Brian Lange - A.B.A.T.E.

Brian Lang is an active member of ABATE (A Brotherhood Against Totalitarian Enactments) in Washington. ABATE was originally meant to be a nationwide organization but became a state organization due to the differences in state rules. ABATE of Washington was founded in 1977 by various clubs. Brian joined ABATE in 1989 but had to give up riding due to health issues. In 2013, he helped start an ABATE chapter in Morton, Washington and became the state legislative affairs officer. He has been involved in advocating for various motorcycle-related laws, including a motorcycle parking law, and has faced challenges and obstacles in the legislative process. Brian also discusses the topic of lane splitting and his unsuccessful run for a legislative position. Despite the challenges, Brian is passionate about motorcycles and advocating for the rights of riders. So I'm back again with Brian Lang. Hello, everybody. So Brian, you have been very active with ABATE here in Washington. And for those that don't know what ABATE stands for, can you educate us? Yeah, ABATE was founded in 1971 by the publisher of Easy Writers Magazine. And originally, it was going to be a nationally nationwide organization. And the letter stood for a Brotherhood Against Totalitarian Enactments. When they realized that each state was different enough that you're not going to be able to go and run a national program in 50 different states with 50 different sets of rules, so it became a state organization. And in Washington, I want to say it was 1977 when ABATE of Washington was founded. And it was founded by the clubs. Which club? Outsiders, for one. It was a prime one. But there were, I believe, Olympia Chapter, Tacoma Chapter, and Great Harbor County Chapter were the three main earliest. Lewis County might have skated in there, but when they first formed, those were the first three or four chapters. I finally joined up as an independent in 89. I was a member for a couple of years, and then had to give up riding. For 10 years, I had a brain tumor that was removed. And after that, I was having seizures all the time. And you can't ride. You don't know if you're going to be able to stand up. So finally got that taken care of, moved up here to Morton, got back into bikes again. And finally, about eight years later, 2013, we wanted to start an ABATE chapter up here. So we did. And within a year, I ended up getting asked if I wanted to be the state legislative affairs officer. And like the idiot I was, I said, sure, why not? You weren't an idiot. No, I just didn't know what was good for me, that's all. You didn't know what you were getting involved in. Oh, definitely. I mean, you know, but I think good intentions for sure. Yeah. And yeah, we went after some stuff. I came in just on the tail end of Washington State becoming the first state in the nation to do a motorcycle anti-profiling law. Oh, wow. OK. And that was sponsored by, at that time, the Confederation of Clubs, which is now the Coalition of Clubs, and ABATE. And I think right now there's five or six states that have a version of an anti-profiling law. So they can't just pull you over because, oh, hey, we want to talk to you about that patch in your back. Now, you just said before we pushed record that you helped with five laws. Yeah. What five are those? I can tell you two of them. I can't remember the other three. That's fine. Yeah, the first one was, and it was the most shocking we even needed to do it, was the motorcycle parking law. OK. Well, when you park a bike on a curb, how do you park? Back in. Yeah, we were all taught. Yeah. Somebody realized about 2012 that that's not what the law says. The law says both right wheels have to be parallel and within 12 inches of the curb. So DOL took everything to do with motorcycle parking out of the motorcycle training manual and acted like it didn't exist. So you back your wheel into, and it was no big deal for quite a few years until people started going to events in Seattle, in the greater King County area, and start getting $129 parking tickets for each bike that was parked. And you'd get a non-parallel parking ticket. And if you had multiple bikes in one parking spot, that was an additional ticket. Oh my god. Oh, I did not know. Now you make me. OK, go ahead. This is why I don't get into this. That's why. No, we went down there, and it took us two years. Took us two years to get that passed. Wow. And Who was the idiot that came up with that? Never mind. Don't name names. No, no. Let other people research that. But I will say this. It was the first year we got it, it passed through the