Welcome to think bike, the podcast about all things motorcycle and the voice of motorcycle safety and awareness in Alberta. Your host is Liane Langlois.

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of think Bike. This week, I have welcomed back one of my original rock stars, my original cofounder of Think Bike, mister Marty Forbes. How are you doing today?

I'm great, pal. It's it's always great hooking up with you and talking about our favourite topic of two wheels.

I know, right? Or three if you need. Yeah. The reason why I wanted to bring you on is because, well, how do I do this respectfully? You're a seasoned individual in life, retired, you know, been around for a while, few trips around the sun.

And I wanted kind of that perspective from that more kind of senior level of age and how that affects things differently. But first, let's remind people who is Marty Forbes and what got you into writing?

Oh, okay. Well, I'm a lifer media guy from a lifer media family. Spent my whole time in in basically radio running stations across Canada, as well as wrote a column for the Edmonton Sun for a dozen years, the Edmontonian magazines, and I've heavily involved in community service and various projects. And you and I, I guess this is year 10 or so now, isn't it? Are we close?

Our tenth launch this year happened. Yeah. Yes.

And and just so knocked out with what you and our group of folks that we've been involved with over all those years have have built with this template. It's it's an important one. And it's funny when I and I'm always honored when you call, but when you when you use that topic, the very first thing that ran into my mind was I hate that word senior. And yeah, because it it just it just brings this instant old thing. Now in some cases you're right, you know, and there's a lot of people much younger than me that act a lot older than me.

So I'm I'm happy to be engaged and I've been riding since 1968, off and on every variety of of motorcycle you could have, and I'm glad that I can still contribute at this point in my life what a lot of the boomers, the boomers are, you know, the largest demographic in the world and a lot of them are going to be facing the decision I had to make two years ago now.

And so but but what got you started? What was that itch that got you on your first bike?

Well, dad ran the biggest rock station in town, so I was in I was in a rock and roll mode. And late in the sixties the Honda fifty Cub was everywhere. In England they used to talk about the mods and the rockers, you know? And so as the Honda line was developing, especially mid sixties, I can think, you know, Beach Boys and that kind of thing where you kept seeing the this bike, it just was so cool, and then in high school, 1968, '60 '9, then the huge Japanese explosion happened with the Yamahas and Suzukis and the cool kids had bikes. So I I got into that group with a Yamaha one hundred.

I was happy because all these guys had fifties or eighties, I had a 100. I had that powerful bike in high school and just, you know, the same camaraderie that happens nowadays with bikers, you know, the waves, the whole thing and chatting with each other. So it was just a really, really cool thing to do to have a motorcycle. Now it scared the daylights out of my mum till the day she left. So I had to kind of work around that, but yeah.

Well that mods versus rockers thing is still today. Still goes on, especially over in Europe, which is pretty cool. I need to get over there myself for a little bit of that taste. So when you see, you started in 1968, we won't say where I was at that point because you'll come through the screen and that'll be it. See, and it was up until a couple of years ago.

We'll get into that in a minute. You had a wide variety of motorcycles though. So I mean, cheers to Yamaha and all the support that they give us as well. Yamaha, Alberta, corporate sponsor, Honda, Riverside Honda corporate. So you got all the really good brands running through you, Marty.

What was your favorite motorcycle and why? Or is it hard to choose? Because there's been a few.

Well, I have two daughters. If you ask me that question, you know what the answer is gonna be. You know, as you mature as a rider and as you, you know, you're out working and making more money, the choices become much bigger. So I mean, I went from the hundred to a one eighty Enduro, so now I'm into off road riding, then into a three sixty, so now I can get on the highway fairly decently with that. And then, you know, took a hiatus to have wife and a couple of kids, and when I got back, I got into your favorite brand with the Triumph Trophy, and because I really want to do touring, you know, outside the city highways and stuff like that.

And it was a really good bike, and then Yamaha came out with the FJR 1,300 and man, that was a weapon. I wanted one of those so bad, so I got two. And so and again as you age and mature, you realize, okay, I want to go longer distance and I got the Gold Wing, I mean the Cadillac of motorcycles, if there's a bad cliche, and they had a place in Phoenix, so I had the FJR up here and I had the Honda down there to ride over the winter, so really the best of both worlds. And then finished up when Honda came out with that incredible new design, you know, a lighter bike, more powerful, the tech on it is is absolutely phenomenal what that bike can do and that's what I finished up with two years ago when I had my snowmobile accident.

