TWENTY THOUSAND Dollars Raised!

The Second Annual Ride for Mom is in the history books with over $20,000 dollars being raised to help Edmonton Area Emergency Shelters. The Ride for Mom is partnered with the Alberta Council of Women's Shelters & The Edmonton Domestic Violence Shelters Engage

Every year over 10,000 Albertans access Emergency Shelters.

Women, children and seniors that experience abuse are too often turned away from shelters for a lack of space.  When that happens, the case workers take that experience home with them and it destroys these helpers as they feel helpless. The Ride for Mom is all about changing the dialogue about domestic abuse and of course raising much needed funds and awareness.

It is important that these shelters get more funds, and I think it is essential that the Ride for Mom grows across the country until one day, shelters and this kind of awareness and financial support is no longer needed.

Krysta Shields, the ride's founder, wants to urge people who would like to start a Ride for Mom in their area to reach out.

As was said earlier, the Ride for Mom is all about changing the dialogue around Domestic Abuse across Canada and your votes are needed.

You can reach Krysta at: krysta@blackjacksroadhouse.com
In the about line of your email put: -"We'd like to be a Ride For Mom Community!"

I spoke with a number of the Edmonton area riders about this event and what they thought of it.

Rob Truscott who is a member of the military and has attended a number of events summed up what everyone else had to say: "This is one of the better rides I have ever been on. Water at every stop, the Sheriffs and regional police departments blocking intersections to ensure everyone gets safely through. What more can a person ask for?"

Well how about a blocked off street in Tofield and Sheriffs with a sense of humour?

In all this ride is comprised of three stops and at each stop you get a numbered ticket that gets you a chance on one of the big basket giveaways filled with prizes:

1) Reynolds Alberta Museum in Wetaskiwin.

2) Camrose Alberta, this year was at the House of Thunder.

3) The Tofield stop last year was at Town Hall and Library, this year at the Moonshine Cafe and the whole block was cordoned off for us!

Everything went smoothly as there were lots of signs guiding us all as to which way to go and in many cases there was also a Sheriff or a police officer to ask. The chase truck and trailer had to pick up one rider with a flat tire, but other than that, it was smooth riding.

In year 2 the event saw 160 motorcycles come out!

Mother Nature - THANK YOU for cooperating!

$20,000 was raised and ALL OF THAT money, thanks to the hard fundraising work by Krysta Shields, will go to the cause directly.

It was a safe, well run event on the roadways thanks to Kevin O'Connor of the Wetaskiwin office of the Alberta Sheriffs who also happens to sit on the Ride for Mom Board. Because of his participation, his "brothers" stepped up to help this worthy cause and they dod so with a great sense  of humour and community.

Tyler Grant who does the in-house photography and media collection and dissemination for Blackjacks Roadhouse and does a good job of keeping their social media rocking and he was busting his butt behind his camera.

Various groups have decided to make this event a mandatory event for their membership to attend, the Guardians of the Children are one such group and I interviewed Clint AKA Dragon about what this event means to their club and as suspected it's message and cause dovetails with the help to children in distress that the Guardians offer.

The sponsors that came on board this year were incredible:

ATB Financial, Klondike Insurance Agencies, Pratts Food Service, Harley-Davidson of Edmonton, CTV, Heritage Harley-Davidson, Reynolds-Alberta Museum, Town of Tofield, Airways Country Inn, Peace Hills Insurance,
Battle River Landscape Supply and Design, Wetaskiwin Coop, Alberta Sheriffs, Victim Services Camrose, Alberta Cycle, House of
Thunder Camrose, Moonshine Cafe Tofield.

I was so honoured to again support this event.

On a personal note....

I got pretty emotional when we could not get connected to the internet to do the interviews for Live TV. We did, sort of finally get me connected but on the phone and the stream went live after we were done - I have discovered how stressful a live event can be when you are at an event and on really tight time frames and no crew to help you when things don't go right.


