Hellishly busy and I am loving it...

I just arrived home on Tuesday night after a great trip to Saskatoon. Cyclemania 2013 was a wonderful testing ground for my videoing skills as I was able to do a number of interviews as practise for my upcoming TV show on Eastlink TV called "Ride Like a Local" and the YouTube spin off called "Ride Like a Local II"

I spent some time yesterday doing volunteer work for our local Toys for Tots group - we have a trade show coming up on April 27th and we are attempting to fill the last few booths so if any one is interested in booking a booth give me a call at 780-402-8892 and we'll help you out!

While I was on the road I got word that Sturgis North has been cancelled and there are many in the riding community breathing a huge sigh of relief - I would be one of them.  I am very relieved that no more of the people I care about in this community are going to be hurt - at least for now, by the organizers of that event.

I have a hellish busy time for the next few weeks AND I am awaiting the arrival of my tins - 7 months after I dropped them off to be painted - I am jones'ing to ride and hubby has promised that when the weather is co-operative, if my bike isn't ready I can ride his. Thank you lord for this great man I married!

Our Biker's United in Remembrance Conga is almost completely organized - there have been some huge changes that I will address in the next week or so.

And last but not least our web site will be relaunched in the next 10-14 days and from what I have seen and tested so far - I AM STOKED.

For those who have the finances and need to get a fix of riding in - EagleRider Vancouver has some great specials like their Ride Vancouver Island offer.

There is a lot of stuff in the news feeds today that just might affect your day or life as a rider so visit www.beltdrivebetty.com to find out what's happening.

I leave you with a few funnies shared with me by friends on Facebook and via email:

Until Monday...
Have a great weekend.

Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider

Oshawa buckles to public pressure

Well folks we have seen governments back down to public pressure from the motorcycle community twice in the space of two months.

In Saskatchewan a group called R.A.G.E - Riders against Government Exploitation - formed after SGI announced a plan to increase motorcycle insurance rates in some cases by as much as 400%.  Through persistent public pressure; letter writing, phone calls and tying up man hours and resources R.A.G.E. was successful in getting the premier of their province to force SGI in re structuring the increases.

Now, through public pressure, the HHR's Lou DeVouono is feeling elated. Finally, Oshawa did what they should have done right from the beginning - they zeroed the bill.

Between the radio, tv and newspaper articles, the phone calls, emails and a show of solidarity at the Monday night council meeting, the city of Oshawa decided that they should do what they promised in the beginning.

You see folks, it is possible to get people to do the right thing when you have RIGHT on your side and a small persistent group of people driving the situation.

Congratulations to Lou DeVouono - congratulations to all who took up the letter writing and phoning campaigns, congratulations to those who accompanied Lou to the council meeting.

You had RIGHT on your side, you united and together were able to convince the city of Oshawa of the error of their ways.

In other news I want to express my condolences to the family of Margaret Thatcher - I for one loved the Iron Lady. I admired the woman for standing her ground and doing what she saw as the right thing.

I also want to express condolences to the family of Annette Funicello - the Mouseketeer so many of us grew up with.  She made us laugh and cry and feel...

There is a lot of news in the feeds this morning. Visit www.beltdrivebetty.com to find out what might affect your day, your week, your life as a rider.

I leave you with a couple of funnies shared with me by friends on Facebook and via email:

Have a great day everyone...

Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider

For SHAME - the City of Oshawa sues the Heroes Highway Ride organizer.

In an article from the Durham Region News is a story that tells a tale of a mayor and council that is so out of touch with it's constituents that it leaves one shaking their heads.

Before I give you the link to read the article, I want to give you some background information gleaned by speaking with Lou DeVouono and from listening to him on radio yesterday.

The HHR is a free to the public event, one that is meant to offer Canadians the opportunity to say thank you to our troops and to celebrate the lives of those who have travelled the Highway of Heroes to the morgue in Toronto.

The City of Toronto did not charge the HHR to shut down the Don Valley Parkway last year.  They did not charge for the police escort, the road closures or the barricades.  The OPP has not charged the event either. In fact no community that has been involved in this event has charged for those services - why?

