Over the past 10 years, the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride (DGR) raising awareness and funds for men’s health issues has literally gone from the top of the world to sea level for at least two participants.
In 2018, Sunshine Coast riders Carl Burroughs of Woombye Dental Group and Scott Macken of Scooter Style Noosa donned their finest and rode Royal Enfield Motorcycles to the highest inhabited village in the Himalayan mountains.
“It was a spectacular day, blue sky, snow on the ground and we all dressed up the best we could to get into the DGR spirit,” says Carl.
“This trip epitomised why DGR is so important. A couple of the lads on the Indian trip were struggling with personal mental health issues and the trip allowed them to feel supported and ended up helping them make some great choices which have resulted in a vast improvement to their lives” Carl Burroughs stated.
This year Carl and Scott will host the Sunshine Coast DGR starting in Noosa on May 22.
If you have a classic motorcycle or vintage scooter, you can register for their ride by clicking here or you can sponsor Carl by clicking here.
Details about the route will be revealed when you register.
There will be a post-ride event at The Apollonian Hotel at Boreen Point from 11.30am with a band, competitions, Show ’n’ Shine and prizes in various categories such as best-dressed men, women and. kids.
So far 136 riders have registered and $18,087 in funds raised. Their target is 250 riders and $50,000 in funds raised for Movember.
All funds donated will go to DGR and the prostate and mental health charities they support.
Registration is free, but participants are encouraged to raise money and go in the running for several fundraising prizes.
Now in its tenth year, DGR has raised over $31m and the ride has spread to more than 115 countries from its humble start in Sydney in 2012.
The grand prize this year consists of one-off models from Gibson guitars and Triumph motorcycles that celebrate the link between musical and motorcycle rockers.
The 1959 Legends Custom Edition Gibson Les Paul comes with Triumph design details, while Triumph has unveiled a 1959 Legends Custom Edition T120 Bonneville with Gibson design references.
The guitar has a hand-coach-lined pickguard inspired by the Bonneville’s trademark engine fins, and etched pick-up covers, branded truss rod cover and reissue switch backplate.
Gibson’s Triumph tribute
Triumph’s Bonneville T120 Gibson tribute features a hand-painted sunburst paint scheme like the Gibson with black painted guitar neck and headstock shape, edged with hand-painted coach lining, plus a host of branded touches.
Volunteer motorcyclist group Bloodbikes Australia recently celebrated its second birthday delivering blood and other medical samples.
The group started before the pandemic but has become a pivotal last-resort volunteer service for collecting COVID tests.
Founder Peter Davis says the timing of the Bloodbikes with the pandemic has not only been fortuitous, but also a case of history repeating.
He points out that during the 1919 Spanish Flu pandemic, motorcyclists were at the forefront of volunteering in Australia to aid in supporting community efforts.
Volunteer riders during the Spanish Flu pandemic
“They were called SOS motorcyclists, transporting medicines samples even Doctors and nurses. Does this sound familiar?” he says.
“I had no idea of our predecessors when I started Bloodbikes Australia, but isn’t it amazing how history repeats itself,” he says.
“About 98% of our current volunteer work is in the fight against COVID pandemic.”
But that’s not the limit of Bloodbikes Australia’s efforts. Volunteers throughout Australia are doing last-resort medical transport when all other methods are not available.
They transport biopsies, medicines, blood, blood tests and even consumables and equipment, helping out when the despatch system is stretched to the limit.
Bloodbikes volunteers with Peter at right
The most resent example of this started last Saturday (11 September 2021) with Bloodbikes Australia offering a weekend medical transport service to the five hospitals in the West Moreton health district in South East Queensland.
Previously Boonah, Laidley, Gatton and Esk did not have a weekend service to get samples back to Pathology in Ipswich Hospital. Now, thanks to the volunteers in Bloodbikes Australia, they do.
The first weekend run — one each on Saturday and Sunday, — covered a 266km circuit and transported samples and consumable between hospitals and back to the lab at Ipswich.
The first weekend was also an induction for around 14 volunteers.
“I’m not sure who got the most out of it; the delighted and grateful healthcare professionals or us the volunteers,” he says.
Four of Australia’s most highly credentialed motocross industry professionals are joining forces to revitalise the Australian Motocross Championship.
