Accepting that Human-ness is the bigger problem not racism, is that possible?

I have taken the unusual tact of going dark on my personal pages on Facebook and Twitter due to the inordinate amount of hateful vitriol I have endured as a result of my stance on entertainers and pro athletes taking a knee or protesting during the singing of the US Anthem at an event wherein:

A) I bought a ticket to attend said concert, play, movie/game
or
B) I pay to watch your concert/play/movie/game on TV by enduring insane amounts of commercials.

NEWS BULLETIN: You lose the entertainment/escape value that I perceive you to have when you try to shove your politics down my throat.

As a consumer, I am not attending your concert/play/movie/game to be subjected to your politics, I want to be entertained. I don't care if you are Black, Brown, White, Yellow, Pink, Purple or Green.  I don't care if you are Polish, Jewish, Greek, English, Hispanic, Hawaiian etc.
If I bought a ticket to your concert/play/movie/game, if I paid taxes for you to be afforded to play in a taxpayer funded stadium, if I endured the endless commercials to watch you on TV, I deserve to get what I paid for - ENTERTAINMENT - ESCAPE.  

I am not saying you don't have a right to protest what you perceive to be social injustice, police brutality and the like. You have a social media platform and the TV Talk Show circuit as well as the press and events hosted specifically to promote said beliefs to engage in your right of free speech, you can demonstrate or rally.

LEAVE the politics out of the entertainment you are being paid to supply to me, the consumer. PLEASE.

I am merely exercising my power of choice to turn off the TV, not buy a ticket to attend your concert/play/movie/game.

Because I have taken this as my personal stand on this topic I have had a long time contributor to my paper pull out and have lost a few people in my life that I could have sworn were my friends before this.

I actually had someone accuse me of supporting a "deranged man" - insinuating that I somehow was supporting Donald Trump on this topic. No debate, no discourse. Nope, instead on my personal pages these great big disclaimers about who I must be and how they can't stand me now.

NEWSFLASH - I AM A CONSUMER and I AM FED UP WITH POLITICS INVADING EVERY ASPECT OF LIFE.  

That's not what Donald Trump is fighting with you all about, but since you gotta got there....

As the daughter of a veteran, I personally think the method of protest these people are taking is wrong minded,.
I feel that during the playing of the anthem of a country is not when you should be protesting.
I am often proud of my country but ashamed of my Government.
The Government is not the Anthem nor is it the Country.
The Anthem represents the Country, and the country is the people that live there and their spirit.
That's how I feel. It's a personal thing.

The former contributor to our community paper told me that since I have a small amount of pseudo celebrity I should stick to talking motorcycles - well newsflash, if you watch my TV Show Ride Like a Local on either YouTube or EastLink TV you are going to get motorcyclist interviews, sometimes motorcyclist related politics and riding...If you go to the Busted Knuckle Newspaper, you are going to get motorcycle news and usually motorcycle politics if there are any to discuss - you know the whole police profiling, the MC world politics, but they are at least specific to our community and that's what a newspaper's job is - information dissemination etc...In fact my blog title and my column in the newspaper is kind of a give away that you might get some personal opinion and some politics if you decide to read my blog. So - the whole you are a "hypocrite" from the former contributor really doesn't work in my case.

On my personal page, the Renee Charbonneau page you are going to get me, unabridged, because you are supposed to be my friend.  Do you know what the real definition of a friend is?

It's someone who knows you and likes you anyway.

I am entitled to an opinion like everyone else and about 25% of the world and I are going to see eye to eye on things and the rest are here to teach me something.

Sometimes the thing they teach me is; "turn it off or go ride your motorcycle more girl."

I enjoy debate. I don't enjoy vitriolic hatred.

I will defend your right to your freedom of speech and expression, but when your rights begin to infringe on my rights, I will push back, as is my right.

Freedoms and rights work both ways, even people I don't care for are entitled to their say, their feelings and thoughts.

As a consumer, I just think that if I am paying to hear you perform, I'd rather you just perform, if I am paying to watch you play a game, please play the game.