Because the event is free to the public, brings a ton of visitors into the community and because it is heavily supported and backed by the various military charities who get to fundraise at it - for free and it is supported by the military itself.

The city of Oshawa had given the event it's blessing and support and then once it was too late to change the posters and the marketing that had been done, they pulled their support but did not tell the organizer what it was going to cost.

Lou has tried to negotiate with them, all to no avail and so Lou finds himself on the short end of the political stick.

It is disgusting. It is morally wrong and I along with hundreds of others have begun a letter writing campaign.  There is much talk about boycotting Oshawa to get council's attention but in my personal humble opinion, a boycott hurts the wrong people.

The way to get this council to do the right thing and write the bill off to marketing and advertising - of which they got a lot more than $5,600 worth, hell they got a lot more publicity than $20K...write them, phone them, fax them - tie up their office staff, cripple their ability to get any other work done...

Here is the link to the article: http://www.durhamregion.com/news/article/1599785--oshawa-sues-highway-of-heroes-ride-organizer

Here is a copy of the letter I sent to all members of council including the Mayor - I urge everyone to do the same write them and hound them - because I for one believe that they need to be shamed into doing the right thing...

My Letter to Mayor Henry: 
Oshawa suing the Heroes Highway Ride

Dear Mayor Henry,

I was deeply saddened to read that your council has decided to charge for services like barricades, garbage and policing for a free event that is meant to show our troops that we love them, we haven't forgotten them. 

I attended the HHR the year it was held in Oshawa. The venue was ideal on so many levels and it was wonderful to get to meet the men and women who serve our country, to tell them face to face what it means to me to have them serving and protecting our country.

I also attended in Toronto, where they forgave the policing costs etc and in fact had shut down the Don Valley Parkway.

Both were expensive trips to make from Alberta, but they were worth every penny to see the looks on their faces.

I think sir, that you have made a huge political and media blunder.

People are already talking about boycotting your community, which is not the answer here.
You are, I feel, being wrong minded if you think that Canadians don't support their troops and take situations like these and view them as a slap in the face.

You are taking people's feel good emotions and bringing them to a boil.

The small business people of Oshawa do not deserve to get hurt. But some people mistakenly think that they can get your council to reason by boycotting your town.
Please don't let it come to that? Write off the bill as advertising and marketing.

You are coming across as people who don't support our troops, and I think a number of the troops are also your tax payers and voters.

Please write off the bill.

If you would like to join the letter writing campaign here are all of the email addresses of Oshawa's Council:

jhenry@oshawa.ca,

rbouma@oshawa.ca,

 ndiamond@oshawa.ca,

 tdmarimpietri@oshawa.ca,

 npidwerbecki@oshawa.ca,

 bwood@oshawa.ca,

 jaker@oshawa.ca,

 bchapman@oshawa.ca,

 aengland@oshawa.ca,

 jneal@oshawa.ca,

 dsanders@oshawa.ca

PLEASE people - let's flood their offices, let's make them see the error of their ways...

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

Belt Drive Betty

Editor & Rider

A great name for my Beaver mascot!

Everyone, I would like to introduce you to Road Trip Rita, my new sidekick...

The contest to name her had me sitting on the edge of my seat, after all it was bikers naming her...we had so many great names that were offered up and I want to thank everyone who submitted a name and everyone who voted!

Karen Doerksen of Calgary is the winner of the "I named Belt Drive Betty's Beaver mascot Contest" and Rob from Hillbilly Jack's in Vernon - our Tee Shirt supplier, will be sending Karen out her Tee Shirt!

Steel Tattoos & Body Paint from Irricana is creating a sculpture of Rita and she will be a busy beaver this summer riding with me across Canada!

Thank you to everyone who helped us find the perfect name!!!!

A special shout out to author and cartoonist Paul Jamiole for creating Road Trip Rita for us...who knows, maybe one day she will become one of the animals in his "Bikers are Animals" children's book series...