I am afraid my stress cracks were showing a tad as I almost had to pack up and go do interviews for regular TV and forget about the live event totally.

Manon, a Blackjack's Roadhouse employee (who is also my friend) who was doing everything she could to help me get connected and kept reassuring me it would be OK and thanks to her help, it was.

Manon, you are an angel.

While the Live TV did not go exactly as planned, it did finally get done and that set the rest of the day up to be a great one.

The rider was AMAZING.

I got some great ride footage, some incredible interviews and am looking forward to editing the video for "Ride Like a Local" Season 6 on EastLink TV & on YouTube!

Next year's Ride for Mom team will be starting planning for 2019 soon!
Visit rideformom.ca to volunteer or perhaps start your own Ride for Mom in your community.

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


Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider

SaveSaveSaveSave

Round 2 of Canada's MOST Rider Friendly Community is getting set to kick off!

With over 140 communities to vote for this year, the riding community got busy!
We are pleased to announce that we have the results of the first round of voting.

From what we watched in round one voting, I think there are some pretty stiff competitions shaping up for round 2!

The following communities had the most votes in their province of region and they are now being featured in a web advertising package at www.beltdrivebetty.com provided by Belt Drive Betty Media (worth $800 each) that touts them as the winners for their province/territory:

• Peachland is BC’s MOST Rider Friendly Community of the 2017 Riding Season 
• Drumheller is AB’s MOST Rider Friendly Community of the 2017 Riding Season 
• Swift Current is SK’s MOST Rider Friendly Community of the 2017 Riding Season 
• Snow Lake is MB’s MOST Rider Friendly Community of the 2017 Riding Season 
• Peterborough is ON’s MOST Rider Friendly Community of the 2017 Riding Season 
• Saint John is NB’s MOST Rider Friendly Community of the 2017 Riding Season 
• Mahone Bay is NS’s MOST Rider Friendly Community of the 2017 Riding Season 
• Summerside is PEI’s MMOST Rider Friendly Community of the 2017 Riding Season
• Stephenville is NL’s MOST Rider Friendly Community of the 2017 Riding Season 
• Yellowknife is the Territories MOST Rider Friendly Community of the 2017 Riding Season 

The following 10 communities got the highest number of votes over all and advance to round 2 of the voting:

Anaheim Lake BC

Peachland BC

Prince George BC

Sicamous BC

Acheson AB

Drumheller AB

Lloydminster AB

Peterborough ON

Saint John NB

Yellowknife NT

Round 2 voting begins April 26^thand runs through to May 12^th.  

For all of the details visit the contest website: www.riderfriendlycontest.ca

#RiderFriendlyContest

I am looking forward to seeing which community I will be filming in this summer!

Belt Drive Betty, 

Editor & Rider

Choice - something most adults feel they have the right to.

Brian Mason, Minister of Transportation, Alberta

Dear Minister of Transportation in the province of Alberta;
Mr. Brian Mason...
I wrote to Mr. Mason's office regarding the Sikh motorcycle community obtaining an exemption from the helmet law, as of yet, I still have not heard back.

I also placed a call to the deputy minister, Mr. Barry Day, again, no response as of yet.

It is hard for citizens who do not have an organization that can be their face, their leader, the person who can sit across the table from the politicians and hold them accountable.








The fact that the motorcycle community across most of Canada is not "organized" in any meaningful way, means that we don't have much say in the discussions and others decide our fate for us. Often times, even when we do have that person, that organization at the table, things don't go well, but at least one's point of view can be acknowledged.

I have sat in on the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators meetings as an interested vulnerable road user, back in the day when Adele Tompkins used to do the lobbying to protect choice for BC motorcyclists through BCCOM. They (the experts of the CCMTA) pushed so hard to enforce a helmet law; Adele lobbied and worked so hard to make these people realize that in her province, choice is what taxpaying adults wanted.

The argument the experts offered was one of safety, personal injury, death, brain injury and spinal cord injury and the drain on public, taxpayer funded resources.

