Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
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 to the mid season review of Think Bike. I'm really excited to have Brynn with me. We have a lot to talk about. I mean, we're missing Sean on this one.
Liane:That's okay. We'll bring him back for the final.
Bryn:They don't have a lot of money to talk about. You know that.
Liane:We always have lots to how are you doing, Brin?
Bryn:I'm doing great. I cannot believe that we're at the midway point of the season already. It's hard to
Liane:believe believe how much rain we've had this year.
Bryn:Well, you know what? Here we are. It's July. You never know. Right?
Liane:I mean, it happens. But June was like record breaking rain, and that was crazy.
Bryn:Yeah. But not all the province got that. British Columbia was a little iffy to start then came on like gangbusters, so you just gotta travel where the weather's great.
Liane:Yeah. Well, doing that because we need to go for a bike ride. Okay. Look.
Bryn:When you tell me tell me you haven't wasted July already. No. Okay. There we go. Alright.
Liane:Bike trips. Trips.
Bryn:Was a bit of a write off. Okay. I get that.
Liane:Yeah. No. No. We're good. We're good.
Liane:Well, we're trying. Well, here
Bryn:we are at the midway point. What do you wanna talk about today? There's lots of good stuff to talk about, but this is kind of a weird show for me, but we'll get into that in a minute. I'll let you carry on.
Liane:Okay. So one thing I wanna bring up that we always bring up around this time is at the time that we're recording this show, I just wanna give a little update on some statistics that we have seen so far. Not my favorite part to talk about because we're also talking about people who have lost their lives. But at the time of this recording, we've only recorded four fatalities in the province, which
Bryn:is Is it weather related?
Liane:No. They're all single rider.
Bryn:No. But I'm saying the reason why the number is low is because there's not as many riders out there because the weather's you know, it's so crummy in the month of June in in Central Alberta. I'm wondering if that kept riders off the streets.
Liane:Oh.
Bryn:See what I'm going That's the direction I'm going here. Yeah. Though. That's not a good thing, but I'm just wondering
Liane:if the
Bryn:number is artificially low.
Liane:It's it's very low compared to which is on one side great, but yes, what is the underlying factor behind that? But, sorry, I I will correct myself as well. So three out of four of those were single vehicle collisions.
Bryn:Okay.
Liane:And all of them are allegedly rider error. So that trend is still continuing, which is not the greatest, but it is definitely a lot lower at this time, and I'm hoping that it can stay low this year. You know, as the weather goes up and down, I guess we'll see if there's a trend in that. But quite frankly, I would like to think maybe we're doing a bit better.
Bryn:I'm just bringing it up because I'm not driving my car as much as I thought I would so far because June was so crummy. I didn't even feel like going out.
Liane:Right.
Bryn:So I I drove the car way less in the month of June, but here we are in July, and, you know, you you wanna still get around and do stuff. So I'm just pointing that out.
Liane:No. And and I agree. I agree. The weather hasn't been that great. So, possibly a lot less people out there.
Liane:Of course, the only one good weekend in June that we had, I sprained my ankle playing laser tag, which everybody watching Ride for Dad videos could see. So I couldn't even get a motorcycle boot on to go for a ride. So in June.
Bryn:Our laser tag edition that we're doing later in the season. We're doing a laser tag show.
Liane:It is saying don't play laser tag when you're 50 or over. Okay. Alright. Moving on. I have some updates.
Bryn:Yes.
Liane:I have some I have some fun updates. So one is there is a young gentleman at the gym who approached me and said, hey. I listened. I oh, no. He just came over, and he's like, I just wanted to say I listened to your podcast, and it's great.
Liane:And I was like, that made my whole day. Because first of all yeah. Out
Bryn:of the
Liane:of the blue. I was doing leg extensions. He was a couple machines over. He came over, introduced himself. I think his name was Irving, but please, I apologize if it's not.
Liane:It's 5AM when I'm at the gym, so I'm barely awake. But, yeah, he came over, introduced himself, said hi, said he listens to the podcast. He rides a Triumph. You know? And I was it was just really nice.
Liane:But then I'm like, this is audio. How
Bryn:do you
Liane:do you know it's me? But, you know, so I was floored by that and thought it was pretty pretty neat to be recognized for the podcast. I don't know. What do you Star
Bryn:of the show. I love it. That's fun stuff. I love that.
Liane:My next update, Kasey Moon. I think she was our second episode or third episode, second guest this year.
Bryn:Episode one thirty two.
Liane:Yeah. Our one armed bandit. She kinda went quiet on social media for a little bit, and, she is back. And, again, I wanna give her Instagram as the number one down dot six three six, and give her a follow. She's back and unveiled a whole new paint scheme on her bike, which is really cool.
Liane:It's like this green purple paint scheme that she did herself.
