I've been getting out during the week.
Liane:Snow and snow on the weekend. Yay. Yay. Just in time for Thanksgiving. I mean, that's normal.
Bryn:Well, hope this isn't a turkey of a show, this one. Jeez. Anyway, I'm sorry.
Liane:So first question. Sean, do you wanna compare how many miles we each put on our bikes? Mine was next to none. Oh, like you didn't
Sean:didn't ride much this summer.
Liane:I mean, June Like was so it was so And then, you know, the trip to BC that we all Triumph riders do.
Bryn:Yes.
Liane:Yeah. I didn't do a lot of riding. I mean, every time I went to work, there was a thread of a funnel cloud in the afternoon literally every day, and I'm not gonna risk that. So... But you're in Calgary.
Liane:It's different weather. You probably got a lot more.
Sean:I did. Yeah. I usually do Highway 40 a couple times, but I only got up there once this year. Every time I planned to go, it did rain that weekend. Of course.
Sean:Furthest trip was either Nelson or I went down south a couple times on the bike. So that was kinda sounds good. That's good.
Liane:Yeah. Else did do this summer?
Sean:Moved. We were just talking about that. Yeah. It's like, where did September go? It's like, I moved Moving.
Sean:In September. Yeah. One car at a time.
Liane:Yeah. And we hit the salt?
Sean:Yes. Of course.
Liane:You know, just another couple world records.
Bryn:How was your August, Liane? We've talked a little bit about it.
Liane:Well, you know, just set a couple world records and upped another national record. No no big deal. Yeah. If you wanna hear the whole story about it
Bryn:Whichever is known.
Liane:No. No. I have a new friend, Wes, and he might come on to season seven next year. His podcast is Chasing the Horizons, and on Monday, an episode dropped about my records and our work with AMSS as well. We...
Liane:He found it really interesting that I go and do this and then also be an advocate for motorcycle safety. So, and he promoted our podcast on his podcast.
Sean:So Wow. Very good.
Liane:You know? He's a rider. He's had some incidents. Might have him on next year and return that favor to him.
Bryn:So what are you saying? Well, what are you saying here? There's gonna be another season?
Liane:Yeah. We'll just let that cat out of the bag right at the very beginning.
Bryn:There you go. Yeah.
Liane:How was your driving this summer, Brynn? Did you see lots of bikes out there or what?
Bryn:No. Not really because you're right. The weather was crappy. It was the wettest summer on Edmonton record. Mhmm.
Bryn:It was just a swath of the middle part of Alberta got a lot of rain. Now we might benefit from that if it's a dry, dry winter. We we may benefit from it. But the fact we've had nothing since the middle of August to right now in October, I think the benefits of that rain probably have now gone away. But I didn't get out about a lot this summer, and I did not see a lot of bikes.
Bryn:But I guess that's no real big surprise based on the way the weather forecast was.
Liane:Yeah. Here's something we can knock off of our list as well, just talking about the summer and Statistics, I didn't send this to you guys ahead of time, so apologies for that. We have been consistently at that twenty to twenty two fatalities every year since COVID started, and I know, Brynn, we touched on this in the mid year. Sean, I'm interested in your opinion because this year, we've only counted fifteen fatalities in the province that we're aware of. There might be one or two more that we're not aware of because I actually do have a couple on this list that were never a police report.
Liane:They were just reported to us. But that's a that's a pretty, in the grand scheme of things, significant drop in in So, Sean, what's your opinion on that?
Sean:I think so too. And I kinda monitor social media for any incidents and stuff. A lot of the a lot of Calgary groups and four zero three riders and things, they... They're on it. They're...
Sean:On Facebook, there's, like, someone's down an hour ago. Somebody comments, I drove past there. He was standing. The bike isn't kind of thing. So it was kind of kinda good to see less of that.
Liane:Well, now let me tell you.
Bryn:I'm waiting for it.
Liane:Fred knows where I'm going with
Bryn:this. I know exactly where you're going here.
Liane:Yeah. So when we touched base for the midseason review, we had one, two, three, four, five, six of the six... Or 15 fatalities. So one in April, couple in May, couple in June, one in July. And then we had one, two, three, four, five in August, four in September.
Liane:Do you think the weather at the start of the season played a factor in less people being out on the road?
Sean:Because it was raining? Yeah. Maybe.
Bryn:Could have been.
Sean:Maybe we should tie the weather into these statistics.
Liane:Think it has a big a big, you know, factor that there weren't as many people out riding in June, May and June, because there was so much rain.