That argument eventually cost BC riders their beloved beanie.

So let's learn a little about the Sikh's and why they can't wear helmets as part of their faith and the risks and accommodations they have been willing to undertake in order to do things they enjoy (work or pleasure).

The turban is a visual symbol that the wearer is of the Sikh faith.
In India, the Sikh community is disproportionally represented in the military.
In India, the Sikh soldier does not wear a helmet, they wear their turban.
They do not wear a helmet to ride motorcycle there either, they wear their turban.

Here is an informative website on the Sikh faith and why the turban and the other 4 symbols of their faith are so sacred to them:
https://www.sikhcoalition.org/about-sikhs/identity/

OK - I get it. This is a faith based article of clothing.
It is special and symbolic and if you are a devout Sikh, you must wear it.

The Sikh Motorcycle Community fought for the exemption to the helmet law under their rights from the Canadian Charter of Freedoms & Rights, they fought it in BC, in Manitoba, Alberta and are fighting, again in Ontario.

Yet, in Canada, Turban wearing Sikhs are not allowed out of their trucks at docks because of liability issues. At this moment, nowhere in Canada that I can find, is a work site that allows them to work on site, without a hard hat.

In a September 2016 article in the National Post, the gentleman who fights for a lot of the helmet laws to be repealed in Canada, Balpreet Singh stated that: "The World Sikh Organization of Canada, in fact, now advises against trying to convince Canadian courts to permit Sikh exemptions for protective headgear. “Largely it’s about liability, they don’t want to be on the hook for any accident that involves a turban-wearer,” said Balpreet Singh, the organization’s legal counsel.
Singh was instrumental in a 2012 decision that allowed kirpans — a small, stylized sword worn by Sikhs — to be permitted in Toronto courtrooms. But speaking to the National Post by phone, he suggested that Canadian law hits a brick wall when it comes to trading safety for religious accommodation. No Canadian court will back a turban exemption “if there is a genuine risk of injury or death,” he said.
Currently, there are only two places in Canada where turban-wearing Sikhs can find a codified exemption from a safety requirement. In Manitoba, “bona fide members of the Sikh religion” are not required to wear helmets while motorcycling. In B.C., a similar motorcycle helmet exemption is open to any Sikh who “has unshorn hair and habitually wears a turban composed of 5 or more square meters of cloth.” End Quote

Canada is a warm, open and welcoming country, but we are a country ruled by laws.
When a law no longer makes sense it is time to call for a revision to that law.

In British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba, where Sikhs are now allowed to exercise their choice to ride or not ride (read wear a helmet and ride, don't wear a helmet, don't ride), the rest of the motorcycle community in these three provinces should now be afforded the right to wear or not wear a helmet.

Quoted from the same 2016 National Post Article above:
The B.C. exemption, enacted after a 1999 human rights tribunal decision, was made with the full knowledge that it would likely result in more Sikhs getting killed on B.C. highways. A detailed accounting contained in the decision surmised that exempting Sikhs from the helmet law would raise motorcycle fatalities by as much as two per year, and brain injuries by as much as 10.
“However … I am not persuaded that the increased risk associated with non-helmeted motorcycling is so substantial that it constitutes undue hardship,” wrote tribunal member Frances Gordon. END QUOTE

The fact of the matter is that while the Sikh Motorcycle Community has fought for and won the right to exercise their choice/freedom under our charter, the rest of us are being discriminated against and that's not right.  BUT - we can't allow this issue to cause a divide in the motorcycle community either.
The Sikh motorcycle community fought for the right to ride a motorcycle and stay faithful to their religion. That's a honourable fight that they won and their win has opened the door for the rest of us to mount our own challenge.

Our government should have considered this fact when they made this decision, but they didn't and now we, the motorcycle community have two choices, before us:

#1) feel frustrated and or jealous that our Sikh brothers and sisters can ride wearing only their turbans, and do what we always do, bellyache and grumble but not much else.

or

#2) we can lobby our government to do the right thing and make choice part of the equation for all who ride and let us have the beanie back.