MX legend Craig Dack from the CDR Yamaha Monster Energy team, Gavin Eales from Serco Motorsport and Yarrive Konsky from Penrite Honda Racing have partnered with longtime Honda team owner and former Motorcycling Australia Motocross Commission chairman, Mark Luksich, to form Australian Motocross Group (AMG).
They have more than 100 years of combined experience in racing, athlete management, marketing, sponsorship activation, event promotion and sport administration.
The group hopes to develop a stronger and closer connection with Motorcycling Australia, over changes and innovations to improve motocross and supercross in Australia.
AMG’s first goal is a rebirth of the Australian Motocross Championship.
The group welcome input from pro and privateer riders, race teams, manufacturers, promoting clubs and the motorcycle industry, giving all parties a channel of communication direct to the sport’s national controlling body.
Craig says the Australian Motocross Championship will break new ground with the inclusion of a representative group formally recognised by Motorcycling Australia.
“We want the sport to realise its full potential,” he says.
“We all have a vested interest in the sport’s future and I believe AMG has a significant place in the sport, as riders, racers and teams all need a voice.”
Longtime race team owner and state and national event promoter, Yarrive says the formation of the AMG is “the single most important development in our sport”
“AMG has come together with the right mindset, as racing rivalries have been put aside in order to improve the sport’s reach and increase participation,” he says.
“Everyone in AMG has raced as privateers and all of us have developed business interests in the sport, so it’s in our best interest to see the sport become even more accessible for privateers to participate in, with safety, fun and cost as key points.”
Gavin says the sport sport “needs unification to give it greater credibility within the industry, along with local, state and national governments and the wider mainstream community”.
“The four of us coming together to form AMG shows our commitment for a unified front,” he says.
“Commercially, the off-road motorcycle industry is doing well at the moment despite the challenges of COVID-19, and we need to leverage the current success we are experiencing and get more people competing in motocross.”
Meanwhile, Mark has returned to the MA Motocross Commission and will be the main point of contact for AMG.
“Having previously chaired MA’s Motocross Commission I can see the importance of having a group like AMG involved at the highest levels of the sport,” he says.
“AMG is dedicated to racing, riders and the teams, and by working closely with MA, we plan to bring our experience and passion to assist in making the sport a stronger platform for all involved.”
Harley-Davidson will relaunch The Enthusiast magazine originally published from 1916 to 2008 to replace HOG Magazine as their official publication.
This is a significant move that fits in with new boss Jochen Zeitz’s return to focussing on traditional values.
Since moving into the rider’s seat in February, Jochen has made a lot of changes in his “Rewire” and “Hardwire’ strategies.
Apart from cutting back on staff, wages, models and markets, he is also focussing on the core product and traditional customers.
It’s a relief for many Harley fans who feel they have been neglected as the company tried to find new customers in new niches, spreading itself thin and neglecting diehard fans.
In Australia, Harley owners have been particularly concerned about Harley taking over the Harley Owners Group and opening up the annual national rally to non-members and non-owners.
As part of this refocus, the HOG Magazine returns to The Enthusiast, one of the world’s longest-running motorcycle magazines.
“This is the return to a great tradition,” says Jochen.
“We believe today The Enthusiast title is more relevant than ever.
“In a year when so many people have been stuck inside, we passionately believe in inspiring riders and aspiring riders to get out in the world to rediscover adventure through socially-distanced riding.”
All Full and Life Harley Owner Group members will continue to receive a complimentary subscription to The Enthusiast magazine as part of their membership benefits.
Free App versions of the magazine are also available for iOS and Android phones and tablets.
For more information and history about The Enthusiast magazine, visit h-d.com/enthusiast.
The first issue features Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman on the cover after riding their electric LiveWire from the bottom of South Africa to LA for their upcoming Long Way Up TV series.
The event attracted 365,979 and was the biggest mass gathering in the world since the pandemic was declared,
Organisers had predicted attendance would be about 250,000, down from an annual average of almost half a million.
The event went ahead despite 63% of the town’s 7000 citizens voting not to hold the rally after a gift wholesaler in nearby Rapid City threatened to sue the council.
