event or celebration of our riding accom- plishments of that day. Everything we did related to the history of women motorcycle riders in the U.S. Our ride was scheduled to take 21 days and loosely cover a similar route to the original ride the Van Burens did. The following list highlights the itiner- ary for each day:
• Brooklyn, NY, to Springfield, MA: Ride kick off
• Springfield, MA: Visit Springfield muse- ums and Westover Air Force Base
• Springfield, MA, to Sayre, PA: Visit Jacob’s Ladder (Rte. 20 MA rock cairn)
• Sayre, PA, to Pickerington, OH: Reception at the AMA Hall of Fame
• Pickerington, OH, to Lima, OH: ride a Victory Lap at the Mid-Ohio Raceway during Vintage Days
• Lima, OH, to Naperville, IL • Naperville, IL, to Cedar Rapids, IA: visit the National Motorcycle Museum in Ana- mosa, IA
• Cedar Rapids, IA, to Omaha, NE • Omaha, NE, to McCook, NE • McCook, NE, to Colorado Springs, CO • Visit Pikes Peak and the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Museum
• Colorado Springs, CO, to Ouray, CO: visit Seven Falls outside Colorado Springs
• Ouray, CO, to Page, AZ: ride the Million Dollar Highway
• Page, AZ, to Bryce Canyon, UT • Visit Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park
• Bryce Canyon, UT, to Ely, NV • Ely, NV, to Carson City, NV: ride Route 50 (the Loneliest Highway)
• Carson City, NV, to San Francisco, CA: Grand Finale Party
I started the trip on a hot summer day in
Massachusetts. A small group of us (later called Holly’s Gang) revved up the trip with Ken Condon’s one-day parking lot class based upon his “Riding in the Zone” tech- niques. This class was offered on the day before the official ride kick off. The next day we visited the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History in Spring- field, Massachusetts, to celebrate the Van Buren Sisters. At this museum, a new exhibit containing historical items belong- ing to the sisters and describing their accomplishments was scheduled to open to the public. We left Massachusetts after visit- ing Jacob’s Ladder to ride Highway 6 through Pennsylvania and said hello to Punxsutawney Phil, the famous groundhog and weather prognosticator. We visited the AMA Hall of Fame to see the glory and
history of women in motorcycling and another display about the Van Buren sisters. We participated in AMA Vintage Days and rode around the Mid-Ohio track, satisfying our need for a little speed. We also visited the National Motorcycle Museum in Ana- mosa, Iowa. Are you tired yet? That was just the first ten days. There are eleven more! It went on, and I couldn’t believe the diversity of activities that Alisa had in store for us. The trip highlight for me was our ride to
the top of Pikes Peak. I had the privilege of going up first to see what the weather was at the top. We were greeted by a traffic hold two miles below the summit due to hail (in July!) and unsafe conditions. The hold was eventually lifted, and I offered to take one of my Holly’s Gang friends, Karen Salemi, on pillion with me as she was already starting to feel the effects of altitude from the delay. When we got everyone to the top, we gath- ered for a photograph and reveled in our accomplishments as a group. The Van Buren Sisters were the first women to visit the top of Pikes Peak on their ride. And finally, the ride ended in San Francisco amid the fanfare of taking about 200 women across the Golden Gate Bridge, escorted by the San Francisco Motorcycle Club. What a site we were on a beautiful California day!
(Below) Lisa Malachowsky followed by Erin Sills and Karen Salemi in Colorado. (Right) Malachowsky, Sandy Borden and Alisa Clickenger at Seven Falls, Colorado. Photography by Christina Shook,
www.cshook.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108