Bryn:She's back. She's back with a vengeance.
Liane:She she did I think she did most of it herself. And so she's again like, we reposted a video on our Instagram from her account just to remind people of like what her controls look like being that she rides with one arm. Right. And so it was really great to see her back and I I happily tagged her and I was like, so nice to see you back. She's like, it's great to be back.
Liane:So Gotcha. Happy to have her. And then speaking of our one armed people, remember when we were at the YEG show and recorded some podcasts there? Yeah. Okay.
Liane:So I think we had just finished up, and Doug Fulgrum, who was, one of the last episodes from last year, came on to talk about having a stroke while he was riding and lost the use of his arm. And he purposely, at the bike show, came to find us to show us where he didn't think he would have movement from his arm in the surgery that he had. He could lift his arm a bit more each time. And so now he's out looking for a motorcycle again.
Bryn:He was excited about that. He wanted to show us, hey, look.
Liane:Look. I can lift my arm to the side. I can lift it to the front. Now it's all the way up, not full range of motion. But
Bryn:Still.
Liane:He has motion, and that's the whole point because they told him that they didn't know which way it was gonna go, but all the physio and the determination has paid off. And I'm not sure his wife is gonna enjoy the fact that he wants a bike again, but here we go.
Bryn:But she said just to see his enthusiasm come back because there was so much progression, she was quite excited about that. So, yeah, that was fun. That was a fun moment for us.
Liane:Yeah. And and so let's get into some episodes. Or do you wanna talk about recording at the YEG show? Because that was weird.
Bryn:I will tell you this. This is why this is a little different show for me because usually, we're talking about past episodes, but we we had the privilege of recording. Don't know how many we did there. Do you remember how many we did there? Four episodes.
Bryn:And they were all great. So not only am I thinking about episodes that have already aired, I can talk about episodes that are coming up in the near future that I I think are gonna be just gold. So let let me go back and tell you that these are my favorite two that have already been played, and people can go back and give these a listen. You just mentioned the one episode that I loved. That was episode one thirty two, the one armed bandit with Casey Moon.
Bryn:I thought she was great. I just loved loved hearing her stories. So inspirational. A what a story. I mean, what she's gone through, but how she's battled through it, very inspirational.
Bryn:Loved it. The other one that I I liked was just on recently, and that was go roughly with Jess Stone.
Liane:Yes. And
Bryn:I I enjoyed that one very much as well. I think the the one thing that if if I take a look at this is year six. We've been doing this for six years. Is the ability to do safety messaging, but also talk about some amazing stories with some amazing people and inspirational stories as well. I I think we've kind of taken it beyond even safety, and we've told some great stories.
Bryn:So if you get a chance, go back and listen to episode one forty two with Jess Stone.
Liane:I was just last week.
Bryn:Exactly. I just thought it was a fun episode. Now here's what I couldn't do in any of these other previous five years. I could tell you there's two episodes you're gonna love. One is episode one thirty two oh, sorry.
Bryn:The one episode the people are gonna love is one forty three. It's words of wisdom with Brad.
Liane:145.
Bryn:Damn. I was so sure
Liane:This is 143.
Bryn:Oh, you're right. Sorry. You're right. Pardon me. That that's how excited I am by this.
Liane:I know, but that episode with Brad gave me.
Bryn:It was and here's the problem. We didn't do a lot of editing on that one intentionally because I think if you edited Brad down, he would not be as much fun. I think he'd be a blast, but not as much fun. I just thought he really brought it, and he really took us on a roller coaster of emotions.
Liane:So Did he ever? And I'm not going up shortly. Spoiler alerts. Like, you gotta listen to this because, man, yeah, it was a it was a roller coaster for sure.
Bryn:Right. So that's episode one forty five. And the other one is the episode just prior to it, episode one forty four, because, you know, one of the things as a driver of a motor vehicle, one of the things that I've really noticed in the last couple years, I think is the lighting getting better on motorcycles? Because I seem to be seeing them better now than I've ever done before. But I know that we had David Bartell on.
Liane:Yeah.
Bryn:And I one, David's a very energetic kind of guy. Always a great interview, but he's with Add More Light Lighting. Correct?
Liane:Yeah.
Bryn:Okay. So but I would I thought he was great. I thought it was fantastic.
Liane:So the thing with the lighting on bikes, Bryn, is that a lot of people are switching over to LED bulbs, which helps. However, what David does, and and everybody knows because we love add more lighting for what they do, has created, manufactured, like, and created light bars that can go onto any motorcycle that amplifies your motorcycle even more for for car drivers. So when I engine brake, for example, and we talk about this in the episode, and we we talk about this everywhere. When I I engine brake, I very rarely touch my brakes. And that light bar signals to the people behind me that I'm slowing down.