House, went to the Senate, went to the Senate Transportation Committee, passed out of there. And then one member of the Senate Transportation Committee was on the Senate Rules Committee and kept his thumb on the bill until late in the afternoon of the final day it could be voted on in the floor of the Senate. And then he allowed it to come out of rules. Well, by the time the deadline passed, there were two bills in front of it still. So it didn't even get voted on. So it had to lay over for the year before. And we had to go through the same procedure all over again. We got it all done, went back in front of the Senate Transportation Committee, and they didn't want to hear it. One of their party members had dropped an identical bill with four weeks left in the short session. He said, this is the one we're going to push. And I actually said in the hearing, that's stupid. Why go through all the heavy lifting so you can get one victory when nobody else cares which party wins as long as it happens? All you've got to do is vote on this bill like you did the last year, the same bill, pass it out of committee, let it go to the floor. But oh no, no, couldn't do that. Had to go through the whole process of working on how this is going to work. And it got voted on in the afternoon of the last day. Wow. Well, hey, it was a win, right? It was a win. It just wasn't the way you had anticipated. It was just an example of politics. Instead of just, OK, this is already done. Let's vote on it, pass it. Did they want their name on it or something? They wanted their party to be the one who did it. OK. Yeah, political politics. Yeah, it was just, yeah. And my family and my dad's side comes from the south side of Chicago. And so I got a bad taste for politics anyway. Right, yeah. You did put your foot in it, didn't you? So let's talk about lane splitting, because that is still a very hot topic right now. Because I know at one point, I think you told me that they had passed something where we could go all the way to the left, the far left past the fast lane. And there was a bunch of debris. And you were like, well, no, because there's debris and everything there. That's not a safe place for a motorcyclist to be. But where is it now? Because I know I'm hearing a lot of different things. Like, can we, in the stop and go traffic, can you go onto the shoulder and go slow with your vehicle? Can you go to either side? You can't go to either side? OK. What is the ticket? If we do do it, what's the ticket? Yeah, I think it's like $120. So it's cheaper than buying a new engine for my bike if it's overheating. So big middle finger and keep rolling, right? Oh, really? It was like we went to the left-hand shoulder part. That was a senator who agreed to do a lane splitting bill. And then he thought about it. And he says, well, let's add this in instead. And I was like, why? There's parts of I-5 that doesn't even have a left shoulder. Exactly, yeah. So that doesn't help any. Then a local representative from here in Lewis County brought out a bill that would allow you to do it on the right shoulder. And Washington State Patrol came up and said, that's not safe because there's too much debris on it. And one of the legislators in the committee goes, well, how come there's too much debris for motorcyclists to be able to use it but not for WSP motors to use it or other emergency vehicles? And he kind of hemmed and hawed. And the next thing he said, well, if they get out there anyway and they're proceeding down the shoulder and they come across a stalled vehicle, then they're stuck. And I'm sitting there because we'd already testified. And I went, hmm, so you just said that we're all too stupid to move that bird back into traffic. Yeah. Right? So then you decided to take a run at having a position in the politics world. Tell us about what led you to make that decision. What was that decision and everything? Well, basically, it was after dealing with the legislature, I had gotten to the point where I don't like professional politicians. Like somebody comes in and, oh, hey, I'll be a city councilman for one term or two terms. And oh, I'm going to jump up to the legislature. I'm going to jump up to senator. I'm going to go, you know, no, you're going to do a job. Do the job. And one of the representatives for here in the 20th district, here in those parts of Cowlitz County, was retiring. So I said, OK, let's give it a shot. And I didn't expect a whole lot. Then I ended up winning Cowlitz County and losing in Lewis County. But it was like, whoa, wait a minute. OK. But at that point, when I first said I was going to run, the