0:06

Welcome to The RebelRebel. I'm your host, Michael Dargie.

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The RebelRebel is a show dedicated to creative rebels and entrepreneurs all over the world.

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It's a love letter to those people who think audaciously and act courageously

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in service of making the world a better and more interesting place.

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And anybody knew what they wanted?

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Yeah, I do. I do.

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I want to study motorcycle tourism and biker stuff.

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The title of my my project and my thesis was Understanding

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Motorcycle Tourism through a study of Biker culture.

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We are all part of one culture, the human culture.

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He grew up in Air Force Brat as a reformed adrenaline junkie.

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He's a dad, a biker, a global citizen, an entrepreneur, and the founder of Freedom Biker Tours.

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This conversation goes deeper.

0:54

Welcome, Joseph. JD Dubois to The RebelRebel

0:59

Cross Canada.

1:01

I've got JD Dubois with me. JD, how the hell are you?

1:05

Excellent. Medium rare. Medium rare.

1:08

Today.

1:11

Now you're in a interior, if memory serves.

1:14

Correct. Summerland, just ten k's north of Penticton and about six south of Cologne.

1:21

Okay, so, JD, tell me.

1:24

Nice headphones, by the way. I might as well call this out because they're looking really good.

1:29

Yeah, like one of us now.

1:32

So. JD, what's going on in your world?

1:34

What's what's, what's happening in JD's life?

1:37

Well, JD, his life right now is crazy busy.

1:40

Yeah. Between freedom biker tours and then

1:44

my little consulting firm that I have, I've had since 2005.

1:49

It's a hotel and B&B from the Iraqis that either sales and marketing for them. And

1:54

at its heyday I had 15 hotels in my portfolio when I also had

1:59

my campground here in the Okanagan that I owned for 14 years and operated.

2:03

But over time, you know, contracts and hotel

2:06

ownerships change, things happen.

2:10

Yeah. And then COVID happened and, you know, the world blew up.

2:15

Yeah, sure did. I, I remember it well.

2:18

So it was like, take me through freedom biker tours right now.

2:23

That's it certainly has my interest.

2:25

I do want to talk about your other interest as well, but Freedom biker tours definitely is a

2:31

it's a it's close to my heart.

2:33

Or mine, too. I've been riding motorcycles since I was a teenager. Yeah.

2:37

And I, I did a

2:40

my third post-secondary educational pursuit

2:44

ten years ago, and that was a graduate degree, a master's degree.

2:49

And I finished it in 2016.

2:52

I started it in 2013 through Royal Rhodes University of Victoria.

2:57

Yeah, I know it well. So I was a master of arts and tourism management

3:01

is the exact, you know, ATM

3:04

they call it, and I'm allowed to put that on my business card, apparently.

3:09

But the interesting thing was, is when when they sat us down in the first residency

3:14

and they said, okay, you need to you need to do a research project,

3:18

that's the final 10th component of the of the study.

3:23

And anybody knew what they wanted.

3:25

Yeah, I do. I do.

3:28

I want to study motorcycle tourism and biker stuff.

3:34

And and one of the professors

3:37

who ended up being my supervising professor for my for my thesis,

3:40

he writes duties like that's the coolest thing I've ever heard of.

3:44

No one's ever done that before. Nice.

3:47

So the title of my my project and my thesis was Understanding

3:52

Motorcycle Tourism through a study of biker culture.

3:57

What? So as a year and a half, labor of love and.

4:01

Sounds was really hard. J.D., I don't know how you did it.

4:06

It was a lot of late nights, believe me.

4:09

But the the end result was through that study.

4:13

I realized a couple of important things.

4:16

One was there was nobody promoting Canada

4:20

as an international motorcycle touring destination.

4:24

No, nobody. And especially no Canadian owned and Canadian operated

4:29

tour operators were doing it. Yeah. And I also realized that

4:35

something had been lost,

4:38

you know, over the years and the

4:40

the old school biker culture,

4:44

you know, how it started after the Second World War

4:47

and through the fifties and sixties and into the seventies,

4:50

you know, the values that that brotherhood and that freedom

4:54

and that authenticity, peace and all that had gotten lost.

4:58

Yeah. And I thought, you know what?

5:01

There's an opportunity to revive that while putting Canada

5:07

on the map on a global stage as a logistical touring destination.

5:11

So here we are. love it.

5:14

So a couple of things jump to mind right away.

5:17

And first off is

5:21

where do these tours take place?

5:23

That's we have three tour programs in Canada.

5:28

And in keeping with the biker culture

5:31

and terminology, everything is ride something, something, something.

5:36

It's not something. Something tours. It's ride.

5:39

Yeah. So we have we have ride the Maritimes, ride the Canadian Rockies and best of B.C.

5:46

ride the West Coast.

5:48

yes. Okay. So when you say Maritimes, are we talking Cabot Trail?

5:53

Well, the Kelly Trail is a big part of the tour out there. Yes.

