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Dirty Dogs Open Thanksgiving Day

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Thanksgiving is about traditions and family and familiarity.  When most, if not all, businesses are Closed on Thanksgiving Day and families are locked in the house with relatives that they see once or twice a year, about the only place one has to escape to is 7-eleven.  

Rob is continuing the Dirty Dogs tradition by opening the bar @ 1pm and giving customers a safe place to escape to.  Rob will provide the Turkey and just asks that customers bring a side dish.

The outside patio will be open with footballs games weather permitting and the Buffalo Bills play the Dallas Cowboys at 2:30 pm.  So, come on down to Dirty Dog Thursday afternoon and gather with your riding family.

DIRTY DOGS CHRISTMAS SWAP MEET 

Dirty Dogs Roadhouse and Colorado Rider News will be hosting the 2nd Annual Christmas Shopping Day on Dec. 14th at 10am. ALL VENDORS are welcome for FREE and bring your tent (this event will happen rain or shine)! We are asking customer to come share Christmas Cheer @ Dirty Dogs Roadhouse and give some small business vendors and opportunity to get some last minute sales!

Colorado Rider News will be offering some gift wrapping for a donation to BikerDown and Rumor has it Santa Clause will be in the house!

If you need vendor information, please call Dirty Dogs and ask for Mark or Rob!

Adopt A Family for the Holidays

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Nominations for families is Open until November 30th

BikerDown Foundation is in our 8th year of Adopting Families for the Holidays program.  The program started with the desire to help 2 families that had suffered a tragic loss due to a motorcycle fatality.  While we knew we couldn’t replace the loss they were feeling, we could ensure that the family wasn’t alone and that the children had Christmas under the tree.

[Read more…] about Adopt A Family for the Holidays

Accident Scene Bystander Assistance Class

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By Chere Martin, Community Liaison for Rider Justice

There is absolutely no question that bikers are getting injured in Colorado at alarming rates. Certainly, distracted driving by car drivers on the road is one big reason for the disastrous statistics, but no matter the reason for the wreck, the result is the same: A biker is down and probably seriously injured.

[Read more…] about Accident Scene Bystander Assistance Class

The Last Ride: A Novel by Dennis “Poet” Tye

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Scott O'Sullivan - The O'Sullivan Law Firm, motorcycle accident attorneys
Scott O’Sullivan, Founder Rider Justice and The O’Sullivan Law Firm

Dennis Tye is an avid motorcyclist. He is also an avid movie buff. AND he is also an avid writer. A few years ago, it hit him that those three worlds needed to merge so that he could fill what he saw as a glaring hole in American fiction and cinema.

“I watch a lot of movies and I realized that there are no movies about people my age and there are very few good motorcycle movies,” says Dennis. “Usually, motorcycle movies are about wild hogs, or the bikers are all drunks, or there’s slapstick humor. I thought that we needed a good movie to share what it’s really like to ride on the open road. But before you can have a movie, you need a good book. So, I decided to write that book.”

The Last Ride Story

The Last Ride, published in 2015, tells the story of six men who have all received terminal medical diagnoses. They are all dying. The men decide to embark on their last ride together.

Dennis says that he wanted to tell a good story but he had two deeper goals: 

To share the brotherhood of bikers and what it’s like to be included in such a sacred bond, and

To share what it’s like to ride a motorcycle out on the open road.

“Riding a motorcycle is so different from riding in car, a bus or a plane,” says Dennis. “But it is darn next to impossible to capture that feeling. I wanted to share what it’s like to drive down a country road, with the sun coming through the leaves, the smell of grass and trees, the scent of barbeque on the air, people walking by, kids getting excited when they see your bike. It’s just an amazing feeling.”

Dennis says that, once he sat down to write, it only took him about six months to complete the book. His wife, Lauren Preston, helped edit it. (She sobbed when the characters she loved faced difficulties and she asked Dennis, “Why did you do this to him?!”)

Developing realistic characters was initially hard for Dennis, but he decided to imagine real people as he wrote, which helped break his writer’s block.

“I thought James Brolin was perfect for the main character and Trace Adkins would be the perfect Tony, who is big and brawny but has a gentle heart,” says Dennis. “As soon as I pictured my characters as those guys, it was a lot easier to write.”

Dennis has been writing his entire life. He says poetry is a form of therapy for him. His dad, who Dennis describes as “an amazing painter,” once said to Dennis, “You do with words what I do with paint.”