Bryn:Let me ask you though. I'm kinda curious between rural and urban. Uh-huh. Were there more problems outside of the cities than inside the cities? Because when we take a look at that overall number and it's down, and based on what's been going on in Edmonton, Calgary, and Red Deer with growth of population, I I think that that is that is...
Bryn:It's... Of course, it's way too many fatalities to begin with.
Liane:However We don't like any,
Bryn:but Exactly.
Liane:But if there's a positive reality.
Bryn:Exactly. If there's a positive out of this, maybe something is happening because there's a lot more people in Edmonton and Calgary now than ever before. So Yeah. So But what... So what's the breakdown?
Liane:So the interesting thing of the fifteen, six were only within city limits. And so the most of them were out in in the countryside. Now two were passengers of of someone else.
Bryn:K.
Liane:And this one's the hardest one. And this is... This broke the news in the Internet when this one happened. So the youngest person to pass away on a motorcycle this year is 13 years old. The son of the Bashaw firefighter.
Liane:Right. You know, Dace Newman and his son Xander. So that was all over social media. There's a big one last ride for that. It was very well attended out of respect for first responders.
Liane:So that one was a really tough one. Still don't know exactly what happened in that situation, but it was a multi vehicle. And then our... The oldest on record for this year was 69. So fairly young demographic this year again, but, you know, there's a couple 19 year olds in here, and I could give you guys the best guess of what the alleged cause of that fatality was.
Liane:Yep. When you're 19, you're invincible. But... Yeah. And then one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight of the 15 were multi vehicle.
Liane:But again, out of all of them, two are alleged driver error. Two.
Bryn:Two. Two.
Liane:The rest are alleged rider error. So we're really struggling with this message to our riding community to, you know... If I'm gonna put a silver lining on anything, there are like so many motorcycles registered in this province. It's a it's a pretty big number. I don't have it off the top of my head.
Liane:We do get a report from Motor Canada every year that says it all. It's like over a 100,000, whatever. If we are losing just 15 people, it's it's like a small demographic. So I want people listening to understand that while we see it as a issue that the most of these are alleged rider error, It's still a small demographic, and the larger thing, please don't yell at the whole motorcycle community for the actions of a small few.
Bryn:That's Well said. Yeah.
Sean:Yeah.
Liane:K. I'm gonna step off the soapbox because I don't like talking about statistics.
Bryn:I know.
Liane:I I'm happy that they're down, but I really don't think it's anything other than weather related, just looking at the first half of the year versus the second. But, you know, we'll put that in our report to the province as our
Bryn:And see if we can be better next year.
Liane:Be better next year with good weather. That would be great. That would be amazing. Alright. So season six.
Liane:I mean, Sean, I'll start with you. Do you have any favorite episodes? I've branched over like, woo.
Bryn:I have three already.
Liane:I'm putting putting Sean on the spot. Now Sean wasn't in the mid season review episode, so he can pick from anything.
Bryn:Oh, easy. Oh, no.
Sean:I have go way back.
Liane:Do you have any of the episodes from this year? Any stand out to you as your faves?
Sean:Yeah. A couple. Of course, our friend Adam Caliver, his one back in June. I've always always like talking to him about bike stuff. One of the fun one was Emily Roberts.
Sean:Yes. Her running in Baja. Like, she's... I see her at motorcycle shows, we always chat. And and every time she tells me she's doing something, it was just like, wow.
Sean:Like, what do you... What's next? So apparently, running the Baja was next. Yep. Yeah.
Sean:So that that was pretty fascinating. I really enjoyed
Liane:that one. Pooping her pants.
Sean:Yeah. Well, I wasn't gonna say that out loud, but, you know
Liane:We did have the episode. I mean
Sean:I know. Well, you have to listen to the episode. I'm not gonna Yeah.
Liane:So now now that we've told you she talks very eloquently about pooping her pants, you can go listen to the whole story.
Bryn:Oh, everything came out in the end, so everything was fine. Everything was
Liane:okay. Anyway. And she's such a great storyteller too. Like, you can tell she's in motorcycle journalism. So, you know, like, that whole family is insane with motorcycles.
Sean:And she writes the column in Motorcycle Mojo magazine too.
Liane:It's her family magazine, so she
Sean:should Yeah.
Bryn:Her dad's writing. Yeah.
Liane:Britton, what about you?
Bryn:Okay. Well, obviously, I don't have to go back to the first half of the year, but there there were two or three that I really enjoyed in the back half of the season. One, we had Brad on. We're talking about words of wisdom, and we were at the Edmonton Motorcycle Show. Mhmm.