5:57

Okay. Yeah, I haven't I haven't ridden it, but a buddy of mine,

6:00

Mike Terry, who is on the show, he he sent me

6:03

some footage of him riding the Cabot Trail, and I fell in love with it.

6:07

I'm just like, where is this sneaky, windy, fiery bit?

6:11

Right in Ireland and Cape Breton Island were two days on Cape Breton Island.

6:14

Really? Yeah. Amazing. And ride the Rockies. Totally get that.

6:18

There's some great roads in there. And the West Coast.

6:21

Are you like mainland? Are you on the island? Both. great.

6:27

Okay. Wow. Okay. That's awesome.

6:30

Tell me about biker culture, because I could see where

6:33

that might turn some people away and turn some people on.

6:37

So how do you you know.

6:40

It's an interesting question because part of the reason why I did that,

6:45

that thesis was to dispel a lot of the stereotype that is out there.

6:50

Right. And of course, Hollywood has been working against me in these last years

6:54

with the shows like Sons of Anarchy and Mayans and that kind of stuff.

6:58

Right. So but, you know, biker culture is really

7:04

you know, I found a home in the biker culture.

7:08

They are the nicest, most kindest,

7:12

helpful, charitable people ever.

7:16

Yeah. Like most of my friends, other than my long term friends

7:20

from back in high school, and that most of my friends these days are are bikers,

7:24

motorcycle enthusiasts. Well, so

7:27

let's let's let's go back in time when.

7:31

When JD was a young guy and

7:33

I mean, you said you're writing when you're a teenager.

7:36

What? What turns you on to bikes? And like, what?

7:38

What do you think was the thing that drove you this way

7:41

to no pun intended, rode you this way?

7:45

Well, I've always been

7:48

a bit of an adrenaline junkie when I was younger.

7:51

You know, the skydiving, the parasailing, the paraglide riding,

7:56

you know, you name it. I like to do it now.

7:59

I don't do it so much anymore.

8:04

Probably for good reason or not, as young as we used to be.

8:07

JD No. No. And I've actually I've actually had a couple of injuries.

8:11

I've actually had two motorcycle accidents. Okay?

8:13

And some broken bones and some chronic injuries and that kind of stuff too.

8:17

They were other people's faults. Yeah, but yeah. That's typical.

8:21

So what got me into it was just that you know, the, the,

8:25

the wanting to, the desire to go fast and do fun things

8:29

and take some risks and that kind of thing that started riding dirt bikes.

8:33

Yeah. You know, And then in my early twenties I got into my first street

8:37

bike and then, you know, rode that for years.

8:40

And then I actually got out of it for a little while because I got married.

8:44

Yeah. And I was forbidden to do that.

8:50

And my ex-wife wasn't into it at all.

8:52

Yeah, but then when we moved up here to the Okanagan 18 years ago

8:57

and bought the campground and I started my consulting business and all that, I got back into it

9:02

nice and had a couple of motorcycles

9:05

and then graduated to Harley Davidsons.

9:09

Okay. And the joints.

9:12

You know, go ahead. And the Okanagan Hog chapter, you know, hog Harley owners Group, Harley.

9:17

And I'm a I'm a life member now nationally in Canada.

9:21

So my patches on my back say life member.

9:24

Nice and. All out in the big hog stuff and everything.

9:27

So yeah, I found a real family with those people there.

9:30

They're amazing, amazing.

9:32

That's great. Well, and you said graduated to tail Harley and I mean I'm,

9:37

I'm agnostic if it's got two wheels I'm in and I love them all.

9:42

I've ridden them all. What does that mean to you graduating to Harley?

9:46

Well, it's a bit of a tongue in cheek joke.

9:49

The thing I've really don't care.

9:52

And freedom like tours doesn't care what you ride.

9:55

It's more about your values and you share the same passion and that kind of thing, right?

10:00

Yeah, you're right.

10:02

If it's got two wheels, then you want to ride it.

10:05

Then come ride with us.

10:07

I joke to friends of mine that ride

10:10

other non Harley branded machines.

10:15

It's kind of a joke about you know graduating and and

10:17

yeah thing but it is all tongue in cheek and all in good fun.

10:21

Yeah so you're now

10:24

you're, you used to be a metric guy and now you're imperial is that.

10:29

Well I thought. We were real.

10:31

And then we became metric Right now I'm bi bilingual now.

10:38

But by cubic. Yeah, right.

10:43

Fascinating. Okay, so I guess the I want to dive a little bit deeper

10:49

into this, this idea of the ride for Real and Freedom

10:54

biker tours concept that it was a master's thesis.

10:58

You brought it to life, which is really cool.

11:02

You know, we talk about brotherhood, certainly sisterhood.

11:05

We see a lot of a lot more women riders these days as well, which is awesome.

11:09

Absolutely. And what it is and again, I don't want to spend

11:15

the entire episode on this, but I'm so fascinated by it.

11:17

Like, what is a freedom biker tour look like?

11:20

Our tours are as close to all inclusive as you can get.

11:26

You know, everything is included.

