Out of the closet: An interview with Past President Ron Lowe

—Dan O.
from March 2005

Our present and our future is very much the consequence of our past. It is for this reason that the Border Riders History Project so appeals to me, not only for the question of who are we and where have we been, but also, where are we going and who we want to be. I have been reading through old minutes and newsletters, and while I am still working my way through the early seventies, I can see that many things have changed and some have remained the same.

What better person to comment on some of the changes than past president Ron Lowe, who brought the club from its seventies incarnation to the form that it enjoys today. I had the pleasure of a telephone interview with Ron from his sunny home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Dan: Ron, where was the club when you became President?

Ron: The Club had been going for a long time. Many members, like John McL., who is a charter member, played an important role in keeping the club going and keeping it true to its roots through the years. Other members like Tom C. maintained the club by making sure that the day to day workings of the club were in place.

The early nineties was an exciting time in gay culture. AIDS had allowed the gay community to own a part of the present, which allowed for the change within our culture that led to groups being proud of who they had become quietly in silence. I saw a need to resurrect the club by introducing the club to the remaining gay communities, to bring the club out of the closet per se. Not just literally, although our bylaws didn't talk about it being a gay male club, but also to make its accomplishments and its history known in the gay community.

I am very appreciative of all the work the members had done before I became a Border Rider to keep the club going when so many gay groups disappeared in the late eighties. If the club hadn't been so well maintained, there would have had nothing to build on.

Dan: What did you see as the challenges facing the club in 1994 when you became president?

Ron: I saw a need to create interest in the community in the Border Riders. The general perception in the gay community was that we were a clique of men who were heavily into drinking and drugging, a perception that was hard to find ways to dismiss. But there were also great qualities that the club held.

Primarily, there was a great camaraderie in the club, the brotherhood that many have heard me speak about. Everyone got along out of respect for that camaraderie and a respect for our differences.

It seemed next to impossible to get the chance to tell others about the club and we needed the club to be opened more so that we could let others see the things we learned to cherish and hold proud about the Club. We needed to learn what steps we could take to develop interest by prospective members while maintaining interest by the current membership and preserve the anonymity that some in the membership wished to maintain.

I realized that the thing that needed the change was just the perception of the Club, to make all the good points of the Border Riders known to everyone. The club needed to move from appearing so cliquish to being one of exclusively inclusive.

Dan: So if the image of the club had been negative, why did you join the Border Riders in the first place?

Ron: Well, I admit it. I was looking for a sex club. A bunch of hot leather bikers seemed to be a good place to start. I had come across the country to Seattle. I was lonely and looking for friends in a new and unfamiliar city. I came across the Border Riders in late 1990 and was immediately impressed by their riding skills.

Motorcycle riding, that is.

This was a group of serious riders. It wasn't a bunch of stand-and-stare poseurs. It was men who loved to ride. I felt an affinity with them because the Border Riders was a motorcycle riders' club.

Dan: Then what happened?

Ron: I joined the Border Riders to make friends that enjoyed motorcycling as much as I did.

The typical run format was that members rode separately or in small groups to the runs. When we got to the destination, we partied all night and the next day too, if it were a three day run. Then we left the next day.

Since I did not hold the same tolerance for partying, I wanted to start doing things at the run destination and slowly along the way built a similar interest in others, even if it was just a walk through the woods, a ride to the next town to see what was there, or an escape to have a few quiet hours with special friends. It seems like others enjoyed it as much as I and it kind of became the new norm for weekend runs.

I remember being in Winthrop at the wilderness road that runs up one of the rivers. It was gravel. Now my belief was that I could escape for a while and enjoy that part of nature that I so miss living in the big city and returned to the group and reported that I was going on this little run, and by the way it was gravel, expecting maybe just myself and one or two other bikes…to my surprise it was 22 bikes that took the trip.

Dave M. would scout ahead, found swimming holes, and, if I remember correctly, everyone was shock-and-awed at el presidente's nakedness! Just an example of many times a fouled plan turned into an everlasting memory.