Bryn:And so watching you guys with the crowd around interacting, I just thought was great stuff. Also, Brad may come across as a tough guy, but he's
Sean:got a
Bryn:real soft side. Right?
Liane:We're not supposed to tell anybody. Sorry. Just put you on the episode.
Bryn:You did. But but you know what? When you're talking about your better half, I totally get it. But but Brad was just Brad was just full of energy. I just thought that was a great episode.
Bryn:Yeah. Obviously, the Emily Roberts one, thought was fantastic as well. Yes. So I I I agree with you guys. Also, I'm now following these two these two crazy riders, the Morrisons.
Liane:Right? Morrisons on Yes.
Bryn:And and it's it's been a lot of fun to see where they are. I know that they're just a little behind because they're more worried about cycling safely rather than posting safely. Yeah. So we we might be anywhere from two to three weeks behind, but just to see the the stuff that they're going through. And the other thing too, the Baja area was was pounded by heavy heavy rains because of a recent hurricane.
Bryn:Yeah. And so all along that coast, I just think that I I can hardly I can hardly wait to hear what the new latest adventures are with these two, but they were a blast. They were... That was a great episode. I really, really enjoyed it.
Liane:I was so happy to find them on the socials and then just to get them on because Just
Bryn:to find them.
Liane:Like, what an adventure. And then, yeah, to connect with them because, like Brynn was alluding to, and and we won't tell anybody where they were when we did record with them, but they do record late, or they post late from And where they a lot of it has to do with safety. They don't need everybody knowing exactly where they are.
Bryn:Or the Wi Fi factor too. There's no Wi Fi in a lot of these places. Right? So Yeah. Anyway.
Liane:Yeah. No. So so that was good. For me, you know, a lot of the same, obviously. It was really great to have the other Brad on to talk about what last what last ride.
Liane:And you know, he busy had late in the year. He actually did the One Last Ride for the firefighter. I talked with him a bit about it before when he got the call, and kinda calmed him down a bit, and I said, you'll be fine because that was very public, that one. Mhmm. And I said, once you're in it, you're gonna be fine, and if you need to talk after, we will.
Liane:We've become good friends and and stuff. So
Bryn:I've got a great idea for the next season coming up. Why don't we why don't we don't we do, like, the besties or something or the bikeies? Or... I I don't know. We...
Bryn:We'll have to come up with a name.
Liane:Words? Yes. Yes. Okay. Cool.
Bryn:Like, we're talking about all these great episodes, and that's not to take any of you away from the people we have not mentioned, but there's definitely a few that that that stand out for me. But I don't know. Do you wanna do that next year?
Liane:I think so. Let's do awards. We
Bryn:need a We've game. Got months and months now before we get back up and running. So maybe over the next three to four months, people can suggest a name for our Yeah.
Liane:I'll Google. We'll put a call out on social media. What would you name the Think Bike Awards? Going back to my face though, I I really actually enjoyed the conversation I had with Landed French at Motor Canada. That, like I remember finishing that episode, and I said to you, Brynn, oh my god, that felt like the best conversation.
Liane:We just flowed through all these issues on a federal level and talking about tariffs in such an interesting way, and what Motor Canada does for the industry in Canada followed with another check-in with the Canadian Motorcycle Association. So we ended the season with a little... May have seemed a little political, but that wasn't really where it was at. It was just who's representing the industry and who's representing the riders in a national level. I view the CME as a national version of what we try and do at the AMSS and it's important for people to support both organizations.
Liane:But if you're gonna tell, ask me in the entire season, which was my favorite episode of all, and again, it's not to take away from anybody else that we had on. But when Kasey Moon got her Instagram back up and running, she took a little break, repainted her bike, and got back up. She's our one armed bandit. She was very early in the and her videos are back up posting all over Instagram again. It's one down dot six three six for anybody who wants to follow her.
Liane:The whole thing about guys out there saying, oh, that bike's gonna be too big for you. You have to be able to pick up your bike, and then you watch this girl with one arm pick her bike off the ground herself. Don't sit there and tell me it has anything to do with brute strength, it's physics. All physics and Casey will show you that time and time again. But she's just so inspirational for me and I love love watching her videos that she puts up.
Bryn:My good pal Claude, who's AI, has given me some suggestions for our awards names. Oh. How about the torque award?
Liane:Oh.
Bryn:Oh. The full throttle award. Mhmm. The kickstand award. The chrome award.
