Hog Heaven – Female bikers get their kicks on the open road
By Sandie Parrott

According to Stacy Himmelspach, 51 of Clarkston, business advisor, “Once you sit up front, you’ll never sit in the back again.” The numbers of women owning motorcycles back up her claim. According to the Motorcycle Industry Council, between 1998 and 2003 there has been a 36% increase in female motorcycle owners.

Himmelspach has been riding for eight years and is on her second bike, a 2003 100th Anniversary, silver and black Dyna Wide Glide Harley Davidson with a gold plated starter key, of course. “I incorporate riding into my daily life, just to ride, to get from point A to point B, to forget about daily stress and traveling. I even rode to work one day because my client was an aftermarket Harley Davidson repair shop, claims Himmelspach. “I ride in all kinds of weather, my heated seat extends the season a couple of months,” said Himmelspach. She rides for comfort, including the smooth (glide) ride and heated seats, which she says some guys would say aren’t manly.

“Riding a motorcycle is very empowering and sexy. Men like a woman on wheels. I call it sex in the city,” laughs Himmelspach. Her motorcycle is serious business from the masculine colors, distinctive rumble of the engine, weight of about 650 pounds and a 1450cc twin cam 88 cubic inch vibration mounted engine. She wears a t-shirt when riding that says, “If you can read this, the b---- just passed you.”
Riding is serious business and potentially dangerous so Himmelspach offers these tips. “The first thing to do is take a safety class, this is very important. Always ride to your capabilities, don’t let experienced riders influence you. Make sure you start slow to get used to your bike and riding.”

Jody Lalonde, 48 of Clarkston and owner of Creative Designs and Signs in Pontiac (including special paint designs for women’s motorcycles), says she sees more women riding, especially alone or in groups of women. “The way to tell if it is a women rider (helmets make it difficult to tell) is we sit up straighter with straight arms. Part of the reason according to Lalonde is women are smaller and need to stretch to reach everything and to see properly, but also because guys like to lounge to look cool.

Lalonde claims she has always been a tomboy, but she didn’t always like bikes. “My dad rode a motorcycle and in the 1960s and 1970s I used to give him a lot of grief because groups like the Hells Angels gave motorcycles a bad reputation.” A few years ago Lalonde’s father asked if he could store his Teal blue 1995 RoadKing with white side walls at Lalonde’s after an accident injured his knee. Lolonde’s husband Al rode it occasionally with Jody riding on the back. She decided to take a safety class to make sure she could handle the bike in an emergency. Well, she got brave one day and rode it alone through the subdivision. She came back and told her husband, to find his own bike!

“Take a safety riding class,” Lalonde strongly suggests. “They have classes for all levels and there is always something to learn,” she claims.

Lalonde also maintains you have to like getting dirty if you ride bikes, “I don’t usually do my hair or wear makeup, it is a waste and you end up with helmet head anyway.” Speaking of getting dirty, her friend, Janet Gaines, learned the hard way to never to wear lip gloss…ew nasty.

Janet Gaines, 50, rides an orange limited edition 2004 Screamin’ Eagle Electric Glide Harley Davidson (1690cc or 103ci in Harley speak) and she brags it is faster than her husband’s. Her bike has 44,000 fun miles on it, including an annual ride across the Mackinac Bridge and it is her second since a 1993 dirt bike. Her theory why more women ride is because of electric starts; old kick starts being difficult for most women.

The miles are mostly trips across the U.S. in every direction, or as Gaines puts it, “I’ve been every where but the electric chair, seen everything but the wind.”

Women can find events and news on www.Harley-Davidson.com/womenriders, including last May 2nd International Female Ride Day along with women only garage parties scheduled throughout the nation this summer at H-D dealers to learn more about their bikes and meet other women riders.