I also led in the formalizing of the group riding, so that we could ride together safely. In the mid-nineties the road captain's role changed so that riding safety was a key focus. At that point we introduced advanced road safety classes for members. We went straight from the drinking and riding seventies to the cautious and sensible nineties. I don't think we sacrificed having fun along the way.

Dan: What effect did these changes have on the club?

Ron: Initially, it created havoc, as change can and does. In my excitement, I may have not recognized how change would affect the existing membership.

In looking back, my belief is that there was worry that something would be lost by ushering in the changes. And still looking back it is easy to see that the thing that started the Border Riders was the same thing that propelled it forward—the sense of brotherhood that others could so readily see. Our membership started to increase. I believe that these changes resulting in the perception going from one of being a clique to one of being a brotherhood.

Another important part of the club was a change in communication, both internal and external. Tom C. was instrumental in bringing about these changes with his development of the newsletter. It went from being a typewritten sheet for internal use to a newsletter that created interest from outside readership with its articles and photographs about the club and motorcycling in the Pacific Northwest. This was before the popularity of the Internet, so the newsletter, which was mailed to many people and distributed in gay venues throughout the northwest, was very much the public face of the Border Riders.

Dan: You've mentioned John McL. and Tom C. as being very important in the club. Can you tell me about the contributions of some of the other members in the nineties?

Ron: Michael R. was a tireless ambassador for the club. He drew people wherever he went. He still does. He wasn't afraid to walk up to anybody. He has a great body and exotic looks, so he couldn't have been any better as our emissary. His long hair and leathers stood out in the crowd, so he was our recruiter. He was the Marilyn Monroe—the beauty queen—for the Border Riders. He talked up the club wherever he went. We were proud to have brought Michael to the Club.

Dan: How did you bring about changes in the club? We all resist change, so what was your secret?

Ron: People in the Club want to be exhilarated. Nobody rides a motorcycle because they want to keep their heart rate down. We want new places, we want exciting places, we want to meet new people. We needed to establish a new presence in the three cities of Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver. I thought we could use these needs to generate interest and change.

I decided to work backwards:

What was the desired outcome?

How do you get there?

How do you get the Canadians to give up the hardcore drinking/drug attitude?

I came to Canada for the meet 'n' greets. I wanted to unite the club across the border and not divide it.

Dan: How did you do that?

Ron: The Club had great potential, but I had to be very demanding of myself and the members to reach that potential.

I had to push for goal planning, and you can't slow down when you have a timetable.

I had to show people that it could be fun in making things happen. There were great members that were willing to take on extraordinary tasks, even when they weren't sure they could do it themselves and were willing to go the full mile.

It was by not expecting no to be the first answer to any request.

It was by being willing to give 150% of myself for a group of men I came to love as my family of choice.

It was by the recognition that the members freely expressed and of their expressions of happiness after spending a weekend with the Border Riders.

I was able to tie the three areas together with a mutual respect of the love of my life at that time, The Most Wonderful Motorcycle in the Universe, the ST 1100, of course, which became a tagline that everyone in the club would come to know and to love (or hate!). (Secretly) I drew glee from it and it helped deflect some of our differences.

Even though the creation of personalities was fun, the goals I saw were still serious and as always, the Club came through with flying colors.

Dan: Anything else you might wish to add?

Ron: I drew my strength from the Club, while I offered direction, the Club offered affection. The Club taught me a great deal about brotherhood and camaraderie, leadership, triumph, disappointment, the courage to indulge in my pleasures of naked motorcycle riding, and the value of sharing in our losses.

There is nothing that I miss more than having that brotherhood in my backyard. I am blessed to hold the memories.

Dan: Clearly Ron, you achieved your goals of changing the image but also the nature of the club. You made it the motorcycle camping club that it is today. And you also brought about the changes in membership that saw it go from a group of about 20 men to a group of over 50 men now. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me. We do hope that you are able to join the club on some of our runs in 2005.

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