To those of you who tried to get on WomenRidersNow.com today, you probably figured out that you couldnt. Well I couldnt either. There was a storm in the Dallas area that caused a major power outtage that made my Web site go down. “How could that be,” you ask, “when youre in Montana.” Yea, I wondered, too.
Yesterday while watering my yard, I found a baby bird that had fallen from his nest, struggling for his life. I live on more than an acre of land, and there are at least a dozen bird nests hiding in the corners of my Spanish-tile rooftop. Every spring there are several casualties.
Backroads With Betsy: It Takes Your Breath Away
According to the rally pins I collect each time I go, the last Daytona Bike Week I attended was in 2002. Other than the fact that there was more attention paid to women riders – yea! to the Harley womens parade – and more trikes on the road, the rally looked pretty much the same to me.
Last year I dedicated a column to my relationships with the best friends with whom I have been fortunate enough to share the best years of my life. I was on the plane en route to Katmandu to attempt to climb Mount Everest and was feeling particularly grateful for the people who have been with me through thick and thin and the challenges that life inevitably presents us with.
Backroads With Betsy: Backroads With Best Friends
Since I started Women Riders Now two years ago Ive been on a treadmill and the treadmills been running between fifth and sixth speed. For those who regularly use a treadmill you know thats between a jog and a run. Fellow entrepreneurs can relate, Im sure. Running your own business is fulfilling, fantastic, and fanatical. You work more than you play, fortunately motorcycling is a “fun” business so it easily merges with the “play” part of life.
If religion is for people afraid of going to hell, and spirituality is for people who have already been there, then I have a distinct need for both. Most people who ride a motorcycle are extremists on some level. I have a hunch that most riders have seen a little of their own personal hell in one facet or another.
Backroads With Betsy: Jesus Would Have Been a Biker
This past week I purchased a new motorcycle. This is a big deal because I havent owned a brand new motorcycle since I purchased my 1994 Dyna Low Rider in 1994 – 18 years ago! Thats crazy! Ive been test riding new motorcycles for the past eight years so I havent really needed a new motorcycle for myself. When I was without a test bike, my Dyna filled the bill just fine.
When my best buddy, Genevieve Schmitt, told me she was coming to L.A. to conduct a women-only “Garage Party,” I was curious. If you took the boys away from Sturgis or any other motorcycle event, Im not sure it would hold the same allure. Motorcycles and boys sort of go together nicely. I have to admit, a motorcycle event without them almost seemed like an oxymoron to me.
Backroads With Betsy: Motivation from the Garage
Theres only a few days left to enter our WRN Thank You contest. The contest ends on December 31. Be sure to click on the big box on the home page, or the link on the left that says Thank You contest for all the details on winning four great prizes including an Arai helmet worth $500!
I dont know about you, but somewhere along the line, I became a creature of habit. Id like to think of myself as spontaneous and open to change, but the truth of the matter is, I know what I like, and I like what I know. I flipped out this week when one of my favorite restaurants took their delicious honey mustard dressing off the salad bar.
Backroads With Betsy: Learning to Love Change