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BikerDown Colorado

FOCUS ON GIVING: Adopt-A-Family for the Holidays – Donations for Families OPEN until December 11th

November 29, 2021 By Laurie Montoya Leave a Comment

By Laurie Montoya, President Founder of BikerDown  Foundation

BikerDown Foundation is in our 9th year of Adopting Families for the Holidays program in Colorado.  The program started with the desire to help 2 motorcycle 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.

The Adopt-a-Family program has helped almost 500 families over the years, and the need for families in the Denver and surrounding areas continues to grow as rent and the cost of living increases.   2020 and now in 2021, families have not recovered fully because of the pandemic, and Christmas presents are just not in the budget for their children.

As we enter the holiday season, many begin to feel joy and excitement as we get closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas.  However, many families in our community start to WORRY about how they will make their children’s Christmas wishes come true.

This year, the Adopt-a-Family program goes back to our grassroots and has limited each state to 25 (in Colorado 35) families to ensure that we meet our fundraising goal.  We see this as a challenging year for all.

BikerDown, with the help of Dirty Dogs Roadhouse in Golden, will host a Freezin for a Reason, Chili Cook, off and Toy Drive on December 4th, and we ask all attendees to bring an unwrapped toy or donate $10.00 to taste the chili.  All teams are encouraged to pre-register for this event, and we will have great prizes for the winners.

All of this wouldn’t be possible without the help of Walmart, Rider Justice, BikerDown sponsors, riders, and our biker-owned business supporters, and each family receives a $250.00 Walmart gift card.  Adopt-a-Family has a direct line to Santa Claus, and he always comes to visit the children and bring some gifts for them.

WILL YOU DONATE TODAY?  Adopt-A-Family is taking donations on our website  www.adoptafamilytoday.org. If you would like the meet the families, and read their stories, you can view that on our Meet the Families page on the website link listed above. You can also scan this QR code that will enable you to donate quickly and easily.  

Filed Under: BikerDown, Community, Events, Laurie Montoya, Magazine Tagged With: AdoptAFamily, BikerDown Colorado, Dirty Dogs Roadhouse, Laurie Montoya

BikerDown Foundation Expands to Florida

November 29, 2021 By coridernews Leave a Comment

By Executive Director

BikerDown Foundation has been assisting motorcycle riders who have been injured in an accident in Denver, Colorado, for over 11years.  Founded in 2010, this organization started with 6 motorcycle riders at the Platte Bar and Grill on Sante Fe with only 1 mission. How do we help injured riders at home?

It is clear that none of us knew what we were in for and how many injured riders would seek the assistance of BikerDown Colorado.  You see, back then, riders only heard of their friends who went down in their groups.  Remember the days of Biker-or-Not?  Facebook at that time was not as popular as it is today.  If you want to know what is going on in our biker community, all you need to do is turn on your phone or computer.  Any event or cause is publishing an overwhelming amount of information, and it is just a swipe or clicks away.

BD Florida 1st Introduction Dinner

Social media quickly elevated BikerDown Colorado as a resource of assistance, and in our 1st year, we helped about 27 riders with their recovery.  Over the years, BikerDown has grown with demand and now provides medical equipment, fundraising thru our BDFundme, and a variety of resources and financial management to help get that injured rider thru the most challenging times in their life.  In 2020, BikerDown Colorado helped 58 Colorado motorcycle fatalities and over 200 accidents.

Fast forward today, BikerDown has chapters in Colorado (National), Arizona, Las Vegas.  In November, BikerDown launched a Florida chapter in the Ft. Meyers area and hosted their first introduction dinner to give leaders in the biker community information as to How We Can Help Bikers Better NATIONWIDE!

Expansion is a necessary step to help riders on a more national level.  Currently, BikerDown receives 3-5 help requests on our website from riders outside of our chapter states, injured riders desperately looking for assistance and resources to help them thru recovery.

