Weird summer on two wheels for local motorcycle group

• Heatwave, smoke, COVID-19 affected riding season.
• Jurassic Riders have been operating for 17 years

A longtime member of a local motorcycle group is reflecting on a very strange season.

Dave Dionne has been with the Jurassic Riders Motorcycle Club longer than anyone else, and is the only original active member.

“It’s been totally weird,” Dionne told Kelowna10 when asked about the summer.

“By far in my 17 years with the group this has been the weirdest year. Because of a combination of everything …COVID with the different restrictions, we couldn’t go for lunch. We had to take lunch and find a park somewhere.

“And then we had the smoke issues, you couldn’t ride in the smoke. Then we had the heat. After about 30 degrees on a motorbike, you can burn your skin, even when you’re protected. So, you have to be careful there,” he said.

Dionne is not only the group's ride coordinator but also the safety officer. It’s a responsibility he takes seriously. In 17 years, the group has only had two injuries that required medical attention.

"We’ve been all over North America. With 15 bikes on a ride for three days, that’s thousands of kilometers right there and only two accidents," he explained.

Jurassic accepts new members if they share the same priority about safety. Dionne's asked riders to excuse themselves and leave the group over unsafe riding behavior.

Right now, Jurassic’s plans for rides are dependent on the weather and determined on a week-by-week basis.

Dionne and his clubmates are already looking forward to some out-of-the-saddle winter gatherings.

They host an annual Christmas party and already plan to meet on occasions in January and February.

“We have lots of laughs. These guys never stop laughing and joking," he said.

Why the name Jurassic?

“We had no name for the first couple years, we were sitting around the breakfast table, and somebody suggested we should have a name. We looked around the room and since the average age was 105 (he’s exaggerating) we said Jurassic Riders and it stuck,” Dionne said.