House Republican chair said, you'd make a good legislator. And I'm going, OK. I know there's a but coming, but you're not saying it. But we'll see. He says, you've already got somebody else picked, and they did. Right, right. Yeah. So what happened with the Cowlitz County one? Well, it's part of the 20th district. But they count the votes by county. And I ended up winning, coming in first. And Cowlitz County, and the guy who ended up winning overall, came in third. And we got to Lewis County, and it just flipped. Yeah. So it's like, yeah. You know what? You tried. And I am really proud of you for doing that. I mean, when you told me that that's what you were doing, I wasn't surprised. Because I mean, back in, oh gosh, I'm trying to think. When did you use the conference room at my office? Oh, that was 2014, 2013. 13, 14, somewhere around there. Yeah. Because it's been about nine, 10 years. So yeah, about 10 years ago. So yeah. So yeah, it didn't surprise me. I mean, because you are so passionate. I mean, and you know your shit. I mean, you pull dates out and all this stuff. And I'm just like, oh, I have no idea. No, that's because growing up as a little kid, like three years old, my mom's aunt was a first grade teacher up in Seattle. So she taught me to read when I was three. And her husband taught me how to play chess. So I just had a couple of years head start on everybody and found I kind of like to study and stuff, looking and finding answers and stuff like that. And I thought you just knew bikes. Because I mean, you still have Gypsy, right? Yeah. Yeah, you'll always have Gypsy. What else do you have? What else are you riding? Right now, I've got a 2009 Road King Police. Yeah, I think that's what I saw when I saw you at the intersection. Probably. Black and white one. Yeah. I was like, hey, that's Brian. Yeah, and I'm looking across the way and I see the horns on the helmet. And I'm over there, hey, here I am. We both had to go the other way. Exactly, like eight pieces. But yeah, no, I mean, because I know I've talked to a few other people in the motorcycle world. And you are a well-known name. I mean, I'm just like the memorial ride. I knew Lila knew you. But I didn't know that Michael had family members that knew you, that were partying with you that same night. And they're like, oh, we know Brian. I go, well, he's supposed to be here. You know, but yeah, there's been other people. And old Rowdy, Rowdy Barry, you know, he's now over in Idaho. But he messaged me as soon as he knew that we were doing this. He's like, well, tell Brian hi for me, you know? Last time, I think I sent him over a bunch, maybe a half dozen, dozen cigar boxes. Oh, yeah, yeah, he does. Guitars, Adam. Guitars, yeah. Yeah, have you listened to his music? Oh, yeah. Yeah, well, and then, you know, same with Jimmy, you know, up in Revival Coffee, Motors and Coffee, you know, same thing. Well, you posted a picture of some event of you guys up in camping or something. And I'm like, hey, that's Jimmy and Audrey. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that would have probably been the Bastard Bash back then. Probably, yeah. Over in Goldendale. Yeah, it's just crazy how, like, we'll post pictures or whatever. And the motorcycle community on this side of the mountains is really small, if you think about it. And it's even smaller if you're a female. Yeah. I mean, you know, but yeah, it's just, you know, if we're in a motorcycle situation, you know, I'd totally name drop you. You're that popular, you know, you're that important. I'm like, hey, you know, Brian, because if they don't, I don't want to know them. No, just kidding. Yeah, no, even if you get on the other side, it's growing. Yeah, because you do a lot of events over there, too, with Ebate. So when's Ebate's spring opener, and where is it? Is it Cle Elum again? No, no, it hasn't been in Cle Elum for a while. When was it this year? Or when was it last year? The last three years, it's been Cascade Peaks, 26 miles down the road here on Highway 12. OK. Yeah, that's how long we've been there. We talk, because I'm like, whoa, that's in Cle Elum. It starts on a Thursday after Father's Day. OK. That's the only way I can remember. It's the last full weekend in June. Yeah. And I know. How does somebody get into that? If they're interested in joining an Ebate branch or chapter, what is it? Am I one to say the proper terminology? Well, OK, you can either join, go online to Ebate-wa.org. OK. And you can join right there. OK. Don't ask me what the fees are this year, because. I ended up with like a five-year membership. Right, yeah. And I quit paying