11:28

Most of the meals, fuel for the bike,

11:31

most of the taxes, even gratuities on the meals that are included.

11:35

We have a support vehicle with snacks, water, soft drinks, first aid kit.

11:40

We carry the luggage for everybody.

11:42

Hotel accommodations included transfers to and from the airport at the

11:48

start point, an end point,

11:50

attractions, excursions, activities, everything.

11:54

I mean, there's the odd dinner that's not included

11:56

depending on where we're staying that night.

12:00

And that's done on purpose because one of the things

12:02

I've learned in my 40 years in this industry

12:07

is, you know, people when they're on a on a

12:10

like group tour or a package tour program, they like to have a bit of free time.

12:14

Sure. Right. So in places like Whistler or Banff, and we stay for two nights or Penticton

12:19

here, when we stay at my friend's hotel that's right on the lake,

12:23

you know, we we build in at least a half a day

12:26

in an evening where they can wander the town and,

12:30

and, you know, be off the bike a little bit and have a bit of free time.

12:34

Wow. How big how long are your days.

12:36

The tours, anywhere from 10 to 12 Right now.

12:41

There's a new itinerary I'm working on for next year as well.

12:45

That I think is going to be a total of 13 days. Wow.

12:48

And how much time on bike?

12:51

Like how long are your people in the saddle for.

12:53

On a daily basis? Yeah. It varies.

12:57

It depends on where we're starting and where we're ending that day.

13:02

And it depends on the activities in the stops throughout the day.

13:07

Max Salmon

13:10

450 kilometers in a day.

13:12

that's reasonable. And that's only like maybe one day on one of the given tour itineraries.

13:18

The rest are average 250 to 350.

13:22

So that's easy ride.

13:24

And we have a lot of photo ops stops, P breaks.

13:28

Yeah. Fuel stops, lunch stops with some of our lunches on the tours

13:33

or picnic lunches where we have a full set up in the sport

13:36

vehicle stops, sit by the lake, and we'll all have a picnic.

13:39

You know, others are in restaurants, Brewpubs or whatever.

13:42

Yeah. What's your what's your favorite ride?

13:45

Can you. Do you have a favorite? You know what?

13:48

I don't. I love them all.

13:51

And the more I explore around the world,

13:55

I just love to ride. Like, just.

13:57

Yeah, you know? And ever since I was a kid, exploring and experiencing other cultures

14:04

in other regions, that is been a major fundamental

14:08

motivation of mine to get out and get in this industry.

14:11

Amazing. That's so great. My I went and met my eldest son over in the Philippines

14:17

and we rented some bikes up in Clark

14:20

and drove to Subic Bay and

14:23

I'd never driven anything in Asia before, so it was a whole new experience.

14:29

And on a motorcycle, dude, it was so fucking good.

14:34

Pardon the language, but like it was.

14:37

No, it's like next again. You don't know until you another culture, but you're on two wheels

14:41

and you're connected to the road. You can smell the cows as they go by.

14:45

You know? Yep. And I don't have to tell you because, you know, because you as you ride.

14:50

But there's something instantly recognizable about

14:54

being on a bike, run down the highway

14:58

that you're connected to the universe in a way that most people aren't.

15:01

Well, it's a cage free experience, which is a biker term right there

15:05

that I discovered during my research for my thesis, and we use it

15:08

in our marketing now cage free throttle therapy.

15:12

You know, a lot of our taglines are built around that kind of stuff, right?

15:15

And yeah, throttle therapy was a really cool

15:20

term that I found in some of the definitions.

15:23

I found it pretty funny.

15:26

Yeah. My favorite one is goes something like the throttle therapy's

15:31

a term used for time spent on a motorized bike

15:36

with the intention to

15:39

the feel the effects

15:42

of either prescription or illegal drugs

15:46

and the euphoria that that brings to you or something along those lines.

15:50

Right. And of course, cage free is the reason why a dog sticks

15:54

its head out the car window, right? Yeah.

15:56

That was another term that I found in my research that I use quite a lot.

16:01

It's like, duh, That's why we write.

16:04

What what other things do you resonate with?

16:07

And the the biker culture and what you bring to the world.

16:12

The authenticity piece is extremely important.

16:15

And and, you know, they're all connected.

16:17

The Brotherhood, authenticity, acceptance, freedom.

16:21

Those are the four core values of freedom biker tours.

16:24

And they're also my personal values.

16:26

And they're all interconnected.

16:28

And I really feel strongly, especially in this last four years

16:33

since going through the pandemic and all of the political disruption

16:38

that's going on in the world now still to the Ukraine

16:42

and the Middle East and just everywhere, it's just

16:46

I really feel that the world has lost

16:51

its sense of humanity

16:55

and brotherhood and kindness and helping one another.

16:58

And that's really one of the fundamental messages

17:00

that I'm trying to convey with freedom Boycotters is, look,

17:04

you want a ride, you like to ride, you like the open

17:07

road, you share the same paths and you're share the same values.

17:10

You're you're not a jerk.