If the reason the motorcycle helmet law is in place for everyone else, is because of the risk of death and injury, then the law must apply to all. If that no longer holds true, as it is now evident, then every rider over 18 should be allowed choice in the provinces that allow Sikhs the right to ride without a helmet.

We live in a nanny state of a country that wants to treat all adults like we are children not capable of making our own risk level decisions. I understand that they want to prevent the drain on the emergency services and health services resources, but you can allow people the right to choice and also ask that they pay the price for their choice. 

Sikh's who wanted the right to work on construction sites and the docks in the UK gave up some insurance rights in order to do work they wanted to do...

Riding a motorcycle (like driving a car) according to every police officer who has ever stopped me, is a privilege not a right.

The public purse is about all of us, taxpayers all...this isn't like the US where there is no universal health care and everyone is truly on their own.

Canada has universal healthcare, taxpayer paid for healthcare.
Every privilege comes with great responsibility and if you are ok with dying or being a body with no quality of life due to brain/spinal cord injury and leaving your family to care for you, that's your choice and you should be providing for them, not the taxpayer.  Purchase extra medical insurance or wear a helmet.

I think that all riders should have choice and have the privilege of paying for that choice.

Since I gave up my beanie, I have worn a DOT Helmet and now that they are light and don't affect my neck so badly, I am content to wear a DOT helmet.

If you aren't, then you need to form an ABATE Chapter/join one and learn how to lobby the government.

And that's just my two cents worth.

Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider

Hugs to Humboldt

Our country just experienced a tragedy involving the Humboldt Broncos.

The Humboldt Broncos like so many hockey teams in Canada was comprised of young people from all over Western Canada.

Our good friend and the man who conceive Road Trip Rita and Flat Tail Freddy for me, Paul Jamiol (An American) sent us a beautiful condolence message in his unique style - a cartoon.

Paul is the author of the children's book series Bikers Are Animals and as a cartoonist, he has brought the grief we all feel, home.

There are no words that can possibly express the grief that our country and all of the families affected are feeling.

I don't think there is a truck driver alive who isn't feeling the horrendous grief or pain that the Calgary  truck driver must be feeling. I am pretty sure he/she never got up that fateful morning thinking they would kill 15 and injure over a dozen more.

My mind can not comprehend what that poor driver has to be thinking and living with in the prison of his/her mind.

I know that for us here at Belt Drive Betty Media, it's been really hard to even think of promoting Canada's MOST Rider Friendly Community Contest  given the sadness that everyone is dealing with.

So with that in mind, we are going to extend the voting out by one week, hopefully it will allow everyone a little bit of time to deal with everything that faces them right now. It means our contest will end one week later than originally scheduled.

Sending a heartfelt hug to all who are affected by this unthinkable tragedy.

Belt Drive Betty,
Editor & Rider
#RiderFriendlyContest

Community, what does that word mean to you?

Presenting Sponsor Canada's MOST Rider Friendly Community Contest

Community...it's a big word, what does it mean to you?

I have been working diligently along with my web mistress, our sales gal and our two admin assistants to promote and spread the word about Canada's MOST Rider Friendly Community Contest. All of us are riders, just FYI!


We have 140+ communities that have been nominated this year, which meant tons of creative to build, videos, promotional memes and the like. We still have tons of phone calls to make to the various community futures offices and to share news of the contest to all of the riding clubs and charities we support.

WHAT A TASK!!! But we are loving it. Why?

Because this contest celebrates OUR COMMUNITY.

If I am going to make my living, if the riders who work for this company as contractors are going to make their living from work in the community we live in, the rider community, then we need to always be giving back into our community and that's what this contest is all about.

COMMUNITY - GIVING BACK to all of the little businesses that support we riders, no matter where we live, for every poker run, rally and show 'n' shine we host for charity.

