Contents
Welcome
Monthly Recap
Monthly Pictures
Upcoming Events (2 months)
Members Birthday’s
Meet & Greet Update, (Portland, BC, & Seattle)
Club Business
Reader’s Corner
Day Rides
The latest news regarding rider skill enhancement classes
Officer Reports
The BRMC 2020 Calendar of Events
Non BRMC Motorcycle Events
Request for pictures & closing comments.
Welcome
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. We welcome like-minded guests to come meet us at our monthly Meet & Greets and to join us at one of our club events and our local activities.
Check out our website. We are very proud of it. www.borderriders.com
Monthly Recap (January)
It was great to see everyone at the virtual AGM. We thank you all for showing up (enough to have a quorum) and for participating in getting club business done. Thank you
Monthly Gallery
Photos from members and guests from last month’s rides and adventures (or stolen from Facebook pages due to a lack of submissions).
Upcoming Events
February - Our Annual Banquet - February 20th starting at 4:00pm. See “Club Business” below for details.
Upcoming Birthdays
We have 1 member with a birthday in February.
Alan H on February 10th
Meet & Greets
Due to Covid-19, the monthly M&Gs were canceled for this month.
Club Business
Annual Banquet - Virtual Banquet in February
We have been busy preparing for the 2021 BRMC Banquet & want to share what we have done for you.
As with the AGM, we will be hosting the Banquet virtually through Zoom. While this certainly created some challenges with tradition, I am pleased with what we have done. We hope you will join us as we celebrate our past, and honor those who are special to us. Also, we are reminding people that you are certainly welcome to host a small group of people for this event. The one thing we ask is that you turn off your microphone unless someone in your group wants to talk to everyone. That way, chatter amongst your group will not prevent the virtual show from going on. To set up a small group for the virtual banquet, just contact those you want to have over directly & make it happen. We will not be involved in setting this up.
To kick off the event, there is the social hour from 4 to 5pm. Please show up wearing your colors and feel encouraged to share stories along with everyone else about anything you did bike related in 2020, and hopefully laugh as a group.
Then, at 5:00, as with tradition, we will break bread together with our brothers and valued guests. The menu this year is Italian. It does not matter if it is home prepared, take out, or delivered. Just bring your favorite Italian dish to the dinner hour & let us share a meal together as best we can. We will pass the spotlight from person to person so you can talk about what you are having. We hope to see some delicious meals and maybe get into trading some recipes. How gay-biker is that?
After the dinner hour we will begin the ceremony. We will hand out some awards, say farewell to the old board and introduce the new board. Again, sticking with tradition, we will be awarding High Mileage Award, the Rider of The Year Award, and a Special Secret Surprise Award.
Then we relax and socialize our way into the night.
An invitation will be e-mailed to you the day prior to the event.
BRMC 2021 Banquet Agenda
Date: 2/20/2021 from 4pm to 8pm
· Social 4-5
· Dinner 5-6
· Awards 6-7
· Social 7-8
Social
· Members- please wear your colors.
Dinner (Break bread together during the hour)
· Italian Theme
· Everyone is encouraged to prepare or get take out of their favorite Italian dish.
Awards
· High Mileage
· Rider of the Year
· Special Secret Surprise Award
· Certify the Offers for 2021
Social
·
2021 Board of Directors
The following members have been nominated and accepted the nomination to serve as board officers for the coming year:
President: Jeff C
Vice President: Alan H
Road Captain: Dennis H
Secretary: John D
Treasurer: Stan C
As only one person has been nominated for each position, a confirmation vote will be taken at the Annual General Meeting.
New Members
As the club was unable to gather during the year we were not able to meet guests that potentially had an interest in becoming members. As such, membership nominations were suspended this year.
Membership Renewals
Thank you everyone for registering before the banquet. It helps me, your Treasurer, immensely when doing the budget to know how many members to budget for. Unfortunately, we are having to say goodbye to 3 well loved brothers who have decided to pursue other interest.
Our former Web-master Joe C, Mr. RV himself Pat T, & one of our newest brothers Aaron M have decided not to renew their membership. They have been assured they are welcome to attend our functions as guests as we hope to them frequently.
I am currently making arrangements to get our patch back from them and return their deposits.
Reader’s Corner
A place for you, the reader, member or guest, to contribute.
Tell us about your travels, adventures, mishaps, etc.
