Lets Ride
Monday, September 25, 2006
Ready for Femmoto 06
www.femmoto.com
For many women, the initial outing on the track can be incredibly intimidating. If it's at all possible, I would recommend looking into Femmoto. It's a two-day women's demo event in Las Vegas Nevada. This year's event is October 7th and 8th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
What makes this so great is that several manufacturers bring their demo fleets for the women to ride. You have no worries about transporting your bike to the track and Las Vegas is easy to get to from just about anywhere in the country. You can do either one or both days and this year they are also offering a dirt bike school and a supermoto school. They also have a banquet on Saturday night with a fashion show featuring women’s motorcycle gear.
I went last year and had a fantastic time, it was my first time on the track. I'm glad that my first track day was in this environment and not an open track day. I had a chance to try out a bunch of bikes and ride with some fantastic women. I'm already booked for Saturday Oct 7th. This years manufacturers are: Ducati, Kawasaki, Buell, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi and Kymco. Where else will you get the opportunity to run a 999 around the track without buying one?
http://www.femmoto.com/
[femmoto]
[women riders] ¶ 10:32 PM 0 comments
www.femmoto.com
For many women, the initial outing on the track can be incredibly intimidating. If it's at all possible, I would recommend looking into Femmoto. It's a two-day women's demo event in Las Vegas Nevada. This year's event is October 7th and 8th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
What makes this so great is that several manufacturers bring their demo fleets for the women to ride. You have no worries about transporting your bike to the track and Las Vegas is easy to get to from just about anywhere in the country. You can do either one or both days and this year they are also offering a dirt bike school and a supermoto school. They also have a banquet on Saturday night with a fashion show featuring women’s motorcycle gear.
I went last year and had a fantastic time, it was my first time on the track. I'm glad that my first track day was in this environment and not an open track day. I had a chance to try out a bunch of bikes and ride with some fantastic women. I'm already booked for Saturday Oct 7th. This years manufacturers are: Ducati, Kawasaki, Buell, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi and Kymco. Where else will you get the opportunity to run a 999 around the track without buying one?
http://www.femmoto.com/
[femmoto]
[women riders] ¶ 10:32 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Superbikes! and the All Girl Ride
Just last week, the Speed TV show Superbikes! did a whole episode on women riders. I'm not a big fan of the show but this time I watched partly because, hey I'm a woman so I'm interested but also because they filmed the recent all girl ride I was on.
First thing, their coverage of the ride was decent. I liked that they showed us riding without a lot of craziness, no stand up wheelies on the freeway. Pretty much everyone was geared up, quite a few in full leathers. I was on screen for all of 1.5 seconds. I thought I did a better job of avoiding the cameras but I rode past them. If you see it, I'm on my Ducati behind the girl on the Repsol bike riding past the camera car.
Now I'm moving on to my big problem with the show.
I'm generally pretty laid back about what is shown on TV but the stunting on the street did bug me. I've seen wheelies on the street and on TV before and it tends not to faze me, I may think the rider is an idiot but I don't generally have them single handedly destroying the integrity of motorcycling. Like it or not stunting is here to stay as part of the motorcycling world. Stunting can and has been shown in a fairly responsible manner. Put it in a lot or a closed course. Super Streetbike, a magazine that covers the scene makes a point of only featuring sanctioned events and closed courses.
A big part of the show was on stunting, that in and of itself isn't a major issue for me. One segment featured Jessica Maine a professional stunter. I'm not saying the girl isn't talented because she is. The segment focused on her attempting a spreader wheelie, a trick that she hadn't performed since she broke her back in an earlier attempt. I can appreciate the skill and determination to succeed, that said pulling a wheelie through a stop sign is beyond stupid. She did start in a parking lot but then moved onto the street. She went on to pull a few wheelies straight through a stop sign in a residential area. No, it wasn't closed off; there were other cars in some of the establishing shots. That is what I take issue with.
Jessica Prokup, the Editor of Roadbike Magazine was featured through out the show. She is a big promoter of women in motorcycling and was at last years Femmoto. It came as no surprise that she functioned as a special correspondent in this episode. What I did find surprising was seeing Jessica Prokup in the stunting portion of the show cheering Jessica Maine the stunter on as she pulled a spreader wheelie straight through a controlled intersection. I guess I expected more from the editor of a fairly conservative national magazine. Having her say directly into the camera "she is an inspiration to women" was a complete crock. Sorry Jessica, I don't see too much that's inspirational there. Lisa, the leader of the all girl ride is far more inspirational. Creating and leading a charity ride for women in memory of a fallen friend is something to aspire too.
In some ways, it's a be careful what you wish for situation. I'm happy that there are more women riding and that they are being shown as a growing market. On the other hand, with the increasing visibility comes the opportunity for increasing stupidity. Two steps forward and one step back.
[women riders] ¶ 10:38 PM 1 comments
First thing, their coverage of the ride was decent. I liked that they showed us riding without a lot of craziness, no stand up wheelies on the freeway. Pretty much everyone was geared up, quite a few in full leathers. I was on screen for all of 1.5 seconds. I thought I did a better job of avoiding the cameras but I rode past them. If you see it, I'm on my Ducati behind the girl on the Repsol bike riding past the camera car.
Now I'm moving on to my big problem with the show.
I'm generally pretty laid back about what is shown on TV but the stunting on the street did bug me. I've seen wheelies on the street and on TV before and it tends not to faze me, I may think the rider is an idiot but I don't generally have them single handedly destroying the integrity of motorcycling. Like it or not stunting is here to stay as part of the motorcycling world. Stunting can and has been shown in a fairly responsible manner. Put it in a lot or a closed course. Super Streetbike, a magazine that covers the scene makes a point of only featuring sanctioned events and closed courses.
A big part of the show was on stunting, that in and of itself isn't a major issue for me. One segment featured Jessica Maine a professional stunter. I'm not saying the girl isn't talented because she is. The segment focused on her attempting a spreader wheelie, a trick that she hadn't performed since she broke her back in an earlier attempt. I can appreciate the skill and determination to succeed, that said pulling a wheelie through a stop sign is beyond stupid. She did start in a parking lot but then moved onto the street. She went on to pull a few wheelies straight through a stop sign in a residential area. No, it wasn't closed off; there were other cars in some of the establishing shots. That is what I take issue with.
Jessica Prokup, the Editor of Roadbike Magazine was featured through out the show. She is a big promoter of women in motorcycling and was at last years Femmoto. It came as no surprise that she functioned as a special correspondent in this episode. What I did find surprising was seeing Jessica Prokup in the stunting portion of the show cheering Jessica Maine the stunter on as she pulled a spreader wheelie straight through a controlled intersection. I guess I expected more from the editor of a fairly conservative national magazine. Having her say directly into the camera "she is an inspiration to women" was a complete crock. Sorry Jessica, I don't see too much that's inspirational there. Lisa, the leader of the all girl ride is far more inspirational. Creating and leading a charity ride for women in memory of a fallen friend is something to aspire too.
In some ways, it's a be careful what you wish for situation. I'm happy that there are more women riding and that they are being shown as a growing market. On the other hand, with the increasing visibility comes the opportunity for increasing stupidity. Two steps forward and one step back.
[women riders] ¶ 10:38 PM 1 comments