17:13

So come ride with us. Let's go. Like, forget about your troubles.

17:16

Put your phone away for ten days and come on, let's.

17:20

Let's have some fun. Really? That's. That's what it's all about.

17:23

Love it. Where do the bikes come from?

17:25

So I bring my own bike. Is it BYOB or is it you?

17:28

Can you can. We have two levels of pricing.

17:31

One is with the rental, the ones with rental. Okay.

17:34

And we have people that trailer, their bikes ship their bikes, ride

17:38

their bikes up to join us, and then we have rental partners as well.

17:42

Gotcha. I had this idea years ago.

17:46

I and I didn't go anywhere with it clearly, but I thought it would be

17:50

really great to have a motorcycle tour company on Vancouver Island.

17:54

And the idea would be we would ride basically you go by your bike

17:58

down south in Victoria proper and we'd ride

18:02

the bike across the island, maybe over to the Sunshine Coast and back over again and whatever.

18:06

And then when we were done the tour we would just create your bike and send it

18:09

to wherever you came from.

18:12

That's a great idea. Yeah. So, you know, feel free if you want to add that to your

18:20

I'd love to be one of your tour guides at some point.

18:23

Cool. Well, you should come on one of our tours.

18:25

How many people are on a tour? You know, it varies.

18:29

I try not to keep the groups too, too big, right?

18:32

I don't want to be herding cats, you know, and that.

18:35

So I'm going to say that Max

18:39

from number of bikes is probably ten, maybe 12.

18:43

That's a good size. And then that would also we'd have to factor in whether everybody's

18:49

riding to up or everybody's riding single or whether it is a mix.

18:54

Right? Right. Because if you got ten bikes, everybody's running to up this 20 people.

18:58

Yeah, right. Yeah, that's a lot.

19:01

Yeah. That's a lot.

19:04

Interesting. How do you how do you and again, I'm getting into the weeds here, but

19:09

how do you vet your riders?

19:11

Well, one of the things that I like to do

19:14

right from day one is, is when I get an inquiry or

19:19

an actual booking that comes through the website,

19:22

I pick up the phone and I connect with them right away.

19:26

And we had a fellow on our ride, the Rockies invest A,

19:29

B, C tour last July or inaugural tour, and he was from the UK.

19:34

I won't say his name, but really funny guy.

19:37

He's a retired taxi driver from London.

19:40

Okay. And he,

19:43

he actually we have testimonials on our website, some video testimonials.

19:48

And he actually says that that's what sold him on I'm coming over

19:52

was that when I picked up the phone and called them

19:54

and I connected with them and he said, you know, is a genuine guy.

19:58

And I really I heard his voice and I knew I could trust this guy.

20:02

And, you know, he spent his money and came over and rode a Harley over.

20:06

And he was the funniest. He had a smile on his face the whole time.

20:10

He'd never ridden the street glide before a big Harley, right?

20:14

So I was learning how to do it. And by the first couple of days, he's

20:18

cruising along with that machine and just having so much fun and yeah,

20:23

every time we stop, you said a river or a lake, you throw on his bathing suit

20:26

and he'd jump in and know it was great.

20:29

So, wow, that personal connection is really important.

20:34

And I tell people that. Yeah, that's nice and I appreciate that too.

20:39

JD I think that's a that's a real good touch.

20:42

How do you manage international licenses or do you not worry about that?

20:47

Good. No, no, no, that's that's a good question. It's it's an important question.

20:51

And as a matter of fact, I had an email inquiry last week from a fellow in the UK again, and he rides a trike

20:57

and he said, I ride my trike, but I use my car license to do it right.

21:02

Can I come over and do one of your tours and do that?

21:05

And I said, No, you can't because you need an actual motorcycle license

21:09

over here, right? And so yeah, what you have to have a valid motorcycle license

21:14

to come on one of our tours and I have references where I can check

21:19

and just make sure that the license from another country is is valid in Canada or the U.S.

21:24

And then we recommend a minimum of one years

21:28

experience riding a cruiser style motorcycle as well.

21:32

Right. And you got to be 21 or older to rent.

21:35

You can be under 21 to come on on our tours if you ride your own bike.

21:39

But if you want to rent a machine, you've got to be 21 or older.

21:42

Gotcha. Cool. Okay. Well, it sounds like you've got all the I's dotted, T's crossed,

21:49

and. Also.

21:53

What. What's said, what drives the passion behind tourism for you?

21:58

Traveling, experiencing other cultures

22:00

and, you know, other parts of the world?

22:03

You know, I have a daughter and she's she's going to be 27 this coming summer.

22:08

She's actually over with her fiancee in the Mediterranean right now on a cruise.

22:12

And one of the things that that I taught

22:15

her growing up was never judge,

22:18

always take a step back and ask why?

22:24

Why are they doing that?

22:26

And when it comes to other cultures, you know why they eat in that food?

22:30

Why are they dancing like that or why they wearing their hair like that?

22:33

I mean, I don't know what it is, but, you know, it could be anything. Right.

22:36

And I never judge. Always ask why.