Now, researchers from the University of Colorado Denver, Bentley University, University of California San Diego, and San Diego State University have used phone data to track the movements of Sturgis rallygoers and a complex (and maybe dubious) mathematic equation to estimate infection spread:
“In counties with the largest relative inflow to the event, the per 1000 case rate increased by 10.7% after 24 days following the onset of Sturgis Pre-Rally Events,” their report says.
“Multiplying the percent case increases for the high, moderate-high and moderate inflow counties by each county’s respective pre-rally cumulative COVID-19 cases and aggregating, yields a total of 263,708 additional cases in these locations due to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
“Adding the number of new cases due to the Rally in South Dakota estimated by synthetic control (3.6 per 1,000 population, scaled by the South Dakota population of approximately 858,000) brings the total number of cases to 266,796 or 19% of 1.4 million new cases of COVID-19 in the United States between August 2nd 2020 and September 2nd 2020.”
The report concludes that the event will cost the US an estimated $12.2 billion in health-care costs.
Apart from the health costs, the event may have irreparably damaged motorcycling’s image.
So far, only one coronavirus death and 260 infections have been officially linked to the event.
Meanwhile, there were 50 crashes reported over the 10 days of the rally, up from 41 last year, with four fatal crashes and five people sadly losing their lives.
Volunteer riders at Blood Bikes Australia are offering to deliver to healthcare organisations during the coronavirus pandemic.
Founder Peter Davis established the Australian arm of Blood Bikes in Brisbane in September 2019 delivering blood supplies to Mater hospitals in the city.
His plan is to deliver medical equipment, personal protection equipment, gloves, masks, medicine, ventilators and other urgent necessities to hospitals, nursing homes and hospices.
Peter says he was inundated with inquires around the country and now has three back-up volunteer riders in Brisbane and more in other capital and regional cities.
Volunteers his the streets
“Our main challenge now is getting healthcare organisations, laboratories and pathology companies to realise the advantages in adding Blood Bikes Australia volunteers as part of their delivery and transport alternatives,” he says.
“If you are a decision-maker in one of these organisations, then contact Blood Bikes Australia. We have volunteers in cities and regional Australia ready to help.
“The key point is that Blood Bikes Australia does not aim to be a primary pathology transport service provider but we aim to offer an alternative to getting an expensive taxi when all usual methods are exhausted.”
Volunteer orientation
Peter Davis (left) wth volunteers Phil, Peter and Jay
Peter took his Brisbane volunteers on an orientation ride last week to show them where to deliver blood and medical supplies.
Jay Mair of Walloon who rides a Suzuki C50 says she wanted to “do something that is important and a good excuse to get on the bike”.
The Scouts volunteer has been riding since she was 17.
Peter Cabot on a BMW R 1200 GS has good motivation to volunteer.
“My sister is an ER doctor and I have another sister who is a pharmacist in a hospital,” he says. “I wanted to help and make a difference.”
Riding instructor Phillip Bates on a BMW R 1200 RT is used to volunteering as he was involved in the original Blood Bikes in the UK.
Vital service
Peter delivers blood supplies to the Mater Hospital
Blood delivered by Blood Bikes Australia has been used in surgery as well as transfusions for cancer patients.
Peter says he has started discussing the possibility of extending the service to delivering breast milk, medicines and other medical products.
“Recent discussions with the Mater are now looking into ways in which Blood Bikes Australia can help especially in these difficult times,” he says.
“Blood Bikes Australia is entirely voluntary. We volunteer our time, fuel and motorcycles.
“We are not an emergency service and abide by all the road rules and speed limits. We are not police or ambulance ‘wannabes’.
“We are just motorcycle enthusiasts who want to make our passion for riding available to do some good in the community.”
As an essential medical service, urgent deliveries would also be exempt from any travel restrictions during the current pandemic.
Volunteer call
Peter says he now has volunteers in Central Queensland, Bundaberg, Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, Beenleigh, Gold Coast, Gosford, Newcastle, Sydney, Ballarat, Geelong, Werribee, Launceston, Adelaide and Perth.
“More volunteers would be always welcome,” says Peter.
“People are ready to volunteer, but the difficult part can be getting healthcare organisations, hospitals and blood banks to appreciate and understand how useful Bloodbikes can be.
The Blood Bikes volunteer rider movement delivering blood to hospitals has spread to Australia and the co-ordinator is now calling for more volunteers.
