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. It has been

We we didn't go anywhere.

Well, we did for the winter.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. We did that.

I mean, we had to take a break, but now it's season five.

Can you believe it? Hi. Hi, Liane. How are you?

Good. How was your winter?

It was you know what's well, I I I'm busy because as you know, I'm on 880 Ched in Edmonton, and I host the pre and the postgame show on 880 Ched for the Edmonton Oiler Hockey broadcasts. Yay. So my winter, my winter moves along at a crazy pace. I I lose complete track of the days. It's either a game day or an off day.

So the winter for me has gone by really fast. What's really dragged for me a little bit is March and early April because you want the weather to make that quick turn. Also, we get closer to the playoffs, but I've already saw I've I've I've already seen a motorcyclist on the road in Edmonton, and that was in early March, and it made me start to think about, wow. Fifth season's coming up pretty fast, so here we are.

I know. And then I've seen all these spikes in March myself, and I'm just like, oh, wait for it. Wait for the like a lion because Here it comes. God. Did he get hit?

And now I see them out again and street sweepers are out and everything's getting cleaned up and hopefully people are being responsible while they get it back out there and you know, making sure their bikes are safe and they're taking their time till gravel's all picked up and then,

you know. So here we are five seasons into this. This is episode number 105. Four. Is it 01/2004.

So I'm looking ahead a little bit there, but that that's incredible. That's wonderful. And the the my favorite part, and I was looking back at some of the numbers over the winter because, that's what we do when we do talk about hockey. We talk about a lot of numbers. And I was looking at this show and the growth pattern of the show and it's fantastic.

It's sensational and it makes me very excited about season five.

Me too. I know we had the the big leap in numbers when season three hit, which you explained to me from this podcast world that I'm still kind of new in, that it takes a couple of seasons for something to take off and then all of a sudden, of a sudden, Brin, I mean you know last year it's like, hey Randy from Texas, I mean hope you're still listening because that's pretty cool, Let us know. But the other cool thing that happened over the winter months and towards the January, I got fan mail from this awesome guy named Phil out of South Wales in The UK.

That's my that's my my area. That's where my family heritage comes from.

First thing I thought of was you and I'm like, that's a cool connection. But then he tells me he binged all four seasons and can't wait for season five. And I'm like, hi, Phil. Thank you. Pass it on.

Like, keep growing. You know?

Well, that's the big that's the big thing. Word-of-mouth is huge. I don't even know maybe I know Phil through my cousins who see everything that I send out. Maybe Phil is a friend of theirs, but it's the word-of-mouth. And and the real key to take this to the next level is to have people basically, go out there and bang the drum for our podcast.

Absolutely. And one of the cool things that we did over the winter just to kinda help us also word-of-mouth and just quickly as we're passing by other motorcyclists, matter where we are at events and stuff is we had little poker chips done up over the winter that say, listen to the Think Bike Podcast.

I didn't know about that. Did you tell me about that?

Didn't and I should probably get you one.

Very, very nice.

So we like hand these out to random people and then they like it's in their hand and they fidget with. They look at it, and they're like, oh, I should check out this podcast. And it's just another way to keep advertising.

I think that's a great idea because, obviously, we gotta spread the word better, and we have to tell our friends and have them tell their friends, Don't just listen. Follow and like on any of the Ear Candy sites out there like Apple, Spotify, wherever you download everything. Also, you can, you can actually on most of those sites, you can, download an m p three that you can send to your friends so they can have a little bit of a sample, and you can also share the RSS feed to others as well. And that way, they can find us. But, yeah, tell as many people as possible because the one thing that I've really liked in the last two years, and I think I said this in our season ending show, We're doing a far better job of telling stories, people's stories, not just as much as safety is a huge huge part of this, we're talking about people who have struggled or have gone through difficult times and have understood and now really understand the power of safety when it comes to motorcycling.

And I think that, I think that's I think that's great. The stories for me are compelling. They are enlightening. They're tragic, but everybody's got a different story to tell. And when somebody gets into it and says it with passion, I as you as everybody probably knows through the previous four seasons, alright.

