My story..

by Kate
(Queensland Australia)

Hi Guys, I got my bike license last year. It sounds so easy put like that but it was one of the most enormously rewarding things I have ever done. I rode a dirt bike as a kid, mustering sheep etc but this is completely different. Riding my road bike is special because I think as an adult (that is always accompanied by family) you really appreciate the seat capacity of one (I don't double). It is truly only about you and for that minute, hour, day you are not a mum or a daughter or a wife - you are just a rider, a wind gatherer - one little insignificant thing under a huge sky, cast adrift in the landscape and having to fend for yourself the same way a bird or any other creature of nature does.

Whatever emotion clogged your veins when you get on the bike is gone within seconds, blown away, torn away in the wind. Reiki by God. When you dismount it is like the wind has actually gotten inside your body and made you lighter, braver, fiercer and you can take whatever else is coming with a grin. Lots of bikers blow through this town on their way through the outback and every single one of them look youthful and energetic even when they have gray hair, they have bright eyes and a sparkly glow. I watch them disappear down the highway and bless them silently on their way.

My bike is my tool to beat fear back to its black hole in the ground. When that anxiety builds up and makes you feel small and weak - you can get on a bike and within minutes leave fear behind you. Caution can ride pillion and whisper it's wise advice in your ear but not fear - fear causes crashes and locks you up right when you really need to move. Fear either on the bike or in life is simply the most crippling emotion that anybody can feel - and for me - the bike is my way out and away from that energy sapping emotion.

There are very few women riders in the town where I live. We are big enough to have Maccas and Woolies but small enough so that everyone feels entitled to their opinion and judgment and they air it frequently - which is good and bad. I wouldn't like to count the odd looks I get when people see me remove a helmet or find out that I have a bike. Most people assume that the cool black roadbike in the shed is my husbands and get a shock when he happily tells them nope it is Kate's. 98% of people (not just women) wonder why on earth I would want to ride a motorbike. They think it is a death-wish or look oddly at me thinking I may be a closet adrenaline junkie or I am going to start sprouting tattoos and leather - a mid life crisis?? It really frustrates humans when other humans won't fit in that neat little pigeon hole created for them or when they go changing in unfathomed ways. How on earth to explain? So I don't bother - unless I see a glimmer of something else - a glimmer of excitement and understanding - then toooooo easy, I'll happily encourage those sparks into flames.

Here amongst other female bikers it is nice to say these things though, knowing that they will clunk into hearts that beat to a similar drum. This is a great forum and I enjoy reading it.