Brisbane rider Peter Davis says he first heard of the service from a friend involved in Blood Bikes Scotland.
“I thought we should have that service in Australia,” says Peter who has started a service in Brisbane is now looking for back-up riders and volunteers in other states to start their own branch of the service.
It all began in 2011 with Blood Bikes Manchester in the UK.
“It was started because there were circumstances when a motorcycles can be a lot faster than a car in making urgent deliveries of blood to where it is required,” Peter says.
He found a similar service in Perth called AusServ, but efforts to contact them failed and the group’s charity registration was voluntarily revoked.
Blood Bikes Australia
Peter and his “blood” bike
“So I decided to start a Blood Bikes Australia service in Brisbane,” says Peter who contacted the Mater Hospital pathology section.
“They immediately saw the need and advantage.”
Peter is now the central co-ordinator of Blood Bikes Australia. He has fitted a weatherproof box to his Honda cruiser and organised a hi-vis vest with an embroidered logo based on the British service.
“We have now made our first whole-blood delivery from Mater Pathology at South Brisbane to Mater Private Hospital, Redland. Whole blood,” he says.
“It took just over an hour from call to delivery.”
Peter makes his first delivery
Mater Pathology delivers blood to Mater Springfield, Canossa Private Hospital Oxley, Mater Private Hospital Redlands, and Mater Pathology Chermside, all from Mater Pathology South Brisbane.
“We are only just starting and are still in the learning phase,” Peter says.
“So it’s just me but I already have a guy interested in Sydney, so I have started communication and inquiries about Sydney pathology requirements.
“I also need one Brisbane volunteer to take my place while I’m away from 18 October to 12 November.”
Mission statement
Peter has prepared a mission statement and some guidelines, including the note that while the service provided is urgent, riders must ride within the road rules and their bikes are not official emergency vehicles.
“As time goes by I am sure we will get more volunteers and more health care facilities on board,” Peter says.
“My plan for Blood Bikes Australia is to dovetail in with normal scheduling procedures the healthcare facilities have.
“Blood Bikes volunteers will become another option to call on when appropriate.”
Volunteers are not paid for their time, fuel, motorbike or embroidered vest.
“They will be required to form a relationship with one or more health institutions and communicate to those institutions their availability,” he says.
“It’s all about providing a service to the community.
“It does not need any infrastructure as the service of delivering blood is already offered. Blood Bikes just offers another alternative when required.”
The future of Black Dog Ride Australia (BDRA) events to raise awareness and funds for mental health issues is assured, despite recent staff, funding and cost problems, the organisation says.
“We have had three CEOs, three acting chairs and several changes to our board members,” the email says.
“These changes have meant that BDRA has been a little rudderless, and the organisation has incurred a rapidly growing cost structure that was not sustainable.”
However, BDR spokesman Richard Brown says they will still run the same events across the country.
“We are restructuring so that we can come back bigger and better,” he says.
“Previously there have been planning issues and communication issues.
“We are taking this as an opportunity to come up with better ways to plan, coordinate, and communicate.”
Here is the full text of the BDRA email.
Changes to Black Dog Ride Australia
Firstly, we wanted to acknowledge the range of reactions to the news that Fiona Duffield is no longer a paid employee of Black Dog Ride Australia (BDRA). We also acknowledge that our initial statement gave limited information, though we emphasis the statement was to ensure the community were informed of this change from BDRA and not indirectly through other sources.
We also acknowledge there was no statement on Erin Hope’s departure who after a short tenure is also no longer a paid employee of BDRA. Our statement was not meant to give an overview of staff member changes rather it was to let everyone know of the significant change surrounding Fiona as a long-standing member of the team.
As many of you will be all too aware, since the retirement of our founder Steve Andrews, BDRA has been in a state of flux, we have had 3 CEO’s, 3 Acting Chairs and several changes to our board members. These changes have meant that BDRA has been a little rudderless, and the organisation has incurred a rapidly growing cost structure that was not sustainable.
In fact, as of the start of May this year we were incurring approximately $22,000 per month in fixed operating costs (approximately $264,000 per annum). Of that, approximately $15,900 per month was going to wages and office rental costs combined (approximately $195,000 per annum).
At that level of expenditure, and assuming the Around Australia Ride and state rides hit their budget, we only had enough funds in the `operating’ account to run BDRA for 5 to maybe 7 months.