To contribute send your story & pictures to President@BorderRiders.com
Stan C Submitted
Have you ever wondered how the wind chill impacts the ambient temperature when you are out on the bike? I found this chart on CycleFish.com & thought it was interesting. I hope you do too.
Day Rides
BC’s Day Ride -No upcoming plans for day rides. Watch the newsletter and Facebook for updates.
Seattle’s Day Ride - Seattle had a bye for weather in January. Looking ahead to February the advance forecast looks promising, watch for an email or check Facebook.
Portland’s Day Ride - There was no January day-ride in Portland.
Motorcycle Training 2021 - YAHOO!!!!
Registration for ALL the upcoming BRMC/Team Oregon classes is open. To register, call Ronda at 541.737.9660. You will likely need to leave a message, but she will call you back. Their system is not set up for this kind of bulk buying so be patient. Ronda will need to charge you for each class as she registers you, so it does take a little longer than I expected. The good news is, the entire schedule is ala-cart so you can pick and choose which classes you want.
Each class has a limited number of openings and it is first registered, first reserved, so don’t delay registering. Once classes are full, I will keep a waiting list just in case someone can’t make it. You may e-mail me at Treasurer@BorderRiders.com to be placed on a waiting list.
OTHER NOTES:
Cancelation Policy – Team Oregon has a cancelation policy of 30 days prior to the class with a full refund. Instead of canceling, please contact me first and let me see if I can sell your reservation to someone on the waiting list. If not, then we can cancel.
June classes - There will be a social function for class attendees at Alan & Stan’s house on the evening of Saturday, June 5th. We will pass a hat to cover the cost of food. I will supply more details when we get closer.
August Classes – These classes occur on Monday the 23rd. We are hoping to have the August campout that same weekend. The intent is to have a group ride from the campout to Alan & Stan’s house on Sunday & a social function that evening. We will pass a hat to cover the cost of food. I will supply more details when we get closer.
October Classes – The weekend of the October classes is also the weekend of the club meeting which Alan & Stan are hosting. The cost of dinner will be a part of the registration for the meeting. There will be a social function Saturday night as part of the meeting. I will supply more details when we get closer.
When You Register for the Classes – Please send me a quick e-mail letting me know when you register and for which classes you have registered. Send this to Treasurer@BorderRiders.com. This will allow me to keep a head count and will allow me to make sure you are kept current of any extracurricular activities happening that weekend.
Wait List - Each class has a limited number of openings and it is first registered, first reserved, so don’t delay registering. Once classes are full, I will keep a Wait List just in case someone can’t make it. You may e-mail me at Treasurer@BorderRiders.com to be placed on a waiting list.
The class schedule is listed below. All classes are for 2 wheel motorcycles only, sorry.
Saturday, June 5th is the Rider Skills Practice Class. This class will run from 12:45 to 5:30. This class is appropriate for an endorsed rider with 1+ years riding experience. This class is a great way to shake off the cobwebs acquired during the non-riding months of winter. This class permits 12 attendees & cost $99.
Sunday, June 6th is the Advanced Braking Clinic. This class will run from 8:45 to 11:30. This class is appropriate for an endorsed rider with 1+ years riding experience. I have yet to take this class and am looking forward to it. This class permits 9 attendees & cost $79.
Monday, August 23rd is the Cornering Clinic & the Advanced Rider Techniques Class. Both classes take place on the go-cart track at Pat’s Acres in Canby.
The Cornering Clinic focuses solely on cornering skills. The Cornering Clinic is appropriate for an endorsed rider with 2+ years riding experience. The Cornering Clinic runs from 8:45 to 11:30. The class permits 18 attendees and cost $99. Successful completion of the ART class is required for this class.
Shortly after the Cornering Clinic is the Advanced Rider Techniques. The ART class provides riders expert instruction on the clean, smooth curves of a closed course. The ART class is appropriate for an endorsed rider with 2+ years riding experience. This class will run from 12:30 to 4:30. The class permits 18 attendees and cost $179. This ART class is a prerequisite for the Cornering Clinic.
Saturday, October 16th is the Precision Maneuvering Clinic #1. The PMC-1 is appropriate for an endorsed rider with 2+ years riding experience. This class will run from 8:45 to 1:45. The class permits 9 attendees and cost $99.
