LVMS to host seventh annual Femmoto this weekend

Press release:

LAS VEGAS – Las Vegas Motor Speedway will host Femmoto 2008, a weekend of motorcycle riding, demonstrations and motor fashion to celebrate female enthusiasts Friday through Sunday. Femmoto is a women-only event which offers female riders the opportunity to test-ride motorcycles on the LVMS track, peruse the latest gear designed just for women, discuss the lifestyle with manufacturers and meet other women who share their passion for motorsports.

“Being involved with the biking industry for a long time, I began to see an increase in women riders, the bonding that was going on between the women riders, and the need to have an all-female track event,” said Femmoto founder Bonnie Strawser. “I wanted to get more women comfortable on motorcycles and give them a great environment to do that.”

Femmoto is hosting 11 motorcycle brands for demonstrations at the event, including Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Kawasaki, KYMCO and Triumph. Attendees are invited to ride all brands and styles of motorcycles on both the track and street throughout the weekend.

“Diversity is what we’ve been aiming for and I think this year we have really hit our mark,” Strawser said. “As there are many types of female riders out there, there are many types of motorcycles they might be interested in. Having so many brands and so many bike types will make this a really fun event for all our attendees.”

Track rides are reserved for female participants. Pre-registration slots are filling up for the closed- course demos and interested riders are urged to pre-register. The entry fee is $135 per day. Appropriate track gear is required for closed-course demos.

Last year’s event hosted more than 550 female riders and Femmoto organizers predict an increase in participation in the 2008 event.

Femmoto was created in 2001 to introduce ladies to sport bikes in a safe and fun environment. Its growth and support have allowed the event to evolve into a weekend providing women with new and exciting features including workshops, seminars and exposure to a wide variety of specialty products and services.

For more information on the Femmoto 2008, call (419) 340-3977 or visit www.femmoto.com.

A Whirl Up Whidbey Island

Saturday we woke up early and were ready to ride. With us, it is always a hard decision as to where to go. There are so many choices, and we’ve exhausted all the routes and places that we’ve already been to previously. The choices that seemed to come up were a route over on the peninsula near the Hood Canal. I have been told there are fun, scenic roads over there. The other choice was to take our first WS Ferry ride with the motorcycles, and go ride up the entire length of Whidbey Island. Since the day was already beginning to cloud up, we went for the Ferry ride and decided to explore the Island.

We left home, expecting the day to warm up and the sun to come out in the afternoon. Neither of those things happened. When we started out, it was 52 degrees.

The ride to the Mukilteo Ferry is only about 25 minutes from home and very familiar to us. When you arrive at the holding area for the next Ferry, motorcyclists are allowed to pull into the first lane and wait.

We were the first loaded, right up in the front of the vessel, and the first off. Only the walk-on passengers have more clout. They get first on and off privileges before the motorcyclists.

As soon as we arrived in Clinton, across the Puget Sound, it began to rain. We hadn’t heard that in the forecast. It was OK. I was happy for the windshield that I keep on the bike all the time. It shielded my face from the stinging rain, since I had the half-shell on. Throughout the day it rained several times. I never got wet and didn’t have raingear on specifically. My saddlebags also stayed dry inside.

We rode up the length of Whidbey Island, first stopping in Langley for lunch. It was a wonderful and exhilarating ride. The roads were smooth and looked newly paved in most areas. There are lots of easy curves with long straight stretches thrown in. The roads are either wooded on both sides or open fields and farmland. You really don’t know you are on an island except when you catch a glimpse of the water in the distance once in a while. We caught a quick look at a giant wild turkey on the side of the road, which was totally unexpected. We rode north until we stopped at Deception Pass, which eventually connects the Island back to the mainland near Anacortes.

The bridge is high enough to allow ships and tall sailboats to go underneath. Down below the water is treacherous and very ‘deceiving’. Thus, Deception Pass. There have historically been many vessels capsized and loss of life in this area.

We decided to take a turn towards La Connor and ride through the farmland and fields of the Skagit Valley where they grow all the tulips. Instead we found a lovely field of iris, which are in bloom right now.

I love that road! We kept heading south towards home and found an Old Pioneer Highway that was new to us, but followed parallel to the Interstate. Finally, we had to take I-5 out of Silvana and had a nice freeway ride home in the rain.

