Passes & Canyons Blog

I wouldn’t have missed my ABATE District 10 meeting Sunday for anything. Theoretically Rocky, our newly drafted district rep, was to inform the membership of the issue that led to the firing of Terry Howard as state coordinator and read a prepared statement from the board.

Before the meeting got started there was no discussion of the issue, which led me to wonder if a lot of these folks had no idea or if perhaps everyone knew a lot more than I knew and for them there was nothing to discuss. Then I heard a little veiled, discrete mention so I suspected it was the latter.

We got to this topic in the agenda and again there was almost nothing said and no one asked any questions. This was too much for me. I said that if I hadn’t received a tip that something was going on and if I hadn’t pursued that to where I received a copy of the board’s statement, I would have been sitting there asking “What the hell are you people talking about??!!” And I got some questions answered. Here’s what I’ve learned.

As we already knew, Terry was removed because the board concluded that she had not fulfilled her fiduciary responsibility to the organization. Apparently there were some expenses that were paid for more than once. I have no idea if there was anything more than that. And something of that sort could easily happen by accident–heck, I’ve paid the same bill twice myself once or twice. So the board is wise to phrase it the way they did. You can be bad at managing money without being a criminal.

I asked if there was a criminal investigation underway. The internal investigation is continuing, we were told, and in compliance with the law regarding a 401(c)3 organization, a report has been made to the state and to the City and County of Denver. What happens next may depend a lot on the response from them. That response is not expected for a couple weeks.

So that’s not a lot but it’s something. It’s more than I knew before. And I really did feel like everyone else in that room knew way more than I did, but most of them are officers or state staff members or whatever–insiders–and I’m just a member, nothing else.

Oh, and as for Rocky reading the board statement, up to that point he still had not seen it himself. More than one person suggested strongly that this whole business be made known to all ABATE of Colorado members immediately. This sort of delay is unconscionable.

Biker Quote for Today

The good news is that heaven has a motocross track. The bad news is you’re racing next Tuesday.

Sad. That’s the word that, for me at least, sums up this bit of business.

I got a tip the other day that something was going on at ABATE of Colorado, that Terry Howard, the state coordinator, had been removed under very unpleasant circumstances. I immediately started trying to find out what the situation was.

Not surprisingly, the state organization is being pretty close-mouthed but they did prepare an official statement. Here is that statement.

In September, 2014, the ABATE of Colorado Board of Directors was made aware of discrepancies in one of ABATE’s bank accounts. At the September BOD meeting, in keeping with the fiduciary duties of the Board of Directors to the membership and the organization as a whole, a committee was formed to investigate these issues.

Although the investigation is far from being completed, by the end of two weeks, the committee had found enough evidence to support the allegations of Breach of Fiduciary Duties the State Coordinator. An emergency meeting of the Board of Directors was called for Saturday, October 4, 2014, at which time the decision was made to terminate the employment of [then] State Coordinator, Terry Howard.

The future of ABATE, and where we go from here, will be formally discussed further at the November (and future) board meeting(s). Don Enninga, assistant State Coordinator, will be acting as State Coordinator while we transition.

One plan at this time is that ABATE will be going back to a volunteer State Coordinator position. Interested parties should submit a Letter of Intent to the Board of Directors.

Please be assured, the Board of Directors and the ABATE office staff are working diligently to prevent future issues and will be keeping you, the membership, updated.

At this point that is all I know. Obviously, I’ll try to learn more and will report on what I find.

But again, the whole thing, to me, is very sad. I’ve known Terry for a number of years now and I like her and I’ve always thought she was doing a heck of a job as state coordinator. Regardless of what the facts of this matter are, ABATE will no longer have her there doing this job.

Let me give you an example of her efforts.

A number of years ago I unknowingly set some wheels in motion. I was doing a lot of work at that time as the National Motorcycle Examiner for Examiner.com. I was (and am) an ABATE member and I got to wondering why it was that the sportbiking crowd and the various state ABATEs were generally unfriendly with each other. So I posted on some sportbike forums asking opinions of ABATE and the reasons.

Boy did I get a response.