If I want to know your political view I will tune into a talk show that you are on or go visit your Twitter feed.

Now I am going to get into another hot topic - White Privilege.

I read an article wherein a woman used a number of situations that have transpired in her life, that in her mind prove that there is White Privilege - click on the words to read her article.

I want to tell you about what I now understand thanks to the article quoted above (White Privilege);
I have been subjected to Black Privilege & Ukrainian Privilege just to name a few.

Please remember as you read on that I am a White, Canadian born female of French, Scottish, English, Irish, Polish descent. Apparently the folks in my family had no problem playing the field so to speak.

 Let's see how many people will actually read what I have to say and then take an honest look at what they are complaining about and understand that the problem here isn't that you are black, brown, white, yellow, green, pink or purple, Ukrainian, First Nations, Polish, Jewish or French but that you are HUMAN. 

A few examples of "Other Race Privilege":

I lived in the US for a period of time when I was married to jet car driver, Doug Rose of Green Mamba fame.  During that time, while pregnant with my daughter, I had to go to the hospital for a check up. My mother in-law was sleeping, my ex-husband was gone with friends and I was alone with no one to drive me to the appointment.  I decide to take the bus.  Unbeknownst to me, I would be travelling through what I was later told was the "ghetto". (I was 24, and fairly fresh off the farm with not much for big city experiences.)

At one stop, there were a lot of Black people, a few Latinos and a couple of other White people.
When I got onto the bus, all the seats were taken. A lot of women, Black women, were seated close to the front but they did not offer up their seats. I was very surprised by the fact that a man had given up his seat for me. He was such a gentleman.

I was terrified by the black women who hissed venom at me, saying things like "Bringing another white trash bitch into the world are we?"  "What is your white cracker ass doing on this here bus in my territory you fat slut?" I was called a few other things by these women, but I won't repeat them.

Now you see based on the logic of the writer of the article referenced above: White Privilege, this situation exhibited Black Privilege because based solely on my skin colour I was verbally attacked and insulted by Black women for being on their bus in their territory.  The same Black man who gave me his seat, intervened on my behalf. If it hadn't been for the kindness of that Black gentleman, I'd probably have been beaten by those women that day, they were truly that hateful.

HMMMM - but what does that say about the kind Black man? And how does that blow the whole Black Privilege narrative up?

We'll get to that a little later...

If what this author says about how to determine if you have experienced White Privilege is true, then.... I guess I could talk about Ukrainian Privilege. My family moved from the farm to a predominantly Ukrainian community, and the Ukrainian girls in my class range did not like me.  They would call my mother in the middle of the night to tell her that I was having sex with some boy, when I was asleep downstairs. They would put gum on my seat so as to ruin any nice clothes that I could afford. I was bullied and brutalized by this ring of Ukrainian girls.
Why? Because I was not Ukrainian and did not belong, they verbalized that on more than one occasion.  The torture went on for 6 years until I graduated and moved away.  Did I mention that I am a WHITE female?  These Ukrainian girls where also WHITE females.  They, like me were also Canadian born. Hmmm...this can't really be called White Privilege so I think I am right in calling it Ukrainian Privilege. Yeah that's it, Ukrainian Privilege.

Based on the logic of the writer of the article referenced above: White Privilege, I guess I can talk about social injustice and profiling by the police too...
I could and did bitch about the police who shut down my event in Olds in 2007 by blocking all the entrances and jacking every rider up all because one full patched member of the Hells Angels was present and it damned near cost me everything I owned. Why did they do that? Because I wear a motorcycle vest and consort with others who do as well. Its profiling, but because it's not racial, it's not protected. They can brutalize a small business because they profile, but there is no civil recourse for me. I am right though, it is a social injustice that I am profiled because of the clothes I wear and the conveyance I ride, there is just little that I can do about it.

I had a Greek man tell me I needed to sleep with him to keep my job as a waitress. I went to the change room, came back and in the middle of a busy restaurant walked up to him, threw my uniform in his face and made it clear I didn't need to sleep with anyone to keep my job - I quit and walked out to huge applause.  Is that White Male Privilege or White Greek Male Privilege - sorry, I get them confused....