“That’s the best complement I ever received,” says Dennis.

Movie Potential

It would be fantastic if The Last Ride were turned into a movie, but Dennis knows it’s a stretch. He’s hoping to give a copy to Trace Adkins during an upcoming concert, just to see if he might help advocate for a movie. In the meantime, Dennis is already at work on his next novel. It’s called, One Foot in the Grave, and it’s about the motorcycle accident that took his leg and nearly took his life. That book should be published in December 2019.

To get a copy of The Last Ride, email Dennis Tye directly at djtye@sbcglobal.net.

Women’s World Record Attempt 2019

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On Saturday, August 24th at 10 a.m. at a Harley dealership in the city of Frederick, CO, women bikers attempted to set a world record of having the most women riding their own with no passengers in one parade ride.  This ride took place in the countryside of over 50 miles. I was fortunate to be able to work behind the scenes and see this event come to fruition. I oversaw organizing the road captains. It was a great feeling to volunteer for this wonderful cause as well as the attempt for a world record.

“In Colorado, women bikers are growing like a weed,” said Susan Udero, organizer of Colorado Women’s World Record Ride. “There are 88,000 bikers registered (in Colorado). How many are women? (The DMV) said 4,000 or 5,000.”

Susan says the world record is held by the United Kingdom, where more than 1,100 riders showed up.  Although it was a great event and the women riders had a fantastic time, they were not able to set the record.  The number of women riders were only 465, but they weren’t discouraged, because they were also riding for a wonderful cause, Firefly Autism.  The event raised $25K for children with autism because of these benevolent ladies.

“All the proceeds from this incredible event come directly to Firefly Autism,” said Jesse Ogas, Executive Director of Firefly Autism.

Firefly Autism is based in Denver and provides support to children and families who are impacted by autism.

“We work with children from 18 months to 21 years of age, who are impacted with autism,” Ogas said.  He continues and says that the money raised from this world record attempt event will go to scholarship families who might not be able to pay their deductibles, who might not be able to pay their premiums.  Ogas boasts, “These women are having a huge impact for the children and families at Firefly Autism.”

After the parade ride, a lot of fun activities were going on at High Country.  Angry Steve Band was performing on stage, trophies were given out for various categories, and guest speakers Momma D, Helen Tornquist, Rhonda Brown, and Kimberly Chavez spoke on their experiences at this Colorado world-record attempt. 

Susan Udero says that her and her volunteers will try again next year and are already planning and organizing.

What does it take to make a difference in the community?

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Laurie Montoya, Publisher

The longer Colorado Rider News is around, the more perplexed I am on what type of publication I want this to be. I question every month: do I write this article about texting and driving, another biker fatality or articles about the right kind of insurances a biker should have. Many have said that CRN is so serious and that I should make it more fun to read. They suggest crossword puzzles, scantily dressed women photoshoots so they can pin them on their garage. Some would like to see more biker jokes & comics.

The current crisis’ that this riding community faces can no longer be ignored or left up to a few other organizations such as Abate, CORD, BikerDown and Rider Justice to do for you. I don’t believe the motorcycle community really realizes the POWER it possesses and their ability to make REAL CHANGE with the powers that be. There are 8,597,197 registered motorcycle riders in the United States according to 2017 statitics. That is an massive amount of power to make change. I can’t think of any other group that is over 8 million STRONG. If you can I would love to know who they are. There is a reason that President Trump has Bikers for Trump. In Colorado, we have over 190,000 registered motorcycle riders.

There isn’t a day that I turn on the TV, Facebook or better yet check my email and someone in our community or nationwide hasn’t been tragically harmed or killed at the hands of a cager or some form of distracted driving. There isn’t a month that goes by that we don’t read on blogs a rider being discriminated because of their cut/vest.

As the publisher of Colorado Rider News, I can’t in good consciousness pretend that all of this around our riding community isn’t happening.

