I got a pleasant surprise yesterday as my friend Rocky lent me his bike to go ride in the Poker Run for the OMRA. My International Female Ride Day ended up being such a positive!
As I geared up to go for a ride the weather in OK Falls was a balmy 18 and sunny. I rode in to Penticton and by the time I got there I was feeling pretty comfy on Rocky's Deluxe. I parked at Slack's and went on to see who all was there and ran in to Duncan from Calgary and Paul from Toefield - I got to see Mike Whittaker from OK Falls and a host of other familiar and friendly faces!
I went out with a group of a half dozen or so, by the time we left Penticton the skies had turned black and the wind had kicked up.
I was wearing fingerless gloves and as I was soon to find out, Okanagan riding in the spring can be just as cold hearted and just as iffy as northern Alberta riding. We weren't 10 minutes into the ride when the rain started - you know the kind the feels like pins hitting your face...half way to Keremeos half formed hail was coming down and while it didn't hurt as much as hail can - on the unseasoned hide it was hitting it still didn't feel so good.
By the time we got to Keremeos my hands were frozen and not one person I talked to had an extra set of gloves (Like a dumb ass I had left my winter riding gloves in the car). OH Well, suck it up princess. Off to Osoyoos. Sorry to the guy on the black and silver anniversary HD bike - the guy wearing the full face. (I had changed lane position like three times in a short span - I could not see in those mirrors much at all and with the cold and no windshield well I had limited range of turning my head to the right - so if you thought I was a bit erratic - you are right - I was.) More rain, high winds, more hail like slush...Hot coffee and popcorn was the order of the day at the pub we stopped at. I ran into Cindy from Princeton and we had a good gab... then off to OK Falls - I had rummaged around in the little tool pouch on the front of Rocky's bike and found a face mask - man am I glad because the rain was coming down in buckets!
By the time I got to OK Falls I was one cold and miserable human being but oddly enough I still had a smile on my face. Some sausage, cheese and veggies, a couple of cups of coffee and I was ready to head back to Rocky and Diana's place (Biker Barbie's B & B)
My theory or motto in life is simple - even a bad day of riding is better than a good day of working...yesterday's ride was cold hearted and miserable but filled with good friends and I WAS RIDING!
Not a ton in the regular news feeds today - a few sports stories and an update on Tom Bregg - Motorcycle Instructor and ETS bus drive who had been savagely beaten - and his 25 year old attacker and what is happening with him. (Glad to hear that Tom is doing better but the road to recovery is far from over)
And a 64 year old Kitchen ON man is dead after riding a motorcycle with no helmet and striking a fence.
The Deeley H-D Precious Metal Gala is coming up on the 11th of May
If you are fortunate enough to be riding today, please ride like everyone around you is blind and out to get you and ride proud, not loud!
Belt Drive Betty
www.beltdrivebetty.com
A MAX Award Winning Web Site
National VP F.I.R.R.E.
www.firre.ca
Western Canadian MotoRescue Representative
www.motorescue.ca
YOU, make it a great day!
Lord, please keep Your arm around my shoulders
and your hand over my mouth! Amen
How many ladies will get on their machines and ride?
If Vicki Gray has her way - all of them right around the world.
I sadly don't get to - I am in Okanagan Falls (going to Slacks in Penticton later today) at Biker Barbie's B & B and had to take my car to get here because of the snow I had to drive through to get here.
So I have to settle for riding on the back of a friend's bike in order to get a bit of a fix - better than not at all in my world.
It was a long and gruelling day yesterday as I was in meetings with some business partners in Jasper until 11 am and then headed to Okanagan Falls - I got here about 10 pm. What a beautiful spot.
Anyhow - I need the day to get organized and back into a bit of a routine...I'll try and have a good blog post for you tomorrow with lots of good info from the trip. I have a great editorial planned for the upcoming newspaper as well!
If you are riding today - lucky you - I am green. Please ride like everyone around you is blind and is out to get you and please ride proud not loud!
And ladies - if you can - get out there and ride today!
Belt Drive Betty
www.beltdrivebetty.com
A MAX Award Winning Web Site
National VP F.I.R.R.E.
www.firre.ca
Western Canadian MotoRescue Representative
www.motorescue.ca
YOU, make it a great day!
Lord, please keep Your arm around my shoulders
and your hand over my mouth! Amen
Communication is the cornerstone of everything.