Now - for those of you who don't get the Busted Knuckle Chronicles, our weekly community newspaper, I want to share with you my editorial.  I am quite sure there will be some who read this who can relate....

My Psychiatrist is back – well almost!

PMS – Parked Motorcycle Syndrome – a dis-ease that can kill…the soul.
I have often wondered what it would be like to live in a climate where you can ride year round.
It would have a lot of advantages and yet, I am glad to live in the north.
The summers in the north are generally pretty amazing.

Our days are longer, there is far less traffic to contend with, the air is sweeter and while we may not have the hairpin twisties that can get the blood pumping, we do have glorious sweepers and beautiful valleys to ride.

Where I live, Grande Prairie, we are only a two – two and a half hour ride to the mountains.

I feel like I am one of the luckiest riders alive - IN THE SUMMER anyways.

Between where I live, and the job I do, I am on my bike pretty steady clocking an average of 20,000 K a year and more. I love it.

But the winter and early spring cause a slow and very painful death.
Smiles don’t come quite as easily, tempers get a little shall we say, short.

There is a tension that builds all winter long in we riders from the north.

It builds, and builds until you feel like your head is going to explode. Your soul hurts.
And because of that pain, there is something we northern bikers get, that those who can ride all year long can’t truly fathom.

We understand just how sweet that first ride for the season is.

When you get to ride all the time, well, it’s like anything else, familiarity breeds’ complacency.

The sweetness of that first ride of the year is directly proportionate to the length and harshness of the winter, and the worries and challenges of life.

No matter how cold the wind is – it is that wind we crave, that feeling of utter freedom, when your soul takes wings and fills with the peacefulness that only uncertainty can bring.

The sun on your face...the wind kissing your skin, the tingle of adventure!

We dream of it, yearn for it and yes; our bodies seem to literally ache for it.

The PMS isn’t too bad to deal with in the beginning– like every other deadly dis-ease it comes on quietly.

In October, or there about, when you first put your bike to bed, there is a profound sadness; a grieving that takes place. When the snow hits the ground you are resigned to the fact that you and your sanity connection are going to part ways for a while.

You start flipping through parts books, ogling at the chrome bits and goodies on the computer.

You spend a lot of time admiring other people’s bikes, getting ideas of the things that you’d like to give your special baby and that goes on through November. You daydream a lot, and those around you complain that you seem a little vacant.

December’s bustle of getting ready for Christmas and in my case, getting ready for the January tradeshows keeps one occupied. But occupied does not mean peaceful and sometimes it doesn’t always translate to pleasant either.

And then the January motorcycle shows hit and you are surrounded by shiny chrome and leather, all those friends you haven’t seen in months are dropping by the booth - the talk is all about riding.

Where you’ve been, where you are planning on going and what’s going on and coming off of the bucket list.

All the talk about rides and being surrounded by gobs of chrome and leather do nothing whatsoever to alleviate the pain.

In fact, it is in January when the pain begins to increase. It’s like an exquisite form of torture.

By March, you (read that as I) aren’t fit to be around. You are pacing and waiting like an expectant mother. You can smell spring in the air. You are restless, agitated and just generally surly. And when you are a female – WELL - those who don’t know you very well are sharing knowing and sympathetic glances with their buddy – your husband.

You can see the “You poor bast*%d” look written all over their faces.

My husband knows me well. And he has a devilish sense of humour.

A few of his non-riding buddies from work stopped over not that long ago and I was in a sour mood.

I overheard him tell them to ignore me, that I just had a case of PMS. As I came around the corner into the living room, I could see them looking at him with raised eyebrows for throwing that out there so casually, with me in earshot! The one guy looked at him almost in admiration. You could almost see the look of disbelief that Charby was so cavalier in throwing out that dreaded term in front of others… and that he wasn’t ducking.

Of course once they understood what the term PMS means in our world they were full of laughs and teasing me but that one moment was priceless.