We do also have an entirely separate `gift’ account for the collection of donations and charitable fundraising dollars. As a registered charity organisation we are required to operate this separate fund which is primarily to be used to return funds to the community to support mental health and suicide prevention initiatives. The gift account can and will be used to distribute funds to deserving initiatives through our new community grants funding model. More news on that later in this newsletter.
However, with limited operating funds available, we took the difficult decision to make Fiona Duffield and Erin Hope redundant in line with the provisions of their award. This is never a good situation and this was not a decision we took lightly.
Redundancy arrangements were formulated in consultation with a Perth based Human resources consultancy. It is not appropriate for us to disclose details that are of a private nature (private to Fiona and Erin). But what we can say is that on the day (Tuesday 14th May) we had Richard Brown attend to represent Black Dog Ride together with the Human resources consultant, a Social Worker for employee support, an IT consultant to start working on IT changes, and a security guard to provide access for transport companies quoting on relocating merchandise and equipment.
Beyond the reduction in salaries and rental costs we are also reviewing the ongoing costs around bookkeeping, insurances etc.. We are also looking at the costs within the Around Australia Ride budget and areas this can be reduced/maximised.
Further on in this newsletter we will outline what operational changes we are implementing within BDRA and talk a little about the plan moving forward. Though we want to highlight here that prior to recent years BDRA has run a very lean operation, calling very much on the knowledge, skills and expertise of its volunteer community and we will be looking to get back there, as we should being a charity organisation.
It may not be apparent from the outside, but there has been a lot of work going on over the past 3 to 4 months with the new board in place. We could all start to debate who caused the problems we’re now working our way out of, but we have decided that would only take us away from the critical list of jobs we need to complete to get us to where we want to be.
Beyond the AAR, State Rides and 1-dayers we are also working on revenue raising initiatives that if successful will be announced over time. Also, with the strengthening undertaken over the last 3 to 4 months on our Corporate Governance structure we are almost in a place where we can start formally applying to corporate foundations for regular grants.
We stress however, that any business initiative does not happen overnight, and we will need 6 to 12 months to really get things back on track.
Lastly, though definitely not the least, BDRA is you – our community. We hope you will stand by us as we work towards a stable and growing organisation that is really making a difference.
Sincerely, BDRA Acting Chair, Jo-Anne Harrison
Operational Plan – The Next 12 Months
There are many things we could talk about as far as our current list of things to do. It will take some work for us to get where we want to go, and things won’t be perfect for a while, but here’s a brief overview of what we have planned in the short term.
Staffing
For the next 12 months (or less) Black Dog Ride Australia will operate with a Manager (at .5FTE) and two Administration Officers (both at .6FTE). Richard Brown will act as the business Manager, paid at a rate of $42.50 per hour on a 12 month contract. The two Administration Officers will be paid at a rate of up to (depending on experience) $33.06 per hour on a 12 month contract. A special government wage subsidy will apply to the two administration employees, which will greatly reduce our wage costs. With this arrangement in place the total salary cost to the organisation for the 1.7FTE will be budgeted at $5375 per month, or $64500 per year.
Office location
It is our intention to either sub-let or surrender the Perth office. The current managing real estate agent in Perth is being quite helpful with this process, so we are hopeful that monthly rental costs for the property can be minimised within the next two months.
We do not intend to establish a dedicated Black dog ride office during the coming 12 month period. As an interim measure the 1.7FTE staff will share an office area which has been provided to us for $500 per month, $6000 per year.
Short-term goals
Critical objectives for the next 12 months include, but are not limited to,:
Keeping Black Dog Ride operating – this should go without saying.
Seek opportunities to simplify operations, streamline processes and reduce costs. For example, Black Dog Ride merchandise is costly because it is labour-intensive and it ties up money in slow-moving stock. It will be necessary to reconsider what merchandise items we continue to stock, and the way we handle our merchandise across the country.
Seek opportunities to increase our revenue. We are currently working on obtaining corporate sponsorships and government funding, but these funding avenues generally take a long time to come to fruition, so we may not see a great deal of revenue through these sources within the next 12 months. We are also working on opening a Black Dog Ride membership program which is something we should do anyway, but may also provide the organisation with a little extra revenue.
