women

These two SA female motorcycle racers defied the Dakar odds

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by Sean Parker from https://www.wheels24.co.za/ While many of us were enjoying a break over the festive period and new year, Kirsten Landman and Taye Perry began 2020 by competing in one of the world’s toughest sporting events: the Dakar Rally. This year’s race took place in Saudi Arabia for the first time and competitors were faced with a route of 7900km. They traversed massive sands and rocky terrain and performed exceptionally well to finish the race. Wheels24 reported earlier in January that Landman, a 28-year-old from Durban, completed the two-week-long race in an excellent 55th-place overall, while Perry (29) came home in 77th place. They performed incredibly well over the twelve days on the bikes and the reality of how dangerous the Dakar came to light when Portuguese rider Paulo Gonçalves died after crashing in the seventh stage of the race, the first casualty since 2015. “I was very nervous, one of the officials came to me and said this is the point of no return. Once you go over this (starting) podium it’s over. It’s the beginning, but it’s over,” says Perry in an interview on Carte Blanche. Landman, whose love for motorbike racing started at 10-years-old, said: “I grew up watching Dakars, and you see videos of riders crying because they are so physically exhausted they can’t get out of a section, it is so physically tough and draining.” https://youtu.be/PW8UoxJez7s  

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Montreal woman leaves her job, hits the road for solo motorcycle trip across Canada

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Wendy McGean fulfilled her dream — of driving cross-country on a motorcycle — at 55 years old Suddenly, in her late forties, Wendy McGean started having an unexpected reaction every time she’d spot a motorcycle on the road. “My head would just pivot and I’d think: ‘I really want to do that!” she told CBC Montreal’s Daybreak. At the time, she thought it was an odd feeling for a married mother of two teenage daughters with a white collar job. “It was a very traditional kind of life,” she said. Before she knew it, McGean was leaving all that behind — her home, her job, even her marriage. “Some people thought I’d absolutely lost my mind,” McGean said. “I just completely turned my life upside down.” Just one kick at the can McGean started to chase her dream of riding a motorcycle at 51 years old, signing herself up for circuit training. She realized that she didn’t feel comfortable on only two wheels and bumped up to a three-wheeled bike. She said it was “love at first sight,” and suddenly McGean was buying a bike of her own. “I think it’s the first thing in my life I found that I thought, ‘this is mine,’” she said. “It represents complete and utter freedom.” Not long after McGean got a taste of that freedom, she suffered a major loss. Her father died. “[It] made me realize that if there’s something that I want to do in my life, then I better get at it,” she said. “So I made the decision to leave my marriage.” After 23 years of married life, McGean said she started to feel like a square peg and her life was a round hole. Something just didn’t fit anymore. “I was lucky enough to have somebody that

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Join the Cantina – Subscribe Today

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NEW BIKERNET AND BANDIT’S CANTINA PROGRAMS FOR 2020 To keep Bikernet moving forward in the New Year, we’ve shuffled things around a bit. We have decided to shut down all major advertising sales and will move all of Bikernet’s impressive library and 24 years of archived editorial content into Bandit’s Cantina, Bikernet’s subscription-supported section. We will however keep the Bikernet Blog active daily and accessible for free. All major content will be expanded into the Cantina. https://www.bikernet.com/pages/custom/subscription.aspx So, from a business side here’s how it will work for the New Year. We will continue to build great content featuring the Weekly News, a variety of features and tech articles. Our readers can stay abreast of all the action on Bikernet by joining the Cantina for as little as $24 yearly or $39 for two years. They will also receive a special package containing an assortment of Bikernet goodies and bling. Industry members, if you’d like us to keep supporting your company and promote your products, events or services with editorials, we will do so for a mere $98 a year. Keep sending your press releases and we will take care of them. For the company that wants to reach all 50,000 Bikernet readers and Bandit’s Cantina subscribers 24/7, your ad will be placed on our Blog page and your banner will accompany any and all of your company’s content. Just $165 a month. This also means all of your company content is archived on Bikernet for the duration working 24/7 and supported with your banner ad. We’ve taken Bikernet Entertainment to a new level. This is a very special area with whole books, broads, and rare antiques. And now you will also receive complete and amazing Jack McIntyre Event Galleries of images. For just about 20 cents a day, you

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Enfield to glam up, slim down bikes for women, GenX