The days have been getting warmer, longer and the snow is starting to melt, the roads are dry and my temper has become shall we say – SHORT. I have had a lot on my plate, between having three people I care about die in rapid succession and what that means for the paper since they all wrote for it…and I have had my share of disappointments when it comes to people not living up to their word and causing a ton of extra work to be dumped in my lap.

My ride is not together yet.

I dropped my tins off to be painted back in October and they haven’t come back yet.

So here I sit, listening to the first bikes of the season going by my house.

My heart is happy to hear that sound again, but unlike years gone by, I am without a ride.

Every bike that went by on Friday and Saturday was met with a “You lucky Bast*%d, YOU SUCK….”

My PMS is at it’s all time high – and I swear it really can kill – it kills the soul.

There is nothing more pathetic than a crusty old broad frothing at the mouth, the pain in her soul screaming for some relief and her eyes green with envy.

Then something magical happened.

My wonderful husband fired up his bike in the garage and rode it down the icy back lane and parked the bike in front of my office. And then he handed me the keys and said go – you need it.

I have only ever ridden my husband’s bike twice. It’s not something he gives up easily…

I get why that is. It’s the same reason I seldom give up the keys to my ride…

And so after an ”Are you sure?” I ran out the door before he could change his mind.

As his Road King came to life, something inside me shifted.
I felt the first true smile in months, come to my face.

It’s not really warm out, about 2 degrees, but warm enough if you layer up well.

Still lots of gravel in the intersections and corners…

I never got out of third gear, never went out on the highway – just a few loops around the bypass and up and down a few side streets, but you couldn’t knock the grin off of my face with a 2 x 4.

As I rode, the thoughts of the work that has me buried, the heavy responsibility of having people relying on me for a pay cheque, the disappointments over some people and their lack of integrity, the loss of William, Lisa and Kaylee, my dad, my brother and all the others who have left me behind on a journey they had to go on alone, the worries over my mother in law who isn’t well and a million other smaller cares - finally left me alone.

All of that chatter inside my head quieted.

There is no better way to get your head screwed on right than going for that first ride of the season.

It is the sweetest ride of the year because it relieves the most amount of pain – I know tonight I will sleep better than I have in months, my psychiatric session only lasted an hour, but the relief was sweet and immediate.

I want to thank my husband for knowing me so well and for letting me ride his bike to take the edge off.

I am anxious for my parts to get here and my own ride (read Therapist) to be back together, but for

now, I am happy to have the “Rain King” grace the parking spot that is reserved for “Black Betty”.

My office finally feels like an office again.

Have a great Thursday everyone...

The third death in 10 weeks - I am reeling.

Tonight I sit here dumbfounded. Stunned, feeling empty and hollow.

Three generations of a family gone in the space of two months. Three people we have cared about, shared our lives with, three people who not only wrote for our humble little newspaper, but became a part of our extended family.

The grief I feel is enormous, like a giant weight crushing my chest. I can't stop crying, thinking, remembering.

On January 14th, our columnist William Perry lost his lengthy battle with cancer.
His daughter Lisa died of bowel cancer on March 17th after having been diagnosed only a few weeks prior and tonight his grand daughter Kaylee was killed when she lost control of the Ducati Monster she was riding.

Distraught after the recent passing of her aunt Lisa and still reeling from the death of her grandpa, Kaylee went for a ride. It began lightly snowing, she swerved to avoid some people walking down the lane/street and crashed.  She was just two weeks shy of her 18th birthday.

If I had to name only one thing that I admired about them all  - it was their sense that life was an adventure meant to be well lived. Outgoing, strong willed, opinionated, loving, crazy, quirky, thee are a million adjectives a person could use to describe the Perry's who are no longer with us.

My prayers are being lifted tonight for Beth, Kaylee's mom, her little brother, Ashton and sister Susie, her aunt Kathryn, aunt Marion,  Melek, Adelle and all of the Perry clan.

Three beautiful bright lights have gone out in the space of 10 weeks.

I ask you to join me in a prayer for the Perry family. They are going to need all of the love and strength we can offer them.

