Lady Riders

If you’ve looked through any of my photos or followed any of my words you probably already know that I love to ride. My motorcycles, that is. I have always loved bikes. This passion has always been in me.

When I was really little my dad used to take me around the corner on his bike every time he came home. One of my first phrases was, “Ride Daddy, ride!” My father got into a pretty bad accident when I was about five or six. Someone tried to make a left-hand turn in his path, which is one of the most common accidents affecting motorcyclists. (We just lost an amazing sister and friend to this kind of accident.) He never took me for a ride after that. My mom said I’d cry each time he came home and said no.

He sold his motorcycle not too long after that. He didn’t get the same joy and he feared leaving his wife and young kids behind. We moved an hour so outside of Los Angeles and had more land and dirt roads and mountain paths around us. We got quads and played on those.

When I was sixteen a woman would pass me every day as I drove to work. She was on a Ninja. I used to admire her and dream of that being me.

I got into a relationship, had kids, and let my dreams drift far away from my conscious thoughts. Until one day, in my early thirties, I found myself fresh out of the relationship with nearly grown children. Suddenly, I realized I could fulfill that dream and buy myself a motorcycle.

I bought my first motorcycle, my boo, in February of 2014 and never looked back. That was the first completely selfish thing I purchased for myself. I felt guilty for a long time because I kept thinking about all the things I could do for the kids with the money I spent on that bike. I eventually got over that guilt.

I added another one to my garage in November of 2016. I still have both. I haven’t been able to ride for more than a year now due to injuries from a car accident, but I have so many memories. I hope to be able to feel the wind in my face again.

I am blessed to have been able to be a part of a motorcycle club that helped teach me. I learned from men and women who have well over two hundred years of riding experience between them. I have even mentored a few riders.

One of my favorite aspects of riding has been the women’s events. I’ve even been fortunate enough to help plan quite a few women’s events.

There is nothing like seeing over twenty women riding their own motorcycles down Las Vegas Boulevard. We had tourists stopping in their tracks and taking pictures and videos from cars and the sidewalks.

We rode to raise money for charities. We rode to toy drives and food drives and handed out gifts and food and necessities to those in our community who are in need.

I took part in a massive women’s ride in Arizona, which I later found out was a designated day where women all over the world organize to ride for what has become known as International Female Ride Day. The following year, I sat on a committee of some phenomenal women who put together Nevada’s first annual International Female Ride Day.

One of my closest friends and I rode to California together with a local group of women to meet up with hundreds more for an entire weekend. I had never been to anything like it. We rented out an entire campground. Only women could stay there. There were a handful of men around – vendors and whatnot – but the entire thing was celebrating women riders.

My love of motorcycles has opened me up to a whole world of people who bond over that same passion. I’ve met so many who have become family and astonished me with their huge hearts. As a matter of fact, two of my closest friends found their way to me through our shared passion of bikes.

The drawback is that we tend to get hurt and killed at a higher rate than most of society. Sometimes it’s because of something we did, such as speed or impairment. However, it’s frequently because of the impatience or lack of attention from other drivers.

I wouldn’t trade my experiences for anything. But since I have your attention, please take the extra couple of seconds to look again. If you notice a bike, just wait. Those few seconds won’t impact your life, but they could save someone else’s.