I'm a driver, and I still listen intently. I learn a lot about motorcyclists just by listening to this podcast, and it's very valuable to me as I pointed out. Saw my first motorcycle in early March, so now my head's on the swivel already. I'm already thinking about keeping an eye out for motorcyclists as a driver. So I think there's huge value in our podcast, not just for motorcyclists, but for motorists and also pedestrians.

Pedestrians have to know you're coming too. So stories are great.

Yeah. The stories I think have changed it for me as well and the growth of the podcast. I mean, we did so much in the first two seasons with the tips from the industry and we're still gonna pull in people here and there regarding that, especially if we get new corporate members and we wanna highlight them in an episode of who they are and what they do and why they chose to become supporters of AMSS. I mean, we're getting nationwide listenership, worldwide listenership, does good for your business. So consider becoming a corporate member, but you know, a little spoiler alert, we've got some really great topics coming up for this season and you wanna talk about stories, the one spoiler alert that I'm gonna put out here, but I'm not gonna go into details is our conversation with Randy.

I mean, we're talking about a gentleman who is a double amputee.

Oh yeah. Yep.

Absolutely. And I mean, you're gonna have to wait because I am not telling anybody about how that episode went but it has its ups and downs, its laughs, its tears and it's inspirational. And those real stories really affect people differently and that's what I'm hearing from other people as well is it hits home better than just the standard educational tips. There's a lot of education in real life stories.

Well, we work ahead a little bit on this show that, you know, we try to have as many in the, you know, in the system, and they, they pop up. But already, we've done some that have been fascinating to me. Talking about the electric craze. Gotta talk about tech. Tech is everywhere.

Why would it not be with motorcycles? Continues to grow everywhere, so why not? So I I was fascinated by that episode. The other one was talking about kids, teaching kids how to ride. That's that's a that was a good one.

I really enjoyed that one. There's we already have some ready to go, and they're gonna be coming down through the summer months. People are gonna love them. I just know

I can't wait. Yeah. I can't wait. I can't wait for the feedback. I can't wait for more people to go, Hey, I got a cool story to tell.

And you know, if you do, there's a contact form through our website right on the main page in the Think Bike logo area. You can email the infoab amss dot org, reach out through the socials, whatever it is. I mean, I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Just also reminder that everything AMS says is volunteer. So if it takes me like a day or so to get back to you, please have some patience.

People are impatient because you don't get back to them in a day? Come on.

Sometimes. Or they think that I, you know, maybe I didn't care. And I do, I read every single email, every single message, every single everything. But sometimes it takes me a day because I also have a very chaotic job that pays my bills.

Oh, there's that.

This is for fun. This is for fun for me to save lives.

The other one too is people always hear about great stories out there that maybe you or me, we don't hear about. So if anybody's got a great story idea or they know of somebody or they know of somebody who's gone through a tough time or has gone through an unbelievable experience. The one of the episodes was that last year? I've lost track of the seasons already. We're talking to a gentleman who did that trip down through North America, Central America to South America.

Do you remember that?

That was season two, and I think that

was Christmas. Long ago?

Yeah. I think that was Christmas season two.

It made such an impact on me, especially the, the struggles. It was a great story, but the struggles going through Central America because the roads aren't all great through there. And so so I remember that one vividly. I just have lost track of when that was. Like, if that's season two, that's incredible for me.

Yeah. We we've had like, I mean, it's worth going back and and listening from the beginning or listening backwards. Mean, Brandon, I know you and I have talked about this, most people will pick something up and then they'll listen backwards. Backwards. Yeah.

I'm completely the opposite because I'll get tipped off about a podcast and I always start it from the beginning. And I I am now at a point on a couple of podcasts that I listen to where I'm now like waiting a week for the episode to come out. It's really aggravating. So, you know, it's fun though. I mean, I get it now.

I'm addicted to podcasts versus music most of the time, especially if I'm driving my car for long bouts of driving and Well, it's active listening. Fascinated by information.

It's active listening. I still love listening to music. I love to crank the tunes in the car when I'm driving, but I I'm I'm a podcast guy as well. I do love talk radio. There's that's active listening because somebody's speaking, so you gotta listen a little more intently.

