Page 47 - Sept 2024.cdr

Motorcycle riding has long been male-
dominated. Now, women are taking the wheel(s)
The first time Jennifer Anderson drove a motorcycle,
she was terrified. As she gazed at the windy road down
a steep hill in Denver astride a borrowed Harley,
Anderson was on the verge of tears.
"I was really nervous," she said. "I was scared."
More than two decades later, Anderson is a prominent
leader in the local biker community and the deputy
director of Laconia Motorcycle Week
Anderson is one of a growing number of avid women
motorcycle riders who think of themselves not just as a
subset, but as an integral part of the biker community,
leading clubs, organizing rallies, and teaching others
how to ride.
"Five years ago, I would be like, I can't even believe
how many women riders there are," she said. "Now, it's
normal.”
Many of them converge on the small New Hampshire
city for Laconia Motorcycle Week, which draws
hundreds of thousands of visitors annually. Now in its
101st year, the event claims the title of world's oldest
motorcycle rally. Over 10 days, motorcycle enthusiasts
join scenic rides across the countryside, antique
motorcycle shows, and wander through an outdoor
festival filled with street food and entertainment.
'Hooked': families pass down motorcycle hobbies
to daughters
For many women riders, biking was always in the
family. "It all started when I was five or six years old,"
said Cindy Lou Egalka, who grew up in
Moultonborough, around 20 miles north of Laconia.
"My father put me between his legs on the gas tank of
his 1948 Indian Chief, and I was hooked. That's why
my license plate says, 'Hooked.'"
Growing up, Egalka, 65, would take off on her brother's
or boyfriend's mini bikes to ride the back roads
Other lifelong women riders remember the challenges
of breaking into a male-dominated sport decades ago.
Donna "Wheelz" Mahoney, 68, has been behind the
handlebars since a neighbor in her childhood
hometown of Canterbury, New Hampshire, taught her
to ride at age nine.
When Mahoney went to register for her motorcycle
license years later, the administrator told her she was
among the first 10 women in the state to be licensed to
ride.
"I used to motocross with the males, and they had an
issue with me until I rode with them," she said.
Although women have been a part of biker culture
since the beginning, female ridership has ballooned in
recent years. A 2018 survey from the Motorcycle
Industry Council found that 19% of motorcycle riders
are women, up more than 9 percentage points from a
Women in Biking