  • Accidents/Fatalities – there have been over 35 fatalities and over 100 accidents to Colorado motorcyclists since January 2019. Six motorcycle fatalities in Colorado Springs, and the other 29 are in Denver and surrounding areas. That isn’t even counting the rest of Colorado. Most of the accidents are horrible and leave the biker’s life forever changed and their friends powerless to help them at the level they need assistance.
  • Law – Every session of government and those public servants voted into office are trying at every level (City, State and Nationwide) to take your rights away. Motorcycle organizations are there with representatives trying to be the voice of a riding community to decision makers who do not understand us.
  • Discrimination – riders are being told their patronage and money aren’t wanted in establishments because they are wearing a patch or are a member of a motorcycle club. Besides the Motorcycle Expo over 3 years ago, when was the last time in Colorado that you heard of a biker brawl that trashed a business or caused any patrons bodily harm?
  • Profiling – good standing, hard working motorcycle riders with jobs are losing their jobs because someone got on their Facebook and saw that they ride with a group or club and they are being fired with no probable cause just because they ride. Riders in a motorcycle accident are being cited as the one at fault because an officer sees that they ride in a club or group, when the evidence is clear that it was the driver’s fault. 

So, I’ve decided I am going to continue to shed light and information to the riding community about what is going on that affects your rights as motorcycle riders on the road. This publication is going to continue to inform riders of the insurance coverages that they should have so in the event they are hurt or killed their families aren’t left picking up the pieces.

Each month, I am going to give 2 non-profits free advertising about their charitable events, and CRN is going to continue to highlight the good works of biker related charities helping injured riders in this community.

CRN will continue to support Biker Owned Businesses in the hopes that our readers will keep our spending power within our community.

We welcome your comments and thoughts on what CRN can do better in the future and enjoy the ride!

info@coloradoridernews.com

What Does It Mean to be Part of the American Legion?

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I had the distinct pleasure to meet with the State Chair “Poncho” Serrano, Mike “Chaplain” Smith and Joe Calabro all American Legion members and American Legion Riders last month to talk about What does it mean to be a part of the American Legion in 2019.

As a daughter of a Vietnam veteran, I had only heard negative about the Legion and the VFW, my dad still carries today bad memories of what those organizations stood for when he returned from war and doesn’t want to entertain the idea of coming to the New 2019 American Legion.

I have to say that I was extremely impressed when I have visited Post 178 (Lakewood) and Post 22 in (Northglenn) each time the members were inviting and greeting and the stigma that I was expecting was no-where to found. In April of this year, I have also attended and event at ALR Post 35 in Chandler Arizona what I saw was a young, organized group of veterans ready to help any and all veterans in need, no matter what war you came from.

The ALRs is a program within The American Legion. We are Legionaries who ride motorcycles. Each ALR program is sponsored by an American Legion Post. A person can be a member of the ALR if they are a member of the American Legion, Sons of the American Legion or Auxiliary. We commonly refer to this as our Post family. So, if you’re not a veteran, don’t think you can’t join us. If you have a relative that served, such as a parent or grandparent, then there’s a chance you may still qualify to join our family. Check with your local post and learn more. We love signing up new members. The ALR is the fastest growing part of the American Legion and has had a great effect on Legion membership. We currently have about 35 ALR charters in the state of Colorado and growing.

What do we do? Well we ride for military veteran causes and do great things for our community and youth. We raise funds for all kinds of causes such as youth scholarship funds, veteran’s assistance funds, food pantry’s, homeless transition programs, veteran therapy programs. The list is huge, and we keep finding great things to support and promote. So many great things are happening in the Legion as well as outside the Legion. If it helps our veterans, we’re usually there to offer support.

We also take part in motorcycle escorts and honors for our fallen as well as participate in parades throughout the state. Most of us served in the military ourselves or have lived within the military family unit. We know the cost and it’s important that we remember the warriors and families that paid the ultimate price. We also support those that came home wounded with scars seen and unseen. We do our best to offer a network of support to those who are among us still fighting the battle in their minds.

Every year our riders raise money for the Legacy Scholarship Fund that helps pay for college for military families who lost a parent after 9/11 or who’s veteran parent has a 50% disabled rating or more. We do through what we call the Pony Express. Riders go across the state from post to post collecting funds with the Pony Express satchel. This all takes place in one fun weekend and we’ve had great success with it and have collected record amounts every year.

The new face of the Legion are veterans from more recent wars, and they aren’t in the shadows, they are involved, engaged and ready to be involved. They have a home now away from home, where they can hang with their own and get thru those moments that flashback to them and feel a part of something.

I ask any veteran who is looking for somewhere to call home, to give the American Legion a try and come to a few meetings. If you like to ride, the American Legion Riders are involved and regularly meet and go for rides to help other veterans and local charities.