These are things I have put up with and lived through - but there are other things we need to discuss - we can't look at the bad things in a bubble, in isolation - we need to look at them in a greater context...

I can also tell you about the times when there were kind Black people who touched my life, like the lady behind the front desk at a motel in Shreveport -Bossier City, Louisiana who lent me her car to go get some Pedialyte for my sick baby. She didn't know me from ADAM!

I can reiterate that the kindness of a Black man saved me from getting beaten by some Black women who did not appreciate a pregnant White girl in their midst in Milwaukee in 1984.

I  have had kind police officers help me get through the aftermath of a crash, or give me the benefit of the doubt over a speeding ticket.

The things these people are upset about really do exist - YES -  but they are NOT RACIALLY MOTIVATED as much as they are part of the HUMAN condition.

 Is it possible to accept that Human-ness is the problem and not racism, is that at all possible?

Think on this - can we agree that....
Not all cops are bad apples, not all priests are pedophiles, not all Black people hate White people and not all White people hate Black people...

Quit judging the world by the actions of the few and look for the good that IS going on all around you. Start acting with kindness yourself and you'll start finding kindness. Work at being the change you want to see in the world.

Our countries, Canada and the USA have flaws, they are, like everything else in the world, a work in progress - we are better at most things today than we were 100 years ago, 50 years ago and we will keep evolving and hopefully continue to work at becoming better, kinder, more in tune people.

The Law of Attraction states that what you put your focus on is what you will find.
The Law of Attraction works on everyone equally the way the law of Gravity does.
Focus on bad crap - then that's all you see.
The war on drugs brought more drugs. The war on terror brought more terror.

Focus on the good things and very soon you will start seeing more good things.

Quit giving the negative people and things all the energy folks. 

If we simply were to start focusing on everyone having enough, feeling accepted and learning to embrace every little thing that happens that is good - you'd see so much more good in your life.

It's never going to be perfect - it's not meant to be - what journey is?

Life - it's short and it's precious - live it like it is.

Precious, that is.


That's why I have shut out social media for a while, seeing so many hateful things being hurled about has me over the edge with frustration.

I just need a break from all of the negativity.
I need to recharge my soul. I need to look after my health, physically and mentally.
I need to ride my motorcycle, support the children of our community here in Grande Prairie, mourn the the loss of another friend, work on our Afghanistan War Monument Project and see to it's unveiling ceremony on October 7th .

I need to do things that are positive, that move things forward in a positive way, spinning my wheels trying to fight keyboard warriors is not my idea of rich, fulfilling or rewarding work.

And to those that turned on me because of my stance over PAID entertainers and pro athletes protesting, people who assumed they knew what was in my heart without having a civilized conversation or asking me that question, please know, I love many people who have differing ideas and opinions from mine, I am always willing to have a fair and honest discussion, until you start with the name calling or the profanity or the vitriol that is so outlandish that I can't abide by it.

Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider

Port Alberni, time in Canada's MOST Rider Friendly Community - Part Two

My time in Port Alberni was rewarding.  After partaking in a toy ride that saw well over 1,500 bikes come out (the official count was under 1,300), we pulled into the parking lot at the Glenwood Centre, everyone dropping of their toy and then off to buy tee shirts, get an adult beverage and a seat to watch the rodeo.

The games were run with a precision I have not seen in years! Everyone in the stands were hooting and cheering the competitors on.

Man does this toy run get crowd participation happening! There was no shortage on competition, these folks love their rodeo!

During the Toy Run I was blown away by the number of signs thanking the riders for supporting their community. During the event that followed I was blown away by how much the community at large participates in what the committee hosts.  The number of families and children that were present just made you smile - this is what a toy run should be.  Here is one of the the Facebook Live videos I did that day:


The guy that was cooking up the pig, a 200 pounder, had his son and a friend helping debone the meat and get it ready for the midnight luncheon at the toy run dance.

He was handing out cracking like it was crack and people were gobbling it up - me included!
He was also playing in the band Big Daddy for the dance!

