Passes & Canyons Blog

An excerpted image from the Driven To Ride site.

I got a heads-up the other day about a program that will be airing on public television channel 12 (what used to be called KBDI, but I think it’s something different now) at 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 24. It’s called “Driven to Ride” and “The documentary explores the spirit of six women who push the boundaries of two-wheeled freedom.” And it has been produced by Michelle Carpenter, an assistant professor in Digital Design in the College of Arts & Media there at CU Denver.

Says the note I received, “Carpenter’s camera exposes how the road stirs in their blood, a passion they follow down a thousand interstates, blacktops and dusty country roads. Carpenter has submitted ‘Driven to Ride’ to more than 30 film festivals. She is hopeful to screen it at the 2014 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, S.D. So far ‘Driven to Ride’ is an official selection in the East Lansing (Mich.) Film Festival and Indie Fest USA in Garden Grove, Calif.”

Riders featured in the documentary include Betsy Huelskamp, Erin Doherty-Ratay, Masyn Moyer, Janice Ferrante, Debra Conroy, and Julie Graff. Here’s a bit about each of them:

• Betsy Huelskamp is a personal trainer, photographer and journalist. Betsy has been featured in Discovery Channel’s Motorcycle Women, National Geographic’s Hell on Wheels and TLC’s faking it. Betsy rides over 5,000 miles per year on her custom Harley-Davidson chopper.
• Erin Doherty-Ratay is known for her Around-the-World tour with her husband Chris Ratay. Their adventure on two BMW motorcycles took more than four years (1999-2003) and covered 50 countries on six continents, while riding 101,322 miles. At the end of their journey, Erin and Chris discovered they had nearly doubled the record for Longest Motorcycle Ride (Team) and broke the Guinness World Records®.
• Masyn Moyer is a free spirited custom Harley-Davison chopper rider and an entrepreneur. Masyn grew up driving tractors and snowmobiles on her grandfather’s farm in Minnesota. Instead of receiving a horse for her 10th birthday 
present, she received a 50CC dirt bike… the rest is history.
• Janice Ferrante rides a BMW 650 GS and lives for off-road riding adventure. When the pavement ends… she begins her ride.
• Debra Conroy rides a BMW 1100 S and she thrives on long distance riding. She has been known to attempt to ride 50 Colorado mountain passes in 3 days.
• Julie Graff is a custom chopper builder and Julie was born to ride. Both her mother and father are avid vintage Harley Davidson riders and collectors. Julie began to ride at the young age of four and remembers being dropped off at pre- school on her mother’s 1969 Harley Davidson Sportster.

I normally don’t watch television but I may try to catch this. Could be interesting.

Biker Quote for Today

I bought it to ride it, not wax it.