BikerDown Florida will be sponsored by the Sunshine State Biker Lawyers and the law firm of Carmen Dellutri out of Ft. Meyers, Florida. After visiting with Carmen and Casey Byrus, his marketing manager, it was clear from day 1, that this firm truly cares about injured motorcycle riders. They also bring additional assistance to the biker community, such as probate/living will document, bankruptcy, and a full legal staff to help our biker community with any needs they may have.

Colorado Riders supporting BikerDown in their Annual Look Twice Save a Life Ride

All of this would have never happened with Colorado riders who donated and assisted BikerDown to reach this level.  Our Board and members should be proud of what you have helped create for injured riders all over the country.  BikerDown didn’t invent the concept of helping injured riders, but we have the BEST program and resources that give injured riders hope and a sense that they are not alone thru their recovery.

Filed Under: BikerDown, Laurie Montoya, Magazine, Non-Profit Tagged With: BikerDown, BikerDown Colorado, BikerDown Florida, BikerDown Foundation, BikerDown Las Vegas, BikerDown National, Laurie Montoya

May is Motorcycle Awareness Month – Safety begins with the rider

May 5, 2021 By Laurie Montoya Leave a Comment

Laurie Montoya is President & Founder of BikerDown Foundation and Editor and Publisher of 2 motorcycle publications Motorcycle Rider News & Colorado Rider News

By Laurie Montoya, President and Founder of BikerDown Colorado

The Phrase Everyday should be Motorcycle Awareness Day is a statement that signifies the epidemic of motorcycle riders across this country that are injured daily. Everyone knows of a rider who has gone down, been injured or sadly has passed from a motorcycle accident.

Motorcyclists weigh the risk versus the reward for the freedom of the ride and most would say that if they had their choice they would GO doing what they loved. What happens thought when they are injured and their families are left to pick up the pieces of recovery, how does the family survive when you are looking at 6-8 months of recovery and multiple surgeries? What do they do when the driver of the car that hit them has an irresponsible driver with no insurance or at the very least the state minimum required to be on the road.

The answer is actually very simple – Motorcycle Awareness STARTS WITH ME! – Freedom of the ride in no longer free my friends, it requires riders to have the safety gear to keep them safer on the road than ever before, and it requires them to no longer get on the bike without the adequate insurance so in the event of an accident or fatality, the motorcycle law firm of their choice will be able to get them a recovery settlement that they need to survive. THAT IS THE TRUTH, and THE TRUTH DOESN’T CHANGE no matter what your ride, how you ride or what group or club you are in!

The National Organization BikerDown Foundation and your local chapter of BikerDown Colorado is mounting a daily campaign “I AM A BIKER” during Motorcycle Awareness Month in the hopes that it will go viral and show drivers/cagers that there are faces behind those helmets, that we are mothers/fathers, husband/wives and that we are more than just a motorcyclist.

We want to give also give our readers and followers tools and tips on how you can make your ride safer on the road, or in the event of an accident have the insurance coverages that you need.

Today, we will start that campaign with a motorcycle insurance checklist provided by Rider Justice.com that is vital to your recovery in the event of an accident. We hope that all riders will take the PLEDGE TODAY, to call their insurance carrier and ask these very basic questions

  1. In the event I am hit by an un-insured driver, what kind of coverage do i have? Do i have un-insured motorist? Did i waive it when i got the policy?
  2. In the event I am hit by a driver with limited insurance, what kind of coverage do I have?
  3. If i have a passenger on the back of my bike and we are hit, is the passenger covered?
  4. Are my medical bills covered in the event of an accident? How much is it to add Med-Pay?
  5. I have car and bike insurance – are my policies stackable?
  • Underinsured Motorist (UIM) – Purchase a minimum of $250,000
  • Medical Payments (MedPay) – Get the maximum offered by your insurance company, usually between $5,000 and $25,000
  • Umbrella Policy – If you own your home, you need an underinsured motorists’ umbrella policy for $1 million
  • Liability – Purchase a minimum of $250,000
  • Collision –
  • Comprehensive
  • Accessories Coverage – This protects all of the customized accessories on your bike. Be sure to get replacement value coverage
Rider Justice Motorcycle Lawyers

In Colorado or anywhere in the country, if you need an insurance review of what you actually have on your policy and a suggestion of what you should upgrade to, i would suggest that you call Rider Justice and speak to Scott O’Sullivan.

