Husqvarna Helps Women Ride Out and Discover Dirt

By Ian Kelso, Contributing Editor

More and more women are riding motorcycles. According to recent figures from the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) in the U.S., the total number of female riders doubled between 2003 and 2014 and females now make up at least 15% of all motorcyclists on the road.

Off-road biking is changing fast too, both in competitive sport and recreation.

This trend has been gaining even more momentum over the past couple of years according to Victoria Hett, Marketing Specialist with Husqvarna Canada and a former champion enduro rider herself.

As more women see themselves represented in the motorcycle community, the more likely they are to become active participants.

This was the inspiration for Husqvarna to team up with the Bytown Motorcycle Association (BMA) to host Women’s Ride Out, a day of dirt riding on the trails of Limerick Forest about 80 kms (50 miles) south of Ottawa, Canada.

“We just really wanted to bring women and like-minded people who love motorcycles together in a low key atmosphere that’s not intimidating,” said Hett.

As BMA Treasurer and event co-organizer Sascha Lange puts it: “A lot of ladies don’t want to come out to group rides because they are afraid they are going to be the slowest one and that they are going to hold people back.”

She adds, “they are always afraid the guys are going to go too fast and not stop.”

SUNNY SATURDAY AFTERNOON

The event, which took place August 27th on a sunny, hot Saturday in late August in Limerick Forest, attracted about fifty women ranging from seasoned riders to complete newbies. That number was matched by the addition of another fifty friends, spouses and support crew filling in the former gravel pit at the centre of the forest with a caravan of bikes, tents, trucks and trailers.

Limerick Forest is a 5782 hectare (14,300 acre) country-owned forest that features 40 kms (25 miles) of single track trails and 40kms of dual-track trails. It is maintained in partnership with the ByTown Motorcycle Association, a not-for-profit member-based organization of trail, dual sport and trials riders.

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NERVOUS AT FIRST

Emily Harris, a grad student and therapist for children with autism from Ottawa, heard about the event through a colleague. Though she rides a Harley Sportster, and grew up on a farm riding 4-wheel ATVs, she had never really tried dirt riding. Arriving that morning with a friend, she was worried that since they didn’t own dirt bikes they wouldn’t be able to participate.

She was very pleased that Husqvarna was able to set her up with one of their demo bikes. She says she was a little nervous at first though, but once she got rolling she was able to relax.

“I was a little bit apprehensive riding around all these people. Then I realized, anytime we were out on the trail they stopped and let me go,” said Harris.

FINDING OTHER WOMEN WHO RIDE

Tiffany Hong has been riding dirt for two years now, but doesn’t have her street license. She says she was introduced to the sport through her husband. She says that at first she wasn’t supportive of his decision to buy a bike.

“One day I just kind of said why are you biking, this is ridiculous, it’s such a dangerous sport.”

She says she made fun of him until one day he said “you know what, don’t knock it till you try it”.

According to Hong “I took one course, fell in love with it, and a week later bought my own bike.”

The Women’s Ride Out was the first riding event Hong had ever attended.

“I don’t know many women who ride so it’s kind of awesome coming out here and meeting other girls.”

CREATING THE COMFORT LEVEL

According to Hett, the social environment was critical to the success of the event. To that end the organizers paid special attention to hospitality to make everyone feel comfortable and relaxed. That included a BBQ lunch complete with fresh vegetables, gourmet dessert squares, a snack table, and a boutique ice cream kiosk supplied by Mr. Wilson, a specialty ice cream vendor from Montreal.

“That’s kind of the idea, to make it inviting for people and have some enjoyable aspects to it like that so you don’t have to go out and ride, you can sit in the lounge area and have an ice cream and visit, so it’s fun even if you are not necessarily riding a motorcycle,” said Hett.

GROWING THE COMMUNITY

According to Lange, who is a four-year veteran of the BMA Board of Directors and a weekly dirt rider, it was her experience leading women’s group rides in the mountain biking community that lead her to want to see if it would work for off-road riding. At first she started doing smaller off-road rides with other BMA members, but then realized it might work on a larger scale and potentially even attract new members.

“Having ridden with a few other ladies in the group, and gotten a good vibe, I figured we should actually expand this to all the ladies in the BMA and actually everybody who’s not even a member yet” says Lange.

She says she has noticed that women have traditionally tended to be BMA members in affiliation with another male member of the household, but that lately this has started to change.

FIRST OF MANY TO COME?

Hett says that this is the first women’s ride event ever sponsored by Husqvarna Canada, but that they would definitely consider doing it again.

“This was kind of the first event to see how it goes and if it was well-received and we have good feedback then that would encourage us to work on making it bigger and better next year.”

Event participant Emily Harris’ evaluation?

“They were great. Everyone was great on helping me get started. Got great tips from the people at Husqvarna. It was wonderful!”

Husqvarna and the BMA had better start planning for next year.