Passes & Canyons Blog

If you’re figuring that Ride Your Motorcycle to Work Day is set for the third Wednesday in July as always, here’s an alert. It’s not. It has been changed.

In fact, it’s not even being called “Ride Your Motorcycle to Work Day.” It is now just “Ride to Work Day,” and it has been moved to the third Monday in June. That’s June 15 this year.

The name change has been made to make the event more inclusive, encouraging scooter riders to join in as well. The date change is intended to take advantage of more moderate weather. The event has also taken on an international scope and in Europe, July is often vacation time for a large number of people.

Additionally, the organizers hope that a Monday event will encourage riders to commute on two wheels all week, rather than just one day. And finally, because Sunday is usually a slow news day, it is hoped that a Monday event will garner more media advance coverage.

In case you’re not familiar with Ride to Work Day, the purpose is to demonstrate:

• The number of motorcyclists to the general public and to politicians.
• That motorcyclists are from all occupations and all walks of life.
• That motorcyclists can reduce traffic and parking congestion in large cities.
• That motorcycles are for transportation as well as recreation.
• That motorcycling is a social good.

So I hope to see you on the road June 15.

Biker Quote for Today

No matter what marque you ride, it’s all the same wind.

It’s getting toward that time again, so as I always do, I’m cluing you in to this year’s Ride Your Motorcycle to Work day.

This year the date is July 16. As always, that’s a Wednesday, the third Wednesday in July. This is a day to get as many bikes out on the streets and highways as possible, to make an impression on the non-riders as to just how many of us there are. Not for intimidation or anything negative, just to let them know we’re here and that they need to be mindful of us as they drive. I mean, have you ever been on the highway when someone in the next lane pulled into your lane without looking over their shoulder to see if perhaps someone might be there? No, it’s never happened to me either. Right!

So the point is to get out in force and impress upon them that they MUST look, MUST be aware, and MUST share the road. Maybe their lives don’t depend on it, but ours do!

If you really want to get into this, you can go to the website at www.ridetowork.org and download logos and artwork, public service announcements, and various other things to pass along to the local media or put up in public places. Here’s the logo.

Who knows, maybe this year I’ll be able to take part. The funny thing is that each year as I’ve promoted this thing, I’ve not been able to participate. Last year I was working a job that had me working at home. The year before that I was on vacation. This year I may be unemployed on that day, but if so I’ll at least get out and ride a bit just for the heck of it.

Anyway, I’ll bring this up again just before the date. In the meantime, take today’s quote with a grain of salt. Maybe.

Biker Quote for Today

If the person in the next lane at the stoplight rolls up the window and locks the door, support their view of life by snarling at them.

This coming Wednesday, July 18, is Ride Your Motorcycle To Work Day. Do it!

The idea here is to get as many people on the road on their bikes on the same day to show people how many of us there are and to thereby make people more aware that they need to be aware we are there. We’ve all had the “he didn’t even see me” experience. If people are more aware that we might be there then hopefully they’ll be more careful to check to see if we are there. Wishful thinking? Probably, but what the hey, it can’t hurt and riding to work is more fun than driving anyway. I try to do it once a week. Aside from anything else, it also saves money on gas.

Oh, and here’s the disclaimer. Here I am pushing Ride to Work Day and I won’t be riding to work on Wednesday. Why? Because I’m fortunate in my current job to be able to work at home two days a week and one of my two days is always Wednesday–that’s July 18.

Here’s the URL in case you want to learn more: http://www.ridetowork.org/

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On a different note, I always welcome comments and responses to these posts but the spam bastards have made it so I had to turn off that function. I can’t spend an hour every day deleting hundreds of spam postings, which is what it had turned into. So if you want to contact me, send me an email to ken at motorcycle dot com and I’ll put your comment up, or respond to you, as appropriate. Thanks. Sorry for the hassle.