Filed Under: BikerDown, Breaking, Community, From the Publisher, Insurance, Laurie Montoya, Legal, Magazine, Non-Profit, Rider Justice Tagged With: BikerDown, BikerDown Colorado, Motorcycle Awareness Month

Motorcycle Awareness – 9th Annual Look Twice Save a Life

April 5, 2021 By Laurie Montoya Leave a Comment

By Laurie Montoya

It is a well-known fact that the public does not watch for motorcycles no matter how many billboards CDOT puts up or lighted signs that are only up a few days in May or in August during Sturgis.  It is a well-known fact that most motorcycle accidents involve a car and/or some sort of distracted driving.  Distracted Driving comes in many forms including texting/driving, use of handheld mobile devices while driving, putting your makeup on while the vehicle is moving, looking in the back seat at your kids, eating while driving to changing the radio station.

Our riding community continues to be the victim of irresponsible drivers who are out driving with no driver’s license and little to no insurance and driver’s leaving accident victims on the ground and leaving the scene.  Driver’s change lanes without looking and run stop signs/lights, hit the biker and keep on going.

BikerDown Foundation received a Proclamation in 2015 from then Governor Hickenlooper proclaiming May17th as Colorado Motorcycle Awareness Day.  This was quite an honor to be recognized by the state of Colorado for the good work that BikerDown has done for the motorcycle community.

On May 15th, BikerDown will again host the only motorcycle awareness ride on the front range, called the Look Twice Save a Life ride.  We are going to repeat the theme of last year with Can YOU SEE me NOW.  These awareness shirts were a tremendous hit with riders no matter what you rode.

Riders will need to pre-register for the ride to guarantee themselves 1 of our motorcycle awareness t shirts.  T-shirts will be available the day of the event in limited sizes.  Registration is $25.00 per rider.  Each rider who pre-registers will get 1 free month of motorcycle roadside assistance sponsored by Motorcycle Towing Services.

Our ride will start and end this year at Dirty Dogs Roadhouse in Golden with kickstands up at 10-10:30 am.  The Look Twice ride is known for great rides routes and safety is always key for this event.  Dirty Dogs will have some great entertainment for our event, and our sponsors and biker community always donates great raffles and 50/50 drawings prizes.

Our sponsor for the ride is again Rider Justice.  For over 8 years, Scott O’Sullivan from RiderJustice.com has supported this event as well as BikerDown Foundation to ensure that injured motorcycle riders have a resource to go when they go down.

Pre-Register to get your Can YOU See me NOW event tshirt

This is BikerDown Colorado’s primary fundraiser that will enable us to continue the mission of helping injured riders until the end of the year!

You can register for our event by clicking here to be guaranteed your own Can YOU SEE me NOW t-shirt.  If you cannot make the event, please register and BikerDown will ship your shirt to you.  100% of your donation goes into the Colorado BikerDown Accident Fund to help injured riders.

Remember to Ride Safe and SAVE THE DATE!

Filed Under: BikerDown, Community, Events, Laurie Montoya, Magazine, Non-Profit Tagged With: BikerDown, BikerDown Colorado, Can you See me Now, Charity Ride, Look Twice Save a Life, motorcycle events

Letter from the Publisher – Spring is in the Air

March 10, 2021 By Laurie Montoya Leave a Comment

Laurie is Publisher and Editor of Colorado Rider News

March is here and with the warmer temperatures here, its hard to not start looking forward to spring rides, events and trying to get back to normal.  Today it was in the news that the governors of Texas and Mississippi both announced that TODAY they would be lifting their states’ mask mandates and rolling back many of their Covid-19 health mandates, just one day after the CDC warned against complacency in the face of emerging coronavirus variants.

The future of our motorcycle events in Colorado are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel and more events are being added to our Event Calendar in the hopes that restrictions will continue to loosen up. 

