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Girl Torque by Yogi (Kim) June2005
Imagine this. The hand I write with encased in an almost luminous
orange cast due to broken bones in my hand.....ring finger missing a
nail and not looking too attractive after surgery. I've also a
broken right ankle which is encased also but in a in rather fetching
black boot which resembles a motor cross boot due to the array of
Velcro straps and buckles securing it. All this being the result of
a motorbike accident I had three weeks ago.
I’m not too gutted about the missing nail. I was never one for
manicuring or painting my nails anyway. I’m more gutted about the
damage to my beloved SV1000 and the amount of time I am on crutches
while the sun is shining and also about having to cancel a Rapid
Track Day at Rockingham this month.
It was having spare time on my hands that prompt AndyW to suggest
that I may like to write an article on biking from a female
perspective. Quite a difficult one I thought. I am not really sure
that my personal perspective on riding bikes themselves is actually
that much different from that of any male rider but I can offer
personal views on being a female in a predominately male activity.
In dismissing the sight of my mangled finger as unimportant,
illustrates the fact that I am not really or ever have been a
typical female!. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t consider myself as
being not feminine, I have no inclination to demonstrate for women’s
lib or wear a pair of denim dungarees (edit=andyw....burn your bra?
:-). I just enjoy riding a bike and want to be doing it for myself
rather than being someone’s pillion.
I have been riding for long enough to have sussed out that like
everything else in life, lots of different people ride bikes. They
all have opinions on bikes, other riders and how others ride their
bikes. It takes all sorts and I just fall into the biker’s category
and enjoy being there, even in the minority.
I passed my bike test in 1980 on a Suzuki GP100S. In those days the
test meant you rode around the block as instructed while the
examiner walked around catching sight of you occasionally. Job done,
I passed first time.
I spent the next seventeen years doing the usual, marriage,
mortgage, kids. Time on a bike was usually as a pillion or a quick
outing on my husband’s old hack. Lack of money and time meant I
didn’t have a bike of my own so I became the wife who moaned every
time my husband went out on his. At least he doesn’t have that
problem anymore!
I got my life back in 1997 when my husband brought me an old Suzuki
GS425 which he had stripped and repainted.
I soon found my confidence again and moved onto a Suzuki GSX 600F, a
Honda CBR600FT, a Honda CBR600FX, then onto the Suzuki SV1000S which
I have now, albeit somewhat damaged!
In this time, I passed my IAM test and trained to be an IAM Observer
which I did for a couple of years before retiring to spend some time
riding for myself. This has been spent by simply riding as much time
as possible on my favourite roads, track days, camping, social
weekends and bike meets. I can’t say that I like the camping that
much, perhaps that is a girlie thing!
Funny thing, this motorcycling. Since my accident, I have had
numerous people ask if I am going to give up riding my bike now.
Why? Would I give up driving a car if I had an accident in one?
People who don’t ride bikes just don’t get it! It’s the freedom, the
feeling of exposure to the elements, the sense of speed, control,
riding that perfect corner, the rumble as air rushes through the air
box when you open the throttle (that will be a twin then) and for
me, doing it for myself. Having just read through those reasons
again, it summarises it really. Those were the words any biker may
have said. I ride for mostly the same reasons we all do, for the
biggest high there is.
I would be lying if I said that I have never come across any
difference between male and female riders. In my view, female riders
are more safety conscious on the whole and generally don’t feel that
they have to prove themselves all the time in order to secure a
place in the pecking order as some do. Perhaps it’s the lack of
testosterone!
I can ride into any car park full of bikers and get off my bike to
smiles and even a sense of admiration from people, to smug looks and
ignorance from others. I have ridden as one of the boys and also
with those that seem to think that as I am female, they need to be
in front of me all the time. Like I said, it takes all sorts.
My love of bikes has brought me into a male orientated world which
in itself has issues that I hope will be addressed in time. I
visited the NEC Motorcycle show in November with the view to buying
some made to measure leathers. I approached a stand with my husband
to enquire about the purchase. The chap then proceeded to talk
mainly to my husband rather than me. Needless to say, I walked away
with my money. I may have even spent it on a new bike had I been
able to view it properly. Unfortunately the particular model I was
interested in was hidden away under a half dressed model of its own.
That didn’t seem to be a problem I had when I purchased my Nissan
Micra!
Well that’s my perspective. The actual biking part is as with anyone
else. Sheer enjoyment, adrenalin, and the grin factor, the full
works. The other side of it, no real problems, just a bit more Girl
Torque needed.
Yogi
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