After the rodeo, I went back to the hotel for a bit to change footwear and ended up having wonderful conversations with a number of my Island friends.

 At 9:00PM I headed back over to the Glenwood Centre and the dance. They had two bands playing and both were really freaking good!

I was shocked to see how many people were already there and dancing - the dance had only been on for a half hour or so!

By the time I got done interviews the hall and the beer gardens were packed. Everyone was dancing, having fun.  The Shuttle bus was busy making sure no one risked drinking and driving.

There was one other rather interesting observation that I made.... all weekend long did I see a police car or an officer other than for one walk through for the liquor permit.

This event is attended by people who have great respect, there was not one harsh word, no one disagreeing or fighting, and I guess that means the police feel good about the precautions the Toy Run Committee takes and what transpires with the attendees!


Port Alberni British Columbia on Vancouver Island is a must do for any rider, but if you love Toy Runs, the Port Alberni Toy Run is also a MUST do!  You need to see for yourself why Port Alberni IS Canada's MOST Rider Friendly Community!

To see the interviews and video from the Toy Run, tune into Ride Like a Local on EastLink TV or YouTube in December!

If you are blessed enough to be riding today,
please ride like everyone around you is blind and cannot see you.




Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider

SaveSave

Some time in Port Alberni, "Canada's MOST Rider Friendly Community"

The Rider Friendly Business Association in conjunction with Community Futures of Alberta & BC hosted this years Canada's MOST Rider Friendly Community Contest.

Port Alberni won this, our second contest and it was my pleasure to head out there for their Toy Run this past weekend...their 33rd Toy Run!

I arrived on Thursday and stayed with some friends, Trish and Quentin, and on Friday morning, I connected with David Wiwchar, the Chairman of the Toy Run Committee.

I set up my cameras and set about the task of interviewing members of the Toy Run Committee.
It's my favourite job, getting to know the hard working folks behind the scenes of an event.
I know how many hands it takes to do a job and do it well.  These folks, they do it very, very well.

There is a pride here, a quiet, yet fiercely determined pride.

The kind of pride that moves mountains.

Each person I interviewed spoke with such pride of their fellow committee members and the fact that they leave their egos and attitudes at the doorway of every meeting. These people come together to not just for this monster job of hosting a toy run, but they come together to engage their community and man do they do it right!

I can not wait for the TV episodes to air - there will be two of them I am pretty sure and in their own words these beautiful people will tell you all about the work they do!

Anyway, I spent the day interviewing and hanging around the Glenwood Centre where the bulk of the activities would be taking place. I watched with amazement as task after task was accomplished with military precision. We broke bread around 6:30 pm, corn on the cob, hamburgers and potato salad.

I went to my hotel, the Best Western Plus, Barclay Hotel. The committee however was there at the Glenwood, until well past 9 PM putting the finishing touches on the Centre.

The hotel staff got me checked in and explained the features and amenities of the hotel, I took my luggage rack upstairs, unloaded my bags in a really nice room with two double beds and by the time I took the cart back downstairs, the Langley HOG Chapter had rolled in and their parking stalls were all filled!

Gotta love a hotel that will treat their two wheeled guests with such extra courtesy.

I got up nice and early on Saturday, I wanted to catch as much of the feeling of the day as possible.

I was greeted at the Glenwood Centre by Robin and Tom, they were so upbeat and happy, Tom's daughter was busy setting up the kid's area while his wife was getting the free popcorn and candy floss ready for the kids.

You see what THIS community sided group called the Port Alberni Toy Run Committee has done, is to EDUCATE about and INVOLVE their entire community in the event.

The Toy Run supports SOOOOO many causes ALL YEAR ROUND!
AND it's free to ride in the toy run, but so many choose not to register because they don't understand that registration is JUST to count bikes.

The coffee and donuts are free - well, by donation if yah have...this is NOT a cash grab event folks. You buy dance tickets if you want to.
You buy Pork Buns with salads and corn on the cob if you want. (midnight lunch)

NOTHING is expected of you other than you to bring your heart, some toys and or a donation to the cause, buy a tee shirt...they are grateful to take what you donate and turn it into a year's
worth of support for the kids of their community.