22:39

And then you can decide if you want to participate in that particular activity or not.

22:44

And that's fine. But don't criticize and don't judge learn.

22:49

Find out why. Because as far as

22:52

I'm concerned, we are all part of one culture.

22:57

Yeah, the human culture.

22:59

And we're all on the same planet, right?

23:02

We're all part of the human culture. And that's a driving force behind my desire to travel.

23:08

You know, since I've been in my in my early twenties

23:11

and why it's still there with with freedom, like your tours now.

23:15

Love that. What's your what's one of your favorite traveling memories?

23:19

Well,

23:23

there's a lot. There's too many.

23:26

There's too many. One of my favorite ones.

23:28

Well, actually, it's a recent one.

23:31

It's a recent one. It's. It's how I met my fiancee time at Carmen.

23:36

And, you know, I was invited by the Canadian Motorcycle

23:41

Tourism Association that I'm a member of, and their travel agency division

23:46

handles all of our ancillary services for our tour participants,

23:50

like shipping airfare, whatever.

23:53

Right? Yeah. And I was invited to come on two years ago on a

23:57

on a tour program in northern Alberta for a week to give my input on this thing.

24:02

They were trying to develop this little tour

24:04

to showcase small businesses and smaller communities in Alberta.

24:08

So I showed up and Carmen

24:11

was hired to be the videographer on it,

24:14

and she had never been on a motorcycle before.

24:17

my God. And so on the first day I said, You know what?

24:21

We should get you a helmet and you should get on the back of one of our bikes.

24:25

Right? So we were in Edson, Alberta, and we found this little motorcycle shop

24:31

and we went and got her a helmet.

24:33

She jumped on the back of Tasman, my bike, my personal bike, and

24:37

she's never gotten off. And we had a blast.

24:44

We, we toured around for the whole week and just we got to know a bunch of really

24:49

cool people and she did all her video work

24:53

and we fell in love with each other and

24:57

we're now engaged and yeah.

25:01

love story for the ages. Yeah, that's. Congratulations. Thank you.

25:06

Yeah, that is outstanding. Wow.

25:11

What is it that you bring from your multitude of

25:16

incredible experiences traveling the world

25:18

into your particular new endeavor?

25:21

Freedom. What do I bring into it?

25:25

Well, that's probably a six beers story, man.

25:30

Yeah, at least. At least a bottle of wine.

25:33

Yeah. wow.

25:38

Just all of the experiences that I that I've met over the year,

25:43

over the years, and the people that have, you know, been mentors to me

25:47

and friends to me and the the different components of the industry that I

25:51

because I've pretty much done everything in this industry that you can do.

25:55

And I really feel that that allows me

25:59

to really, really do a good job not only for freedom

26:04

biker tours, but also for my hotel in the Rockies, right?

26:08

I can bring all those different pieces of the puzzle together.

26:11

You know, I can bridge the gap between sales and marketing people and operations

26:15

oriented people that often exists and, you know, things like that, right?

26:18

So, yeah, yeah.

26:22

I don't really know how to answer that because, I mean, like I said, 40 years is a long time.

26:27

It is a long time. It's it's like baked into your DNA at this point.

26:30

Pretty much, yeah. Yeah. Do you do you.

26:33

Feel that you just do things now because you know how to do them and you don't think about them much?

26:37

Or is there a lot of thought that goes into stuff?

26:39

It's a weird question, but. Both there are there are some things that happen that I can just react,

26:46

you know, and I know the answer and I get it done.

26:49

And, you know, it's really easy.

26:51

There are other things. yeah, I still have to put a lot of thought into it and I have to,

26:54

you know, go back and forth to it, you know, ten times and put it on the side

26:58

burner for a week or ten days and come back to it and stuff.

27:01

So yeah, they're different decisions.

27:05

Yeah. All right. Fair enough. So now I

27:09

know that you're you're moving, but right now you're, as we mentioned

27:12

in the book Interior and I'm sorry, where exactly are you again?

27:16

Summerland like right now, Summerland

27:19

and I can't think of a really beautiful street on Summerland though.

27:22

I'm sure they're all gorgeous, but maybe, maybe you're out there.

27:26

It's either. Let me paint this picture for you.

27:28

It's early summer

27:33

and we'll say that it's just past the golden hour so we don't have to worry about animals,

27:38

you know, on the road. But it's the heat is just coming up.

27:42

There's a light breeze.

27:45

You can smell the flowers of the orchards

27:48

and you're cruising along on your bike.

27:51

What do you wish the world knew?

27:54

What is the one thing that you wish the world knew?

27:59

I knew.

28:01

Yeah. Wow. You're really making me think.

28:06

That's what I do. Yeah. Yeah. Really?

28:10

I wish the world knew

28:13

how to get back to its humanity and the.

28:18

You know what I mentioned earlier about, you know,

28:20

the get back to a world where not everybody is

28:25

so selfish and it's not all about me, me, me, me, me.