I think you were on the FJR that one day we were out riding with one of our media pals and you were up front and I had an issue and you just kept going. That was a great day.

I'm I'm a really good follower. I'm a bad leader. You're I it was, Michael from from CTV.

Mike Higgins. Yeah.

I'm just booting away and I'm booting away and you're supposed to look back every x amount of seconds to check on who's behind you, and stupid old Marty in the moment of the day just sails on. I don't even know how long. It must have been minutes and minutes, and I get off my bike and oh, we're the best buddies. And it was a it was a lesson to me after all these years that you, you know, I was embarrassed. I made a bad mistake.

Well, I mean, Michael was behind me, so he he and it was fine and everything ended up fine. I had a little, like, misfire and we were good. But we were laughing. They're like, oh, there goes Marty. I think I texted you.

I said we're fine. No worries.

Well, on a on a positive, one of the simple crazy little things that that you and I do and and when I with others and Karl Stark is count animals and, you know, mostly deer and you stop at some place and say, okay, how many did you see? We rode for an hour and I said seven. I said, then you missed the two on the left hand side at that corner and go, oh my god, You're right. You're right. So you you do those safety things to help each other.

You won't find that in a book, you know.

Not at all. Not at all. The the deer counting game is super fun and it is super important because it reminds you to keep your head on a swivel. So that kind of, that kind of leads into what I wanna talk about because like I'm turn shocker. I'm turning 50 this year.

So, you know, and as I'm coming up in this aging process and things specific to women, and I'm very open about talking about menopause and stuff, because there are things that are very real about that, like brain fog and stuff. But you know, as you're getting older, your reaction time isn't quite the same. Your memory might be not so good. You leave people behind by accident, you know, like those things happen. They just happen.

So as you were getting older, what changes were you making to ensure your safety on your motorcycle when you were out there?

Virtually everything you preach and our group preaches, I tried to follow. We we differ with a full face belief in helmets because I I I just couldn't do that. But the the worst thing that happens is you lie to yourself because you love the sport so much. I lied to myself. I don't I you know, I'm 74 this year and the best line that that a guy told me x million years back and I I can't even remember who, but I don't forget the line is, if you can't lift your bike up on the second stand, it's time to think about it.

So started to think about that in the last couple of years lifting a 800 pound bike up onto that was a struggle. And then every time I would go to to a doctor for something, I would get a you would get those subtle reminders that little things are changing on your body. And and if you think of it as simple as is your insurance gives you new glasses every two years, you go get new glasses, not once do they say your eyes are getting better, so bit by bit, just little things, but but your mind says, you know, the body's 74, the brain's 35 to 40, I still rock, I still have fun, I'm still engaged, but when you think now, and this this one really hit me when I was was prepping for your questions, was, you know, the boomers and and the seniors and the older riders generally will group ride, they'll ride on weekends, that's not up and down the Henday, it's on secondary highways. And what you and I have done since day one is every time there's a bad occurrence, an accident or a death, we try to find out what the cause was so it can help us with our safety messaging and commercials and even but more so you live on television getting these questions.

So where where do we ride? On secondary highways. If we go back, and and I'm sure you can go off the top of your head way better than me, four or five years, we've almost had what, an average of twenty to twenty two deaths in the province of Alberta per season and of those, I'm gonna guess minimum sixty five seventy percent of those are on rural highways. And the reason I I believe that, jump in if I'm wrong.

No. No. You're you're right. It was up until just this last year that it was very rule heavy and then all of a sudden the cities for whatever reason said it's not rules here this year, it's ours. I mean, I don't like it either way, but yeah, it's been heavy rule for four out of five of the last five years.

So so the hardest part, because this ties into my media background, is when trying to find out these problems and what caused them, we can't get any information anymore. If we do, there's no awareness, there's no live television newscast. So we have all this news to try to get out to warn people that hey, you know, it it the the Henday, I think we only lost we lose one or two a year on the secondary highways, we're losing 15 or 20, and these are seasoned riders, generally speaking. They're in big groups in that horrible situation in Grand Prairie. Every one of those guys could have been like me and one like me who had ridden upwards of forty fifty years on a perfect day and an impaired truck driver with both drugs and alcohol goes over the line and and wipes them all out.

There's nothing you can prepare yourself for that. And I think there's one in Nucyrapta, there's another one outside or one or two outside of of the Banff gates. So where we're going to do this leisure riding, your brain is nice and clear and the weather is usually generally nice when you're out and about. This is when this is happening and we we can't get that messaging across hard enough and the locket isn't isn't even the main highways, it's these secondary highways. Yeah.

