New book captures the spirit and diversity of women riders

This guest post is by author and photographer Christina Shook, who has just released a photographic essay book called “Chicks on Bikes.” The book captures the stories and pictures of women riders from all walks of life, but the essay excerpted here captures the essence of what we all have in common – a sense of sisterhood.

Sisterhood. A community. Of women. Not a sewing circle, not a women’s auxiliary club, not a mom’s club. There is a community of women bikers. Today women have formed organizations for every interest under the sun, no longer limited to domestic, nurturing or supportive activities. These women have taken up a lifestyle that is still a largely male domain and claimed their space and culture within it.

Few groups have the high-impact visibility of a pack of women riding up on their bikes. Few events have the singular sense of power that wells deep within as dozens of women roar their engines at the beginning of a group girl ride. It is a screamingly , throbbingly, wonderful feeling. It’s awe inspiring and fascinating to behold.

There is a sense of non-competition in a group of women, an unspoken sisterhood without the need to prove you’re daring. Women ride a little safer, a little smarter, a little kinder. To be on the road simultaneously alone and part of the pack is to have a firm sense of self and belonging. Every decision on the road must consider both self and group. Riding down the road with a mother, a sister or girlfriends combines the sense of the feminine with a sense of power. It spells out strength, pride, power and independence.

There are millions of women on motorcycles, and numbers count. There is strength in numbers. There is a kinship all motorcyclists share born of hardship and joy. Women motorcyclists have existed since the days when women wore dresses and rode side saddle. There are women motorcycle clubs that drink beer, swagger and ogle men. Some ride for causes such as breast cancer or children’s health issues. Some are Christian groups that go riding after church on Sundays. there are countless groups that represent every lifestyle imaginable.

They will all tell you it’s different from riding with the guys. there is a sense of pride and sisterhood, and this is why they ride with the girls.

To learn more about Christina and her book, visit www.ChicksOnBikes.us. Get your copy by clicking the “Order” tab on her website. You can also read her blog, http://cshook.wordpress.com/ – she just got back from the Women and Motorcycling Conference in Keystone, Colorado – and follow her on Twitter (www.twitter.com/cshookup) for tweets related to photography and motorcycles.

Transitioning to a trike: Judy’s journey to Goldie

This guest-post was sent to me by Judy Young, aka JuJu, who recently made the transition to riding a trike. While you might think it’s a simple switch, there are several things that are quite different with this type of vehicle. Judy covers them here, and shares her enthusiasm for “Goldie,” her beautiful silver Honda VTX trike!

I started researching trikes last fall, after my whiny, achy left knee gave way on me one too many times when I was trying to park my bike. At the Thunder Beach Rally in Panama City Beach, Florida, in September 2008, I met Randy Johnston, the owner of Adventure Motorsports in Dothan, AL, test rode a couple of his trikes, and began to settle on a model and trike kit. By December, I’d sold my Suzuki Intruder and Randy had found a Honda VTX 1300 bike that had less than 2000 miles on it, ripe for triking. So we ordered the conversion kit that I wanted (Champion), and then waited for it to arrive. It took a while to get the kit—there were some holdups at Champion—but once Randy received it, he and his team got to work right away, and I was able to pick up my trike in early March, just in time for Spring Break—yay! She’s a gorgeous hunk of silver machine, and I named her Goldie—I love the irony!

Well. The next thing I knew, I had put more miles on Goldie in two months than I had put in a whole year on my Suzuki. I guess the added security of three wheels just made me feel like getting out on the road more often, and especially solo. Now, with less than six months of trike ownership, I’ve got more miles on the trike than I EVER had on the Suzuki the whole time I owned it (about three years)!  I ride it absolutely everywhere—to work, to get groceries, out to dinner, and of course, just for the joy of the ride.

