Ride Your Own Ride

by John Reblin

Say goodbye to 2021 and hello to 2022. How many times during the day am I changing the dates on paperwork, getting my head wrapped around the earth taking another spin around the sun, and the calendar messing with my muscle and brains memory.
An old-time tradition is coming up with your New Year resolution. Something that you want to change or improve. It could be your hairstyle or, of course everyone wants to lose a few pounds, even a guy like me who loves to rip through a bag of Oreos or chips. But every December 31st people are making these promises to themselves with the strong possibility, especially in my case, of breaking it January 1st.
Hopefully, a lot of riders are going to make a serious attempt to complete a promise to themselves or to their family and take a rider education course. I am starting to look at schedules as they are coming out, and at different advanced courses, looking for something different like the Street-Smart program. And of course, seeing what is available at Saferider, at Fort McCoy.
So why am I bringing this up? Well, 2021 ended poorly for motorcycle riders with 121 riders and passengers dying in a motorcycle crash. This number is about 7 percent over 2020, which was 40 percent over the 10 – year rolling average. Many of these crashes were single bike crashes. From reconstruction reports, there were no other influences except for rider behavior. Things like not being able to negotiate curve, overdriving their headlight at night, and missing or misjudging a stop sign and ending up off the road. Of course, the usual suspected alcohol or drug impairment comes into play also. Of the single bike crashes 23% percent showed that the rider did not hold at that point, a valid motorcycle license. It is not known if they were not licensed due to not being able to get the test, or education course done to obtain the license, or if it is a case of the rider losing their license to a DWI or other infractions that caused the suspension of it.
So, with this news ABATE of Wisconsin is working on making sure that riders are aware of what is going on and urging that riders get scheduled for that rider education course. We are also asking that you, think. That you make sure you’re not riding under the influence and that the operator is in control of the motorcycle. Of course, an added bonus is that you are properly licensed to operate your motorcycle. I am urging that you start now to look for that rider education course. I believe that with the environment of the last few years, along with instructor shortages, these courses will be filling up faster than usual.
There are a few choices for the experienced riders. Obviously the BRC2 is a great training tool that also gives great reminders and an opportunity for a trained instructor to give you the tips that you need to ride correctly and safely. There are also more advanced classes that will challenge the most experienced rider under real riding speeds, that will help you see what you are capable of doing to help keep you safe on the road.
So, while you are not planning on breaking any New Year resolutions, make sure taking a motorcycle rider course is high on that list of resolutions this year. If you want to help us promote Ride Your Own Ride, your regional rep should have some posters that were available at Officer’s Training.
We had a great Officer’s Training this year in Marshfield, Wisconsin and with the finish of this year’s event, I am already working on ideas for training for next year. As we were setting up in the lobby of the hotel, I mentioned that a few years ago I was walking with Chubby at a Lobby Day, and someone asked him what he was thinking about. He mentioned he was always thinking of the organization, planning, moving it and himself forward, towards making it better. I am finding myself doing this often now. But it was great seeing the membership, excited to see what is going on, offering ideas, and learning something new. I appreciate all of our members for their commitment to help ABATE of Wisconsin to stay on top of State Motorcycle Right Organizations.
One part of the new year that gets me down is the loss of friends and family in the past. I am not one to show a lot of emotion, but I miss them all greatly and wish I could have a few more minutes with family members and friends. Unfortunately, we lost a few of our ABATE family in the last few weeks of the year. I try to make the visitations of those that I can, but my thoughts go out to all of those friends and families because of their losses.
Next up on the agenda is S.T.E.A.M. in Springfield, Illinois in April, along with regional meetings and other activities. Stay warm and hope for an early spring.
Ride Your Own Ride.

John