In this issue we will share with our readers The Colorado Motorcycle Swap Meet held at Dirty Dogs Roadhouse in February.  This was a combined effort of the Motorcycle Expo, Dirty Dogs Roadhouse, Rider Justice and Colorado Rider News whose only goal was helping our local biker owned business get thru these winter months due to the official Expo being postponed to 2022.

Colorado Riders News is proud to work with charities, riding groups and biker businesses to help promote your event.  Please visit our website and submit your event on our calendar and we will make sure it gets on the calendar at no-charge.

On a safety note, please ride safe out there, even with the beautiful weather, there is sand in the mountains and on the roads.  Watch the conditions of possible black ice in the shade.

As always enjoy the ride, let us know what we can do better and BE SAFE OUT THERE

Laurie Montoya, Publisher

Colorado Rider News

info@coloradoridernews.com

Publisher, Colorado Rider News

Filed Under: Biker Owned Business, From the Publisher, Laurie Montoya, Magazine Tagged With: Biker Owned Business, BikerDown Colorado, colorado rider news, Laurie Montoya

100 Motorcycle Fatalities in Colorado

October 1, 2020 By Laurie Montoya Leave a Comment

CDOT posted an article on the 18th of this month giving some year-to-date totals and the one that popped out to me was that our community has lost 100 motorcycle riders and is on track to surpass last year’s number of 103 fatalities.

Laurie Montoya, Publisher

As many of you know I am also the President and Founder of BikerDown Foundation and help injured motorcycle riders after an accident and/or fatality.  I decided this month to take this forum on CRN to try again to ask this motorcycle community to put in place some offensive measures, so that in the event of a motorcycle accident or fatality, you have the services you need to recover.

For years, CRN and BikerDown have put into this publication articles about increasing your motorcycle insurance to include at least 250k under or un-insured motorist coverage.   This coverage is absolutely the MOST IMPORTANT item you can have on your bike when you ride. 

Due to COVID-19, loss of work or just being down right irresponsible, at least 50% of all drivers out there are now driving without vehicle insurance.  So when (and I mean when) that driver hits you, if YOU do not have under or un-insured motorist coverage, you are literally screwed.  This will leave all the medical costs, and out-of-pocket recovery expenses UP TO YOU! 

If you have full coverage on your bike, please understand THAT ONLY COVER YOUR BIKE (maybe).  Full coverage does not mean your medical bills will be covered; it does not mean that your lost wages will be covered.  It means that you might get enough from the insurance company to fix or pay off your loan on your bike.

As the Biker Advocate for BikerDown who calls these riders or family members daily to see how BD can help them, one of the questions I routinely ask is what type of insurance did the driver have? And this week alone 3 injured riders family member told me that the driver had NO LICENSE and NO INSURANCE.

This publication has attempted since the inception to gently nudge riders thru advertising and articles to educate and give you the resources to make changes to your personal bike coverages, but I feel WE are LOSING the battle out in this biker community.  IT IS NOW TIME, TO BEG YOU and HOUND YOU to call your insurance company today and add at least $250k under or un-insured motorist.

There is still a lot of riding in 2020, and before you get on your bike in October, please MAKE A PLEDGE TODAY, to at least call your bike or vehicle insurance and CONFIRM, VERIFY and have them send you something that shows that you have under or un-insured motorist coverage.

If you do not want to do it for YOU, please do it for your FAMILY, your wife/husband, your children, your mother, or father and EVEN YOUR FRIENDS.  These are the people who will be the ones struggling to keep you going while you are recovering in the hospital.

Please forgive me this month for such an abrasive Letter from the Publisher, but we are in an epidemic of motorcycle injuries and fatalities and THE TIME IS NOW to at least have the coverages you need, so you can recover in peace.

As always enjoy the ride, let us know what we can do better and BE SAFE OUT THERE

~ Laurie Montoya, Publisher

info@coloradoridernews.com

Filed Under: BikerDown, From the Publisher, Magazine Tagged With: 10/20, BikerDown Colorado, CDOT

Colorado records its 100th Motorcycle Death for 2020

October 1, 2020 By coridernews Leave a Comment

2020 has been a difficult year, even for motorcyclists on Colorado roadways. With fatal motorcycle crashes up 12% over last year, a new partnership between the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and Grease Monkey is addressing this concerning trend by reminding motorists to watch for motorcyclists.