The Learning Curve

As most riders will realize, there is a bit of a learning curve, representing the difference between riding two wheels and riding three. From the get-go it’s different—you even have to mount up differently, so you don’t continually scuff your rear fenders with your boots. Everyone figures out their own way, but mine is to mount the trike like a horse: put my left foot on the left floorboard, like a stirrup, then grab the handlebars and turn them slightly to the right, stand up on the left floorboard and swing my right leg up and over the saddle then onto the right floorboard and take a seat. To dismount, I make sure my right passenger peg is down, move my right foot back and push against the passenger peg to give myself some leverage, then again, stand up on the left floorboard and swing my right leg over and down. Voila—no scuffed fenders!

OK, so once you’re in the saddle, what now?

First thing, try not to embarrass yourself by putting your feet down when you stop the bike—remember you don’t have to hold the bike up anymore. I figured this out pretty quickly while riding solo, but at first, when I rode with other people on bikes, I sometimes reverted to putting my feet down—just from watching the others, I guess. Also, it’s kind of a reflex, putting your feet down, so one of those things you have to unlearn.

Second—no countersteering! You have to turn those bars in the direction you want the bike to go, and you have to no-kidding turn them—there’s no body-lean to help. It takes more upper body involvement than on a bike. It’s not difficult, but it IS different, kind of like riding a snowmobile or a jet ski.

Third, though you don’t lean in the turns like on a bike, there is what I think of as a “triker’s lean”—that is, shifting your body weight to counteract the centrifugal force in the turn. I’ve got no scientific data on this, and I’m only basing my findings on my own experience, but it does seem that shifting my weight and maybe putting a little extra pressure on the inside floorboard, makes the trike move through the turns smoothly. I’ve heard some trike riders say the opposite—more pressure on the outside floorboard—but inside is what works for me.

Another issue is figuring out where to position yourself on the road. At first, I just centered my trike in the lane, but never felt good there because, as we all know, that’s where all the road grease collects—dangerous and yucky! Then, on a rally in North Carolina in May, I noticed some trikers riding with their front wheels just slightly left or right of center, which seems better not only in that it keeps your front wheel out of that gunk, but also it allows for a better line of sight for bikers/trikers behind you.

Finally, you have to get used to being mindful of those wiiiiiiide rear fenders—at toll booths, at gas pumps, in parking lots—everywhere. I did pretty well with the gas pumps from the beginning, but I narrowly avoided a crunch the first time I went through a toll booth. Whew! I learned my lesson (I hope!) from that little near-miss.

On the other hand, I find that it’s still a good idea to turn your head and look through the turns just like on a two-wheeled bike. I think that’s just a good habit to continue. And certainly, head up, not looking down at the road—again, a good practice that carries over from bikes to trikes.

So, some things to learn anew, some things to unlearn, and a few things that stay the same. I’ve learned an awful lot from one particular online trike forum: www.triketalk.com. Friendliest bunch on the ‘net. And where I REALLY bonded with the trike was on a little rally in May, when Lobo (aka the Chief, aka my dear husband and riding companion) and I met up with a few of our triketalk.com friends in North Carolina to ride the Tail of the Dragon at Deal’s Gap. What a ride – here’s the video!

I’ve heard all sorts of myths about trikes: that they can only go slowly, that they have a tendency to tip over, that they can’t make a tight turn. In my experience, it’s all baloney. On the Dragon, we were several trikes and a few two-wheeled bikes, and the trikes not only kept up with the bikes, but were pushing them through many of the curves. Good thing, too–Lobo rides a Harley Road King, and he’s not slowing down for anyone!

So if you’ve ever contemplated riding a trike, I hope I’ve answered some questions and calmed some suspicions. If you want more info, come on over to triketalk.com—the friendly folks there will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about trike-building, trike-riding, and all things trike-o-licious!

In remembrance

Griffith memorial ride coming up September 12

If you are looking for a wonderful opportunity to ride on Saturday, September 12, plan to participate in the 4th Annual memorial ride honoring U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Donald Griffith, Jr.  SSG Griffith was from Mechanicsville, Iowa and died in service to his country in Iraq on March 11, 2005.