attention to it. But if you become an Ebate member, then you get a discount when you go to Ebate state events, like Spring Opener. They just had the big swap meet up in Monroe. Right. Or you can go right to the Spring Opener and pay, I think it's 60. You can register right there. Yeah, you can register right there. Or you can just go to the gate and pay just to get in and out of the gate. Right. So what are the benefits of being an Ebate, besides being passionate about the laws and regulations in the state of Washington, and obviously the fun events you guys got going on? Are there like discounts at certain merchants or what? I mean, tell me. Yeah, there are. Usually, though, it's one of those things that you got to find out from the merchant. OK. Oh, well, you're an Ebate member? Yeah, I'll give you 5%. OK. Right. But there's also a $4,000 accidental death or dismemberment insurance policy that you get absolutely free. Wow, OK. So I mean, anything that's free, I'll take it. Right? Certainly nowadays, everything's getting so expensive. I mean, yeah. I mean, a tank of gas, I'm like, oh my gosh. And Washington's the worst. When I rode to Utah this past year, I'm like, that's cheap. Keep going, keep going. I'm like, OK, well. Because I always budget my fuel for the price here. I'm like, OK, I know what I can pay. And I'm like, well, that's stretched out a little bit longer. But I'm kind of going off the track there. Yeah, no, it's like speaking about the cash and the gas, I used to do an annual run, week-long run into eastern Washington, Idaho. And all we did was just for something to stop at, we were hitting all the Harley dealerships. And we had people joining up because what better landmark for a biker and y'all? Hey, we're going to be at the Harley dealership about such and such a time. And we did that for like three or four years. But sometimes we'd come from the west into Spokane. And people went, oh, man, yeah, we got to start looking for gas. And I says, you got enough to go 30 more miles? Yeah. I said, OK, we're going to go another 30 miles. This is going to save you $0.50 a gallon. Boom, we'd be beat. But yeah, there's some great places to ride. And when you're with a bait, it's nice because that little patch you get is basically the same patch nationwide for all the different organizations. It just says what state. And it's kind of fun to sit there. You roll in someplace halfway across the country, and, oh, they're in the Bay of Washington? Oh, cool. It's a conversation to start with, isn't it? What are you guys doing this year? It's like with the lane splitting, they're doing the same thing this year. They've been trying to do that. It was actually the original idea to legalize it here in Washington came from one of the banditos. Well, that's a nice little tidbit fact there. Yeah, he was actually the coordinator for the Spanaway chapter, the original coordinator. Wow. So he says, hey, are you thinking about doing this? I said, I'd love it. I should do it. And he says, lane split, and that's in California. Yeah, yeah. Because somebody I know out of Denver on my other podcast, he had asked me, he's like, all right, did you lane split when you were down there? And I was like, I did. He's like, well, what did you think of it? And I said, I think that people need to be educated about it first, the rider and the vehicle people, or the drivers, because you do it up here, drivers aren't looking for you. Down there, they are looking for you. Oh, yeah, definitely. Again, and down there, they teach it. And up here, they don't. So it's one of those, educate yourself before you do it. But yeah, so one other last tidbit that you would plug for a bait, how would you recruit somebody? What would you tell them to get their interest? If you can come up with any reason to go, be interested, whether it's politics and grassroots organizations or legislation, if you just want to go on group rides, poker runs, whatever, if you want to go party with 1,500 of the closest friends you never knew you had, any of those, you can do in a bait. And it's $30 a year for the first year after that. It drops down, I think, to $25. Oh, my gosh, sign me up. How come you haven't signed me up all these years? I'm glad you were a member. I've been a member of everything else. Yeah, it's because I think it's because I saw all the crap that you dealt with up on the hill in all the lobbying. I was like, no, thank you. I will support you, but I don't want to have anything to do with that. And the cool thing about it, too, is they also have, they've got, kind of confusing, but they've got a lifetime membership. And