Passes & Canyons Blog

By Matt Wessels

“The times they are a changin’ ” – Bob Dylan

Effie Hotchkiss and her mother
Avis road across the US in 1915.

Throughout history women have shown their interest and capability on motorcycles. Effie Hotchkiss and her mom Avis crossed the US on motorcycle in 1915. The women-only motorcycle club MotorMaids was started in 1940 and is the oldest club of its kind. Elspeth Beard rode her motorcycle around the world in the 1980s. Kate Johnston just recently went from being a new rider to an Iron Butt record holder in three years.

According to the podcast Moterrific,  20% of the riding populace is now women. As our national and international cultural landscape continues to change, so also is the riding landscape changing. Women are tired of how they are treated and a nationwide movement has sprung up. I had a very enjoyable conversation with Ms. Rossi from Colorado’s own Scarlet Headers, a female-centric rider group, to gain a better understanding for how women perceive the riding world.

Elspeth Beard circumnavigated the globe on a motorcycle in 1984.

Ms. Rossi started the Scarlet Headers as a judgement-free group for female riders because she was tired of dealing with the stereotypes and pressure from men. She described the general attitude of men as very competitive. This competitiveness tends to focus on technicalities–knowledge about the bikes and riding techniques. In addition, she described a macho attitude–to borrow a word from Spanish, “Machismo.” Add the competitiveness and machismo and the product is what she calls “men deciding to be dicks.”

She clarified that she isn’t a feminist and loves spending time with those men who don’t approach the world in this way. She went on to explain that she understands where this attitude comes from, and agreed that many times it might be a man’s way of trying to help. However, most of the time it comes across as chauvinistic, judgmental, and most importantly as pressure.

Pressure to keep up, either in the tech talk or on the ride. Pressure to be appealing. Pressure to be on her game. This pressure detrimentally affects the quality of the ride. More effort is spent on keeping up the image and fighting for respect than enjoying the ride. Escaping that pressure was the obvious solution. The Scarlet Headers is a group explicitly focused on removing this pressure and focusing on the enjoyment of riding.

Some of the Scarlet Headers out on a ride.

Most motorcyclists will tell you they ride because they enjoy the ride, not because they want to be superior, or assert their dominance. So, how then is any of this different between men or women? It’s obvious that men and women enjoy the ride in different ways. Men tend to like to talk tech (bench race) more, women tend to focus on the sense of community. Neither are mutually exclusive or limited to a specific sex.  There are many factors here including how boys and girls are raised and in such a short space it’s not possible to analyze all of them in depth. However, Ms. Rossi suggested 3 recommendations on how to be more accepting toward women in the motorcycling community:

Top 3 ways for men to interact with female riders:

1.) Remember that women enjoy motorcycling just as much as you do. Just because they might be new, or might not have the technical know-how doesn’t mean their experience on the bike is any different from yours. Nor is it your place to place expectations on how they enjoy their ride. So keep the judgement at bay.

2.) It’s not about the technicalities. Regardless of how knowledgeable somebody is, nobody knows everything, not even MotoGP racers. They know how to ride really well, but they have an entire support crew to deal with the tech, so dial down the tech talk. This also means that lecturing is a bit demeaning as it often results in information overload and keeps the focus on the tech instead of the experience. If you want to help, an offer to help hands-on with a smile and a caring attitude will go much further.

3.) Ask yourself what your true intentions are. If you’re interested in a woman, and you want to impress her, making her feel inadequate by lecturing or assuming what she wants you to do isn’t going to get you far. If your intentions, however, are to enjoy motorcycling with her, then you’ll probably have a caring attitude and end up impressing her anyway. If your intentions are to demean, disrespect, or discourage you are “The bigot,” “The stereotype,” and part of the problem.

There is no doubt that men and women who read this article will have an adverse reaction to it. They might have that reaction because for some reason they feel threatened, devalued, unnecessary, or guilty. They might think I have no right writing about this so let me be clear. This is NOT placing blame on anybody. This is NOT making men out to be terrible evil creatures. This is NOT making women out to be stupid. What this IS, is a step toward valuing and respecting everybody, so that motorcycling can continue to grow. A reasonable man will take this as a challenge to grow and develop. A reasonable woman will take this as a guide to grow and develop.

The Scarlet Headers are planning a ride for this day. Keep an eye on their Facebook page for details.

To spread awareness of female riders, the Women’s Coalition of Motorcyclists has designated the 1st Saturday in May (5/2/2015 this year) as International Female Ride Day. The Scarlet Headers will be hosting a ride for this, keep an eye on their Facebook page for updates.

If you’re reading this in another state, here are some other female-centric rider groups in other states:

California, Los Angeles: The East Side Moto Babes

California, San Fransisco: We Are Hot Riders

Georgia, Atlanta: The Lady Fingers

New York: The Misfires

Oregon: The Rainier Ravens

Utah: The Litas

Please share any other female-centric rider groups you are aware of!