Sunday October 17th is the Precision Maneuvering Clinic #2. The PMC-2 is appropriate for an endorsed rider with 2+ years riding experience who have completed PMC-1. This class will run from 8:45 to 1:45. The class permits 9 attendees and cost $99.
GO REGISTER !
From the Handlebars of the President
Hey Everyone,
I wish I had the time to write something meaningful for the newsletter but I am working about 80 hours a week processing round 2 of those PPP Loans for small businesses. I am simply exhausted. Hopefully, things will get back to normal soon.
This year rather than cancelling our monthly get togethers we will plan to be more virtual. We have two members who have access to ZOOM so we will be having our meetings and socials via that method until we can gather again in larger groups.
…… keep the shiny side up!
Vice President Chatter
Howdy Brothers,
Not much to report this month. I’ll be glad when riding season returns and this pandemic is over.
I am proud to call each one of you my brother.
Be well, stay healthy and safe!
Road Captain Rumblings
What strange times, would have thought that by now things would have some semblance of returning to normal and Covid was in our rear-view mirror. It was decided to push back Pine Flats by a month to buy more time for Covid vaccines and allowance of group gatherings. We are also making an assumption that Pride events will be cancelled this year. For now the plans are as follows:
May 14-16 Bruceport County Park near Raymond WA
June 24-27 Pine Flats near Ardenvoir, WA
Treasurer’s Ramblings
All amounts owed to us have been collected. All the bills I am aware of have been paid. All our account balances are where I expect them to be. Briefly stated, “Piggy Bank Be Balanced”.
Additionally, the state of Washington Annual Report and the IRS 990-N Postcard have all been filed and accepted.
Please feel encouraged to reach out to me if you have any questions. Otherwise, stay safe, stay healthy and let’s get together soon.
Secretary Thoughts
The 2020 Christmas Party was certainly a success! Again, the get together was virtual but that didn’t hold back the members from attending. Nineteen members attended as well as ten guests (An eleventh guest slept through the event). I was one of a group of five who met at the Road Captain’s house for dinner and to join in the Zoom event. Dennis H. and others put together an incredible meal. It was great to be in the company of other humans even though we were masked most of the time. It was even more great to interact with thirty gay men all of whom have a common interest – motorcycling. Most of us were dressed in holiday attire, but I’m not going to pass up the opportunity to commend how Dan S. outdid himself in putting together his wardrobe. (Notice I didn’t say “recommend”.)
As the pandemic continues to rage, we are going to be limited to getting together virtually. I want to urge everyone to join us at the Annual General Membership meeting coming up this month. Again, I want to thank Don W. for the work he has done to keep us all together. We will be electing our officers and making tentative plans for the remainder of the year. I hope to see you then, and until then be safe!
2021 Calendar of Events
January 16th - Annual General Meeting - Virtual
February 20th - Anniversary Banquet - Virtual
March 20tht - Club Meeting - TBD
April 17th - Club Meeting - TBD
May 14th thru 16th - Camp-out Bruceport County Park near Raymond WA
June 13th - BRMC rides in the Portland Pride Parade
June 24th thru 27th - Pine Flats celebration
July 16th thru 18th - Camp-out at TBD
August 20th thru 22nd - Camp-out at TBD
September 17th thru 19th - Camp-out at TBD
October 16th - Club Meeting - TBD
November 20th - Club Meeting - TBD
December 11th - Club Holiday Party - TBD
Meet & Greets
(February’s M&G have been canceled due to COVID-19)
B.R.M.C. members will be available for interested individuals to meet and learn more about the club and how to get involved. For locations and times, check out the cities listed below for your area. Also, in addition to the club's monthly events, local rides may be organized, weather permitting. To lean more about local event’s, check out our F.B. page or email the Road Captain at Captain@BorderRiders.com.
Portland: Meet & Greet - 1st Wednesday of the month, 7 pm at The Portland Eagle.
Vancouver BC Meet & Greet - 2nd Wednesday of the month. 4 to 6 pm at The Met Hotel, New Westminster
Seattle: Meet & Greet - 3rd Wednesday of the month, 7 pm at The Cuff
Non-BRMC Motorcycle Events
If you know of an upcoming motorcycle event or something of interest that we might want to attend, please send the information to News@BorderRiders.com and we will be sure to get it added to the newsletter.
Contributions of Photos & Stories
If you have photos and stories to share, please send to news@borderriders.com
