Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Friday 21 July 2017
Long-distance motorcycle trips seek to empower women

By JOHN KEKIS March, she organized an
AP Sports Writer all-female motorcycle tour
A year ago Alisa Clickenger of Cuba.
helped organize a cross- That will be followed by
country motorcycle trip for the Colorado Backcoun-
women to commemorate try Discovery Route during
the 100-year anniversary of the last week of July and a
a most amazing ride by two tour of the American South-
sisters from Brooklyn, New west in October departing
York. from Las Vegas.
The Sisters’ Centennial Mo- “My company tagline is
torcycle Ride honored the life-changing experiences
exploits of Augusta and on two wheels,” Clickenger
Adeline Van Buren, who said.
in 1916 rode motorcycles “The bottom line is it’s
more than 5,000 miles about empowerment, and
(8,000 km) across the coun- the feeling of freedom —
try to prove that women freedom from our fears,
could be military motorcy- freedom from societal con-
cle couriers, able to endure straints, freedom from our
long distances and harsh own self-constructed, pre-
conditions as well as men. conceived constraints and
For Clickenger, it was a breaking those boundar-
breakthrough. In this July 2016 photo provided by Alisa Clickenger, Clickenger leads a group of women riders ies.”
“The ride was important over the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco at the end of a cross-country trip to honor two sisters Clickenger says she isn’t
to me,” Clickenger said. from Brooklyn, N.Y., who made a similar ride in 1916. concerned that catering
“It was the realization of a Associated Press to women limits her com-
long-held dream of mine line magazine “Women Rid- she can do it, so can I!’” cle,” said Pam Kermisch, a pany’s potential. In fact,
to lead a group of women ers Now” , says those num- Manufacturers such as Har- novice rider who works for that’s the ulterior motive to
across the United States on bers count only new regis- her venture.
motorcycles. trations. She says women Next year, Clickenger will
Seeing nearly 250 women comprise nearly 25 percent offer several tours, including
on motorcycles in my rear- of those who ride (includ- a motorcycle adventure in
view mirror riding over the ing passengers), and that southern Africa dubbed
Golden Gate Bridge was makes them major players “Waterfalls and Wildlife .”
epic — something I’ll never in the riding business. She also plans a series of
forget. It was very emotion- “Personally, I feel we’ve weekend retreats in San
al for me.” kind of seen an exponen- Diego, San Francisco, and
The ride also helped Click- tial growth in the 11 to 12 Sedona, Arizona, and two
enger demonstrate what years that I’ve had the teaching tours for women
her fledgling company, site,” Schmitt said. “There just getting started in tour-
Women’s Motorcycle is a whole new market of ing on two wheels, as a
Tours (http://www.Wom- young girls in their 20s who way to inspire them to take
ensMotorcycleTours.com), have taken up riding that big trips on their own.
could accomplish. we haven’t seen, really, in This October 2014 photo provided by Alisa Clickenger, shows Diane Huston, who served
“For me, part of riding mo- history.” Clickenger posing with her motorcycle in Namibia. in the Middle East during
torcycles still is the chal- Why are more women Associated Press a 20-year career in the
lenge of embracing the taking up motorcycling? Air Force, is long past the
unknown, the mastery of Schmitt calls it the “copy- ley-Davidson produce en- Polaris, the company that learning stage, and she
machine and also facing cat effect. A woman sees try-level motorcycles but it owns Indian and Victory wasn’t deterred after the
my fears and meeting the motorcycle brands. first ride on her new Harley-
challenges of an extended “I did all the classroom stuff. Davidson in 1995 ended up
motorcycle adventure,” That’s one thing, but it’s an- in a swimming pool.
said Clickenger, whose other thing to actually get The lure of the open road is
company focuses solely on on and do it. Once you do a powerful thing.
tours for female motorcy- it, it’s very doable. I think for “To me, riding a motor-
clists. “It was the first time a lot of people, that’s the cycle is an absolute brain
I’ve seen so many manu- scary part. dump with the freedom of
facturers (Indian and BMW I think the second piece of wide-open spaces,” said
among them) come to- it is that in order to get con- Huston, who was on the
gether for a common goal fidence you have to do it centennial ride, toured
— promoting women and more.” Cuba, and hopes to go
motorcycling. It was won- Which is where Clickenger, on Clickenger’s Africa tour
derful.” who lives in Diamond Bar, next year.
Women own about 14 per- California, but is on the “I do hope that women
cent of registered motor- road most of the time, we encountered along the
cycles, up from 8 percent This September 2012 photo provided by Alisa Clickenger, comes in. way have become em-
shows Clickenger riding her motorcycle in India, descending
in 1998, according to the the mountains headed for Manali. Like just about everybody powered themselves to re-
Motorcycle Industry Coun- Associated Press who rides a motorcycle, alize that no matter what
cil’s latest numbers. she identifies with the cre- we desire, we can have
But Genevieve Schmitt, another woman riding a can still seem “intimidating do that the only way to it. We just need to do it,
founder and editor of on- motorcycle and says, ‘If getting on a powerful vehi- travel is on two wheels. In against all odds.”q