There's kids that live out here with their pickup trucks that go, oh, there's no one ever goes through there, I'm gonna go boot through that stop sign. And you've seen it And you see them with you know, with their cell phones on their hands in front of their face, you know. I've seen people with their knees driving all that. So so that's the hardest adjustment to go, you know what, I'm I'm prepared for civic driving, you know most of the dangers there. But all of a sudden, I'm living out of the lake, I'm on this 800 pound bike, I've gotten my I've had a snowmobile accident, my knees aren't what they are, my eyes aren't what they are and when I I had that accident, that was in January, and I was recovering, I was getting ready to get the bike out about April 15, and my wife, God bless her, will never preach to me about anything, but she had a look on her face, and then all of my buddies are very nicely saying, Marty, Marty, please don't ride, please don't ride.

I could have been Eric and go I'm fine, I'm fine. And then I looked over and I said, you're right. And I wanted to downgrade, I wanted to get an off road and a lighter bike. And they all said the same thing, Marty, it's been a great run. I've been, you know, those European rides and all through California and I've had some amazing rides and met amazing people.

And I just go, okay, I spent almost three months in trauma hospital beds, can I do that to my family? And every one of my friends said, you know, but you've ridden all these years, you get all that experience. I'm not worried about me. Not worried about my skill level. So I can't control any of that out there.

So and to this day, Kim laughs at me when we're driving, every time a bike goes by, I take a look at it. Oh, Yamaha. And over in Europe, the scooters and things that you see over there and the insanity over there, go, oh man, just one more and you go, I can't do it. I've changed.

Yeah and I mean the like the reaction time for somebody who's in their twenties is going to be faster than somebody, you know, north of 50 for sure. And the older we get, the less that reaction time is. So you have all these other factors of safety around you and you know, that's gotta change the way we think and the way that we ride as we get older, because we do slow down, we do get stiffer quicker. Do, you know, that comfort level, the amount of times I have to stop at my age just to stretch out as I'm, you know, going through. I can't imagine what that's gonna be like in another twenty years because will I still be riding?

I don't know. I mean, I had to almost take a year or two off because I was having so many problems with my leg. You know, you just, it's, you gotta balance what's right. I remember when your sled thing happened, your sled accident happened out at the lake and I know there was some drift or something and you were like partially knocked out for a minute and no one knew where you were. And that brings up the whole thing about not just for sled safety, but for riding rider safety as well.

Like I solo ride everywhere on long trips and I've always made sure somebody knew where I was or had a dot they could follow. And it was really scary to know that you thankfully had a neighbour that came up on you and found you and you know

Yeah, you're right and the neighbors here are just great people too and they said the same thing, is you did the cardinal sin, you went riding on a wide open lake on a beautiful day and just this little fissure of ice and away I go and could have killed myself and it's exactly the same thing. The other the other thing demographically and this this is, you know, what I did in radio the whole time is adapt the station to what changes out there, is my my story is relatively common for the baby boomers, early riders on bikes not very technical, you know, X amount of years, ten, fifteen, twenty years and then you come back to today's bikes and you're way better at this than me, but oh my God, you know, the technology changes, that screen on the wing is you know, like it's about 10 inches wide and I can listen to podcasts and I can, you know, put cruise control and I can have my you know, two way and make a phone call on these things. So the best thing I did was take a refresher course and a lot of senior guys will go, oh, I don't need that.

I don't need that. Well, I learned more on that session and I got I got to appreciate how and the guy reminded me, what was the very first thing that when you bought your bike they told you, and I'll never forget this as long as I live, he says, if you don't do things right, this will kill you. Here's your keys. You lose that later in life and you I've been riding all these years and then you get on those bikes and go, oh my God, you know, these are now weapons. Carl Stark let me use his Hayabusa one day, I shifted two gears, got off the bike, handed back, said Carl, I'm not at that level, I can't ride a rocket like that.

I just can't, okay?

Well, look at our good friend, James McCarthy, one of the things that he would say to his students when he had the C Tech School running was the minute you think you know everything about riding, that bike's gonna teach you a really hard lesson or something to that effect. And I believe that I know people who have, oh, I've got hundreds of thousands of miles under my belt. And then I know of a story of someone and I just can't remember who it was, but it's someone within my six degrees of separation who was one of those like high mile riders, like constant, constant, constant going. So a little older, tons of hundreds of thousands of miles under their belt. Did one course late in life instead of the million miles that I rode, that course taught me more in one day.

