MotoFemina Logos

Hey All,

These are the logos created for the project. Give us some feedback. Let us know what you think, which is your favorite and where you envision it plastered next.

A Real Life Batgirl

Did you know Batgirl was a librarian... and rode a motorcycle (named the Batgirlcycle?! - try saying that three times fast)? You've got to check out this 8 minute promotional video (high low) that was created to introduce the character of Batgirl to ABC executives in the late sixties. The idea was to convince executives to add Batgirl as a character in the series in an attempt to pull in young female viewers. She was on for the last season of Batman.

I've been busy talking to other librarian motorcyclists and came across Shirl (short for Shirley) Kennedy - the Uncaged Librarian. Shirl is a librarian and motorcycle enthusiast. She authored the new book The Savvy Guide to Motorcycles. I just got back from a road trip (caged in a car) so I haven't been able to get a copy of her book but she got a great feature on a news station in her home state (which Shirl points out uses every librarian cliche possible) and in the newspaper. In an email response to the MotoFemina project Shirl writes "Every woman who makes up her mind to learn to ride a bike brings joy to my heart. " She posted a short blog about MotoFemina on her Uncaged Librarian blog. She's also got some great moto photos over at Flickr.

In the news feature Shirl says "You can't learn to ride a motorcycle from a book. You can't. But there's things in there I wish people had told me." I'll see if I can get a copy of her book and let ya'll know what I think.

4 racers, 8 techs, 24 hours

Growing up in Marin County, California, the hills and roads motocyclists dream of were within 10 minutes of Greg Petrovic's backyard. It was only natural that he would find himself winding down and up and around these roads on his own bike, becoming very familiar with the distant reaches of the hills and valleys. Highway 1, ranking high on the list, drew Greg and a multitude of others to spend weekends threading through the twists and turns and scenic roadway along the coast.
The race tracks of California soon became the new playground for Greg. Becoming familiar with the different tracks (Sears, a tight track requiring different settings for suspension than say Willow Springs), Greg raced while also becoming an excellent bike mechanic. Having raced both sprint and endurance races, Greg found the 24 hour endurance races more exciting and interesting. (Endurance racing, as one web site defined it, is a combination of speed, stamina and careful planning in order to gain as many laps as possible within the time frame of the race. Some endurance races start with a sprint across the track to the bikes. During the race there will be rider changes, re-fuelling stops, tire changes or possibly even total rebuilds.)

Greg made the decision to form a team and he and his brother became part of the pit crew. With the help of John Ulrich (editor of Road Racing World and Motorcycle Technology magazine), the team had bikes to ride as John supplied them with the previous year’s race bikes. The team began racing in the 400cc class; focusing on skill, technique, bike set-up, and strategy before graduating to 600cc level. However, once the team progressed to the 1100cc category, the skill level changed significantly and the previous group of racers found themselves out of their league.
A new team, sponsored by Suzuki, was formed. There were 4 racers and a pit crew of 8; 3 people to work on the front wheel, 3 on the rear, and 2 for the rest of the bike. The bikes they raced were Suzuki 7-11s: 750 frames with 1100 engines. The races were run as part of the San Francisco Int’l Endurance Sprints. Each racer took 1’15” turns on the track until the 24 hours was over.

After a racing career spanning from 1982 to 2000, Greg found that sponsors were becoming harder to come by and decided to retire from the sport. He moved to Santa Fe and is now the Parts Advisor at BMW. His current collection of bikes include: a Suzuki 650 V-STROM, Yamaha GTS 1000, and a Suzuki GSXR 1100 (no BMWs in his collection, yet).

A few other facts about Greg; he’s married to Angelica, he speaks fluent French and has ridden his motorcycle across Europe on, at least, two occasions.

With the help of Greg, Troy, and Shana, I can’t help but improve my skills on the track and on the street!
Thanks Greg, for being part of my posse and, in advance, for helping me become a better rider/racer.