Without solid communication things just don't get done.
Now that I have people that I need to communicate with for the newspaper - like Marion who is doing lay out for us, I have to learn new skills and better ways of communication. I need to learn how to express my needs and deadlines better because they sadly can't read my mind.
Over the years Ali and I have developed pretty decent skills and I know that over time Marion and I will too, I just hope you all can bare with the little hiccups that will inevitably happen over the years to come.
I hope that you enjoy this week's newspaper - there are some incredible stories in it like the one about the couple in Texas looking for a Hoka Hey Challenge sponsor.
I am in Jasper today meeting with some of our business partners and looking forward to getting into Kamloops and maybe even Vernon tonight depending on meetings and sales appointments. Driving through the snow at Grande Cache yesterday made me grateful I took the cage.
In the news today:
Motocross legend Danny Chandler has died
Mickey Rourke is taking the Red & White to Hollywood again
Port Dover might get a rally????
Motorcycle Recalls are out.
There's a ton more news on www.beltdribebetty.com in the latest news section and don't forget to drop in to the forum and vote for the bike of the month!
Belt Drive Betty
I am grateful to my friend Don Mustard for posting a video this morning on Face Book about Dr Randy Pausch and his Last Lecture - it was an interview with Diane Sawyer - it moved me and I ended up on You Tube and found his lecture video from the Oprah show - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9ya9BXClRw
As a sexual abuse survivor - I could not relate to the happy childhood this man had to draw from. But I could relate to his philosophy on living life and choosing happiness and choosing to live every moment to it's fullest.
The handicaps that a person starts their life out with when they are an abuse survivor be it physical, sexual or emotional abuse can be very hard to overcome. Therapy, friends and mentors are responsible for getting me as far as I have come - I am not discounting my own desire to learn to be different, to grow - but without the friends and mentors - the people who care enough to point out when something you do is wrong or unacceptable well - you have no compass from which to live.
Dr Pausch makes one statement that to me was so profound in light of somethings that have happened to me over the course of the last two months that I cried almost uncontrollably - because what he said was so true and so liberating - "When you are doing a bad job and nobody points it out to you that's when they have given up on you." And the next thing that had me crying and shaking my head in agreement was about brick walls - "they are not there to keep you out - they are there to show you how much you want it" (talking about your dreams)
Recently I had a situation where in someone I had befriended in business decided they didn't like my reaction to a document they wanted me to sign. It was one of those situations where I took things personally ( I reacted like an abuse survivor) instead of treating it like business.
Now, had I treated the situation like it was just business - I would have simply taken this piece of paper and told the person to get over themselves, that they weren't that important and walked away from the potential business transaction like I intended to do from the moment I got the document - I already had my plan B in place.
But no - as I said, I reacted as a survivor and I took an almost identical document and told them I needed them to sign it. I was purposeful - I wanted this person to know how insulting and demeaning their request really was in light of the simpleness of the potential transaction. Truly, I was just as petty as they were. I should have simply said thanks but no thanks - but the survivor in me needed to lash out (and I forgot that I can control her.)
At the end of the day I had a decision to make - I could stay in that wounded, victim role or I could decide that I didn't need toxic selfish people around me and embrace yet another lesson about myself and my reactions to hurt.
The brick wall that I face is a really big one, it must be for I have been tearing bricks out of it for a long time. I want to learn to live life peacefully - without drama, without anger because as Dr Pausch so aptly explains - anger never fixes anything, it is up to us to decide how we are going to deal with the cards we are dealt.
I am sad that I reverted to anger/spite - I am grateful to have realized so quickly that that is what I did.
Learning, growing, changing evolving all starts with awareness. I am learning to stay aware of my feelings, my own ego and how to accept that nothing is perfect except the dream.
I am learning the art of living life with gratitude and happiness - thankfulness.
So what does all of this have to do with motorcycles? I am telling you all this because I want to draw your attention to the Little Warriors Poker Run... $500.00 poker run July 10/20010 at the New Castle Pub. 6108 90 Ave.Edmonton, AB. Rain or Shine. Tickets are $30.00 proceeds are going to The Little Warriors. (Education for prevention of sexually abused children. ) There will be door prizes, 50/50 silent auction, dinner, and a group photo included in the price of tickets, and MORE !!!!