And that's a problem as we age, we think because we've been riding for so long, we know better and we don't, we can, I mean, you and I had an earlier text about medical exams at 75 for your license, you're coming up on that?

I just learned it this year when a friend went through it and I went, really? So yeah, so on your six months prior to your 70 birthday, you have to have a very defined and approved medical test to take in to be approved to get your license renewed for five years, okay? In a car that's generally, if if you're physically okay, nowhere in there does it say you're gonna get tested on a motorcycle. So I could go, pay my whatever $35 for that, get back on that motorcycle, drive from 75 to 80 without anybody testing me. Now that's just dead wrong, pardon the pun.

That's wrong. Like I would if somebody else is gonna test me and and look over and say Marty, here's what you did, here's what you did, I would make that decision way quicker going no, this isn't worth it. No. But this is it's all up to you, you have to find these recognition things to go and listen to your friends to say, you know what, okay, it's time. And then even like everybody says, we'll get a Bombardier, get a four wheel, that doesn't change the scenario, you're still out there in those same conditions.

It doesn't matter you're not gonna fall over, generally speaking, but it's just that all of those dangers that you're gonna have to face with exactly as you said, that thinking power quickly are still gonna be out there.

Do you think that quality of, well, quality of gear overall is a pretty high standard for us, always has been, but as you get older, do you think there's different types of gear that you might look into for better protection or different protection?

Well, that's a great question. I wish I had an answer for it. No, I think I think just, you know, recognizing that you've got to keep talking about this with your friends, you know, when you're out riding, when you pull over for that coffee, did you watch me? Am I in the right path? Was I too close?

I mean, just I respect if you say to me I'm doing something wrong, I'm I'm gonna listen, okay, and vice versa, okay? So I I think you just have to be cognizant. Again, as you get older too, what I also find is you put other people on the back, you put your spouse, you put your kids, and that's a whole different reality too, okay? But that's normal to see out there now, okay?

Yeah, I think that communication with your close friends is a big one. Know, you know, as when I'm out in the Kootenays and stuff in the summer and I'm riding with my peeps and I've had one of the guys come up to me on our way back from the Kootenays 1 Year, we were in Crownbrook having lunch and he just pulled me aside so it was kind of away from everyone else. And he's like, you know, when we're rounding a corner to the left, you're way too close to the center line for me. Don't like it. I need you to come over.

And he's right. My head's hanging over the center line and somebody coming this way and they might blow the line and I've got nowhere to go. You know? Those conversations are real and they need to happen. And just because I do this and just because I've been riding for as long and just because I do land speed racing doesn't mean I'm an expert in any sense of the word.

We should always be growing as riders.

You can't be offended with criticism. I had scenario out here with the guy who saved saved me with the motor with this snowmobile, with his wife got a Harley and her gets the training, does that, but her first ride is a group ride and I'm sitting there biting my tongue, it's like do or I don't, go Emily, you have no idea of what these other riders, you have no safety outlet, you should go ride on your own with your husband, don't go on a group ride in this scenario and and hope that she wasn't offended, but she wasn't. She said, I never thought of it like that. You don't know those people.

Yeah. We've got we've got a couple different, like, demographics here. We've got, like, the people have been riding since 1968 who have essentially grown up with riding and and you're aging through the process and and noticing those changes in your physicality and your your mental state. And then you have the midlife crisis people who, know, go out and buy a bike because they're 50 and then we need to do this now. And that's a whole different ball of wax because you're already a little up there.

You have pro I don't know why you're getting into it. And I love people who are going to get into riding regardless of the age, but you still have to do it the right way. You still need to be smart about it.

I think economically the changes out there, the expense now too, people are dumping their cars and they're going to scooters and they're fairly high powered scooters. And I do a little practice with Kim where I see someone riding and I'll pull up to a stoplight and I'll look at Kim and I say, new riders. How do you tell that? Says because they're they're arms are welded to the steering, they're they're coming up, they have they have yeah, they have running shoes on and shorts and they're right in the very middle of the lane at the stoplight and you go, that's a new rider, I'm gonna tell you that right now, who hasn't been trained. So I I think there's an explosion of that that scooter world that's gonna be a problem and now e bikes, know, over in Europe, these e bikes, oh my God, they're $912,000 high powered bicycles.