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New bikes from Royal Enfield are likely to be the most affordable ones. Royal Enfield is slimming down to conquer. It plans to make far lighter bikes, offering lower and more comfortable seating positions, to draw youngsters and women to a brand that has hitherto been associated with men who had truly arrived. And these will likely be the most affordable bikes as well from the maker of the iconic Bullet. These bikes will weigh significantly less than the Bullet and be seated lower, styled after the roadster. Due for launch in the first quarter of 2020, these are internally codenamed J1C, and may sell under the Explorer brand. The model has been developed after taking critical feedback from women and youngsters to offer them a bike with comfortable ingress/egress and steer away from the traditional perception of Royal Enfield ‘bulk’, said several industry executives aware of the plans. “While we cannot comment about future product line-ups, we can confirm that at Royal Enfield, we assign huge focus on keeping our motorcycles accessible and approachable to all, in an endeavour to bring more people to experience pure leisure motorcycling,” a spokesperson told ET. The company declined to discuss its product pipeline, features and pricing strategies. Royal Enfield was losing a significant chunk of upgraders to competition as rivals launched several sports bikes. The Explorer is an attempt to wrest back the initiative, industry experts believe. The launch of J1C is part of a new product onslaught, and the plan envisages launching at least one new product every quarter from 2020. After J1C, the company will be launching the new generation Thunderbird, which may be re-christened as Meteor, before the BS-VI versions of Classic and Bullet hit the road in 2020. Royal Enfield has upgraded the existing UCE or Unit Construction

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Hayley Bell named American Motorcyclist Association 2019 Motorcyclist of the Year

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U.K. rider founded Women Riders World Relay, helped unite motorcyclists worldwide PICKERINGTON, Ohio — For calling attention to the needs of women riders and for creating a worldwide connection among them, Hayley Bell of the United Kingdom has been named the American Motorcyclist Association 2019 Motorcyclist of the Year. Bell is the founder and president of global business development for the Women Riders World Relay, a movement joined by thousands of motorcyclists from 84 countries to create a “global sisterhood of inspirational women” and to demonstrate to motorcycle manufacturers and makers of riding gear that female riders are a formidable and growing market that deserves their attention. The AMA Motorcyclist of the Year designation, awarded annually by the AMA Board of Directors, recognizes the individual or group that had the most profound impact on the world of motorcycling in the previous 12 months. “For her efforts to promote the motorcycle lifestyle around the world and bring together riders from all nations and backgrounds, conveying the positive aspects of motorcycling and drawing attention to the market potential of female riders, Hayley Bell is the 2019 AMA Motorcyclist of the Year,” said Maggie McNally-Bradshaw, chair of the AMA Board of Directors. “Women riders are an important segment of the motorcycling community and they are a critical building block for the future. Hayley’s efforts not only reaffirm that sentiment, but they help carry it forward at a time when motorcycling needs new riders in the fold.” Women Riders World Relay participants carried the relay baton for a leg of the journey through their countries, then passed it along to the next group of riders. The relay brought together women from diverse cultures and bridged political differences, even across national borders. Bell was determined that the Women Riders World Relay demonstrate that female riders

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5-Ball Racing Gear Leathers Season Discount

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Need Help: Call 310 830-0630 or drop a line to Bandit@Bikernet.com HOLIDAY SPECIALS! Most Prices Reduced! Featured here – Women’s Racy Leather Hoodie Jacket This is an amazing collaboration with Deb and Bartels’ H-D. It’s a tailored strong leather jacket made with soft hide and a black sweatshirt hoodie that zips to the liner or to itself. Or you can take the hoodie out. The Racy Jacket has multiple pockets including two easy-to-reach gun pockets, perfect for cameras or cell phones. They even come with detachable gun Velcro holsters. They also come with the 5-Ball exclusive media pocket in the back where you can stash your favorite magazine. If you need help with sizing or have any questions drop a line to Bandit@Bikernet.com. CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE 5-Ball Racing SHOP

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Join the Bandit’s Cantina

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JOIN BANDIT’S CANTINA—It’s cheap. It’s packed full of interesting and motivational content, projects, rides, you name it. We’re not trying to get on TV, we did that. We’re not trying to make a movie. I’ll leave that to the experts. We just love women, the freedom to build anything we want and the freedom to ride forever. What could be better. I’m working on Cantina Episode number 88 right now. Tons of content is archived every week. CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE CANTINA –Bandit

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Hunter Sills Racing Earns Four World Records and One U.S. National Record at the AMA

