Executive Report - June 2025

John Reblin

Saying Goodbye

Summer has arrived and it seems a lot of motorcycles are going by the house, the noise from the exhaust calling me to back my bike out and get some help with my thoughts spending time in the wind.

This past month has been difficult for me. A woman that I spent a lot of time within my earlier career at the local GMC Truck dealership passed away had me spending some time with others thinking about our past and future at her funeral. Another suffered a severe stroke and is spending some time in rehab hoping to get close to doing what he was doing before, spending time in his shop building street rods. I wish him well on his recovery, as stubborn as he is, I think he will make it.

Unfortunately, my ABATE family also has a huge hole in it with the passing of Ken Pezewski better known to all as Polack. I remember a loooong time ago being invited to an ABATE meeting at the Chapparal Bar in Harford by Jim Coffey as I started my journey as a member, and meeting Polack who was Regional Representative. I waked into the bar a short time before the meeting happened and was waiting for Jim when Polack walked up to me and started talking to me, asking me questions, explaining things, and just being the guy he was, friendly and outgoing. I signed up at the end of the meeting, kind of staying in the background, taking things in. But Polack always said hi, discussed different things, and invited me to help out. You know, bring the potato chips kind of help. I helped out setting up Butler Biker Days wherever they need a pair of hands as well as at other events. A few years later Ozaukee County started up again, so I went to those meetings being a lot closer to where I lived. But anytime I saw Polack we always had a good conversation. As I got more involved in ABATE our friendship grew. When I was going to run for Region Rep in Ozaukee County, I saw him at an event and he once told me the most important thing, whether you have one person or one hundred, give them your best meeting. I remember that and tell others the same thing. He not only ran great meetings he taught us all that we could do the same.

His region was such an incubator of people coming out and going far in this organization. Chubby, Greg Rodd, Steve Panten, Laurie, along with many others. It was not just ABATE of Wisconsin it included Rolling Thunder and his other veteran groups supporting the 2X4 Show with Hoggie and others, along with his Run to the Wall. He was also part of the committee with Hoggie to craft the bike left at the Wall.

He was involved with the MRF since the early days, giving support and attending conferences, talking to others, sharing his wisdom and always willing to learn. If it had to do with motorcycling, he was involved.

I think he was really proud of all of his regional members and ABATE family. I always looked forward to talking with him at different events and functions. Always a smile on his face and wanting to talk about what is going on within the organization or personally. I was happy to call him a friend and mentor. Ride safe my friend.

The Motorcycle Training Summit was good. We had an energetic group of people wanting to try their hand at the riding course. Be Crash Free was there to do the training, supply the knowledge, and help people understand how to ride safely. I spent 4 hours or so myself with the group on Sunday, working on different exercises in braking and turning at both low and high speed. They explained things well and when it did not go exactly right, they were able to tell you how to correct it. They did it all by having a conversation. Having watched them work with some riders with only a few months of experience you could see the difference and the confidence these people got after spending some time with these trainers. I would like to thank them for coming up and showing us how they do things in their world. We have had some conversations on some other training opportunities and will share as those discussions go further.

I would also like to thank Wisconsin Harley Davidson for allowing us to use their location for the weekend. They understood the importance of riding training and reducing crashes. Also, thanks to Gruber Law and Accident Scene Management for helping out and holding discussions in their breakout sessions. Also, thanks to Steve Panten for giving a talk about the future of motorcycling.

I have my ticket ready for the Summer Hummer, do you? Worm and the crew have worked hard to get this ready for a party. The Land Warming crew worked hard to get the grounds ready. Hopefully the rain will stay away, and we won’t have to deal with huge ruts again this year. But even if it rains, we have a lot of fun on our land, with music, friends, and family.

Ride your own ride, see you at the Hummer!

John