Bryn:The golden throttle. I... Let's see. Is there any... The the
Liane:two wheel the chrome award. I'm not a wheelie. Oh, the wheelies. The wheelies.
Bryn:No. There's a good one.
Liane:The wheelie.
Bryn:I'm sure that there's gotta be other ones out there that... But, anyway, that's a
Liane:good work, Claude.
Bryn:Good work.
Liane:Thanks, Claude.
Bryn:Alright. There you go.
Liane:Former vice president Marty Forbes introduced me to Claude. Claude's great. He is. So that's a good thing. So great segue, Bryn.
Liane:Thank you.
Bryn:K.
Liane:Next up for AMSS. We gotta figure out a name for our awards for Think Bike for the season. The wheelies, I kinda like that one. What do think, Sean?
Sean:That's pretty cool.
Bryn:Alright. Well, that'll be my front runner.
Liane:Okay. But I'll put a call out on the socials and Yeah. And see what our listeners want to... Or if anybody wants to email in any suggestions, that'd be great too.
Sean:Like an Instagram poll? Sure.
Liane:Sean, you're in charge of the Instagram poll.
Sean:Baby. I could do the Instagram
Liane:poll. The Facebook post.
Sean:Okay. Well, it gets down to, like, five or six, and then I'll do the poll, and everyone could just pick.
Liane:Okay. Let's do that. Okay. Got it.
Bryn:And
Liane:then what else do we have going on? I guess we're prepping for the motorcycle show in January. Well, actually, no. February. First weekend of February this year in Calgary.
Liane:I have chatted quite a bit with Derek Rockel at Motor Canada, and there there are some things that they're gonna try this year. And hopefully, it will be it'll be great. I look forward to being there anyway.
Bryn:Can we send a big thank you out to both Leroy and Kirk for their work Because this I thought it was a lot of fun hearing their helpful hints.
Liane:You know what the funny thing is about those two is I I said to Leroy, I I was chatting with him a couple weeks ago, he was actually collaborating with me for something for the on road committee for Canadian Motorcycle Association, which is really cool. And I'm happy to have his input on that. But I had told him that I don't hear any of their stuff until I listen to the episode back because you do it, Brynn, without me.
Bryn:Correct.
Liane:I'm not on there.
Bryn:That's called them together.
Liane:Yeah. Every second episode that I listen back to, I'm like, oh, I wonder what their hint is or their tip is today. And so impressed. Like they... I said that not to take away from the first attempt last year, but this year it just seemed more like natural and lively.
Liane:And Kirk was Kirk said, we popped his cherry on this one, and he did so good.
Bryn:I thought I thought for a first run, did a great job. And I I... Actually, let me just take you backstage a little bit on that one because we... On the first few, we probably did them about four or five times trying to get some kind of flow out of them. And then by the time we got towards the end...
Bryn:And we do them all at once. So so we're probably doing, like, 10 with... Well, we did 25 episodes, so it would've been 23 or twenty thirteen. That's right. So so any...
Bryn:I didn't get here because I... I'm a mathematician. I got here because I have
Liane:a pretty face. Hard.
Bryn:I have a pretty face on an audio podcast. Anyway... But but anyway, just... It was so much fun hearing him get into the float. Now Leroy, we've had on before, so that was a total blast.
Bryn:But I I thought Kirk did a great job, and and he was getting that swagger by the end
Liane:of it. Structured them was so good too. That was great. I read great tips.
Bryn:I just wanted to make sure that they got their their credit for for this. Hey. One other thing too, and I I don't know where we're going in season number seven, but one of the things that I just wanted to bring up is that while we focus a lot on safety, I think we... This past year, we had more great personal interest stories Mhmm. That Mhmm.
Bryn:Where we were able to weave, you know, the importance of safety in there. But I just think that we also had some shows where we just talked to interesting people doing interesting things. Yeah. And I don't know if they... If there's a slight directional change going with our podcast while we still remember that safety is essential and vital.
Liane:We do try to weave the safety in at some point. But, you know, at the end of the day, a great story is a great story, and you can learn from that as well.
Bryn:Correct. That's what I think. And and I just think we found some great guests. And so if somebody's got an idea, or maybe they know somebody who's got a great story, they'd need to drop you a note. Right?
Liane:Yeah. And we'll we'll get to that little lead out in just a minute. Just wanna go back to Sean for, I don't know, what do you got going on for the winter, and and what do we have for AMSS? We've talked a bit, but my brain is fried from life these days.
Sean:Yeah. It's been a crazy couple months. I think we're doing a q four meeting beginning of December. Yeah. And we're going to discuss a few upcoming thing.