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Hunter Sills Racing Earns Four World Records and One U.S. National Record at the AMA and FIM-Sanctioned Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials With Their BMW S 1000 RR Motorcycle Associated Press | WENDOVER, Utah – September 10, 2019 – ( Newswire.com ) Hunter Sills Racing captured five records with its BMW S 1000 RR at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Wendover, Utah, during the Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials event held Aug. 24–29, 2019. The team also earned Top Time of the Meet and Fastest Naturally Aspirated Motorcycle and increased the speed of their world’s fastest BMW motorcycle to 238.398 mph. Both riders, Erin Sills and Trev Richter of Hunter Sills Racing, earned 1000cc FIM records aboard a nitrous-powered BMW bike affectionately known as “Snoopy.” With improving track conditions over the week, the team was able to set records early, then progressively improve them over the event. Ultimately, Sills piloted the Alpine Performance Centre-built BMW S 1000 RR to 237.287 mph to earn the FIM kilometer record in the faired, naturally aspirated 1000cc class; a record that was previously set in 2014 by her late husband Andy Sills, also of Hunter Sills Racing, at 221.863 mph. Erin was later able to improve her own FIM mile record set in 2018 on the Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia at 229.265 mph, making the new mark 236.889 mph. “After the poor track conditions presented by Mother Nature during Speedweek, we were looking forward to seeing how our bike would perform on a better course,” said Sills, rider and owner of Hunter Sills Racing. “Shane Kinderis of Alpine Performance Centre put together an incredible motor which performed beautifully with the Wizards of NoS nitrous system. I also found the AirTech fairing to be incredibly stable and grounded at speed.” “Our senior race technician Curtice Thom

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Women Bikers Converge On Harley Davidson Dealership In World Record Attempt

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FREDERICK, Colo. (CBS4) – Women bikers in Colorado attempted to set a world record on Saturday. More than 430 women showed up to the Harley Davidson dealership in Frederick on motorcycles, hoping to set the record for most women riding in one place at one time. “In Colorado, women bikers are growing like a weed,” said Susan Udero, organizer of Colorado Women’s World Record Ride. “There are 88,000 bikers registered (in Colorado). How many are women? (The DMV) said 4,000 or 5,000.” The world record is held by the United Kingdom, where more than 1,100 riders showed up. While the riders in Frederick were unable to set the record, they were able to raise a lot of money for children with Autism. “It brings me great joy,” Udero said. “All the proceeds from this incredible event come directly to Firefly Autism,” said Jesse Ogas, Executive Director of Firefly Autism. Firefly Autism, based in Denver, provides support to children and families who are impacted by autism. “We work with children from 18 months to 21 years of age, who are impacted with autism,” Ogas said. “(Money raised by the event) go to scholarship families who might not be able to pay their deductibles, who might not be able to pay their premiums. These women are having a huge impact for the children and families at Firefly Autism.” Some said they were hoping to attract more women at a future ride in another attempt to set the world record. In the meantime, organizers joked they did set one record at the event. “I can get the record for the most women bikers with records,” Udero said. News Source: https://denver.cbslocal.com

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Motorcycle Makers Are Getting Hip to Women-Only Rallies

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Anxious to find new audiences after a decade of declining sales, the giants like Harley-Davidson and BMW Motorrad are finally taking notice of a self-made community. On Valentine’s Day, Sharry Billings posted a photograph on Instagram. Below the image of herself, her hair a red caramel and her smile open, she wrote: “I love you so much I wanna squeeze you!” The object of her affection? “All the motorcycles I have owned and will own in the future,” she explained. Alongside the photo of her astride a Harley-Davidson, she wrote that bikes “have changed my life, healed my soul, and brought me more love and friendships than I could have ever imagined.” Billings goes by @sistermother13 on Instagram, but the main account she oversees is @thelitaslosangeles. The Litas is a group she joined three years ago as a way to connect with other women riders in her city. She’s co-led the L.A. branch for two years. When she joined, it provided her with much-needed healing and camaraderie after her kids grew up and she got divorced. Billings had ridden as a teenager and into her 20s but took a hiatus later. “It was always in my heart,” she says. But when she was married with young children, “I thought it was a little too dangerous.” After the breakup in 2015, she found herself longing for escape. And adventure. “My prayer at the time was, ‘God, I don’t want to date.’ These men are not happening,” Billings says, laughing. “The first thing that came to my heart was the motorcycle I wanted. It was a Harley.” She bought the bike, took the ride. Then she joined the Litas. “I’m very grateful to have found my heart again,” Billings says. Founded in Utah by Jessica Haggett half a decade ago, the Litas

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