28:29

It's about us. And we and, and what's better for, for,

28:34

for the for, for humanity and for the world not,

28:38

you know, I know this sounds utopian and all that kind of stuff, but

28:41

I really feel that we've lost ourselves,

28:45

you know, and we need to get back to that.

28:48

That's what I wish the world knew. I love that.

28:52

Thanks for that, J.D. That's as you're as you're saying that it made me think about

28:58

how I've never seen

29:01

a biker broken down on the side of the road that's alone for long.

29:04

Right. And that and again,

29:08

I get chills even just thinking about that, because it is

29:12

this thing that we get, the thing that we know that and it doesn't matter

29:16

if you're a sport bike, doesn't matter if you're adventure tour,

29:18

doesn't matter if you're a custom bike, you've got a chopper, whatever.

29:22

I know that I pulled over for so many people

29:25

and people have pulled over for me when there's trouble or even when I'm not in trouble, people pull up and be like, Hey, are you okay?

29:30

Yeah. And I love that about our culture.

29:33

Yeah, that and if we can maybe if we all just ride motorcycles and we fix it.

29:40

It might solve the fuel issue.

29:42

You know, motorcycles would be a lot more gasoline around for everybody.

29:46

That's true. That is true. I had the opportunity to ride one of the early zero electric motorcycles.

29:52

Have you tried those yet? No, I haven't.

29:56

That's a that's a that's a something, is it?

29:59

Yeah. So much talk. We're like.

30:02

Yeah, they're so quick. It's ridiculous.

30:05

Yeah. How long how long is the battery charge.

30:09

Less. Well back then because they were, they were brand new and I had one out

30:13

to write a magazine article on as a, as a first hit the scene.

30:17

And I want to say that I probably got maybe 200 K like if.

30:22

But then it was like almost a 24 hour charge.

30:25

Okay. So that made it challenging. But I know that they've done a lot better even watching you and Charlie

30:30

come up from South America on their electric Harleys.

30:33

Yeah, that. That's better, right?

30:35

So, I mean, the technology is getting there, but I think I'd always miss gas.

30:41

Yeah, that that that Harley rumble, you know?

30:44

Yeah, there's something about it.

30:47

Something charming about it.

30:50

Are you? I mean, you're. You're very studious person, clearly, because you have degrees and a master's.

30:56

And are you a reader? Absolutely.

30:59

What's the what's on your self? What's the thing?

31:02

Books that you go back to.

31:05

These last years? There's been a lot of

31:09

self awareness

31:12

books, mental health books

31:16

after the accident back in 2016, which was quite serious,

31:20

I got into meditation and so I did a lot of research

31:23

on meditation, that kind of thing, spiritual. This

31:29

back after my divorce and then another break up after that to with with a girlfriend.

31:34

And I got into, you know, relationship reading and I kind.

31:38

Of say, Good, Yeah.

31:41

You're a deep, deep wealth, sir.

31:48

Thank you.

31:51

What do you let me ask you this.

31:53

What do you do just for JD? What's what's a it's a guilty pleasure for JD

32:01

Travel. Writing? Absolutely. Riding my bike like that.

32:05

Hands down. Go on writing.

32:08

I work out a lot of exercise. A lot.

32:10

We were at the gym this morning at 530.

32:12

I go to the I get up at five in the morning and I go to the gym in Penticton

32:16

and I exercise some at the gym every second day.

32:19

So three or four days a week at least we go for a couple of hours.

32:23

I like riding bicycles,

32:25

mountain biking, not serious crazy stuff, you know,

32:29

But but, you know, like trail riding and getting exercise that way.

32:34

Walking, hiking as well.

32:37

I kind of thing kayaking.

32:39

I have a couple of kayaks. So we go out on Okanagan Lake a lot in the summertime.

32:45

I used to do boating when I had my campground.

32:48

I had three different boats and that and I was the crazy dad out on the lake

32:53

with all the kids tubing and skiing and all that kind of stuff.

32:57

Right? So I haven't been boating in quite a while.

33:01

Right? So yeah.

33:06

As they say, a rolling stone gathers no moss.

33:11

Yeah, I used to ski a lot, but

33:15

it's been about three years since I ski. Then I'm trading in my skis for sunshine.

33:20

Yes, sir, I could.

33:23

Yeah. I can't deal with that cold anymore.

33:25

And. And here you are moving to Calgary.

33:28

I know, I know. Can't stay in the me all the time, you know.

33:33

Really. And we talked to her parents are like yes, mine is 14.

33:36

I'm like man. Right.

33:38

But I traveled a lot. I mean, we were in Nashville two months ago for a conference

33:44

on behalf of my hotel, and it was cold in Nashville

33:47

and it snowed down there and the whole city shut down.

33:51

They freaked out. They didn't know how to handle it. Right.

33:53

So all those Canadians were laughing. It was funny,

33:57

but the cold.

33:59

It is what it is, right?

34:02

Yeah. Know, But living in it, I guess is one thing.

34:06

But purposefully going up to the top of a mountain and skiing,

34:09

that's another thing, right? Yeah, it is a whole other thing altogether.