then they have a dues for life membership. According to state bylaws, there are two separate things. The dues for life is $300. That's it, you never pay dues again. And hey, that's 12 years. If you know you're going to be riding for another 12 years, do it. Yeah, for $300? Yeah. OK, Tony and I are getting signed up. Yeah, go onto bait-wa.org. OK, good to know. Thank you. You are just full of information. I tap into your brain all the time, don't I? I was hitting you. And we haven't even gotten into any really riding stories. No, no, we've only ridden together, I think, once or twice. Well, yeah, I think it has only been a couple of times, because we both have just been so involved in our own little areas and people, and we just keep missing each other and all those things. And I do owe you a ride. I know that for a fact. Well, I'll tell you, have you ever gone to the Spiral Highway in Lewiston? Yes. But I would do it again. I only did it once. I would definitely do it again. Oh, we used to go and do it, and then we'd get to the top. Yeah. Turn around and go back. Yeah. So we had to go back in the top. Yeah. Did it one year. What is the one called, going into Pendleton, coming from Idaho? Like, it's very similar. Oh, Cabbage? I think it is Cabbage, because it's almost the same thing coming in, and that's what it reminded me of when I was doing that one. Cabbage is a lot longer. Yeah, it was very more flowing, more like Mount St. Helens corner. Yeah. Very, very curvy, flowy, and stuff. Well, the Spiral Highway is the old main grade north between Lewiston and Moscow. And one year, we were coming back from Spokane, heading to Lewiston. We were going to spend a night in Lewiston. And by the time we got to the top of the Spiral Highway, the sun was just on the horizon. And every time you turned west, you had the sun in your eyes, until you're right at the apex of a corner, and then the hill had blocked the sun. So you went from sun in your eyes to black, and you're on, oh, man, where'd the road go? Where'd the road go? Yep, yep. OK, I can see now. And then you whip around. That was probably the only time we ever went down that thing at a speed limit. Wow. Every other time, we was like, 20, 50 miles. Yeah. That doesn't do this. Yeah. That's great. That's kind of how I feel about Highway 7 coming into the canyon. I'm like, those people need to get the hell out of my way. Oh, yeah. What are you doing? I mean, it's getting rougher every year. I mean, the road is. But I feel the same way. Every time I go up there, I'm like, if I have to ride this with one hand, I am sitting back here yawning. I don't want to ride this. You should try Highway 302. I'm familiar. Between Key Center and Allen. Oh, yeah. I do that one, too. That was the same thing. That was where I learned how to ride. Or where I learned how to drive. I learned how to drive on the canyon. But hey, we're going to leave it there. We're actually going to do a third segment. Because I finally have you available. We have time to do this. Yeah, we're totally going to do that. I am going to plug Kurt and Shiloh Rich, though. Because we are above Rivers Coffeehouse and Bistro here in Morton. They have really good coffee. They have great coffee. They have vegan food. They have vegetarian food. Yeah, they bring back coffee. Or they've done a lot of coffee research in Hawaii. And they brought it to here. But we are in one of their Airbnbs. And this one is just the cutest little studio. And I'll put all that stuff in there. But they've got, what, three other ones, I think, up here. I think they've got six up here. Yeah. Oh, six. Yeah, because we are in number six. And so, yeah, you guys have to check that out. And I'll take some pictures and show you. And show you how cute these places are. So if you are coming through Morton to go ski at White Pass, or you're going up to Mount Rainier through the Ohanabicosh side, or just anywhere in this area, and you need a place to stay, I would do this. This is a place I would stay. This is absolutely adorable. Oh, definitely. They've done a great job. Because you remember when these were apartments. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And I can't remember whose apartment was across the hall. Yeah. That was the only one. There was that one and one other one. I can't remember who was staying here. No, these are really nice. They've done a great job. So, yeah, Rivers Coffeehouse and Morton. Thank you, Kurt and Shiloh. Thank you. And thank you, Brian. Oh, my pleasure. All right. Going to wrap this one up and head to number three, third gear. We're going to hit third gear, right? OK.