Sean:I think we're gonna split up some of the work too, and I I feel like I need to get out. I need to get down to Left Bridge and go a little further south and meet some people. There's some there's some fun stuff happening in Left Bridge too that I I missed out recently. Yeah. Just make more of an effort to get out more.
Sean:I think if I've got more... If the weather cooperates,
Liane:right,
Sean:and look for things on weekends, following everyone on social media, there's always something going on down here.
Liane:Yeah.
Sean:And, yeah, like, just using Lethbridge as an example. Like, that's not too far to go.
Liane:No. And that might help us build some more corporate members and Yeah. General members, which is great. Brynn will probably start recording again in, like, February, March.
Bryn:Right. You you know what? I gotta tell you. It's been so much fun being part of this over the last six years. I've really, really enjoyed it, and I don't ride.
Bryn:So I've learned an awful lot, but the stories have been really compelling to me. The other thing too is that... And you're gonna ask me what I'm doing this winter. Well, we'll be ready to go when we start recording in probably mid to late February, but we'll be up and running like we normally are when we usually get going with this podcast. But Yeah.
Bryn:I also have this podcast biz I'm doing, and I just wanna give myself a plug. Okay?
Liane:Hey. So Absolutely. You do that, and then I'll do a call out.
Bryn:You just go and take a look at brynngriffiths.com. You'll see a horrible picture of me, and and you'll see what I do. I work with other corporate clients getting the podcast word out there. And if you're not the first one that I I matched up with, you're in my in my first three. And so it's been a great relationship for me working with you and and Sean and everybody who's come on the podcast, and I continue...
Bryn:The business for me continues to grow because more and more companies now have realized that podcasting is how they find your website. It used to be the other way around. People would go to your website first, then get to your podcast. And now the way I see it, I I think it's it's so much fun to to tell stories. And so that's It is.
Bryn:That's what I'm enjoying the most of all of this.
Liane:And I mean, for anybody out there listening who is interested in getting a podcast going, I can say that working with Brynn has been seamless for us. We've been together for six years, going going to do seven, and yeah, it's just, it's been great. And I know Brynn will say, I'm hyper organized and I'm an easy client for him, but at the end of the day, I don't put this stuff together. I just show up and talk to people.
Bryn:And then you go away.
Liane:And then I go away.
Bryn:And then I cobble it together, and and we try
Liane:get it appears every Wednesday.
Bryn:Sometimes the magic is not quite
Liane:the magic I wanted. But you fix
Bryn:it But we can
Liane:fix it. Quick.
Bryn:Every once in a while, something just goes a little astray, but it's it's fine.
Liane:Anyway had that happen once, and I texted you and said, something's wrong. Take it down and put it back up.
Bryn:And we got that fixed in about three minutes. And... But but it happens. But nonetheless, I... I've really enjoyed this.
Bryn:It's been great. I'm excited about a bit of a break. Yeah. But but but conversely, I'm also pumped up about February already. But not that pumped up.
Liane:No. No. We'll we'll
Bryn:settle down. The holiday season to get through, so that's
Liane:pretty much it for to get through.
Bryn:Yes. Exactly.
Liane:So early happy Thanksgiving to everybody. Have a have a great off season. Sean will be in touch soon. Brynn will will hang will hang at some point.
Bryn:Wait. I think somebody owes somebody a lunch. We'll figure that out here in the next Yeah.
Liane:We'll figure out who owes who that. Exactly. But anyway, so yeah, we're gonna put out a call for season seven. Again, I wanna thank everybody who is on the show this year, all of our guests. Like, thank you so much for bringing it and and giving us so much great content to put out there for everybody.
Liane:But now we're looking for guests with great stories of adventure or impactful stories as a result of collisions, stories that might be helpful and interesting to our listeners, and we're also looking for those quick answer questions for the mailbag. So if you have something to share or feel our platform is a safe place to do so, reach out to us at info@ab-amss.org. We'd love to hear from you. Thank you so much. Shout out to Randy in Texas, and Phil in The UK, and everybody who sends us fan mail.
Liane:I love it. Keep it coming. Guys, Sean, Brynn, thank you so much for another great season, and we'll see you all next year. And that's it for another episode of Think Bike hosted by me, Liane Liane, produced by Brynn Griffiths at Mighty Mouth Communications. If you have an idea or question for the show, reach out to info@ab-amss.org or find us on all the socials.
Liane:Always remember to ride smart, ride safe, and think bike. We'll see you out on the road.