It turned out that the sportbikers, who for the most part are ATGATT folks, dislike ABATE because they saw these groups as being anti-helmet. Perhaps some state groups are but in my experience they are more anti-helmet law, which is to say, they prefer to have government stay out of it and let the rider decide. I know ABATE of Colorado strongly encourages wearing helmets, but is against having a law requiring them. That’s my own personal opinion as well.

But in the course of all the discussion there was a comment from someone in the Colorado Sportbike Club who said his group was not down on ABATE the way so many groups in other states are.

Terry Howard was reading these articles and the discussion they were generating and when she saw that statement she immediately contacted that person and when the dust had all settled ABATE of Colorado and the CSC had formed an alliance and the two groups have been working together on issues of concern to all bikers ever since. I may have set the stage but Terry was the one who made that happen. Colorado may be the only state in the country where these two groups are united. And I hope this relationship weathers this storm. I don’t see why it shouldn’t but you never know.

So yes, I think it’s incredibly sad. I don’t know what Terry has or has not done and I don’t even know what she is accused of having done. But I do know that ABATE is a loser in all this. There are no winners. It’s just sad.

Biker Quote for Today

If people focused on the important things in life, there’d be a shortage of dirt bikes.

Change is afoot for ABATE of Colorado. The motorcycling advocacy and training organization will soon be moving into a new home and is also looking at significant changes in its financial structure.

First off, that run-down old farmhouse you see in the picture above will soon be the headquarters for the state organization. Owned by Larry Montgomery, resigning District 10 representative, it is being rehabbed in a couple of “barn-raising” weekends. With all the volunteer labor going into it, it is being referred to as “Habitat for ABATE,” a play on the Habitat for Humanity organization that builds homes for poor people. ABATE currently pays $2,500 a month for office space and Larry will be charging about $500 a month, with all the money ABATE puts into renovations counting toward rent. Thus, $6,000 put into renovation will cover the rent for a year.

ABATE is also considering cutting back publication of the “Spokesman,” its membership newsletter, to bi-monthly from monthly, saving about $1,500 for each of the six months not published by doing so.

Cost savings need no justification if they do not hinder an organization’s mission but in this case they are also needed. Membership has been declining and as of January 1, 2015, changes in the Colorado Motorcycle Operator Safety Training (MOST) program will have an additional impact on the group’s revenues. At that time the state intends to switch the way the program operates so that instead of paying money to the training organizations, MOST money will be rebated directly to students.

The MOST program was set up to use an extra fee tacked onto all motorcycle license renewals to help decrease the cost of rider training. The idea being that the more riders who receive training, the fewer accidents and fatalities. Significant recent changes in the way the MOST program is administered have not set well with the training organizations so the program that organizations such as ABATE were instrumental in creating is now falling more and more out of favor with these very organizations.

Meanwhile, according to ABATE State Coordinator Terry Howard, this latest change will mean that the price ABATE charges for its training courses will increase and with every increase she expects to see fewer numbers of students signing up. Specifically, it costs ABATE $253 per student to put on a Beginning Rider Course. ABATE currently charges $215 and MOST kicks in $35. After January 1, says Terry, ABATE will need to charge $253. The ultimate cost to the student will remain the same essentially but the higher up-front charge is expected to dissuade some percentage of potential sign-ups.

Biker Quote for Today

The 3-percent rule: If you want to go faster, ride with people who are 3-percent faster than you.

A poker run to raise money for injured bikers has been put on hold this year due to a lack of people to do the grunt work of getting it organized and promoted.

ABATE of Colorado’s annual Randy Run was to have been held on June 21 but the event has been scrubbed.

The Randy Run started out as an ABATE District 10 event, named for Randy Savely (in photo) who lost a leg in a crash where a driver turned left into him as he crossed an intersection. ABATE members came to Randy’s aid and support after his mishap and it was decided that a run to raise money for such situations would be a good thing.

After a couple years, the state organization took the run on as a state event, lifting some of the load off the members of District 10, although it was still D-10 members who volunteered to do most of the work. In addition, the state organization agreed that all districts would contribute a portion of the money they make on their own runs and other events to the Randy Run fund, so that the fund would not be dependent solely on the Randy Run itself.

The only constant is change, however, and that includes the situation in D-10. Many of the members most active on this event have dropped away from the group and Randy himself is not in a position to do much. Lay-offs at his job have resulted in him having to work six 10-hour days a week, and he has developed some health issues related to his leg as well.