34:13

Yeah. And I mean, I believe this is still true that Calgary as an Alberta,

34:20

but I think Calgary in particular has the most sunshine in all of Canada.

34:24

I think the most sunny days. I'm looking forward to those Chinooks that I hear a lot of boat So very.

34:28

Good It's a yeah it's it's the ups and the downs you get like eight springs.

34:33

Yeah. Yeah. So that's fun.

34:38

One of the one of the things that Carmen just put on

34:41

my desk is something she wanted me to talk about.

34:44

sure. Because I can do that. It's the relationship between

34:48

PTSD and motorcycling.

34:52

far out. Okay. which is another thing that.

34:55

That that's kind of how it all started,

34:58

was back after the Second World War.

35:01

And, you know, you get the, the, the all the there was tons

35:05

and tons of motorcycles left from the army.

35:08

Right. And a lot of the veterans and to deal with it

35:13

wasn't called PTSD back in those days but that's what they're shellshocked.

35:17

Yeah but that's what it was it was PTSD right. Yeah.

35:20

Well the the camaraderie of getting together and riding motorcycles

35:24

gave them what they used to have when they were in their units during the war.

35:27

Right. And then the the freedom of riding and that little bit of a thrill of,

35:32

you know, you're going fast on two wheels on the road.

35:34

And it gave them that excitement and that exhilaration as well, too, that they they kind of missed that.

35:40

Yeah. From their activities during the war.

35:43

And that's how it all started. And it moved through.

35:47

And now, you know, that's where it's been researched

35:52

and it's been proven that riding a motorcycle is extremely therapeutic

35:57

and in of itself it's a form of meditation.

36:00

Yeah, and I got to believe that.

36:03

And you know, you look at some of these things like our guide in the Maritime is

36:07

is is a retired Canadian Air Force helicopter navigator.

36:11

And he's a he's a he's a good buddy of mine. He helps me do a lot of stuff on YouTube, but he's also a guide out there and he

36:17

he participates in that What do they call that ride?

36:21

A rolling barge. Exactly. Every year.

36:23

And that's what the rolling barrage is all about.

36:25

It's about PTSD and awareness and that kind of thing.

36:28

Right. So yeah, yeah.

36:30

We had Mike Terry, who I met riding from Vancouver Island.

36:35

He does tours on his motorcycle across Canada about PTSD as an infantryman,

36:41

and I ran into him last summer in Ontario.

36:44

I went to pick up a new bike for my father in law, picked up a new BMW.

36:49

RG 1250. Nine.

36:52

my God, you're right about from Ontario.

36:54

I drove it back from Ontario. What a nice.

36:57

Yeah, it was awesome, but the rolling barrage was coming through right then.

37:01

So where I was, I wasn't able to ride with them because they started later in the day.

37:06

Then I had to leave to get back to Calgary, but ended up hooking up

37:09

with Mike because he was riding with his buddies up to Petawawa.

37:12

Right. But yeah, great organization and amazing people

37:17

and yeah, I can't say enough about them

37:21

and what they do and what they bring to the world and to all of us.

37:26

And yeah, you're bang on the money with the, with.

37:30

It's almost like Zen right. Because you, you have to be in the moment on a bike.

37:34

You can't be thinking about yesterday can't be really worrying about tomorrow.

37:37

What was that book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Riding or something like.

37:41

The motorcycle maintenance. Cycle. Maintenance.

37:43

I read that as part of my research.

37:45

nice. Yeah.

37:49

that's good, man. But I also read the book by Sonny Barger,

37:53

one of his books, you know, the founder of the Hells Angels.

37:55

So quit the Club Trust.

37:59

Yeah, I was going to say so.

38:02

We won't be doing, you know.

38:05

what do they call those rides?

38:10

my biker culture escapes me.

38:12

I obviously don't have a lot, so we're not going to be running like,

38:15

you know, drugs down the down the water, anything like that.

38:20

No, we do that. And I really like that. No.

38:24

Okay. Here's a question for you. So,

38:29

you know, I love this question.

38:32

And the idea here is that we've got these people,

38:36

I call them rebels in waiting or could just be

38:41

maybe they're about to they're thinking about going for and like booking a tour with you.

38:44

But they're they're worried because they've never been on a bike in Canada or they've never been on big bike

38:50

or they're thinking about starting their own company.

38:54

What advice would you give to these rebels in waiting?

38:56

And I know that's kind of a shotgun question, but.

39:00

Don't do it. No, I'm kidding.

39:05

Okay. Don't wait until you're until you're in your fifties or whatever to do it.

39:10

And that'll be what I did. Yeah.

39:13

That's a good one. Do you have regrets.

39:19

In life generally or with freedom biker tours or.

39:24

No, I think just to general, just a general question, what would you do

39:27

different?

39:31

Okay. I'm going to answer that question honestly.

39:35

I love that. Yeah. When I was 18 years old and graduating from high school,

39:41

I went down to the Royal Canadian Air Force recruitment office

39:45

because my father joined the Air Force in 1940.