Yep. It's one thing to listen to a group or to listen to the classics or whatever whatever rocks your boat when you're when you're out there on the roads. But there's something fun about listening to somebody talk about a subject you're intensely interested in.

Yeah. Or a story that you just get wrapped up in and, you know, or yeah. And it's great. But So yeah, we got lost coming up. I'm switching gears a little bit, shifting gears a little bit.

I was gonna correct you on that and I didn't. Always correcting me but I was just gonna sit here and go, is she gonna figure that one out? But you did. Nicely done.

I I did. I did. I I so you know, Brynn, we we're just coming off the YEG show that just happened last weekend, and I'm tired. I'm not gonna lie. It's a four day show.

You know, it's a day longer than the one we had in January with Moto Canada. There are two different organizations putting on these shows now. Both are amazing to be at and be back in front of people. And so we're really happy to still have a show in Edmonton because Moto Canada had decided to just do shows in Calgary for now, which is great because these guys who started the YEG show during the pandemic now are the And they combined it with the car show, with the auto experience.

You have That only makes sense to me.

Absolutely. And you have everything under the sun and if anybody missed it, like the entire expo center was full of cars or motorcycles and stunt shows and flat tracking. And you could you could test drive your your favorite EV vehicle, not motorcycle, but like the on the car side. Like there's just a lot going on and super good times. So pardon me if I get anything wrong, just a little little pooped from that weekend.

Well, that's alright. Hang in there. We gotta get through this. This is the first episode. We gotta get people excited.

Exactly. So the other thing that's super exciting and I wanna thank you again for your participation in this and everybody else is gonna see this May 1. This year is our tenth anniversary of a campaign launch. Wow. It's been a decade.

Do you feel that old? Sorry, let me rephrase that. That's an amazing accomplishment.

Thank you.

That was a close one.

I mean, a decade of doing this is like, you know, you start something and you're like, how is this gonna go? And ten years later, it's where did the time go? And look at everything we've built in. Like we started as a pilot in just Edmonton to see how it would go and then we expanded out and then we keep adding but slowly and responsibly and you know, like it's kind of fun. Oh,

I I think it's great. And hey, listen, if you're if you can save one life, right, and we'll never know how many lives are saved. Unfortunately, there is a toll every year. It seems to be the same every year. That's just my take as an outsider.

But you know what? We don't know how many people we've saved. We don't know how many how many tips we've passed along or safety pointers that have saved other lives. We'll never know that. We

do hear from some people that, you know, because we talked about this or in our displays at the events that we're at, the helmets that we have, and it just makes people think about it and maybe they change their behavior with gear. Maybe they change their behavior with how they ride in respects to the rules of the I mean, I'm still really pleasantly happy with the decline of four wheeled vehicles being at fault in taking out our community. However, our community still has a long way to go to keep decreasing those numbers of fatalities every year. So we're really excited to be putting out the tenth campaign that we've done. And I know that since COVID we pivoted to this live panel done at a production world, which has been, they're so great at hosting us every And the panelists over the years that we've been doing that have been nothing short of fantastic.

But because it's a special year, we put a call out to some specific folks and we're doing a bit of a, like a pre packaged video where you're still getting a tip from the different parts of the industry or, you know, what a great podcast to listen to. But also, you know, like people wanting to send their well wishes for ten years. People have been partnered with us since day one. You know, it's there have been people who've been with us since day one. And that's like, you can't make my heart more full than with people who believe in what we're doing and stick with us through it all.

This podcast, some years is sponsored, some years it is not. And I think it's a great opportunity from a marketing standpoint to get involved with this podcast because the podcast hey. Listen. Just because somebody listens to this now in its release in April doesn't mean they're not gonna listen to it again sometime in June or July. So all these episodes are out there and it's I think it's a great marketing tool for, for any organization.

They can always get ahold of you. Right?

Absolutely. And I mean, if you're one of those organizations that has even like a national reach, it's the return on investment of being a title sponsor for this podcast at a national level is even fantastic because our numbers show that our listenership in Canada is quite huge. Of course the most centric is in Alberta, that's where we are, but we have listenership across the whole country. I know that going down into The States and maybe around the world isn't as attractive, but I mean, it is for us, we love sharing tips all over the world, but you know, this is a great opportunity and you know, that slot is open. And right now that could change at any time during this season and we hope that it does and somebody may reach out and want to do that.