The teens breakfast program is one they are particularly proud to be partnered in as it has helped the graduation rate to flourish.  They support parks and recreation by helping to host free swims, hot dogs and other free items for first night,  Easter festivities and Halloween too!

They support the Salvation Army and their Christmas Hamper drive and oh so many more non profits that help kids that benefit from what 30 dedicated Toy Run Members do all year round.

Every year, organizations that have benefitted from the fundraising done by the Toy Run Committee come out and volunteer for the toy run in return!

It is a totally a unified project that brings together many non profits, all supporting kids, all working together for the kids and you should see the way this city gets out and thanks the riding community for their support. They come out in the hundreds withs signs saying "Thank You Riders"

I can't say enough about this community, this crew of people...they are utterly awe inspiring to watch in action.

Later I arrived back at the Glenwood Centre where I handed off the trophy for "Canada's
MOST Rider Friendly Community" after saying a few words on behalf of Bob Ross and his beloved town of Two Hills, the first community to win our contest.

But that's not where this story ends....more tomorrow!

Until then, if you are blessed enough to be riding, please ride like everyone around you is blind and can not see you.

Belt Drive Betty
Edito & Rider

Monuments - things to be fearful of? Insulted by? OR....

Monuments - things to be fearful of? Insulted by? OR....Could a monument really be something less than sinister?

This topic has been on my mind since all of the strife in Charlottesville triggered the tearing down of monuments. As I get ready to, as project lead, install a monument to honour the 158 souls who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country during the Afghanistan War, here in Grande Prairie, Alberta, I have to wonder.

158 names grace the monument, 158 names that are connected to families, wives, husbands, children, grand parents and uncles and aunts, cousins, all left here to miss them.

As the person who conceived the idea to build an Afghanistan War Monument & Memorial Gardens here in Grande Prairie, Alberta, it was with a heart that wanted to thank the soldiers and their families for their sacrifice and to remember that sacrifice. 

WAR IS UGLY. 

The Afghanistan War Monument does not glorify War and is not intended to.
It honours the sacrifice, the hurt, the pain, the sorrow, the promise cut short.

Our soldiers prepare for war, they train for it, but they do not seek it.
They go to battle by the orders they are given by the government of the day.

The men and women who answer the call to defend and protect our country, its allies and the defenceless around the world; they deserve to be thanked, to be remembered, to have their families embraced and supported.

That's what's in my heart.

That's why I have pushed relentlessly to build this monument and the gardens that will be forth coming.

MY SINGLE BIGGEST FEAR?

20 years from now, 50 years from now, 100 years from now, when I am dead and gone and can not tell you why I conceived this monument and these gardens, is someone going to take offence and pull it down? Will they decimate the gardens we are lovingly designing?

Will they deface the historical points of interest we create that tell the story of our history as a collective of humans who live on a land mass we call Canada?

If you go to Ireland, there are military monuments everywhere, even in churches.

All of these monuments thanking the people who sacrificed their lives, assuring that the story, the history of Ireland is kept alive. Many ordered at the request of a grieving spouse or family member.

Saying thank you, honouring the sacrifices of those who fought for what we believe in, is important, but what happens 100 years from now? What happens when the beliefs of our day give way to beliefs of a different nature as population demographics change?

Trying to hide the past, to rewrite it, is a dangerous thing. If something or someone being honoured is truly offensive, then build something instructive that puts the truth into perspective and park it RIGHT BESDIE THE MONUMENT. Let's remember that the art itself has a certain intrinsic value and that No one alive today knows what was in the heart of the person whose art they are defacing.

The sculpture, the foundry artist, was it just a job or a passionate creation for them?

We will never know.

AND REMEMBER - FREE SPEECH is a double edged sword.

OH, and remember something else - the whole - your rights end where they infringe on mine, is equally a double edged sword.

Now here is my stance on the politics in our country, Canada...on the removing of the names of men like John A Macdonald or removing plaques from the Confederate daughters like what happened in Montreal last week....

