Olympic Fever

Executive Report by John Reblin

Have you caught Olympic fever yet? Two weeks of athletes getting together and putting their skills to the test against others to get the chance to make it to the podium for the bronze, silver or gold medal. It is not easy to get to the games to compete, much less win. A friend of mine was chosen to the 84 games as a second in weightlifting and another lost out in qualifying in the shot put in 92. Both, though never competing, enjoyed the experience and the chance to try and represent our Country.

For me, I enjoy watching and following the games as much as I can. I try to watch some of the highlights in the evening. I really enjoy the back story on how these athletes started the road to the Olympics competition. One of my favorites this year was Ryan Crouser’s story. He threw a 16-pound metal ball over 70 feet in the past 3 Olympics and won a Gold Medal. Ryan’s training consisted of going out on his farm behind the barn every day to practice throwing this piece of steel. With his age creeping up (he is 31,) he was starting to run into issues throwing the distance, so he started to adapt the spin you need to go through, to compete and win, and is starting to plan for his fourth Olympic game in Los Angeles.

Or the weightlifter Hampton Morris, that won the gold in his weight class weightlifting. The amazing part is that he works out of his parents’ garage, not in a fancy facility, with his dad as his coach.

But now I am reading about a group of women back in the 70’s trying to get into the Olympics rowing. Called the Red Rose Crew. It tells the story on how they joined in on the start of women’s rowing. Nine people getting together to work their way into the Olympics to win a Silver Medal. Reading about rowing is interesting. A rowing crew, in this case 8 rowers and the coxswain, come from all over the country and need to work together in unison to get the boat to move fast, efficiently, and quickly to make the ‘76 Olympics. One thing about working together, it was brought up that you don’t need to be friends, but you need to be able to work together to complete the goal.

This is how a good regional committee or board succeeds. They practice what needs to be said and done, and work hard to achieve their goals. In a group, people need to be motivated to do their part and do it well. They need to give 100 percent even when things are not going well, either on the project or in your personal life. Like a crew rowing all synchronized in their stroke and pull, the boat moves through the water straight and strong. Or be like the guy throwing the shot-put learning to adapt or change in order to move forward. But if one or two don’t do the work, the boat and region or board starts going sideways which causes a need to stop, regroup, and start again to correct the course we are headed on. Let’s focus on moving this organization forward, following our goals set, and working towards them. We have a lot of work ahead of us to make sure we can continue our lifestyle in the future.

I am getting ready for a couple things; I am going to the Governor’s Conference on Highway Safety August 19-21 to see what they are planning in the future in Wisconsin. We are also holding our MoSAC meeting then, and I already have times set to talk to various people in Bureau of Transportation Safety. I also want to have a discussion of plans for next year about reducing motorcycle crashes. What can we do to effectively get the word out about learning how to ride our motorcycles, so we don’t crash. How to convince riders not to have too much fun at the bar or use something else to get high, then crawl on the bike and try to make it home or to the next stop. It is not going to be easy, but we need to do something to reduce the single bike, unlicensed riders, and under the influence crashes.

Plans are also made to go to Saint Louis to the MRF’s Meeting of the Minds. It is a great conference with like-minded people getting together to focus on our future as motorcyclists. Making sure we can safely ride the roads and not worry about an autonomous vehicle hitting us. Or worry about getting safe and legal fuel or even being able to stop and get some lunch and seeing a sign saying no colors allowed. We are pretty good in Wisconsin right now, but there are things in the works that can and will come down the pipeline that could make us all unhappy.

Earlier in the year I was honored to nominate Marlene Bautch for the MRF’s Hall of Fame, and she was selected to the Hall this year. She worked hard for ABATE of Wisconsin, but she also worked hard helping out the MRF and many people involved with the MRF and other organizations around the county. She is well deserving of the award, and I was proud to nominate her. I am sure during the ceremony she will be somewhere above, holding her properly muddled Old Fashion, looking at the ground shaking her head muttering a few swear words as she is placed into the Hall thinking she did not deserve the attention. Marlene, of course you deserve it, your friends here decided to make sure you are remembered.

And of course, we are working hard to hammer all the details down for the 50th Anniversary in Madison to make it the deserving event it should be. It is going to be a hell of a time in Madison and to make it more special, we need all of you to be there to join in the Celebration.

Ride Your Own Ride,

 John