It's about giving back to every volunteer who has done something selfless, every event coordinator that busts their butts to give us great events to attend.

The reactions to the contest have been incredible and it is wonderful to see how many Community Futures Offices are now coming on board as sponsors as are small tourism offices.

Why is an economic development non profit involved? Simple, they help entrepreneurs start and expand their businesses. They offer services to coach, teach and mentor small business people, they offer financing and they offer special supports for Entrepreneurs with Disabilities!

They know that the riding community is filled with small business owners and they know that small communities and their business owners need to take advantage of the custom that riders can bring to their area.

Simply put, Community Futures wants to help grow rural Canada.
Helping small businesses become more rider friendly, helping them with strategic planning, to take advantage of our needs and help them identify what are the right services for them to provide to us!

We have many incredible media sponsors on board as well:

Out of Washington State we have World of Motorcycling Podcasts with Steve Johann and Rev Walt.
Out of Colorado, we have Colorado Rider News.  From Oshawa Ontario we have Lou DeVuono from Kickstands Up on RealityRadio 101, Man Wants Digital Magazine out of Great Britain and in Northern BC and Alberta we have the Northern Horizon/Mirror Newspaper. EastLinkTv has donated the air time for us to promote the winning community and the runner up with commercials and for us to air what we film when Ride Like a Local comes to an event to film the volunteers, community leaders, attendees etc...Then there is all of my company, Belt Drive Betty Media.

Our newspaper, the Busted Knuckle Chronicles and all of its provincial news pages inside of Facebook, the TV Show Ride Like a Local, the Facebook online talk show, Rider Friendly Report, our events calendars www.canadianmotorcycleevents.com our mother site, beltdrivebetty.com and all of it's Facebook pages, this blog and a the Rider Friendly Business Association and it's Facebook Pages and group.

In all, Belt Drive Betty Media alone gives out over $60,000 in free marketing to these communities, that does not include the work we do to get ready for the contest, the highway signs,  trophy, plaques etc....that's straight up the advertising prizes we give away.

Everything that our sponsors donate for space, save for EastLinkTV's air time, is a bonus to our communities.

Rural Canada, small communities under 100,000 in size, it's where we ride, where we as riders yearn to go to when on our motorcycles, this contest helps us to discover wonder places that other riders love...

Vote for your favourite community at www.riderfriendlycontest.ca

#RiderFriendlyContest

Have a blessed day and if you are lucky enough to nee riding, think of me, here in Grande Prairie Alberta Canada in -14 with three feet of snow still on the ground and thank your lucky stars you live where you can be riding.

Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider

Anger over Sikh Helmet Exemption in Alberta

I have heard nothing but anger and in some cases outright ignorance over the helmet exemption in Alberta. (http://driving.ca/auto-news/news/sikh-motorcyclists-get-helmet-exemption-in-alberta)

The problem with the riding community here in Canada is we are comprised largely off people who are too busy to do anything meaningful to affect change so we whine instead and let our resentment and anger grow.

No one is passionate about the rights of motorcyclists it seems, at least not in Alberta, BC or Manitoba.

OH, People bitch and make stupid racist statements like "them damned Muslims"...only problem Sikhs are not Muslims. Let's face it, if you like riding lidless, if you are not Sikh, you are jealous and pissed off right now. BE HONEST.

But you aren't looking at this situation in a thoughtful way, you are looking at it through the lens of emotion; hurt, frustrated, feeling discriminated against emotions.

Right?

So here are some things to consider:

1) If we had any real riders rights groups in Manitoba, BC & Alberta, any group that had some teeth and drive, this would open the door for helmet exemptions for all, since no requirements for additional medical insurance exist, it would be a fairly straight forward argument.

2) Riders in BC, Alberta and Manitoba need someone in each province to stand up a credible rights organizations and lobby the government hard.