Without tension, pressure; carbon is just carbon. A diamond can not be created without tension or pressure. It also requires time. Canada is a young and imperfect lump of coal that is a diamond in the rough.

Our leaders have over the decades failed ALL OF US who live today in one way or the other. They were after all human. 

Many lived in a time that we can not truly fathom and they made decisions that we can only guess at the reasons behind them.

Wiping them out of our history is not going to change how we got to where we are.
My motorcycle has taught me to look to where I want to go, but to glance in my rearview mirror once in a while, to measure how far I have come. History is supposed to help guide our future, it can't do that if we hide it.

It's not going to make the hurt better.

It's going to create more hurt and hatred, because as I said before - there is a double edged sword called the Charter of Rights and Freedoms - and your rights stop where they infringe on mine.

Under the Charter is that other double edged sword called freedom of speech and expression. You have your right to feel, and believe what you feel and believe. You have no right to force that on me.

You have no right to deny me my speech or expression, because we are supposed to be EQUAL.

Let's approach tender topics as equals TODAY.

None of us can change the past but we can chart a better future.

Now that the political commentary is out of the way, here is a little bit of info on the project here in Grande Prairie:

This project has three phases. Phase one, the Afghanistan War monument and the memorials to the 4 fallen from the Afghanistan war that are tied to our city.

Phase two is the building of the memorial gardens, with little memory walks inside the bigger gardens.

The outer walk way is to be the history of Canada, in War and Peace time as told from the perspective of grade 6 students.

The idea that I have pitched to our principals and teachers is that there are 15 decades, when we know how many classes, we divide the decades up - we could end up with drilling down to 1/4 decades if enough sign on. The kids will research their time period as teams, the team will collectively write an essay, deliver that essay to their classmates. It will then go to a vote and the class will present us with the 200 word essay that they feel best represents the time period.

We will get French translations done, find appropriate photos and create the historical points of interest that will then be placed in our gardens in the "Canada at War & Peace" memory walk.

We have our first schools coming on board and we only had the meeting on Monday!

Inside of that outer walkway will be smaller ones.

There will be walkways devoted to our military services clubs from across the northwestern part of Alberta. There will be one talking about Army Training Base 32 Grande Prairie and the other bases in our region. There will be walkways devoted to the history of our First Nations & Metis soldiers and we will honour and remember the Canadian Soldiers who have taken their lives because of the burden their soul carried.

The third and final phase is to find a piece of military machinery to stand sentinel in the gardens.

Lest we Forget, because if we forget, we will repeat our mistakes and the lives that were cut so short, will have been in vain.

I hope you have a blessed day and if you are lucky enough to be riding today, please remember to ride like everyone around you is blind and can not see you!

Belt Drive Betty,
Editor & Rider

PTSD - the shame, fear, anger and misunderstandings and RIDING!

Airdrie Bikes & Bulls

PTSD is a dreadful dis-ease.

It can come on so hard, so strong, so fast that you simply can't function in any coherent way.

Sometimes you know what your triggers are and other times you get caught so off guard by a trigger that you didn't know existed that you feel foolish or worse.

The outbursts of a PTSD survivor can be almost as disturbing to witness and or deal with as the outburst from a person with Tourette Syndrome.

For the person inside of the PTSD episode, it can be scary, frightening, embarrassing, horrifying, mortifying - there are a lot of words you can put to how the person in the moment feels. As the whole thing blows up out of control, the person inside of the episode almost immediate begins berating themselves, at least that's been my experience.

I was diagnosed back in the late 90's and I gotta tell you that the supports for civilians suck.
The drugs put so much weight on you that your self esteem goes in the toilet, they mess with your innards and make them unhappy and unhealthy.

The drugs, they are the absolute worst part, next to a health care system that is over burdened. Continuity of care is challenging especially in the north where doctors from other countries who seek to immigrate to Canada are "requested" to work here for their first 5 years.

Motorcycle Ride to the Reynolds presented by Honda Canada

Many leave here for warmer climes and bigger cities with larger population bases for customers.

At least for veterans, there is some attempt at a cohesive support program, there is truly little for the civilian.