Gather at the Days Inn in Mt. Vernon, Iowa – ride departs at 11 a.m. and concludes in Mechanicsville at the Dougout, where there will be food, entertainment and raffle prize drawings.

My 4th of July Ride

This guest-post about a July 4 solo ride was sent to me by Susan Yelle. Susan is from southern California and rides a 2009 Harley Nightster. It’s great to hear from other women riders, so if you have a story to share please feel free to send it to me and I will do my best to publish it here. Thanks, Susan!

It was going to be a beautiful day, and I really wanted to go riding, but couldn’t find anybody to ride with. So I went alone on what turned out to be a 5 hour adventure!

I started out going to the OC Harley dealer for their free 4th of July BBQ at 11am. Took Jamboree down, I knew there wouldn’t be much traffic, and the roads were pretty much empty. I got gas (darn small tank!) then decided to ride with my jacket open, just to keep cool. I pulled out of the gas station, and accelerated to 50, thinking “boy this IS nice and cool,” then I got even cooler, too cool, and realized that a gust of wind had blown my t-shirt up under my chin, and my bra and stomach were hanging out in space! I frantically grabbed it down with my left hand, then zipped up my jacket. So much for that. A new lesson learned.

The BBQ was nice, chatted and got some advice from the service guy, then went to Cook’s Corner, but on the way turned into the little side road called Silverado Canyon Road. It’s a quaint little town – VERY small, and that day they were having a big (little) 4th of July parade.

The townspeople decorated their cars and carts, horses and kids. There was a lot of screaming, and as I rode by, people kept jumping out in front of me with cameras yelling at their kids as they clicked away. I rode slowly, and stared at this one lane parade, and they stared back. Soon I reached the end of the road at the Cleveland National Forest. Usually the big gate is down, but today it was open, and I asked the ranger if I could go in. She looked at my bike and said yes, but drive slowly and be careful of the gravel, potholes and algae-filled water. So I went in cautiously, and it was uphill for 3 miles, all in first gear. It was a very wild, deep canyon, very isolated, I only passed 2 hikers, 2 bikers and 1 other motorcycle. It smelled like hot weeds and brush, I loved it.

At the end I turned around and coming back I realized that it was all downhill, so I put it in neutral and coasted down the entire way! It was just like the dirt-biking I used to do, zooming down and missing the dangers. It was exhilerating!

I drove back to Cook’s, then got a Diet Coke and walked around. They had a set-up to photograph your bike against a big American flag for $65 (for a big print). I saw a guy with a purple custom chopper move it over to get its picture taken. The lady told him how and where to position it. I turned away, then heard her scream. I turned around quickly and saw that expensive bike fall over. Gas was spilling out of the tank, the rear view mirror broke off, people were running like hell to it. Lots of moaning and inspecting started by all, as they surveyed the damage. But they ended up photographing it anyway, that guy had a souvenir of the damage to his $35,000+ bike!

So then I rode up Trabuco Canyon and back, then home.

It was a very tiring, interesting day, I will always have those memories.

A visit to the haunted Mt. Hope Cemetery

I’ve been hearing a lot of great stories from readers lately, and now that the Sturgis reporting is done I’d like to share a bunch of them with you! Awhile back, after we rode over to Tama to see the Lincoln Highway Bridge, my friend Shirley and I tossed around the idea of visiting the Villisca Murder House. That prompted a note from Ann B., who recommended a book called The Iowa Road Guide to Haunted Locations, and related this story about her recent adventure near Madrid:

“(At the) Mt. Hope Cemetery in Madrid… a ghost of a young girl will follow you around and an unknown child’s voice can be heard coming from the gravestones. So a few weeks ago my husband Terry and our friends Dan and Deb decided we would go there and the Kate Shelley Bridge in Boone (where there is) supposed to be a dim lantern floating along the tracks.  So our first stop was the cemetery. We all got off our bikes and kind of headed in different directions looking at stones when I heard in the distance a woman’s voice but I couldn’t tell what she was saying. I looked around and we are the only ones in the cemetery. Then I hear it again. This time I see my husband making a beeline to a big Armed Forces Memorial so I head in his direction. He has a really weird look on his face so I ask him what is up.  He looks at me rather sheepishly and says he’s heard a woman’s voice and he thought maybe the memorial had a recorded announcement. (Which it didn’t.) Then we both hear the woman’s voice but again with all the traffic noise you can’t hear what she is saying. About this time Dan and Deb have headed our way and they have heard the voice also.  So we are all standing there trying to figure out where it is coming from when all of a sudden there is no traffic and plain as day we here a woman’s voice.  It was an auctioneer from a farm to the west of the cemetery using a loudspeaker!! We were all laughing so hard we could hardly get back on the bikes! Later I asked my husband why he hadn’t said anything the first time he heard the voice and his comment was ‘I wasn’t going to be the only one hearing voices!'”

You say it’s your birthday… wait, what?

Wow, how pathetic am I? After making all that fuss about the blog turning five years old… after encouraging you to “save the date” for August 23… after all that, I did NOTHING for the BIG FIFTH BIRTHDAY!

Yeah, I know. Really, really bad. And, if you really were holding the date, I sincerely apologize for not getting on the stick and planning something. I won’t even say, “Maybe we can do something in September…” because who knows whether I’ll actually follow through.

Good news, though, I have been getting some really great email from readers lately, sharing their stories and adventures, and have just been waiting to be done with the Sturgis ride reports to share these with you. Look for a few “guest posts” and other stray thoughts coming soon!

Flickr photo by tandemracer.

Biker Chick Buzz: Wiley in Florida

Wiley, a.k.a. Juju, recently made the switch from her Intruder 800 to this beautiful Honda VTX 1300 trike.  Says JuJu, “…I named her Goldie—I like the irony. Shh, don’t tell her she isn’t made of gold!” Congrats on the new machine, looks like a whole new riding experience!

Harley catalog features rider mosaic

Earlier this year, the folks at Harley Davidson invited riders to submit photos of themselves and their bikes, enjoying the road and the ride. They used these photos to create a mosaic design for their 2010 new-model catalog, and provided a link to the mosaic online so those who submitted photos can find themselves in the design. Be sure to browse the online version!

HD Rider Mosaic

Sturgis 2009, Days 7, 8 & 9: Let’s wrap it up quickly, shall we?

As a reward for your having suffered through the unreasonably long Day Six ride report, I’ve decided to keep things short and sweet when reporting on the rest of the trip. So here’s the wrap-up:

Day 7 – Kristin took off for home in the wee hours of the morning, and rode safely through to Des Moines by herself, trouble-free. The boys took off mid-morning to attempt a repeat of our aborted canyon ride from the day before. I stayed at the motel and took our soaked clothes to the laundromat to tumble around in the dryer, and Shirley hung around with me by doing a load of wash. We hog-tied a small child who climbed onto her bike uninvited. The boys returned safely, having found Spearfish Canyon right where it was supposed to be, just around the bend from where I’d stopped in Lead by the school.

Day 8 – Rode from Belle Fourche to Mitchell in really strong cross-winds. It sucked, but we made up for it by having a nice steak dinner at Chef Louie in Mitchell that evening.

Day 9 – Rode in fog from Mitchell to Sioux Falls, then rode in between two bands of rain all the way down I-29 and never got wet. Comment from Chuck: “Janet is the luckiest broad I know!” A mean-looking thunderstorm chased us eastward all the way across Iowa; we arrived home around 5 p.m., and at 5:30 the skies opened up. Luckiest broad indeed!

With that, Sturgis 2009 is one for the history books. I’ve been gathering some stray bits-n-pieces that I’ll share in a future post (or posts), and all our photos have been uploaded to two albums on Webshots.

In all I rode 2,021 miles; it rained every day – usually at about the same time – but we only got caught in it once; I can safely say I bonded with the new bike, but I can’t say that its nickname has come to me yet. Time for the next adventure!

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