Saturday morning, July 23, 2011….

In the aftermath of the Atzin Shooting, on Saturday morning at 7am the 20th annual Too Broke for Sturgis event was officially closed.

We call it the Atzin Shooting… because neither this event nor Mormon Lake Lodge should be forever linked to this, any more than they already are. And we don’t want the broken and mentally damaged individual who took the lives of Edgar & Trina to get any more than his so-called ‘15 minutes of fame’…. It is the Atzin’s who deserve to be remembered.

And we should also remember that along with Edgar & Trina, there is another victim who, at the time of this writing, remains in the hospital due to her gunshot wounds. At last report she was in critical but stable condition. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

It has been affirmed and reaffirmed that this shooting had NOTHING to do with bikers in general or this event in particular. Domestic violence occurs everywhere. This chain of events could just as easily played out in the back yard of one of the families involved.

So, while we most certainly wish to pay our respects to the victims, in addition we will focus our energy on our continuous support and promotion of ABATE and TBFS.

A big nasty cosmic cloud had cast its pall over the grounds. The negative energy was palpable. Saturday’s gathering and impromptu activities were orchestrated by Shotgun. He, with help from some friends, did the camp a good service by recognizing the need to raise everyone’s mood and doing something about it. He noted that, “The way to honor the fallen is to keep going and have some fun.”

Bikers who never participate in the games were getting into the Slow Race. Even folks without bikes were wanting to get into the spirit; so rules were pretty much tossed and the Weenie Bite was opened up to anyone who wanted to give it a try….  What a HOOT.

While the games were going on, a collection for the victims’ families was collected; with smiles and nipples being flashed for the cause.

Later that evening, There was a wet-T contest…
and a fella on the dance pole who looked like he’d had WAY too much practice…….

We heard numerous times from among those who stayed that they were glad they did… They felt they were part of something special…. Making something good out of a very bad situation. One comment was that they’ve, “never had so much fun at a cancelled event.”

The day of and after the fact, a lot of arm-chair quarterbacks who did not have all the information were expressing opinions on how things should have been handled; by both Mormon Lake Lodge and by ABATE. Hopefully they will never find themselves actually faced with such choices — needing to be made in such a highly charged atmosphere and with little time for reflection. For what it’s worth, we respect ABATE’s position regarding how they are addressing the aftermath. And we thank Mormon Lake Lodge for reversing their decision and allowing the bikers to stay.

Warning… This video, created from stills and video taken on Saturday, shows adult bikers having fun. It may be considered inappropriate for under-aged viewers, or people who get the vapors over seeing the female form, or folks who are easily offended. You have been warned. By clicking into this video you are affirming that you are of legal age in your home state of residence.

There is so much more that can be said … but for now, this is enough….

Any updates we receive from the PIO will be posted to our Forum page.

The next edition of AZ Rider Motorcycle News will include our coverage of Too Broke For Sturgis. It will also be our 12^th Anniversary of creating AZ Rider for you, our readers.

The new issue will be out within the first week of September. OR go to our Subscriptions page and sign up for our e-newsletter. Then you’ll get an email to let you know when it is out.

And while you are signing up for stuff, we hope you will LIKE us on Facebook, FOLLOW us on Twitter, and JOIN our LinkedIn network.

The weekend’s coming up. Ride safe and keep your butts on your putts……….

Betsy & Bruce

Thanks for visit our blog page. In case you have not had a chance to read any posts leading up to this one, let me explain that although this is a blog for a motorcycling publication, there will be a few posts that are not particularly motorcycle-oriented.

I am working with Qwest Small Business and its Technology Support Team to update my business IT efficiency and create / improve an online presence for AZ Rider Motorcycle News. In exchange for their help and training, they asked that I write some blog posts, giving my honest opinion of their services. Easy enough. Those who know me know that I can be pretty opinionated. I signed on, and their team has been great to work with.