Develop more effective ways to communicate with our volunteers and Black Dog Ride community. We are working on a few ideas at the moment that we hope to trial over the coming months.
Plan and coordinate long-distance rides and 1 Dayers, allowing long planning lead-times.
Facilitate disbursement of donated funds. A long long awaited community funding model should be released very soon. We’ll talk about this a bit more later in the newsletter.
Expand Black Dog Ride. We would like to establish new 1 Dayers across the country, and will consider the viability of adding some new activities to the calendar.
If you’d like to contact Richard he can be reached via email at [email protected]
Key stakeholders of Black Dog Ride have previously met for strategic planning sessions during 2017 and 2018. The result of those meetings was an initial rough draft three-year strategic plan.
A project specific board sub-committee was formed on 5th February 2019 to review and amend the draft strategic plan for adoption by the board as soon as possible. This committee was made up of Rachel Carter, David Lovell and Richard Brown, and was also tasked with making recommendations on the future structure of BDRA, and the future recruitment of a new CEO/General Manager/Business Manager.
Members of the project specific strategic planning committee have undertaken a significant reformatting and revision of the draft strategic plan over the past three months. The committee has also formed the opinion that this strategic plan should be adopted as a five-year plan, reviewed and adjusted annually.
Please take a good look at our new strategic plan. This plan will be put into a more presentable form with some new graphics and published on our new website which is due to be launched in July – more on our website later.
Please feel free to e-mail [email protected] if you have any questions, concerns or feedback on this plan.
The community Grants funding model was proposed over 18 months ago. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, not a great deal of work had been done on this until early this year. Between January and now Michael Young has put in a lot of work drafting a proposed new community Grants funding model, application form, and decision criteria with some input from Jo-Anne Harrison and Richard Brown.
We know this has been talked about for a long time now, but we really are getting very close to being able to launch this new initiative. Although our operating funds are low, we do have money in our “gift fund” account to provide to local community initiatives. Please stay tuned.
New website
In December 2018 the board commissioned the development of a new website by Perth-based Millstream, a long-time supporter of Black Dog Ride. Millstream have been working on our new website ever since and we are hopeful the new site will be ready to go active in July this year.
This new website will give a fresh new look and work better on handheld devices (phones etc.). We also expect this to be much easier for us to update (as the old one was complicated).
Negative peer pressure is alive and thriving in motorcycling as it always has and probably always will be. Do you have a coping strategy?
Some say peer pressure does not exist in motorcycling because riding is about not fitting in. It’s about being the wild loner.
If that’s the case, why are there so many motorcycle groups where they ride the same type of bike or wear the same type of gear?
Despite the fact that we ride in a protective cocoon of leather and fibreglass helmets, motorcycling is still largely a social activity.
Anti-social motorcycle clubs
The problem is that some of these social motorcycle clubs and groups can become anti-social.
Every week we see new videos on social media of packs of riders performing wheelies, stoppies, burnouts and other illegal and anti-social behaviour on public roads.
Thankfully it’s worse in the USA and Britain than in Australia, although we also have our problems.
Anyone who joins these known anti-social ride-out groups is conscientiously asking for danger and there is not much that can be done about that except to leave it to the police.
But riders can still suffer from negative peer pressure riding in social motorcycle groups.
Even in these groups, there can often be someone who will tease other riders about being slow, their inability to ride long distances, wide chicken strips, a lack of overtaking or a rider’s inability to perform a wheelie or burnout.
No one wants to look like the chicken in this situation, so riders tend to give in to this pressure – however jokingly applied – and that’s when accidents happen.
Professional advice
Having the guts to not bow to peer pressure can be difficult, even for some mature riders.
So we went to psychologist and rider Sharon Ledger for some general advice on coping with negative peer pressure.
“Peer pressure is a normal part of forming relationships,” she says, pointing out that there is both negative and positive peer pressure.
“We join groups for a sense of belonging but we can then experience pressure to conform with the group’s norms,” she says.
“That’s why it’s important to join a group that has the same values as you.”
Sharon Ledger
Sharon suggests that if there is an element of bullying in the group, positive peer pressure can be used to change their behaviour.
“Don’t be a bystander to bullying behaviour. Take a stand and show that it is not acceptable. You can put pressure back on a bullyby using positive peer pressure.”