39:48

At 18 years of age and went through the whole Second World

39:51

War and retired in 1970 and then went to work for Transport Canada.

39:55

I was born on an air base in Baden-Baden, Germany,

39:59

when he was stationed over there in the sixties for five years.

40:03

And that so I'm an Air Force brat is what I am.

40:08

I wanted to follow in my father's footsteps and I wanted to be a pilot.

40:14

They wouldn't take me because I had bad eyes

40:17

back in those days. You know, things were a lot different.

40:19

Right now, it doesn't matter.

40:22

So I said, Well, you know, forget it and join

40:24

in the Air Force if I can, you know, become a pilot.

40:27

And I regret that decision.

40:30

I should have

40:33

become aircrew. I could have become a navigator.

40:35

I could have you know, I would have gone to, you know, college becoming an officer

40:39

could have been a member of the air crew traveled, been over there and Africa, Kosovo, whatever.

40:45

You know, a lot of people I know were involved in all those those conflicts and those adventures.

40:50

And it really got an education out of it. And I still could I got my private pilot's license

40:55

and had some sort of a career as a pilot, you know, down the road.

40:59

But I was a stupid 18 year old. Well, well.

41:04

Is that something that you carry with you now or is it.

41:07

Yeah. Have you let that go?

41:10

I've let it go. Absolutely.

41:12

I've let it go. But you know, I.

41:15

Yeah, I still carry it too, but not in a way that it inhibits me in any way.

41:22

Yeah. No, no. But I think about it, and I lost my father in 2021

41:27

during COVID three weeks after his 99th birthday.

41:31

Wow. Yeah. Yeah. And I miss him a lot.

41:36

Yeah. Just relationship. Yeah. that's.

41:39

That's lovely. I'm sorry, but I'm.

41:41

It's nice to hear that you had a you have great times with him, you know,

41:44

And that's sounds like a life well lived as well.

41:47

he had a good run. Yeah. Yeah. It's tough. He did.

41:52

A like.

41:55

Complete left turn because that's what I'm all about.

41:57

Fire alarm. Your favorite.

42:01

What's your favorite food,

42:04

I've got a few. I got a dream.

42:06

Hit me. Give him a give them all pizza. Want them all?

42:09

What did you say?

42:11

Pizza. What kind of pizza? Thickness of the crust. Cheese on top.

42:15

wow. Okay. Thin crust, Thick crust, lots of sauce, lots of meat, onions.

42:22

You know, a little bit of spiciness to it.

42:25

That kind of stuff. Crispy crust. I don't like soggy floppy crust, you know, that kind of stuff.

42:30

Yeah. I love barbecued steak.

42:32

I, I think Carmen would tell you

42:35

that I make the best marinated barbecued steak on the planet.

42:39

What's. What's the secret? my God. It's whatever I got in the cupboard, and I just kind of close my eyes

42:45

and go like this and like this into the marinade.

42:47

And I marinate them for usually two days beforehand and.

42:51

yeah, I love a good steak. And

42:55

I don't know, after that Italian food is good.

42:58

I like a nice bottle of white wine and some good pasta.

43:01

And the the bread with the oil and vinegar, you know.

43:05

my God. yeah, that's.

43:07

And cheese.

43:09

I'm a I'm a cheese holic.

43:13

Yeah, like you. Name it.

43:15

Cheese paté, bottle of wine.

43:18

I mean, I have a man. I'm good to go.

43:21

Yeah, Yeah. You're. You're doing the cannonball run up to Armstrong

43:25

cheese right?

43:30

That's amazing.

43:32

well, JD, this has been an absolute ride.

43:35

I love this so much.

43:38

Thank you for what you're bringing to the world. And I really do appreciate your worldview, and I really do hope that,

43:47

you know, we make that change. We turn that corner, you know, that we can help each other

43:52

be better humans with a cage free existence.

43:56

So I think I hope so, too. I hope so, too. Michael, it's.

44:01

Yeah, we need it. Yeah. Yeah.

44:04

Well, I appreciate you having me on the show.

44:06

Very grateful. my pleasure.

44:09

Yeah. This has been a time well spent, and I can't wait to go riding with you.

44:14

Come ride. Absolutely. Well, you're in Calgary.

44:16

I'm going to probably be over there soon.

44:18

So even if it's just a casual Saturday afternoon or something, we'll do it.

44:22

Yeah, we'll go to go up to the Rockies and we'll do the one day or something.

44:26

Absolutely. Canmore. That'd be. That'd be awesome.

44:29

I look forward to it. Okay, great. Well, thank you very much.

44:33

I've been your host, Michael Dargie and this has been The RebelRebel

44:35

Podcast as podcast for creative rebels and entrepreneurs all over the world.

44:38

And hey, if you're a rebel or you know, a rebel, why don't you head on over

44:42

to TheRebelRebelPodcast.com and fill out our guest request form.

44:46

We'll get back to you within 24 hours and maybe we can share your story

44:50

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