“Since January Colorado has seen a startling increase in motorcyclist fatalities and the state is expected to exceed the number of fatalities from last year,” said Darrell Lingk, CDOT Director of the Office of Transportation Safety. “With the fall riding season approaching and many riders currently enjoying the warm weather, we are urging drivers to use caution and be aware of motorcyclists. Drivers, please remember to look twice and save a life.”

As a reminder to watch for motorcycles, Grease Monkey will be placing safety stickers on vehicles receiving oil changes at 64 Grease Monkey locations throughout Colorado. There will be 60,000 window stickers distributed over the next two months to all drivers getting their oil changed.

“Grease Monkey hopes getting this message out will help save a life,” said Wes Stephenson, president and chief operations officer for Grease Monkey. “As a motorcyclist myself, safety on Colorado’s roadways is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone needs to do their part to make the roads a safe place to drive and ride.”

With the launch of the new campaign also comes the debut of a CDOT vehicle wrapped with a safety message. The eye-catching visual depicts a motorcycle crash in which the motorcyclists is thrown from his bike.  The CDOT fleet car will be seen driving throughout the Denver metro area over the next two months.

CDOT reminds drivers to be more aware of motorcycles and suggest drivers:

Check your blind spots

Check blind spots.

Since motorcycles are much smaller than cars, it is easy for them to get lost in blind spots. Before making any lane changes, thoroughly check all blind spots and use traffic signals.

Look twice.

When making lane changes, turns, merging and other traffic changes, check twice to save a life. 

Use extra caution when turning left.

Motorcycles are smaller which makes it hard for drivers to determine their speed accurately. When making left turns, look carefully for motorcyclists as the eye is not trained to detect them, then take the time to more accurately gauge their speed before entering the intersection.

Never follow motorcyclists too closely.

Motorcycles and their riders can slow down quicker than cars. Giving riders more space than a car ensures that drivers have enough time to slow or stop.

50% of drivers say they have driven distracted

Eliminate distractions while driving.

Being mindful and aware of driving situations, changes on the roadways and other unexpected incidents increases the safety for drivers and motorcyclists.

“My son, Nick, was killed by a driver who made a left turn in front of my son on his bike,” said Debby Uberecken-Standard, who lost her son in 2014. “As a mother, driver and Colorado resident, please always look twice. Motorcyclists are not as protected as drivers and can be hard to spot. Look twice and save someone’s life.”

Facts and Statistics:

  • To date there have been 100 motorcycle fatalities in 2020. This is up 12% from 89 at the same time last year.
  • In 2019 there was a total of 103 motorcycle fatalities.
  • Motorcyclists make up 23% of all deaths on Colorado roadways yet represent just 3% of the vehicles.
  • Of the 100 motorcyclist deaths in 2020, the following counties are noteworthy:    
  • The top three counties with the most motorcycle deaths are El Paso (17 fatalities), Adams (nine fatalities), and Jefferson (nine fatalities).
  • Northern Colorado – Larimer and Weld Counties have both had seven fatalities each.
  • Southern Colorado – El Paso has had 17 fatalities and Pueblo has had seven fatalities.
  • Western Slope – Mesa County has had six fatalities. Delta, Garfield, Gunnison, Montrose and Rio Blanco have each had one fatality.   

In addition to the window decals and CDOT fleet vehicle, Grease Monkey will also be placing motorcycle information in stores across the state while CDOT will be posting on social channels and running radio ads across Colorado to spread the message.

CDOT motorcycle safety efforts are part of CDOT’s Whole System – Whole Safety campaign which aims to reduce fatalities and injuries and “Bring everyone home safely.”

Filed Under: BikerDown, Breaking, Community, Magazine, Perspective, Safety Tagged With: 10/20, BikerDown Colorado, CDOT

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