Welcome

The Border Riders Motorcycle Club (BRMC) is an organized group of guys who like to ride and camp.  Our membership spans the Pacific Northwest, with the greatest participation in Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver B.C.  We have one of the largest memberships of gay clubs in North America, and welcome like-minded guests to join us on our monthly club events and local activities during the riding months.  Check the main page of the website at http://borderriders.com for additional information. 

Anniversary Banquet

Be sure to register for the Anniversary Banquet!  This is the time that we install our new board members, recognize members for their years of membership and present the Rider of the Year Award as well as the High Mileage Award. 

• When:  February 17, 2018
• Where:  Holiday Inn Vancouver Downtown
• Address:  1110 Howe St, Vancouver, BC V6Z1R2
  • Price:     $45.00 members/$50 guests*
• Time:     5:00 Social time and no-host bar
•                 7:00 Dinner
•                 8:00 Awards and installation of 2018 Board

Peter L has worked with the hotel to select a scrumptious dinner menu consisting of Charcuterie Platter, 4 kinds of salad, Rotini, fresh vegies, roasted potatoes, roast pork loin and wild salmon along with assorted cakes and tortes for dessert.   

Registration cut off is 9:00 pm February 13th. 

*Price reflected above is in US dollars.   Club policy is for Canadian members and guests to pay an equivalent amount and is reflected at time of registration. 

Monthly Recap

The January Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held at The Cuff in Seattle.  A members-only business meeting kicked off the evening, where the details are documented in the meeting minutes.  Of notable interests, the 2018 officers were elected and dedicated volunteers (e.g. historian, videographer) confirmed.  After the business part of the night, invited guests joined the festivities for some quality social time, dinner, and the group photo.  After the meeting broke up, several guys headed over to Diesel to run-out the rest of the night.

From the Handlebars of the President

The club's new website was unveiled at the AGM in January.  Joe C has put a lot of effort into creating a new website.  He used the information on the old site as the foundation to build the new site.  The website will continue to be a work in progress and as always we welcome your feedback for ways to improve it. 

Some of the features are that as members (and some guests) there is no longer a password needed to access the site.  The Members Area, which contains the bylaws, roster, minutes, financial reports and other important documents remains password protected.   I sent out an email to all members giving them the password.  If you forgot the password or need help accessing the Members Area please email myself or the webmaster (president@borderriders.com or webmaster@borderriders.com). 

Things continue to change as we move forward.   This is the first edition of our newsletter that is being created and distributed via our new website.  The new website now allows us to create the newsletter right on the website and when we publish it will be distributed directly to our members and guests.  Dave J will no longer have to have each person that contributes to the newsletter email it to him and then cut, paste, and format it into the newsletter.  Once it was assembled the newsletter was then mailed to three separate email groups with each email group having to be approved before the email was distributed to the list.  Now with the push of a button the newsletter will be published and distributed.  This makes the newsletter much easier to publish.   Speaking of publishing the newsletter, the newsletter used to be complied, printed in full color and then mailed via old fashioned snail mail.  Looking back at some of the old newsletters it is amazing the work that used to go into them. 

Registration for members and guests will continue to be on the website.  In the Runs and Events section information on upcoming club events can be found.  Once registration for an event opens simply clicking on the event will open up the specific event where additional information along with registration can be found.  Registration for an event is now more like shopping online.  You will select an attendee type, which once selected will update the price for the event.   After moving to the registration page that pops up when purchase button is selected the waiver information is presented and then you move to the shopping cart to complete your purchase.  Guests will enter the name of their sponsor on the registration page.  The club will be moving away from using PayPal and will instead be using Stripe to process payments made via the website.  As we discover kinks or bugs in the registration process we will continue to work to improve it.  

I would like to thank my fellow board members who served with me this past year.  We have two members leaving the board.  Mark B served as Road Captain the past two years and Richard Ammons served as Treasurer this past year.  Both were great to work with and were valuable assets to the board.  Dennis H volunteered to take on the task of Road Captain and Stan C to take on the roll of Treasurer.  The remaining board was re-elected to their posts at the AGM. 

I am looking forward to seeing everyone at the Anniversary Banquet on February 17th in Vancouver, BC! 

Road Captain Rumblings

Hello fellow riders!  The January Annual General Meeting in Seattle was especially fun for me as I was unable to attend the two previous meetings.  I really enjoyed seeing my fellow club members again.  There was lots of social time before and after the meeting to catch up with everyone.

Thank you Chris L for taking care of the food for the evening and the cake too.

I especially want to thank Joe C for presenting the new Border Riders website to everyone.  You put a lot of work into this project and it looks awesome.  It will really help cut down on some of the “behind the scenes” work that the board does.  It will take a little time for the members to get used to it, but will be worth it in the future.

The AGM was my last meeting as Road Captain and a board member since Dennis H will be the new Road Captain for 2018 starting this month.  I really appreciate Dennis taking over the position; the job of Road Captain is a tremendous amount of work.  I am grateful to my brothers for being patient with me as I learned my through the maze and I know everyone will be patient with Dennis.

This year is going to be lots of fun, so please put in your time off requests now!  The meetings/runs are always the third full weekend of the month (if the first of the month is on a Sunday, that does not count as a full weekend).

I’m looking forward to an especially fun time with my brothers and our always welcome guests!

Mark Brayford, 2017 Road Captain

Calendar of 2018 Events

• January 20 Annual General Meeting – Seattle
• February 17 Anniversary Banquet – Vancouver, BC
• March 17 Club Meeting - @ John D's home
• April 21 Club Meeting - @ Dan S's home
• May 18-21 Victoria Day Weekend Camp
• June 15-17 Milo McIver, Estacada, OR & Portland Pride
• July 20-21 Evans Group, Kettle Falls, WA
• August 17-19 Goldstream Provincial Park, Vancouver Island, BC
• September 14-16 Bear Hollow Camp, Fossil, OR
• October 20 Club Meeting - @ TBD
• November 17 Club Meeting - @ TBD
• December 8 Holiday Party - @ TBD

Birthdays

We have 1 member with a birthday  this month.  Please take a moment to wish him a great day.

Alan Hummel - Feb 10

Meet & Greets

BRMC members will be available for new and returning guys to connect and learn more about the club and opportunities to participate.  If you are interested, check out when and where in the cities listed below.  Also, in addition to the club's monthly events, local rides may be organized, weather permitting.  To lean more, email the Road Capatain for specific details, or to ensure a member to meet you, at captain@borderriders.com.

Portland: Meet & Greet - 1st Tuesday of the month, 7pm at The Portland Eagle

Seattle: Meet & Greet - 2nd Wednesday of the month, 7pm at The Cuff

Vancouver BC: Please contact the Road Captain for arrangements

Contributions of Photos & Stories

If you have photos and stories to share, please send to news@borderriders.com