May God lift you up in this time of sorrow and wrap you in his arms.
I am so deeply, profoundly sorry for your loss.

Kaylee

Lisa

William

Belt Drive Betty
Editor  & Rider

A day of crazy stuff in the news...

Some mornings I shake my head a lot as I read the news feeds. Today is one of those days.

In an article from Great Britain, an insurance company went to great lengths to dispute information that the BBC had in a show called "How Safe are Britain's Roads"

According to the article: 
"Insurer refutes that loss of control is main cause of motorcycle deaths

Groupama Insurances says it has “proved categorically” that other road users are the main cause of motorcycle deaths, refuting the suggestion on the BBC TV programme ‘How Safe are Britain’s Roads?’ that loss of control on bends is the main cause." End Quote

So, how could the BBC get things so wrong? Is this investigative journalism?  Things that make you go hmmm..

Then out of Salt Lake City Utah comes this headline:

LDS motorcycle gang makes temples its destination

Apparently the Later Day Saints do not know the difference between a riding club and a gang...or how wrong it is to label people inappropriately -  interesting.

In the how petty can you be category...

A veteran sued his boss for firing him because he bought tickets on a Harley from a rival of his boss.

According to the article: The lawsuit alleged that Schatzman fired Russell in November 2010 after Russell bought $100 tickets in a motorcycle rifle organized by Dave Griffith, who was running against Schatzman for sheriff. Russell said he just wanted to win the motorcycle and was never told buying the tickets would get him fired. End Quote

In Australia, the Chief Commissioner Ken Lay, has decided it is time to clean house. "Blitz on Rats in the Ranks" is his effort to rout out bad cops on his force. 

According to the article: 'What we have uncovered in the past three to four months is really worrying that some of our police are behaving criminally. They are either very naive or have been very carefully cultivated by members of outlaw motorcycle gangs. It is not just about compromising Victoria Police now; it is about compromising the organization in five, 10 or 15 years' time.''

I really wonder at some of these reports about police services - no matter where they are in the world, police are people and with that comes all of the flaws of humanity.  Just because you are a police officer does not automatically guarantee you are going to be one of the good guys. And that my friends can be said in any profession and any community around the world regardless of skin color, race, creed....

Out of Ireland come two divergent articles. The first is about the goofiest sitcom on bikers being released on line I have ever watched! "The Clandestine" is about a group of office workers who decide to form a bike gang.

The other is from MCN Magazine and is about the TT Races and the man who promotes them, Paul Phillips, who says that if Irish Road Racing died it wouldn't affect the sport.

And the man so many "Love to Hate" Jesse James got hitched to pro drag racer Alexis DeJoria

I guess the fact he cheated on Sandra Bullock and has done so many times in the past to other gals doesn't faze this fast lady...

In Ontario a 23 year old female rider is charged with stunting and dangerous driving.

A train and a motorcycle collided in Surrey BC yesterday - there are no details available as of yet.

There is a ton of other news in the feeds today - these one's just caught my eye and some made me go hmmm.

I need a giggle - how about you?

These were shared with me by friends from Facebook and via emails:

Have a great Tuesday everyone.

Belt Drive Betty

Editor & Rider

Although Revised, the new SGI Rate Review Request is going to hurt the motorcycle industry and community.

At least that is my uneducated take on things.

I am totally confused by the revised rate review proposal from SGI

I will admit that I do not understand insurance and how it works, but I do know this, even with this revised proposal the motorcycle industry is going to get hit HARD in Saskatchewan.

Motorcycle dealerships DEMO plates will go up by 21%

So how many dealers will be reducing their fleet of demo bikes?

How will a rider get to ride a machine to know if it is the right bike for them?