But yeah, reach out, let me know and let's talk about what that looks like.

What's your email address? Your email address, tell everybody that, okay?

Infoab amss dot org.

That's how people get ahold of you. Just like that. Yeah.

Happy to hear from anybody who might be interested. Okay. So on May 1, again, the tenth anniversary launch is gonna happen as well as our annual Think Bike fifty fifty will be returning where you can win up to $10,000 and the other $10,000 goes back into our programming and helps us keep doing what we're doing. Excellent. So it's a chance to win some good money and there's tickets of varying prices and that will be up on our socials and our website effective May 1, runs for the whole month.

And then we do a draw on May 31 live on Facebook. And then I get to call a winner and go, you won, and I'm gonna send you some money.

Like that. That sounds great.

Like that. Yes.

Hey. What what else do we got coming up here? Because we're already almost at twenty minutes. I can't believe it.

Oh my gosh.

I know. It's

It's because we missed each other.

We keep talking. And we're both very good talkers.

Next thing coming up, the next thing I wanna remind everybody about is our annual For the Love of Motorcycles event. K. At Blackjacks will be on June 21 this year. Again, it's a Saturday from ten till three. Outdoor market, we're still accepting applications for exhibitors and and vendors.

Again, it's info@ab-amss.org or hit the website ab-amss.org. Look for that FTLM menu heading and figure out how to participate. Either way, it's all good.

Blackjacks is located where?

In Nisku, Alberta. So I know people in other parts of the province are like, well, you gonna come do this in Calgary? Things like that. But you know what? This is kind of a sister event to what is Two Wheel Sunday down in Calgary.

So we're not gonna come down and compete with that market. They have a really good outdoor market event in Calgary in Two Wheel Sunday. And this is what our answer is up here in Edmonton to have that up here as well. And it and we support each other. Bobby at Two Wheel Sunday and I have become good friends over the years and we go to their event and sometimes they make it up to ours and, you know, it's all good.

Is that Bobby's nickname? Two wheel Sunday? Or did you just say, you just said it so quickly. Hey, I know Bobby two wheel Sunday. Got it.

Okay. Super.

And okay, because I know we're running tight for time.

It's a podcast, go as long as you want.

No, I know, but before I get into like kind of what's changed about the podcast for this year, Gryn, there is a reason why we do, like, twenty five to thirty minutes.

Do you want me to explain

that? Explain that for the folks, please.

So so looking at some of the analytics of most podcasts, the most popular ones go anywhere from twenty to twenty five minutes. I will use Calgary and Edmonton as an example. The average commute in both cities is about twenty three minutes. Might be just about a minute or two longer in Calgary because they do have the Deerfoot. But nonetheless, at which you know, hey.

Listen. Roadways in both cities can be quite slow

at times. Can I just say there's a lot of construction on the Yellowhead right now?

I was just gonna say

Trying to turn it into a freeway like Deerfoot.

Both cities have their their little issues. But anyway, the average commute's around twenty three minutes. So we try to keep the podcast to anywhere from twenty to twenty five minutes because we think that that's good for one sitting in your car, one sitting on your motorcycle, maybe going from home to the workplace, whatever. We think it's a pretty good length of time. I don't know.

This can be feedback for you as well. If somebody thinks it's too short, then they can always tell us, hey. Listen. Maybe I could do with a real longer version of the podcast if it was a real powerful story. We don't do a lot of two parters.

Right? And and I and I produce a lot of podcasts for various corporations. They love two partners. Right?

We've done some.

We've done a few.

But not many.

But but I'm doing way more these days.

And sometimes I I've run up to that, you know, thirty five, forty minute break.

You have.

But it's just, you can't stop the story if it's just that And we make that call on the fly. We know it could turn into a two parter, I kind of have an idea of what the break point would be. You know, if it's not quite a two parter, we just make it go a little longer. It really depends on the story and if it deserves two parts or one longer.