Help make a kids future brighter and easier - don't make them learn the hard way - the way I do sometimes - don't let them feel alone - most abuse survivors feel alone/abandoned - give them tools at an early age to live life with happiness and gratitude....support Little Warriors - PLEASE.
If you are lucky enough to be riding your motorcycle today, please ride like everyone around you is out to get you, is blind and can not see and and ride proud - not loud!
Belt Drive Betty
Well, this is the busiest the news feeds for motorcycles have been in a good long while!
The first order of news today is that I woke up to SNOW - NOOOO I have my bike all packed and ready for Penticton and Slack Alice's and now it looks like I will be taking the cage! CRAPPY.... oh well - welcome to springtime in Alberta.
The Hells Angels have made the news again - according to one very deluded reporter for the Province newspaper - a Danielle Bell - the police "secretly" monitored the Zeke Run on Vancouver Island - I guess this gal has never been present at an event where the Hells show up and I guess she has never seen just how "Secretly" the police go about photographing everyone's license plate etc...I just about peed my pants when I read her account of how things go down - you can tell she was spoon fed by the police service!
I am sorry - I guess I found her coverage funny - really though - if you read the whole article - what a waste of the tax payers money!
Then they (the Hells) made the news again over the sentencing of PUNKO...
I won't even go there with what I thing of this article...read it yourself and tell me what you think of our justice system in this country.
By all accounts the CAV's motorcycle show was a huge hit!
Read the article and see the video!
In Regina, car enthusiasts finally weigh in on the proposed bylaw for noise pollution... where in the Mayor intends to lobby the government to make it illegal to sell aftermarket exhaust modifications for any kind of vehicle.
Victory motorcycles make the news twice today - once for Jerry "Motorman" Palladino's review of the Victory Cross Country and once for making the highest customer satisfaction
rating in the phantom shoppers reports.
In Ontario the Durham Diva's invite you out to their ride night and the Kawartha Bikers Church invites you out to the blessing of the bikes on Mother's Day May 9th.
Well folks - there's probably more than one story that I have over looked - for all of the most current news visit www.beltdrivebetty.com under latest news!
As always - I invite you to weigh in on the topics of the day - your feedback is IMPORTANT to me!
If - UNLIKE ME - you are lucky enough to be riding today - please, stick your tongue back in your mouth and ride like everyone around you is blind and can not see you, IS out to get you and ride proud - NOT loud!
This past weekend has been a deadly one.
In Australia - Andrew McFarlane, 33 , once the second-ranked rider in the world, was flung from his bike at the State Motorcycle Sports Complex at Broadford during the third round of the MX National Motocross championships. He died at the scene.
A 22 year old rider from Coquitlam BC died when he lost control of his bike at an intersection - no other details have been released.
And in Southern Alberta - three people are fighting for their lives after a crash involving a motorcycle and an SUV - RCMP Sgt. Patrick Webb said the details of the crash are still being investigated but its believed the driver of the motorcycle was driving erratically on Highway 2A and he was believed to be under the influence of alcohol.
People - DRINKING AND RIDING causes so much more harm than death.
In this case, two innocent people have been "taken out" and their lives and the lives of their families are forever altered. Then there is the rider of the motorcycle - his family - their lives are forever altered.
Now I know that we are human, we make mistakes and have lapses in judgment - we all do - it is tragically the human condition. When you couple normal human fallacy with alcohol or drug impairment while riding/driving , well - you are increasing the risk factor 1000 fold.
I know I sound like a broken record but what else can I do? I wished I could be like Samantha from Bewitched and wiggle my nose and be where ever needed to prevent people from making these kinds of horrid and tragic mistakes.
I wonder what transpired with the young 22 year old from the lower mainland of Vancouver - the report only says he lost control at the intersection - no reason as to why though.
And what can one say about Andrew McFarlane - again just tragic but obviously, the good lord needed him home with him for some reason...
I pray for all who have been affected, for all who have lost someone they love that they find the peace and understanding to deal with their loss and continue working toward a meaningful and full life. I am not what you would call a religious person but I am a spiritual one and I believe that the good lord - no matter what you call him, has a purpose and a reason for us all - may you find yours today.
If you are fortunate enought to be riding today PLEASE - Do NOT drink/take drugs and ride, ride live everyone around your is blind and can not see you and is in fact OUT TO GET YOU and PLEASE - ride proud, not loud.