Liane:So I don't have to remember to tap my back brake. It just doesn't. It does it for me. Right. But that's not the only products.
Liane:And what I'm not gonna say on this episode because you gotta listen to next week in Add More Lighting's episode with news from Add More Lighting is what their new product is that's coming out. And that product is another game changer for lighting up motorcycle riders.
Bryn:Don't say anymore. I love it.
Liane:Not saying anymore for sure. So that's me.
Bryn:That's what I've liked in the past. That's what I'm liking in the future, even if I don't get my numbers right. But what about what about you, though?
Liane:For me, I think I always like a good I don't know. I have memories from when I was a child traveling across Canada, and my parents and all of us piled into a station wagon with a tent trailer, Was stayed in every
Bryn:there wood trim on the station wagon?
Liane:Yes. Yes, there was. Of course, there is. This is like the late seventies, early eighties. And, you know, we stayed at every KOA, and just like traveling across Canada and the people that you meet doing that.
Liane:And then so having Rafael Gaspar reach out about his trip across Canada as a documentarian creating a documentary about Road to Happiness, If you're not following along on his Instagram, he is out on the road. He's been out on the road for a while. Yeah. It's roadtohappiness.project on Instagram. Give it a follow because he's like he he's been through the Maritimes.
Liane:He admits that there's some things that, you know, didn't quite go how he planned, so he's regrouping a little bit. And, you know, we get to follow along the journey across Canada from all the way from the Maritimes all the way out to Victoria, where I think he's gonna land on the other side of the country. So I really appreciate that. And then, of course, you know, I've got two more that I wanna kinda talk about. One is the Canadian Motorcycle Association restarting up and real really rebranding into a new better representation on a national level, and I get to be involved with them.
Liane:So we had Lee on to talk about what the CMA is bringing back, and we might have them towards the end of the season just to check-in to see how this first new season is going. They do have a new newsletter. I'm very involved in helping with that. So, you know, give give it a follow. I think you can sign up for it through the website or become a CMA member as well as an AMSS member.
Liane:And the last one I wanna bring up is last year, one of our board members, Adam Calver, had a really bad off out in the country, and you know, it really wasn't good. He wanted to come on and talk about why gear is so important and making sure that you have GPS for those places where your phones won't work. You know, air vests, all the things that really do make a difference in when you have like a really serious situation. And he was lucky. And he actually also said that he was happy.
Liane:He had a medical data carrier attached to his helmet, which is available off our websites for a small fee of $5 because that information in his medical data carrier gave first responders some information that he wasn't able to give them because he was very out of it. So, really happy he got through that and he's still on our board and still recuperating a bit. But yeah. And I'm excited for what's coming up too. And there's a there's a big one coming, one forty seven.
Liane:That one's coming out August 12. And we sat down with another lawyer, Colby from James H Brown injury law injury lawyers. And he was kinda going through these proposed changes that might be coming up to insurance with in Alberta. So things are gonna change in the way that injury law is gonna be handled. And I really want you guys to listen to that episode.
Liane:And if you don't like what you're hearing about what is possibly coming our way, the tips after that one will have how to reach out to your MLA.
Bryn:K. Beautiful. You know? Hey. Speaking of James h Brown
Liane:Yes.
Bryn:Let's let's talk about the Yegg motorcycle show because we were there this year. I think it was it was great for us to be there for so many reasons, but, obviously, we taped four podcasts.
Liane:Out of their booth?
Bryn:Out of their booth, and, thank you to them for having us. But it was just great to meet people who who who saw the logo, saw you, and came over and said hello. That that was that was fun stuff for me. But the the other thing that I I liked about it is the the motorcycle show, the Yegg motorcycle show, was done in conjunction with the was it the Yeg automobile show?
Liane:It's the, auto experience, I
Bryn:think I call that. Having the two together, I thought was genius because it turned it into a full day of adventure for people. I saw I was talking to people that were looking at, at all the motorcycles that that didn't even know it was there that weekend because they just came for the car show, the automobile show. And they went, wow. Let's go in and take a look.
Bryn:And I also heard the same thing from motorcyclists who said, man, I was overlooking at these cars. The new cars coming out are amazing. I just thought it was really well done, and I think it increased the the low I don't know what the attendance numbers were for it, but I can tell you right now, there were some people who said, never thought of coming to a motorcycle show, but here I am, and I'm loving this. And I loved hearing that.
Liane:Yeah. And so the history of the YEG motorcycle show four years ago started in the Western what is it? The it's a one of the first aid places. It's like Western Fire and First Aid or something like that. A tiny little warehouse with, like, 20 vendors maybe.