AMA Superbike and Moto GP (the latest)

There were both AMA Superbike and MotoGP races this past weekend. Marco Melandri (top), racing for Honda, won his second GP race of the season at the Le Mans circuit in France. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) came in second and is third overall. Vallentino Rossi, who is a 6 time world MotoGP champion, has had a rough year due to problems with the bike. He has had one win this season and is currently 43 points behind. He believes he still has a shot at the championship and so do I. If he can come up from 11th spot on the grid to end in 4th place (GP of Turkey), he's definitely got the skill and ability to win overall, it just depends on the bike.
Ben Spies (bottom) raced into AMA Superbike history with his 6th consecutive win. The AMA race was held at Inferion Speedway in Sonoma, California. Until Spies came along, Mat Mladin was unchallenged in AMA Superbike races. Spies is now giving Mladin a run for his money.

Racing on a Dollar

Back in April, out at Sandia Motor Speedway, I met Shana Runck. It was her pink leathers that caught my eye. "Who is she?" I asked Yolanda. "Shana" she replied. "The pink leathers were a wedding gift from her husband, Troy". As it turns out, Troy is the New Rider Director at SMRI and he and Shana head the SMRI Race License School.
I met up with Troy and Shana last Friday night at Gardunos, in Albuquerque. It was an opportunity to learn more about the two of them and also give them some background on MotoFemina and my "posse".

Troy grew up on a farm in Colorado where, at the age of 9, he learned to ride and race motocross bikes. Shana grew up in Albuquerque and went to college in Colorado. In need of transportation to and from school, she took the MSF course and found a Suzuki Enduro bike to ride. It was when Shana met Troy that she was introduced to racing.

Troy interjects with a Ben Affleck, up-to-something grin that even though he was responsible for introducing Shana to racing, he's still "in" with her mom. He supported her mom's wishes of a traditional wedding though their friends thought the track was a great idea!

Years later, Troy would end up in Panama on a business trip. It was on this trip that he stumbled upon a televised broadcast of the MotoGP race and the likes of Kevin Schwantz. He was hooked and decided to try road racing, in particular drag racing. He won the 1999 ET Drag Racing event and after that decided to move into grand prix racing. In the meantime, Shana was not happy with her racing experience. In any other sport she had participated she had always done well and now she was slow and not advancing as quickly as she had hoped. After sitting on the sidelines, becoming bored as a spectator, she came to the conclusion she would rather race. Determined to improve, she set upon developing her skills and, in the process, her speed. Troy and Shana raced for several years with MRA in Colorado and also drove down for race weekends in Albuquerque.

Eventually they moved to Albuquerque, to be closer to Shana's family. Soon after moving, Shana and Troy joined SMRI and became involved in teaching the new riders. The motivation they have for teaching is based not only on the desire to develop new riders' skills but also to ensure the safety of other racers on the track.

Shana holds a degree in education and is the Education Coordinator for Head Start . Based on her experience and knowledge of the classroom, Troy asked her to develop the curriculum for the race school. Together they teach based on the style called "active teaching"; first talk then do.

Troy not only brings 8 years of racing experience to the school but also skills and knowledge obtained from his experience at the Keith Code school of racing.

Something that Troy and Shana imparted to me is a concept they discovered in the book "A Twist of The Wrist", written by Keith Code. The concept is that of riding based on the percentages of a dollar. For example, when you first start riding, equal percentages of the dollar are divided between different parts of the bike; the clutch, the gearshift, the indicator lights, the brakes, et cetera. As you become more familiar with where the controls are, the distribution of your dollar changes toward braking and shifting and less on the location of the controls . Eventually your dollar is spent more on your surroundings and your margin of safety and less on the bike.

Shana and Troy, thanks for offering to be a part of my MotoFemina posse and the project as a whole! I am excited to be learning with the two of you.

Looking Forward

I talked to my mom on the phone the other night and told her that I was going to be learning to ride a motor bike all summer as part of the MotoFemina video series. She followed up my exciting news with the customary concerns a parent is supposed to impart on their child when they find out they'll be doing something that involves risk. I explained to her what MotoFemina was all about; I'd get to ride with and be mentored by some very experienced riders all summer, I'd learn and practice mechanical skills, and I'd always have lots of great protective gear on. I think after raising nine kids (I'm number eight) she's learned not to spend too much energy worrying about things that are not in her control.