One of the hardest things to deal with from my perspective is the shame one feels when you get to a point that you can't control your tone of voice or the anguish or anger with which you speak.

Since May and the first anniversary of Fort Mac I have struggled hard with PTSD.
I am winning, but I have had a few occasions that I am not overly proud of.



Being around others who judge you, who can't deal with or accept you because of the PTSD can make life, interesting.

3rd CAV Rally 

Many people turn on you once they experience a PTSD episode with you, those who don't, those are the ones you hang on to.

It can be a very lonely way to live.

This is my way of reaching out the Military Minds Rolling Barrage as they complete their trip - across Canada to raise PTSD awareness...although I have not always gotten along with the way their organization uses dark humour publicly sometimes, I do appreciate the work that they do.

I salute all who work to help people understand the invisible would called PTSD.

That work benefits everyone with PTSD or those who love someone with it.



Now onto other more pleasant topics.

In the last few weeks I have not been on the computer much.

Hence why I have not updated this blog for a bit.

I have actually been out riding.

Pipes Education event at Harley-Davidson of Edmonton

I am finally coming out of the fog of adrenal fatigue and while I can now work 6 days a week again, I am still only able to work between 8-10 hours a day, sometimes I can manage 12.
When you are used to being a one person crew that worked 12-14 hours a day 7 days a week, it's rough. I miss those highly productive hours.
HOWEVER as I mentioned, I have been riding and enjoying every mile I have put on and there have been a few.

I went to the  Run to the Hills Memorial Rally, Airdrie Bikes & Bulls, spent some time with the Military Police in Dundurn Saskatchewan, and I attended the 3rd CAV Rally, I went to Drumheller for a day with a friend and I rode Lucky Highway 13 to create videos with.




I spent time in Wetaskiwin at the Reynolds-Alberta Museum for the Motorcycle Ride to the Reynolds presented by Honda Canada and got one heck of an education on motorcycle pipes from the gang over at Harley-Davidson of Edmonton.

Military Police, Moose Jaw

I promise I will bring you up to speed on all of those events and a whole lot more in the coming days and weeks.


Please folks, if you are lucky enough to be riding today, please remember to ride like everyone around you is blind and can not see you.  We have lost enough people in our community - please be safe and hyper vigilant.

Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider

URGENT NEWS for Western HOG Rally Goers

Dear rally participants, it is with a very heavy heart that HOG Canada has decided to cancel our rally. 

I am beyond despair. 

Barnes right now is working out a plan of some kind to have a fund raising event at the shop for the evacuees and the riders that are committed already to attend. Stay tuned for more information.

Good morning,

Thank you all for taking the time to be a part of the phone call yesterday afternoon to discuss the H.O.G.® Western Regional Rally. Your comments and feedback were very much appreciated and were all very much taken into consideration when making this decision.

Regretfully, due to the tragic fires currently blazing in British Columbia, Harley-Davidson Canada is cancelling the H.O.G. Western Regional Rally scheduled to take place in Kamloops, B.C. this weekend (July 13 – 15).

Although the fires are presently located a fair distance from Kamloops, the air quality rating in Kamloops is very poor, and therefore dangerous for many people. There is also significant risk posed to those traveling from outside of the region due to the volatility of wildfire and poor air quality throughout the greater region.

To Barnes Harley-Davidson Kamloops, the Rally Coordinator Margaret and to the entire Rally Committee, please know that this decision was not an easy one to make. The extensive time and effort you have contributed to the rally planning and promotion are widely acknowledged and although not to take place this weekend, we certainly hope that there is an opportunity to postpone the rally until after the fires have ceased.

Harley-Davidson has a responsibility to protect our customers and we take the safety and security of each and every one very seriously.

Noting that some riders are already enroute to Kamloops, we would like to suggest that in place of rally events as planned, a fundraiser be organized instead, to take place on what would have been the opening ceremony night. Hopefully this will mean that dollars invested for that particular function can instead be used to support those affected by the fires and that riders whom have chosen to travel to Kamloops, can at least be received and provided an opportunity to support. Harley-Davidson Canada will continue to work closely with the Rally Committee to support further plans as necessary – both with planning and financial resources. Funds raised by H.O.G. members on this evening will be matched by Harley-Davidson Canada.