At the most recent state board meeting the decision was made to pull the plug on this year’s event, although the fund will continue and requests for aid will still be met. There just won’t be a Randy Run this year. A decision will be made on a 2015 event later once it becomes clear what support there would be available.

Biker Quote for Today

Ride for the soul!

Sunday was the January meeting of my ABATE District 10, for the first time in our new meeting space–and definitely a step up!

For as long as I’ve been a member we have met at the Frontier Club out on East Colfax, which is kind of a dive bar. It wasn’t bad but apparently some people objected to the idea of a biker organization that promotes riding safety to be meeting in a bar. So we moved to Noonan’s over at the Heather Ridge country club, in a private meeting room. Some members opposed the move and unfortunately, they were noticeable at this meeting in their absence.

So if anyone ever wonders about how motorcycle events come to be held–poker runs, rides–this meeting was a demonstration of the answer. Almost the entire meeting was taken up with two areas of focus. One was the safeguarding of riders’ liberties and the other was planning events.

On the safeguarding liberties front, a guy who goes by Stump was there. He is the ABATE of Colorado legislative liaison and he was there talking about a lot of bills or potential bills in this new session of the Colorado legislature.

One was a proposed bill to prohibit anyone under the age of 8 from being a passenger on a motorcycle. This had the appearance of a solution looking for a problem. The representative behind this thing is Joann Ginal, a Democrat from Fort Collins. According to Stump–and I do acknowledge that Stump could be biased–this thing got started with Ginal was approached by a couple constituents who didn’t think this was safe, and that the legislature should do something to protect kids. Apparently, however, no one–not the Colorado State Patrol, CDOT, or anyone else–thought there was any need for such legislation. Also, it seems one of the people who approached Ginal was the wife in a divorcing couple, and her to-be-ex likes to take their kids for rides–which she does not like. Let’s get the government involved!

Lacking no good statistics on the number of accidents with motorcycles involving kids, it appears the bill will go nowhere. But that’s the kind of thing ABATE tries to look out for. And by the way, ABATE has a new logo, that includes the wording, “Dedicated to Freedom of the Road.”

The events planning portion was total nuts and bolts. Although each event has its own committee, some of the details get hammered out at the district meeting. For instance, we talked about the upcoming (July 12) Iron Azz ride, a 500-miles in 12 hours ride. Would there be T-shirts? Would they be included in the $25 registration fee or do we sell them?

Or the Blessing of the Bikes, in May. Do we continue to sell the little pigs that are the trinket of the event (they cost 97 cents and sell for one dollar) or does everyone just get one? The suggestion was raised that not all traditions are worth continuing, but the response was that the riders always want something as a token of the event. So the decision was to keep the pigs, give them at no extra charge to all participants, but revamp the registration so instead of $10 per rider and $5 for the passenger, everyone just pays $10.

Yeah, it’s pretty mundane, but you can bet these sorts of discussions go on for every event you attend. They don’t just spring into the universe fully formed.

Biker Quote for Today

Adventure begins when your plan falls apart.

I certainly hope these are not the only December rides I get in, but I did ride all three bikes Sunday. I make it a point to ride each bike at least once every calendar month and December 2013 is taken care of.

Of course, sticking strictly to that mandate, I could now go 60 full days without riding and as long as I get out on January 31 I’m good. Please, please don’t let that happen. But they’re predicting snow for later this week, with the Saturday high climbing (from Thursday and Friday) to 20 degrees. And perhaps more pertinently, it’s supposed to snow. So no, I won’t be getting out on any bike next weekend.

And then you never know what’s going to happen after that.

For years there has been at least one ride that I would try my best to make late in December, and that’s the ABATE Last Brass Monkey Run. This year, though, I guess that’s out of the question. Initially this event was held every year on December 31. Then, at some point, they decided to switch it to the last weekend in December, presumably because a lot of people can’t get away to do a ride on a weekday.

But now they’ve gone back to the old way, i.e., it’s once again on December 31, regardless of the day of the week. Well, I’m sorry, but I have a job and I’m going to work that day. It’s a Tuesday. I’m curious about the discussion that led up to this decision. Yeah, the purist in me likes the idea of doing a ride the last day of the year, but the realist in me says there are a ton of people who would like to go but won’t be able to.