I learned from a friend the other day that May is National Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month. That's funny because I'm suddenly so aware of motorcycles on the road. I told Katherine, one of our MSF coaches, that I thought every licensed driver should participate in some sort of motorcycle saftey class. Is there any more real way of making people aware of motorcycles than putting them on one?

Though I suppose it is possible to take the physical awareness of motorcycles too far. As I was driving my van pool the other day (my first time as an alternate driver) I noticed that I was doing a double take at each motorcycle and motorcyclist that passed me - perhaps glancing longer than was safe while operating a van full of people.

Some interesting facts from the nhsta.dot.gov website for National Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month:

• In the last 10 years, motorcycle fatalities have increased nearly 250 percent in the 40-and-older age group, and more than 350 percent in the 50-and-older age group.
• More than 50 percent of fatal motorcycle crashes involve a motorcycle and another vehicle.
• Helmets are estimated to be 37 percent effective in preventing fatal injuries to
  motorcyclists.

My Friend Bill

I think everyone either has had or should have a friend like Bill. I learned a lot from Bill not only directly in the skills he taught me in riding and racing a bike (bicycle) but also in the way he lived his life. After this weekend, I found myself contemplating what drives me to do things that are considered "too risky". In thinking back on my friendship with Bill, he taught me about risk and about life. He wasn't a spectator in life he was a participant. He lived life, testing his limits and seeing what life would hand him. He was a great mentor for bike racing. He taught me race skills and strategies: whose wheel to hang onto, when to shift down to gain on a competitor and what to look for in choosing your timing to sprint to the line. Bill's skills on the bicycle came, I believe, from his experience racing cars and motorcycles. Though his technical skills were evident in his racing performance his mechanical skills were top notch. It wasn't by chance that he was the Service Manager at Performance Honda. He knew engines inside and out. My friend Bill took from life all it had to give but he also gave back all he had to give.
After the events of this past weekend, I'm reminded why I take those chances that maybe others see as "too risky" because, to me, that is living and I would rather be out enjoying it rather than putting up a wall up to protect myself.
My friend Bill and I were suppose to get together this week, have a drink, catch up on things and see how he was doing. It would also be an opportunity to learn more about his motorcycling experience. But I won't be having a drink with Bill, nor will I be saying "thanks" for all that he has taught me as he passed away this past Saturday, at the age of 48, due to complications from malignant melanoma (skin cancer). Goodbye Bill and thank you.

Rosie and the Iron Butt

Torsten at BMW of Santa Fe put me in touch with a really interesting and fun motorcyclist in Los Alamos. Paula and I met at Starbucks and I could tell right away how excited she was about the MotoFemina project and to hear about other women riders. I think she will be a great advisor. Here's Paula's story:

When Paula (pictured above with her sweetie) turned 40 she decided she wanted to learn to ride. Like many of us, she didn't really know anyone who rode that could advise and foster her learning. She signed up for an MSF class in Oregon and was the only female rider in the class. After Paula finished MSF and had some miles on her starter bike she shopped around for a bike. The bike she had her heart set on was in Chicago so Paula, being the adventurous type, flew out to Chicago and rode her new bike home to Oregon.

Paula planned a trip to take her bike to Baja one winter. As she didn't know many people who rode she decided to go it alone. A friend pleaded with her to find a traveling companion so she met someone on the F650.com (a.k.a. The Chain Gang) forum that was also going and they agreed to meet at the border and explore Baja together. They had a great time. Many details and months later they eventually ended up dating and are now a happy couple living in the Atomic City of Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Paula rode "Rosie" her red 1997 BMW F650 (similar to the GS) until it had over 50,000 miles on it (she just sold in and is upgrading to a larger bike). She put many of the miles on Rosie herself as she completed the Iron Butt with her honey recently. Paula is a great resource, she knows a lot about the mechanics and maintenance of bikes (especially the 650) and seems to embody the idea of MotoFemina.

Hopefully she'll comment below and let me know what details I left out (or got wrong). Thanks Paula!

Start your engines

We all passed! Everybody did a super job and was so excited to be out at the MSF class this weekend in Santa Fe. Meg and Kathrine were phenomenal coaches, super supportive, friendly, and knew their stuff.

It was exciting to see everybody progress as much as they did in two days. I kept looking at everybody on the range thinking "it's going to be great when we can all go out and ride together."