To find out more information, please contact the

American Legion Department of Colorado, 7465 E 1st Ave D, Denver, CO 80230 — (303) 366-5201

Please take a moment to read about what these veterans have found being part of the American Legion.

Joe Calabro (Road Captain) – American Legion Post 178, Lakewood Colorado

I didn’t even know the American Legion Riders existed. As a veteran of the first Gulf War, I was interested in veteran’s issues. So, in 2004 when I got a letter from the American Legion, I thought that would be a good way to support veterans. At my very first Legion meeting someone noticed that I had ridden my motorcycle to the meeting and told me that American Legion Post 178 had a Riders Chapter. I went to their meeting the next Saturday and have been a member ever since. What drew me to the American Legion Riders was that it is a volunteer organization that does a lot in the community to support veterans and their families. Between raising money for charities, standing in flag lines at funerals to honor our departed brothers and sisters and their families, or bringing food to disabled veterans, the Am. Legion Riders gave me a feeling of purpose and a way to help other veterans and their families. There is no better feeling than when the family member of a fallen veteran gives you heartfelt “Thank You” for standing in a flag line, in boots that were not made for standing, to honor their family member. It is a small price to pay. As a long time, motorcycle rider, I also enjoy the charity poker runs, the parades, and the brotherhood that only riders understand. No matter if you served, or if it was your Father or Grandfather, the American Legion Riders is a great place to support our veterans and their families.

Michael Wilson – American Legion Post 22, Northglenn, Colorado

When I was 6 my uncle came over to the house in his dress blues, he was a full bird Colonial. The instant I saw him I told my dad that I would one day proudly wear that uniform. At age 19 I entered boot camp to become that proud Marine. My intent was to make it a 20-year career. After 6 years I decided against it, a decision that I have regretted to this day. That was back in the day that if you entered the military you were pretty much guaranteed a free trip to Vietnam.

While in Vietnam as a combat radio operator I saw more than my fair share of action. 13 months in country left me a broken man. I left many friends over there. The good lord above saw fit to let me come home and I swore that I would spend my life doing good for others and I would take care of my fellow veterans that were not given all that I was lucky enough to be granted. I knew that I needed to share my experiences in an attempt to self-heal. That is when I found the American Legion. The Legion is a place where we can go to re-bond as brothers and share stories without being judged. Of course, we tease each other about our different branches and that’s OK for us but God help any outsider who would do any one of us harm. I have made many lifelong friends due to my affiliation with the American Legion, if you’re a member of ANY post you are a member of every post around the world and welcome everywhere.

I am a lifelong motorcycle enthusiast but have never had any inclination to join an MC. I have always told anyone who would listen that “I am one of the good guys”, our Legion chapter started an ALR (American Legion Riders) some 4 years ago that I have become intimately involved with it and plan to remain a member for life. We ride for our brothers who cannot, we raise funds for veterans and their families, and we do many motorcycle dignified honors escort services for our departed brothers.

Even if you are not personally a veteran there are various ways you may be eligible. We encourage your interest. There are American Legion posts in just about every city in Colorado. Come on down.

Frank “Poncho” Serrano – Colorado ALR State Committee Chairman

In 2014 my riding buddy and I were looking into joining a riding group and we ran across the American Legion Riders. The more we learned, the more it seemed to be a good fit for us. We are both military veterans and liked the idea of riding for veteran causes. Our local Post didn’t have a Riders program, so we were asked to start one. It began with about 8 of our closest riding friends and in 3 years, it grew to around 70 members. Not only did our rider group grow but our post did as well. From around 60 members to over 260. It has had a positive impact on our Falcon Colorado community since 2014 and we’ve been able to do great things for our local veterans ever since.

Freedom Fest 2019

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By Dean Gary, Freedom Fest Founder

Colorado Freedom Festival is here again June 29th at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds. It will be our 5th year! Without the loyal support of the Freedom Fest Family this could never happen. I can’t express my gratitude to our all of you for coming together to celebrate our Nation’s Heroes.

[Read more…] about Freedom Fest 2019

Rider Justice Has Created a New Car Game to Raise Awareness of Bikers

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“I grew up playing Punch Buggy or Slug Bug, punching my sibling every time we spotted a VW bug,” says Scott O’Sullivan, founder of Rider Justice and owner of The O’Sullivan Law Firm. “I’ve always wanted to create a game for kids that raised awareness of motorcyclists and even bicyclists on the road.”

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