The program upgrades to my office email system were completed weeks ago. Even so, if I have a question about how to do something, I know I can contact Auston for an assist. They don’t just set you up, sign off on the project, and move on to the next customer. Pretty cool.

As for the Social Media portion of the agreement, in addition to the initial layout of this blog page, they set us up on Twitter and LinkedIn. Although we’d already set up a Facebook page… it was strictly by the ‘hunt and peck’ method … without really knowing anything about how to make use of it. Now it’s been gathered into AZ Rider’s Social Media bundle so that everything works together and interacts well. Such as, when I post a blog article, a Tweet is sent to the AZ Rider Twitter site to let our followers know.

My Qwest Social Media Coach, Amanda has been showing me how to network with my Facebook contacts. Twitter and LinkedIn sessions are yet to come; review to follow. I must say that even though I’m not making full use of these networks yet, I already know that new readers are being introduced to AZ Rider. If  / When I get more accustomed to the networking world, I can see how it could make a difference for a business. It’s pretty easy once you get the hang of it ~ even somewhat logical … but can be frustrating until then. Amanda is being pretty patient as she walks me thru the steps.

I’m hoping to improve my Social Media skills …. But frankly there’s already more than enough stuff in my online life that can distract me from work for hours at a time…. I don’t need too much more. I figure once I become more familiar with how things work this won’t be as big of a concern. As a small business owner with other responsibilities to the company, Social Media sometimes seems to be taking more time than I should justify. But I’ve determined to give this a good go. And the positive feedback we’ve seen does help me to keep forging through the learning curve.

So if you truly want to make use of Social Media, don’t get frustrated… Go back to school. Find yourself a good teacher. Believe me, I NEVER expected to see myself doing homework assignments again in this lifetime {:o) But you’ll save yourself hours of time and many headaches. And as I mentioned in a previous article; depending upon your service provider, you may already be paying for it. So use it.

If you are reading this, then you’ve chosen to follow AZ Rider via one or more of these Social Media outlets. Thank you for your support. I look forward to hearing from you, and I hope y’all will cut me some slack as I continue to learn this stuff.

If you are a fellow small business owner, in need of being helped / nudged / pulled out of the telecomm dark ages, visit Qwest.com/smallbusiness to learn more about how to improve your business operations with technology.

Be sure and read the newest e-dition of AZ Rider. We also hope you’ll sign up to follow us on Twitter, LIKE us on Facebook, and join our LinkedIn network.

Have an outstanding day {:o)

Betsy

Well, we’re home from Too Broke. Not the weekend we all expected by a long shot. Apologies to those of you who also follow us on Twitter. Phone service up at Mormon Lake was sketchy at best. So my tweets were not getting out. I’ll try and figure out what I can do to improve that.

We want to extent our condolences to the friends and loved ones of the shooting victims. This was such a terrible thing. One piece of good news to share… According to the Coconino County Sheriff Dept PIO, the gal who was shot is now listed in critical but stable condition.

As for the coverage you have all come to expect from AZ Rider Motorcycle News? Still sorting out photos, notes, thoughts. We’ll be getting some photos posted to our AZ Vision gallery later today. Our full report will be in the September print edition; which will also be our 12^th Anniversary issue.

Right now, we’re in the midst of finalizing the August e-dition. Sign up for our e-newsletter by visiting our Subscription page, and you’ll get an email to let you know when it is posted and ready for reading.

We hope you’ll sign up to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

That’ll do it for this time. Keep your butts on your putts.

Betsy & Bruce

While this webpage you have found yourself on IS all about motorcycles and motorcycle riders – this post you’re about to read has nothing to do with bikes. But don’t surf away yet, especially if you are a small business owner like me.

We took our time getting a fax machine, a cell phone, a website. We felt we were doing fine without them, so what’s the rush? In the same manner, we got a Facebook page; because everyone was asking if we have one ~ not because we felt we needed one. Now we’ve got one and I’m still learning how to use it.