It was a very fun day and I love riding those types of roads. Of course, there were hundreds of other bikes we passed throughout the day. All were waving and smiling. We were gone for 5-1/2 hours and rode 154 miles. …… What a great life we have!

Ladies, Get Out There And Ride - May 2

Back in December I felt compelled to write an article about International Female Ride Day. You can read the entire article here.

It seems just like yesterday, and now the day has arrived. Tomorrow is officially the day for females to get out on their motorcycles in force, and RIDE. You don't have to be part of a group or club, although there will be plenty of organized rides for those of you involved in such things. Since I have to work Friday, I will be riding to work, rain or shine. Then I will probably get out for a scenic ride after work if the weather holds.

Women are enjoying motorcycling more and more so here is a day to celebrate. Those of us who ride all year can still get out to make a statement to the world, 'We are women, hear our motors roar!'

You men can get out on your bikes too, and take in the scenery of all the women out tomorrow.

Enjoy!

International Female Ride Day 2008

Women riders are finally being recognized as a significant part of the motorcycling world. Female riders have become the fastest growing market in the motorcycling industry. In 2007, organized by Motoress in Canada, a National Female Ride Day was born. When word went out that the event was going to happen, women across Canada and the US started contacting each other to arrange to ride together on May 4, 2007. They made history. Slated for the first Friday in May each year, plans are to continue and grow the event.

The organizer of the campaign, Vicki Gray is a former European female motorcycle racer, instructor and coach whose been riding since 1983.

The aim of the campaign is to raise female rider awareness, promote those who already ride, while simultaneously encouraging other females to take up the activity," says Vicki Gray, campaign organizer. "The 'day' places a spotlight on female riders," she adds.

She asks women to get on their bikes and "JUST RIDE". No matter what style of motorcycle – sport, cruiser, scooter, dual purpose, street, off-road or dirt – National Female Ride Day aims to highlight the many numbers of females currently active in motorcycling and heighten awareness of female riders, inspiring those who have not yet taken it up.

Next year it will officially become an International Event which will take place on Friday, May 2, 2008. We women who ride should make sure that on that day, no matter what the weather, we should band together and be out on the roads. That is the only way younger women and others who have never considered riding will see how fun and appealing it is, and they may discover they have a passion for riding too. I was inspired by following a female on a motorcycle one day coming home from work. She handled the bike so smoothly up our curvy roads and I was pretty impressed. A couple of months later I signed up for the MSF beginners’ course.

The event will become larger each year, and is supported by nearly all of the major motorcycle manufacturers. Local small groups may organize, as they did in 2007, as well as more established women’s riding clubs. I wonder if there will be motorcycle parades anywhere that day………

Here is a nice YouTube video showing some of the ladies who rode in the First National Female Ride Day 2007.

Windshield Weekend

My Vulcan windshield came in that I had ordered the day of the motorcycle purchase. It was very large and I was worried that it might be too big for me to see the road clearly.

Not to worry……I assembled the windshield and put it on a few days ago. It has rained here constantly since then so I was waiting for a window of opportunity to ride with the windshield and see if it made a difference in handling, etc.

I was also a little concerned that if I rode on a cold, foggy morning that the windshield would fog up and I would be blind to the road. One of my fans (I think it was my brother) suggested that I use Rain-X glass treatment to help the water bead off and hopefully the fog wouldn’t collect. I bought the ‘wipes’ and treated the windshield inside and out, the mirrors, and all of our other bikes mirrors with one ‘wipe’. It was easy and didn’t hurt the plastic that the windshield is made of. I’m going to try it on my face shield for the same reasons.

The windshield is optically correct.....you can hardly tell it's there!

I took the bike out for a ride after its treatment, and ‘dude’! I really love this motorcycle. The windshield is great, with no distortion. At 5'3" I am looking through the area about 8" from the top of the shield. It was overcast and around 40 degrees. I didn’t dress warm enough and wore my favorite leather gloves. The ride was awesome, but my hands got so cold I decided to head back home because it was getting painful. I never learn that I need to overdress on the bike, just to be comfortable. It was a wonderful ride anyway, and there should be a couple of dry days this week when I plan to ride to work.

My ride looks pretty good with its new windshield……