Great job everybody!

To Ride a Motorcycle

Here's our wonderful, awesome group of RIDERS!
Though, at the end of the day we were all tired, there was an air of excitement. We had all accomplished something we had never done before, RIDE a motorcycle. Going from "fast walking the bike' to bringing our feet up, feeling the weight of the bike, and moving forward was quite thrilling.
After today, I have a better sense of what it's like to countersteer, to brake in an emergency and to upshift and downshift, and how important it is to keep looking in the direction you want to go. All the concepts and information that our trainers, Katherine and Meg, shared with us last night made more sense today.
I am still pretty hyped! Tomorrow we put to test, literally, what we learned today and last night. It's time for me to go study and look like a moron in my living room as I stand over my imaginary bike, slowly release the clutch lever, roll back on the throttle and go for a ride :)

Push up bras and Ducatis

Despite my hectic schedule (last few weeks of grad school, full time job, now MotoFemina blogger - you get the picture) I did find time to sit down and play a new Xbox game I ordered a few weeks ago - Lara Croft's Tomb Raider: Legend.

Yes, I'm a nerd, I know. Despite the nearly forgettable movie Tomb Raider (okay... I'll admit, I loved it, especially the scene where Lara manages to slap a guy in the face with the rear tire of her motorcycle). The game features some really fun riding on a Ducati Monster and a Ducati 999. There is an ongoing debate about what Lara is riding in her movies but it is very clear in the game that Eidos struck some deal with Ducati to use the famous bikes.

For the uninitiated, or as MotorcycleUSA.com put it, for those that "live in a yurt on the Mongolian steppes", Lara Croft is a "world renowned, anatomically impossible, video game vixen so hot that Angelina Jolie had to wear a push up bra just to look the part."

I think I might start spelling my name without the u - Lara ;)

Saturday Fitting

The fitting Saturday was great! It was nice to see everyone again and a blast taking the picture with three of us on the bike.

An Education in Motorcylces

In two short weeks I've become enmeshed in the world of motorcycling! I've learned more about the bikes, the gear, the types of riders, the types of racing, and gotten a peek into the thrill of riding by sitting on the back of some very fun, very fast bikes. All thanks to SpeedTV www.motograndprix.com
numerous magazines, and friends who are motorcycle enthusiasts (thanks Ann, Lyn, Marc, and Ron).MotoGP has got to be one of the most exciting spectator sports! Watching it on TV has me on the edge of my seat, I can't imagine what it must be like watching trackside. The championship GP bikes reach speeds in excess of 2oomph! What a kick in the pants that must be!Having watched the DVD "Faster", I've gotten quite an education on Superbikes, GP bikes and the guys who ride them. The novice GP riders, who have moved up from winning seasons as Superbike racers, talk about how significantly faster the GP bikes are and the adjustments it takes in their bike handling skills. The grins on their faces after their first ride on a GP bike says it all.I've also connected with some of the folks at SMRI (Sandia Motorcycle Racing, Inc.) www.smri-racing.org
all of whom have been extremely friendly and full of great information. Last Saturday and Sunday, SMRI held both Supermoto and Superbike races. Watching from corner#4, Yo Yo was very helpful; showing me the flags, what each one is used for and when, and also what I should expect to do if there is a crash or a problem with a bike. I felt more a part of the race after that. I'm ever so grateful no one crashed on "my" corner and very thankful that the guy who did crash on corner #7(?), walked away with no major injuries, except for the bike : (Another added thrill last weekend was watching two women racers, Divinia and Shana. They are both excellent racers and quite competitive.Reading more of the book "The Perfect Vehicle" as well an article by Frederica regarding her experience with DCE (Ducati Racing Experience), I'm seeing how other women have integrated themselves into what continues to be seen as a "man's world". Their enthusiasm and excitment is contagious and there descriptions of their experiences just make you want to get on a bike and ride (or race)!After the MSF course this weekend, I'm certain I will have a better appreciation for just how much it takes to become skilled at riding and racing. One day I hope to be on the track in ABQ, learning to corner with the rest of the student riders and with Troy's guidance.Time to start saving for a race bike :)