Liane:We've been there every year. And then the next year, it was in a little bit bigger of a warehouse, and it was connected to an RV outlet. And in an old Rona in West Edmonton, everybody knows that I'm talking about with that, where that location is. Tony Romans is in the parking lot if you don't know. And then it was in the third year that John and Brian decided to approach the car guys and say, hey, let's do this together.
Liane:But last year in the Expo Center, we were in the very last hall. So nobody really knew. We were tucked away in this corner. So you were either going to the car show or going to the bike show, although your ticket went to both and you could walk into both. But with the setup last year and moving over halls into the brighter halls, the car show got bigger, and they had us in the middle of the car show and the auction.
Liane:Yes. And they had the guy from Rust Valley Restorers hosting Mike, hosting the auction, which was a draw. So people would be coming through and realize, hey, there's a bike show here too. Let's check out these things. So it was a it was a good setup for sure.
Liane:I just wanted really been to a bike show though, have you? So what
Bryn:did you think? It's been a long, long time.
Liane:Yeah.
Bryn:So you I but I just I like the energy there. I just thought there was great energy in the entire expo center for both shows, And I I I just wanted to give a thumbs up to the organizers for doing it because I think that that's that's the way to do it. And I think was it I can't the weather was okay.
Liane:Was decent. Yeah.
Bryn:Yeah. It would be you know, but I was impressed by the crowds. And I think that I think that our side benefited, and I'm sure the same with the automobile people. So, anyway, big thanks.
Liane:Back to James h Brown again. Thank you for James h Brown injury lawyers for, you know, hosting us to record the podcast out of their very spacious booth.
Bryn:Yeah.
Liane:You know? Nathan was great to to help us get Colby on, and, you know, Trent's always very supportive, Trent Brown, of everything that we do. So, yeah, had a good chat with him at at a football game.
Bryn:Yes. Yeah. Exactly. Well, hardly a surprise because Yeah. A big Edmonton Elks guy as he was a long, long time ago when he played.
Liane:When he played.
Bryn:I covered him when he was playing. Did you? We go back that far, but we do. So, anyway, he was a great player for the for the football team back in the day. Yes.
Liane:Last thing I wanna say is Yeah. I wanna thank everybody who came out for For the Love of Motorcycles on June 27. Right. You know, weather's always touch and go, and it's it's always great to see our vendors still show up and, you know, hang out for the day regardless of of how the weather is. And, you know, it ends up being a great day overall whether we're under the tent or outside.
Liane:Doesn't matter. You know? And and it's all about raising awareness for motorcycle safety. So looking forward to doing another version of For the Love of Motorcycles next year. Stay tuned because there might be some big announcements about that.
Bryn:Great.
Liane:Yeah.
Bryn:Well, we're not doing we're not doing a mailbag today. So No. Let's start to think about the next half of the season.
Liane:Actually, Brynn, one last question. What? So we have two guys doing Moto Instincts tips this year on every second episode from our tips from other either corporate members spoken through me or tips that we find. How are you thinking that's going? It's it's fun having them.
Bryn:It's been a blast. We we did all those earlier in this season. Right? So I was working with Kirk and also with Leroy, and I loved working with them. They were they were so much fun.
Bryn:And we spent a whole evening. We just rattle them all off, and now we're just cobbling them together with with our entire season. But I thought the boys were great.
Liane:And and
Bryn:the the other thing too, as you recorded, you could get you were starting to get that swagger going. You know?
Liane:I know. I've been listening to them this year, and and, like, nobody understands this. I don't hear those tips until I could, but I don't. And I don't listen to them until I listen to them the same time that episode drops for everyone else. And I'm sitting in my car driving to work, listening to the episode, and their tip will come on.
Liane:I'm like, oh, I wonder what they're gonna say today.
Bryn:I know.
Liane:And I'm always just like, I love the enthusiasm behind it this year and just, like, they've really leveled up on it, and bringing Kirk in has been great as well.
Bryn:Well, Leroy's a bit of a vet. He's done this before. Kirk was really a newbie when he started taping with me, and, you know, I would take two or three takes before he'd get it done, give him a little bit of advice. Hey. What about if you tried this?
Bryn:But then by the time we got to the midpoint of the season, he was starting to get that swagger going. David. It was a it was it was a lot of fun. I loved working with the guys. It was a blast.
Liane:So grateful to have Moto Instincts helping us again, and and, again, congratulations to them for becoming a licensed goal this year. Alright, Brynn. Let's get on with the second half of the season. Thank you all for listening, downloading, sharing, all those things. No mailbag today.
Liane:We'll see you next week with David Bartel and add more lighting. And that's it for another episode of Think Bike hosted by me, Leanne Langlois, produced by Bryn Griffiths at Mighty Mouth Communications. If you have an idea or a question for the show, reach out to info@ab-amss.org or find us on all the socials. Always remember to ride smart, ride safe, and think bike. We'll see you out on the road.