I'm also getting a little older, so twenty minutes is more than enough for me, and then I'll come back to it later. I'll come back to another episode later or I will binge. I I don't think I could binge all four seasons in one sitting. But nonetheless, I I I think twenty three minutes is about the most for me in general, but this isn't about me.

I agree, but I do have one, one small criticism of your explanation.

You go ahead. And do it in less than twenty three minutes, will you?

And that is, you know, the average commute is twenty minutes. And you had said, you know, whether you're sitting in your car or on your motorbike because podcasts are such active listening, I feel that there's just way too much going on on a motorcycle that perhaps the podcasting is best for in your car or at home or in

your home. Welcome to say that and I've seen stats that suggest that you're more alert.

Oh, maybe. Yeah.

Through activity.

There's people who complain about people who listen to music while they're riding and I do, but my music is at a low level so I can still hear everything around me. But for me, it keeps me alert to have some

And it's not active listening listening to music generally.

No. Right?

So hey. Listen. We we could be debating that one. That might be an episode. It

could be an episode. Should you listen to something? Should you not? What's the pros and cons? But okay.

Let's get into what's changed for season five.

Yes. What a segue this is by the way.

Right? By the way. That was a good segue. Let's just change the subject. Sharp left turns, they're

fine.

A couple years ago, we introduced the mailbag and we've been having some fun with that with questions that have come in from our listeners, whether they're within Alberta or outside, or just things that I see on Facebook. And then I use that person's name because it's a question that comes up so much that need to get that answer out there. We're changing up the mailbag again, Brynn.

What are we doing?

We're doing now, we're going to transition into what's called a mixed bag. So one of the episodes coming up this year is going to be introducing a new avenue for learning about motorcycling from an organization called Moto Instincts and a gentleman by the name of Leroy Victor. And this is a great addition to taking a Learn to Ride course. So please do the course. Leroy's material is an added bonus to what that will continue to develop your skills.

So with that, because we really like what he's doing, we have decided to change up the mixed bag from, you know, we're still taking your questions that are short questions that can be answered. Those are going to be on odd numbered episodes.

Oh, we're gonna flip them every other episode, right?

Right. And so starting today on even numbered episodes, because this is 104.

Leroy today?

We're gonna have a tip, a short tip from Leroy on every even numbered episode throughout this season. So he's gonna give us a little a little help on that where we we do answer. I'll be on to answer some questions on the odd episodes and Leroy will drop some really good tip bombs on y'all for the even episode.

Did you just go Southern American? I mean

I know. Right. Yeah. Y'all? Okay.

That's fine. You travel.

I do. I do. And it just kinda pops in everyone's back

a lot. Fine. Hey. I gotcha. So okay.

Well, like that. I think that's great. So we're gonna hear from Leroy coming up here shortly. That's gonna be fantastic. Looking forward to that.

Yeah. So and then you'll hear my lovely voice come back to close out with all the normal, like, where to listen to us, like and subscribe all that fun stuff. You know, so yeah, I really hope that everybody gains something out of this little shift in the end of our episodes every week and feedback is always good. Again, infoab amss dot org. Bryn

Are you ready? Let's talk on a second. Me get the music ready here. Hang on. Where is it?

I love I love our where is now? Our mixed bag tune. Okay. You ready? That's it for that's it for this episode?

Is that what you're saying?

For right now. Stay tuned for our mixed bag.

Hey. This is Leeroy with another helpful tip from Moto Instincts. Let's talk about evasive potential. This concept can be thought of as emergency preparedness. As a motorcyclist, critical situations can arise that demand rapid changes to velocity, speed, or direction in order to avoid danger.

Unrestrictive evasive potential is the ability and space to move quickly in any direction. The avenues of escape are specifically assertive acceleration, deceleration, swerving left, or swerving right. There are four main factors that can restrict access to these lifesaving moves, available pavement, impassable objects, machine agility, and rider skill. There is often overemphasis on braking and stopping distance, which is no doubt important, but you simply never know which evasive maneuver will be the most effective until an emergency arises. Be fluent in the art of evasion by practicing motorcycle agility in all directions.

Stay aware of changing conditions and having predetermined escape plans. 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 to 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 a b dash amss dot 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.