Sharon agrees with these four basic tenets of dealing with ever pressure:
Make your own decisions. Do things that make you happy and make those decisions on your own;
Plan a response;
Avoid places and situations that make you uncomfortable; and
Choose positive friends.
We took that advice and applied it to motorcycling.
How to avoid rider peer pressure
Here are our five tips for avoiding motorcycle peer pressure:
Leave. If the group is full of this sort of peer pressure, simply leave and find another group. There are so many social riding groups, clubs and Facebook pages out there to choose from, surely you can find one that doesn’t have any peer pressure. Otherwise, ride solo. Click here for 10 great reasons to ride on your own.
Throw out the bullies. If your social club has someone who bullies others about their riding, have a quiet word to them, suspend them, send them to the back of the pack or throw them out. Don’t let a bully ruin your social club.
Go to a track day. If you are feeling too much pressure to ride fast, suggest to your friends that they do a track day instead. They let off steam, they are are fun and they can improve your riding skills. They will also help get rid of those “chicken strips” in a safe and legal way. But make sure you leave your racing behind at the track.
Volunteer to be tail-end Charlie. If the pressure to keep up is too much, become the tail rider. Carry a tool kit and first-aid pack and learn to administer first-aid. That will lift your respect within the group.
Own your individuality. Dress differently and/or ride a different bike to the rest of the group. Be proud to be an individual. People will respect you for that and leave you alone. If not, see tip number 1!
Riders will be able to get expert safe-riding tips, legal advice and guidance on safety gear from three of the top experts in these fields at the Ulysses Club The Road Safety Forum.
Liz de Rome (second right) monitors motorcycle gear testing
“This will be an informative forum and, as I know these presenters personally, also a very entertaining couple of hours, “ Dave says.
The forum is open to Ulysses Club members and the general public who attend the Annual Rally Open Day on Thursday February 28, 2019, at the Mornington Racecourse, Victoria.
Forum cost is $15 for adults, children 5-16 years $5, under five years free.
Road Safety Forum experts
“Tim will be giving us all the latest of our legal rights as motorcycle riders and what they have been fighting for on our behalf,” Dave says.
He provided the following details on Kenn and Liz.
Kenn is a specialist road safety engineer and accredited trainer with 18 years of experience in road safety in Australia, the USA, Asia and New Zealand.
During his time at VicRoads, Kenn held a variety of positions including Senior Road Safety Engineer, Motorcycle Safety Coordinator, Team Leader Road Safety Projects and Manager Program Development.
Kenn is recognised as a world leader in motorcycle safety infrastructure and has had roles advising the Australian, New Zealand, Philippines and Colorado Governments on the subject.
While at VicRoads Kenn spent years managing the Motorcycle Safety Infrastructure Program. In this time, over $25 million were invested in Victoria on infrastructure improvements to specifically reduce road trauma for motorcycle riders.
Kenn is a licensed rider, accredited trainer, assessor and Senior Road Safety Auditor. In 2017, Kenn led a team that won a Prince Michael International Road Safety Award for the Making Roads Motorcycle Friendly training package.
Dr Liz de Rome has worked in motorcycle safety research and strategic planning for almost 20 years. Liz developed the first Australian motorcycle safety strategic plan for the Motorcycle Council of NSW including their unique website to provide riders with evidence-based information about motorcycle safety.
Her Gear Study was a world-first cohort study of motorcycle crashes to investigate the effectiveness of motorcycle protective clothing. Her results established strong benefits in injury protection but also exposed high levels of failure with many garments found to be not fit for purpose.
Liz has been a long-time advocate for a star rating scheme for motorcycle protective clothing and has led and now manages the Australian and New Zealand Motorcycle Clothing Assessment Program – MotoCAP. Her other work includes the Good Gear Guide and the development of Victoria’s new motorcyclists’ graduated education and licensing scheme (M-GLS).
Liz is Senior Research Fellow, Motorcycle Safety at Deakin University in the Institute for Frontier Materials. She is a member of the National and State Executives of the Australasian College of Road Safety and the US Transportation Research Board sub-committee on Motorcycles and Mopeds.
Peter Davis (left) wth volunteers Phil, Peter and Jay
Peter delivers blood supplies to the Mater Hospital
