Introducing MissRIDER.
I have a deep thirst for extreme motorcycle touring. 49,000 miles in 3 short New England seasons riding my beloved Triumph Bonneville has not quenched this thirst. During the summer of 2012, I challenged myself to ride through 9 countries, 23 American states in 60 days from Boston, Massachusetts to the Panama Canal. These included Sturgis, South Dakota and Toronto, Canada. It was a tremendous accomplishment for a woman solo rider. I am a high school teacher and my students love to listen to my stories of the challenges I encounter during my adventures solo riding in North America. – MissRIDER
Participating in the Bennington Vermont Triumph Bash 2013 afforded another opportunity to meet more amazing people from all over the United States, the East Coast and Canada. As a participant in the Triumphrat.net forum, I have learned that Triumph enthusiasts are a unique collection of amazing people, spanning the spectrum from traditional cruise riders to twisty-devouring sport riders, from café racer-loving rockers to dirt-loving ADV riders, and everything in between—all united by our love of British motorcycles.
Armed with previous camping experience and knowing that Triumph riders are unique people, this year, for the first time in my motorcycle riding career, I was brave enough to load up the luggage on my Triumph Bonneville with Nemo Moto 1P camping gear to participate in the event alone. It is a small tent but enough to provide a dry place to sleep with my motorcycle riding boots tucked away inside a large plastic bag to keep dry outside of the tent. I shared a large camping area with other riders and the experience left me with some new found camping knowledge. Women commented on how brave I am to ride alone to a campground to share it with total strangers. A small task of setting up an air inflated tent that normally takes 20 minutes took hours to set up due to the warm welcome by both men and women at the site. They approached me with such interest to talk and meet as they heard about me in the Triumph forum. It was a humbling experience.
The typical sharing of a camp site with fun loving people left me exhausted the next day. My bike was in need of new tires, a rear sprocket and combined with the lack of sleep, I was not able to truly appreciate the riding experience offered by Vermont roads. However, riding into town to meet the “tall girl on the bird” (as she introduced herself on the forum) and hundreds of other Triumph riders kept my energy level going. The tall girl organized a group of Triumph Thunderbird motorcycle riders, thirsty to burn a few tanks of gas. Off we went, carving beautiful routes down 9, 100, 155, 103, 4 and 12 in central Vermont. The roads offered spectacular scenery with twisting, challenging roads at times, no covered bridges, but plenty of rock covered rivers alongside them.
I have been on hundreds of group rides with men in my motorcycle riding career. Never have any stopped to see birds in a sanctuary. Yes, this group did. I did not enter because I don’t like seeing birds in cages. That is why I ride a motorcycle – for the freedom and air. When I drive my truck, I feel caged, just imagine the birds. Perhaps they went to see the birds to symbolize that they feel like birds when they ride their amazing Thunderbird motorcycles, hence the name Thunderbird as the Triumph motorcycle model.
$25 for a buffet dinner resulted in winning a t-shirt, a wonderful spread of food and loads of attention from Triumph riders that wanted to meet the legendary MissRIDER (muah!!). I gave away the t-shirt as a small token of appreciation to a wonderful man that had been buying me beer during the evening. It was welcomed by him. I met the Triumprat forum “cookie man” that offered cookies but did not have any for me, go figure!! He is a wonderful man and he will make sure he saves cookies for me next year if my schedule presents the luxury of time to participate in the event.
After a wonderful breakfast, pure Vermont diner style with the broken juke box; the ride home was challenged by a quick ride up to the highest peak in Massachusetts, the Mount Greylock summit. My ears were popping inside my helmet on the ride up to the summit to enjoy spectacular views.
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