Yeah. And they're growing like crazy now and it's gonna happen here too.

Yeah, no, exactly. So I know you hung up your helmet after the sled. I know you were, I know the struggle that you had with debating getting a lighter bike. We had conversations about that too. I've always said to you, I was gonna respect whatever choice you made regardless of what that would be.

And of course our friendship has remained and we're bonded because of AMSS really and all the help that you gave me with this. What so the last kind of advice for people who are growing a little bit into their more mature years. We won't use senior because it's right off the top. You didn't like that one. The more mature years, I mean, if I'm gonna paraphrase what you're thinking, it's be realistic with yourself and when it's the right time and listen to the people around you.

100%. And you know, the the one good thing and this is a great example. The podcasting world is a private club. You wanna know anything about any topic now, you can now hear from an expert all over the world, you know, some of the AI stuff that is out there now is just absolutely fascinating saying, okay, when is it when is it to when should I quit? When should I do this?

That knowledge is out there, so at the beginning of the year when you're doing all of those safety checks on the bike, you know, everything that you've covered on these topics, make that one of the questions to go, okay, you know, what do I have to change or adapt, not necessarily quit, when do I have to change or adapt my riding style and my bike and what I do to represent where I'm at in my life that I would never tell any other soul that they should quit. I would suggest if I saw something, you know, for their own safety, but it's an individual thing to recognize, okay, I'm not 23, 20 four single, riding a high powered motorcycle up to the mountains and back and that's that era is over, right?

And I think so the last thing I wanna add to that is don't poo poo on somebody for making a choice. Know, like I used to be a like I used to have a goal for myself that I was gonna beat the mileage I had from the season before. And it's not about the amount of miles I put on anymore, it's about the quality of the rides that I have. And I don't ride nearly often as I used to. I ride as much as I'm comfortable doing and that's where I'm at in my life right now and that's my choice.

And I don't think that anybody should ever say things like, oh, it's February and there's no snow on the ground and so therefore, you know, you're a coward if you aren't riding. Like everybody has to be their own person, ride their own ride and that again, as you get older, you'll know when it's time if you're realistic with yourself.

Just just before we signed on to do this, I I was chatting with with my wife Kim and I said, you know, it's now been long enough, I'm now mature enough to look back, that snowmobile accident may have saved my life. It made me make a decision. I would have been on that bike, so I would have been 74, 70 five, you could have taken a crowbar to get me off that if I was but that thing changed my whole life and we joke now that the only toy I have left is a John Deere tractor to do the lawn in the summer and the snow in the winter.

Do you put your helmet on when you're

I put my helmet on the whole routine.

Now then that's not to say that anybody out there is 74 or 75 and still going hard. I mean, all the power to you, just be mindful of your limitations. Everybody regardless of age, be mindful of their limitations. Marty, thank you so much for joining me. Just a little reminder out there for everybody.

We're got a couple days left in May here. So the Think Bike fifty fifty is still up and running until May 31. That's just a couple of days away. We're hoping to give away up to $10,000 So if you're not in it yet, get in it now. Thank you, Mr.

Forbes. Always a pleasure.

Always look forward to it, pal.

Perfect. Everybody else, hang tight for the mixed bag.

Hey. This is Leroy with another helpful tip from Moto Instincts. This is called whiskey throttle. It's a tip for new riders about power of clutch control. Whiskey throttle refers to inadvertently opening the throttle leading to uncontrolled acceleration.

The more powerful the motorcycle, the more dangerous whiskey throttle becomes. This is an alarming situation that can often cause the rider to freeze up, which eventually leading to a crash. Before intuitive clutch and throttle control are developed, an excellent habit to maintain control during emergencies or instability is to immediately pull in the clutch if you experience a spike in fear. This instantly cuts power to the rear wheel, preventing out of control acceleration. Remember, when in doubt, clutch it out.

That's it for this week. Make sure you visit us at motoinstincts.com for more information. Ride smart, ride safe.

And that's our show for today. To make sure that you don't miss out on any of our upcoming podcasts or listen previous ones, make sure you click on subscribe or follow wherever you get yours. If there's a topic you'd like us to cover or a guest you think would be great on the show or even a question for the mailbag, let us know. You can connect with us on all the socials, Email us at info@ab-amss.org or reach out through the website at ab-amss.org. Thanks for listening to Think Bike.

From us, always remember to ride smart, ride safe, and think bike. See you out on the road.