Barnes Harley-Davidson has generously offered to cover the cost of the catering and band if those services are unable to be cancelled and will utilize those elements to host an open-door community fundraiser, with all donations going to the Red Cross.

Although it is very unfortunate that the Rally will be postponed, we hope that this will serve to keep our H.O.G. members as safe as possible and that for those who do make the choice to travel to Kamloops, that much charity and support for the communities of B.C. will be generated as a result of the fundraisers.

Thank you for utilizing all communication channels to inform rally registrants as immediately as possible.

We will provide a further update on registration reimbursement, cancellation communications, etc. as quickly as possible this morning.

Sincerely,
Karen Mayberry

RoadTrip Rewards - A Smarter Way to Ride

When I started this little motorcycle media company 14.5 years ago, I dreamed that one day it would be like a TripAdvisor, CAA/AAA, Chamber of Commerce and a Tourism Office all rolled into one.

Well, we are a few steps closer to that happening now.

We have a number of media properties that make up Belt Drive Betty Media:
The Busted Knuckle Chronicles, our national weekly newspaper, our TV Show, Ride Like a Local  which airs both on EastLink TV and YouTube, our national events calendars, www.canadianmotorcycleevents.com and of course the international news feeds site, www.beltdrivebetty.com

We also have the Rider Friendly Directory & the Rider Friendly Support Network.

The Rider Friendly Directory is comprised of all of the Busted Knuckle Chronicles' advertisers and the various business partners that make it so we can afford to bring the news of our community and the event information to you the rider, FOR FREE.  It used to be a part of the Busted Knuckle Chronicles site, but needed to be extricated and put into its own hosting environment.

The same with the Rider Friendly Support Network which used to be part of www.beltdrivebetty.com.

We combined the directory and the support network on one site in these fancy upgraded mobile programs that make it so handy and convenient to find help if you break down on the road, to get the information on where to eat, play and stay like a local = NO APP NEEDED!

You can use the directory without logging in, but when you log in, you get access to the social community, the Rider Friendly Support Network and a membership card that offers you a ton of savings and safety supports.  Our program is not meant to take the place of your local riding club program, instead it's meant to augment/add to it.

That is why we do not charge riders for any of the services we provide to them.

Our card is virtual, located in your profile page and therefor never far away.

We have mom and pop businesses that are offering you, the rider
5-15% discounts at their places of business.


We also have some chains like Holloway Lodgings and Choice Hotels offering deep 15% discounts on hotel stays and in the case of Choice Hotels, they are now offering our membership the 15-20% discount along with the chance to earn a $50 gift card when you stay two times by the end of July (you have to register for that)  Check out the Special Offers page:

https://riderfriendly.com/index.php/for-riders/special-offers

Use Choice Hotels in the search function to
find a hotel near you

Back when we started promoting and listing our advertisers for our national newspaper in a directory fashion, the directory had super limited functionality. Today, the directory offers the business owner a way to market that is affordable and meaningful to their business and it offers the riders a ton of support and savings!

Find Discounts from Holloway Lodging and other
Rider Friendly businesses  under  the
For Rider Tab: Specials

And now on to our big announcements:

Holloway Lodging and Choice Hotels have both joined the Rider Friendly Business Association!

All 34 Holloway properties across Canada are now Rider Friendly offering a 15% discount to our members!

Choice is offering 15-20% discounts right around the world - that's right all 6,400+ Choice Hotel properties are offering our members a discount!

Use Choice Hotels in the search function to find the one nearest you and use our booking code to get the discount!


Here is the official press release from Choice Hotels Canada:

If you are blessed enough to be riding today, please ride like everyone around you is blind and cannot see you.

If you live in Grande Prairie come on out to our Cruise Night - Motley Cue BBQ will be on hand and there are great prizes up for grabs and a 50/50 draw all in support of the Afghanistan War Monument & Memorial Park.

Belt Drive Betty, Editor & Rider