Then next year the 31st is on Wednesday, and in 2015 it is on Thursday. Finally in 2016 the 31st comes on a Saturday.

So no, I won’t be planning on another December ride on December 31. But there are three other weekends after this one upcoming. All I ask is clear streets; I can take the cold. Come on Mother Nature.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Only a biker knows . . .: Motorcycle wit and wisdom, #29

Biker Quote for Today

It’s important to own a great adventure bike, and leave it in the garage because there’s no time to adventure.

I got the update on Sunday as to the revisions in the MOST legislation that are in the works.

MOST, as you may recall, is Colorado’s Motorcycle Operator Safety Training program and it has been under attack from various sides for a variety of reasons. Most recently the issue has been that the state administrators of the program have wanted to direct most of the money to motorcycle awareness programs and the like, away from the rider training programs for which MOST was created.

After attempts to bring about changes administratively, it was decided that the only way to deal with the situation was through legislation. According to Terry Howard, state coordinator for ABATE of Colorado, all of the training organizations who work with the MOST program, “including one of our enemies,” as well as the Colorado Confederation of Clubs, have agreed on some proposed wording for revision of the law. Now the folks who work to ensure that language is right before it gets enacted into law will take a crack at it and it is hoped that two legislators, a Democrat and a Republican, will introduce the bill in the two houses of the legislature.

Here are the changes, as proposed. I have put the new language in italics:

In the paragraph where it spells out the purpose of MOST, language would be added to say “that promotes motorcycle safety awareness including but not limited to, share the road and impaired riding programs and supports courses . . .”

Next it tweaks the mandates for how the money will be spent. The strike-out represents a change to the current language:

(e) The office shall not expend more than fifteen twenty percent of the total cost of the program for administrative costs, and not more than ten percent for promotion of motorcycle safety.

A new paragraph would be added that reads:

(f) Seventy percent of the total program funds shall be used for tuition subsidy for all MOST-approved courses, with the intent of keeping training accessible and affordable, thereby enabling more persons to enroll in and complete such safety training and to encourage persons to seek continuing training.

So now we’ll see where this effort goes. Terry says that, being bipartisan, there should be no reason it fails to pass, but who knows about anything these days.

Biker Quote for Today

We can’t crash an infinite amount of times, so you better learn from every one!

ABATE of Colorado hasn’t given up on the badly crippled Motorcycle Operator Safety Training (MOST) program yet, despite its being twisted out of shape by the bureaucrats charged with running it.

ABATE State Coordinator Terry Howard told me Sunday that “the program is a mess.” She said they have cut reimbursements for riders seeking training and the person charged with overseeing the program has been burdened with so much paperwork that they don’t have time for any quality assurance visits that are the key to ensuring that the program functions as intended.

In discussion with Sen. Lois Tochtrop, a close ally of ABATE, the idea of lobbying for removal of the $2 per year fee that each of us pay when we renew our plates was dropped because that would mean no program at all. Of course, I thought killing the program was about the point Terry had gotten to in her thinking but I guess she’s not ready to give up.

Instead, the plan now is to work with the legislature to try to mandate how the money is spent. According to Terry, the folks at the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) are saying the 15 percent of the dollars that are now allocated for administration are not enough to do what is needed. The bill that ABATE hopes to have introduced by Democrat Tochtrop in the Senate and by a Republican member in the House would mandate 20 percent of the money go for administration, just 10 percent for motorcycle awareness programs, and the other 70 percent for rider training cost deferral.

Of course, the whole point of the MOST program from the start was to make it less expensive for new riders to take training classes, thereby–hopefully–resulting in better riders and fewer motorcycle fatalities on Colorado roads. But the way things have gotten twisted, very little of the money now goes for that purpose, which is why the people who have always backed the program are so upset. CDOT wants to use almost all the money for motorcycle awareness programs. Never mind that similar programs for people in cars and trucks do not get paid for by extra fees on car and truck license renewals.

What’s going to happen? Who knows. Stay tuned. But Terry hasn’t given up hope.

“We’ll fix it one way or another,” she assured me.

Biker Quote for Today

The most dangerous times on a bike are the first month when you don’t know what you’re doing, and the fourth month when you think you do. — Bill