Are you willing to stand up to do the work that needs to happen? Do you have the money to fund this push? If not are you willing to help raise the money?

3) Battles like what needs to happen to repeal a law are expensive and time consuming, the wheels move slowly, but it can be done.

What are you willing to do? Provide money or put in some grunt time?

4) If having choice is really important to you and going through the legal fight isn't worth it to you, then form a religion. It's expensive to do, it's time consuming, but it can be done.

Either way it's time riders start learning to work together.
If we don't learn how to protect our rights, we won't have any.

We are after all citizens and taxpayers, we have a right to a vote, to a voice and to lobby...we can also do what we have done for years, sit back, bitch, whine and snivel and get on with the new normal.

The choice is yours.

In other news, Canada's MOST Rider Friendly Community Contest has begun it's hunt to find the most rifer friendly community from last riding season.

Over 140 communities to vote for...

Who will win?  We find out May 31st...

www.riderfriendlycontest.ca

And visit our sponsors pages please - they make this contest happen!!!!

#RiderFriendlyContest

Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider

Some tips to make 2018 a less dangerous driving/riding experience

Driving a vehicle?

1. Motorcycles are entitled to the full width of their lane. Motorcycles don’t take up as much lane space as car or 4 x 4 truck, but they need to use the entire lane, often adjusting lane positions to avoid road debris and to respond to wind direction changes & gusts, avoid pot holes or simply to see what’s up ahead as they prepare to pass a vehicle.
2. Blind spots: If you are thinking about any lane change; use your turn signal and ensure that you look in your mirror, over your shoulder and do that a second time – LOOK TWICE to SAVE a LIFE!
3. As Yosemite Sam would say; “Back off” and leave some room: Leaving some distance between your car /pick up truck/SUV and other vehicles is very important for the safety of you and your passengers. Motorcycles are small in profile and therefore it is harder to gauge their distance. There is always potential to be rear ended at a red light and while most likely the result would be a fender bender between passenger vehicles, the situation can become a whole lot more dire when a motorcycle is involved.
4. Look TWICE: Because of their smaller stature, motorcycles can appear farther away than they actually are. They can also be hidden from your view behind other larger vehicles. Left hand turns by automobiles are one of the most frequent crashes that take place between passenger vehicles and motorcycles.
5. Hazardous road conditions:Dangerous road conditions; slippery roads, rain, hail or unexpected snow/sleet, uneven payment, debris on the road, potholes and road snakes are common causes of motorcycle crashes. Motorcycles are smaller than cars and trucks; they have less stability on the highway and are often greatly affected by less-than-ideal road conditions. Give that motorcyclist some space.

Riding a motorcycle?

1. Avoid riding in the centre of your lane when traffic slows: You need to have a quick exit strategy when traffic suddenly comes to a halt. Stay to either the left or right hand side of your lane. This allows you to have an escape route should you have a driver who does not appear to be able to stop.
2. Being seen and protected is YOUR JOB: Wearing reflective clothing and/or bright colours can help other drivers see you. Wearing a good helmet, gloves, footwear and riding jacket and pants/chaps can often play a big role in whether or not you walk away from a crash.
3. Create as much space around yourself as possible: If you are on a highway with three lanes of traffic all flowing the same direction, don’t ride in the middle lane, ride in either the left or the right lane, thereby eliminating one potential for danger and allowing you a bit of a buffer zone.
4. Cancel your signals. Just finished turning? If your motorcycle is not equipped with self-cancelling signals, you’ll need to remember to cancel them or run the risk of sending out false messages to the other drivers around you.
5. Make sure your motorcycle is in good repair: Tires are one of the most important safety features of a motorcycle as you only have two of them keeping contact with the road. Over inflated tires can overheat quickly reducing traction, and the contact point with the pavement becomes very small. With underinflated tires your steering becomes very sluggish, and the potential of damaging the rim or tearing up the tire becomes a threat. Check your signals, headlight, fluids, brakes, cables, belts and chains as well.