Ours is a ‘mom and pop’ operation. With the condition of the economy these days, we keep the budget tight. We understand the concerns of our advertisers and prospectives. Like them, as much as we know it is an important tool to grow our business, we don’t have a lot of money to spend on promotion.

Qwest has been our business telecomm provider for years. Promotional materials come in the mail and quite frankly, we often blast right past them without paying much attention. But after reading through a particular presentation, I made a phone call to discuss our account with a rep. As it turns out, my service package with Qwest has some promotional opportunities built in already. NO extra charge. All I had to do was make some time to take advantage of their expertise. Free works for me. And it MAY work for you. Regardless of your service provider, take some time to thoroughly review the description of the service package to which you are subscribed. Perhaps you’ll find some unused opportunities as well.

That’s the story of how I was introduced to my Qwest Small Business Technical Support Team. The job of these advisers  is to teach old dogs new tricks ~ which can help us market our business online. And the only thing they asked for in exchange was for me to write about my experience working with the Qwest Team. I get to ask a bunch of newbie questions without feeling dumb. Auston, Sarah, and Amanda are my primary contacts… yes ACTUAL people on the other end of the phone to teach me how to do things….. not tutorials that you try to wade through in mind-numbing, time-wasting confusion with no one there for discussion and questions.

We discussed how Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn can help introduce AriZona Rider to more people and attract new visitors to our website.

My business email system was older than ancient. Auston has been very helpful as we bring that segment of our IT business bundle up to speed.

Our launch into Social Media for business involves a lot of one-on-one training…. Sarah explained what the Qwest Social Media Launchpad can do. She has created this blog; designing its initial look as she teaches me how to navigate, maintain, and update the page myself. Then I have a blogging coach, Amanda. She is showing me how to make the best use of the blog; things like how to attract readers, make use of key words and search terms, and how to create interesting content.

So over the next several blogs you’ll get the pros and cons [hopefully not too many of those] that I observe; both as I work with my Qwest team and as I make my way into the Social Media Community. {:o)

Visit Qwest.com/smallbusiness if you want to learn more about how to improve your business operations with technology.

I hope that you will take a look around this page and the rest of our site; and let me know how we’re doing.

Betsy

Okay, not exactly….. AriZona Rider Motorcycle News has been around for more than 11 years. Here, we’re introducing the AZ Rider Blog page, which is indeed brand new.

We know that despite our many fans and followers, that there are still motorcyclists out there who don’t know who we are. So with this blog and the help of our Qwest Technology Support Team,  we are exploring new avenues of Social Media; with the goal of meeting and introducing AZ Rider to even more riders.

AZ Rider is a publication not only for AriZonans but also for those many bikers who travel to AZ to enjoy some of the most beautiful and scenic roadways anywhere. Internationally recognized tourist attractions like Grand Canyon, Tortilla Flat, and Tombstone are among the favorites with AriZona motorcyclists. Whether your riding preferences lean toward flat straights & gentle curves under big sky, or challenging twisties – you’ll find some of the best roads here in AriZona.

For those of you who are not already familiar – AZ Rider is a News and Entertainment publication for bikers. We talk about news and happenings in AriZona’s motorcycling community.

AZ Rider is published monthly, with twelve online editions PLUS six hard-copy print editions, one every other month. Our website includes a photo gallery, archives, calendar, and classifieds. There are contacts for motorcycle clubs and organizations, as well as links to motorcycle-oriented and other interesting sites. Plus, we present the entire edition online as a pdf file, with links you can navigate as you read through it.

We have an e-newsletter that we’ll send to you every couple of weeks. You just have to click here to subscribe.

While AZ Rider is an independent publication with no affiliation to any motorcycling groups, we do support the goals and ideals of Motorcyclists Rights Organizations [MROs] such as ABATE [American Brotherhood Aimed Toward Education], MRF [Motorcycle Riders Foundation], and NCOM [National Coalition of Motorcyclists].

So until next time, keep your butts on your putts. We’ll see you out there…………

Betsy & Bruce