You can be forgiven for feeling a little nervous if you look in your rear-view mirror and see 60 members of a motorcycle club coming up behind you, but the president and founder of Bad Bones Riding Club, Moe Weso, wants to allay those fears.
“When you see a big group of bikers on the road, they are most likely riding for charity,” said Weso. “We all have different charities we are passionate about and we do our rides to raise money.”
But Weso said the stereotypical image that doesn’t reflect the philosophy of the Bad Bones Riding Club.
“Bikers that join a riding club are not just joining to ride in groups,” said Weso. “They are joining a family. Each riding club patch represents a family.”
Weso and his extended family met for a biker breakfast at Symposium Café Restaurant and Lounge Saturday to catch up and plan some of their upcoming activities.
“We’re just a bunch of bikers who are tired of the winter and looking for something to do so we get together for breakfast or sometimes we go bowling,” he said. “We have 62 members but not all of them are showing up today because they have other things planned.”
Some were tempted to take advantage of the mild temperatures and ride their bikes to the restaurant.
“Temperature-wise, the weather would have been fine to ride today but not with all this rain,” said Weso.
Weso and his wife Sarah started Bad Bones Riding Club in 2016 and the club has since grown to five chapters with members in Collingwood, Hamilton, Niagara, Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph and other parts of Wellington County.
They welcome men and women to join and have thrown their support behind a number of charitable causes including the Ride for J.O.E. that raises money and awareness of employment opportunities for adults with developmental disabilities.
“I have a 20-year-old son with a developmental disability and I know how hard it is for them to find jobs,” said Weso. “When I found out about the coffee service and the J.O.E. people I got behind it right away.”
Jobs Opportunities Enterprise was established in 2013 as a registered non-profit organization that has partnered with Planet Bean to sell coffee and baked goods at three regular nooks in the city as well as pop-ups at special events. Weso is the building operator at the Guelph Medical Place on Dawson Road where the J.O.E. team has one of their regular nooks.
“My work gave them a spot where they had a fold up table and I thought if they can’t afford anything we’ll do a ride to get them money and to get them equipment and a kiosk,” said Weso. “After that we gave them the rest of money that was left and figured we may as well keep doing it.”
The 4th Annual Ride for J.O.E. takes place in July.
On May 30 the Bad Bones Riding Club will be hosting the Children’s Eating Disorder BBQ at 310 Holiday Inn Dr. in Cambridge from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“It’s a barbecue not a ride and we’re doing that with Blackbridge Harley-Davidson,” said Weso. “It is raising awareness that more than a million people in Canada are affected by eating disorders and nobody knows about it.”
You can learn more about those and other events as well as get more information about the club by visiting their website at www.badbonesridingclub.ca
Weso hopes to change people’s negative perception of bikers so the next time they are driving and the Bad Bones Riding Club appears in their rear-view mirror they won’t be frightened or frustrated.
“The kindest thing you can do is not break up the pack by cutting them off or driving in between them,” he said. “You’re not only breaking up the pack but endangering people’s lives. Instead of getting frustrated, think of your patience as a donation to the charity we are riding for. You can turn every negative frustration into something positive.”