L – Dealer Plates:	4.8%
Automobile	4.5%
Motorcycles	21.1%
L – Snowmobile Dealers	1.7%
LV – Antiques	22.7%
LV – Buses	25.6%
LV – Buses (Restricted)	22.5%
LV – Motorcycles:	16.8%
Cruiser/Touring	16.5%
Dual Purpose/Other	22.2%
Sport	16.8%
Motorhomes	15.7%
MT – Snowmobiles	0.0%
PB – Passenger Inter-City Buses	14.2%
PC – Passenger City Buses	16.6%
PS – Passenger School Buses	26.7%
PT – Taxis	16.4%

Current Annual Rate	Maximum Cap
$1 – 50	$25
$51 – 100	$50
$101 – 250	$75
$251 – 500	$100
$501 – 750	$125
$751 – 1000	$150
$1,001 or greater	15%

Customer impact

If SGI receives approval for the increase with rebalancing, as well as the surcharge, it would mean:

                  Rate increases for about 63% of Saskatchewan vehicles with an average annual increase of $35;

                  Rate decreases for about 35% of Saskatchewan vehicles with an average annual reduction of $21; and,

                  No rate change for about 14,000 vehicles.

For information from the Rate Review Request – visit: http://www.saskratereview.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8&Itemid=6

to find out more

Now I have done some math of my own to figure out what the income to SGI would be for the motorcycle class.

I have used the media figures of approx. 25,000 motorcycles being registered because Mr. Thompson said the TIAC numbers were not relied on by them (11,767)

I am also estimating average insurance premiums per year for demonstration purposes.

If 25,000 riders paid an average of $800 per year, the income for SGI from those riders would be 25,000 x 800 = $20,000,000

If 25,000 riders paid an average of $ 500 per year, the income for SGI from those riders would be 25,00 x $500 = $12,500,000

If 20,000 of those riders also insure vehicles and the average plate is going to increase by $35.00 then those riders are contributing another $700,000 to the above totals. Am I wrong?

So what are the numbers? Well without knowing how much was paid out in claims for motorcycle crashes, all I can do is guess – and guess high to be safe….(all I know right now is that there is just over 9 million in shortfall apparently)

According to the 2010 TIAS Report – Page 43, section 6 – Vehicle Factors

There were 308 crashes involving motorcycles.  Look at the stats for bicycles!

2010 Stats
	Bicycle	Alcohol	Motorcycle
Property Damage	37	653	120
Injuries	126	198	183
Deaths	2	6	5
	165	857	308

So, if all THREE types of claims were 100% the riders fault and all costs were borne by the motorcyclist, and the average claim was $120,000 – the costs would be approx.:  308 x $ 120,000 = $36,960,000 of which 15% is administration costs roughly (this is an estimation of admin costs).

Now, if as SGI Claims, and the rider is at fault 52% of the time that number would be $19,219,200

That is $19,219,200 for 52% of the fault for 308 claims of an average of $120,000 each.

I am really struggling with the numbers here, and low and behold Mr. Thompson finally emailed me; I had put in two request for information since Monday after Friday’s missed deadline, and got this response this morning:

Don Thompson

7:07 AM (13 minutes ago)

to me

As you may have seen we have resubmitted our rate request.  The last several weeks our priority has been putting together a revised rate program and submitting it to the rate panel and putting up on our website.  We are now returning to the many requests for information.  We should have it all out next week.

So, the mystery continues as to how SGI can have a shortfall of $9,000,000 dollars, continues for me as I just do not understand the methodology or what the real numbers are and look forward to having some of it explained – how about you?

If any rider who reads this blog is or knows of someone who can explain the insurance rating system and the real numbers to me, and my readers, how to evaluate what the real numbers are, I would deeply appreciate it as I am sure others would.

The Cars/Pickups/SUV against the Motorcyclists strategy in their marketing materials and press releases

has SGI looking like they are attempting to create a hostile environment between rate payers.

I urge you to please support R.A.G.E. in their efforts to thwart the rate hike and have a seat at the table to discuss better injury reduction strategies.  You can also purchase any of our patches on www.beltdrivebetty.com and we will donate $2 towards R.A.G.E.

Have a great day everyone – hope you enjoyed this weeks Busted Knuckle Chronicles…And please go vote for my Beaver Mascot’s name….

Thanks!

Belt Drive Betty

Editor & Rider