Host Intro: With 10% of the motorcycle riding community in the United States comprised of women, it is no wonder that all female motorcycle clubs are springing up all over the country. Gul Tuysuz of Next Generation Radio tracks one all female motorcycle club, here in the Raleigh, Durham area.
A photographic history at the All American Transportation Museum in Maggie Valley North Carolina features women riding motorcycles clad in wool dresses and scarves as early as 1905.
[Start the SONG]
Today women ride in fashion with their own time.
Leather bound on Japanese Machinery; contemporary female riders are a force to be reckoned with.
[The SONG starts here]
Queens Together is an all female motorcycle club that was founded out of the Raleigh Durham area.
The SONG (at 23 sec the song says meet the QT’s that when I bring up the volume let it play for that part then bring down the volume and go into baby girls intro)
[Baby Girl Intro]
“I’m Denise Ramseur my riding name is Baby Girl. I am the president of Queens Together Motorcycle Club. We are also called the QT’s”
She greets me at the door of her home in the suburbs of Research Triangle Park.
I’m almost too afraid to step inside for fear I’ll dirty up her pristine white wall to wall carpeting.
And I notice her carefully applied mascara on her long lashes and her diamond earrings.
But She apoligizes- she says she looks a mess today.
[Prissy2]
“Just cuz you ride bikes doesn’t mean you have to look like or smell like you ride a bike. When we stop a lot of the time when we stop we have our lotion and our compartment under our seat with perfume and things like that… lip gloss, cuz who wants to show up smelling like gas and oil”
Before I met Baby Girl, I thought a woman had to be butch, with a few tattoos, to ride a motorcycle. Baby Girl says I'm not the only one. Sometimes gawking drivers will drift into her lane almost causing an accident.
But there's much more to a QT than just her looks.
The group volunteers and raises money for women's charities.
This year's anniversary ride to Lake Wheeler Park will benefit the Interact Battered Women's Shelter.
The QT's expect to raise at least $5000.
Baby Girl will be leading the QT’s in her burnt orange Suzuki Canadian GSXR 2003 Limited Edition which She lovingly refers to as Baby.
[Garage Door Sound]
Baby Girl gets the motorcycle out of her garage
“…we just gotta move some stuff around….”
Patrice Johnson who rides under the name of Treecy is the secretary of the QT’s. She suits me up for the ride.
Getting Gul Ready (bring down under next VOX)
“Alright you want to make sure you have all the right gear cuz if you go down its not gonna be a fun experience. This is an actual riding jacket…”
My fear of the approaching ride seems silly when I learn that Treecy took her first ride as a 34 year old mother of 2. But I can’t help myself
(Bring up Gul Getting Ready)
I get on the back seat with Treecy’s help and we are off.
(Underneath Motorsound)
My arms are cramped from clucthing at Baby Girl. Im cold, im scared and I kind of understand why people would do this.
[Party Sounds]
The QT’s and their friends are arriving some drive and others ride to kick off the charity event. Almost everyones wearing a leather jacket or vest.
the QT’s stand out in their matching red white and black.
[QT AMbi]
Shimone _Daughtry (DOWTREE) also known as CHyna Doll is a systems engineer from Virginia. She calls her self a former backseater.
[Backseat start at 5 sec]
But umm I had to wait for other people when I wanted to ride you when the fever is hitting in the 90 degree weather and you ready to ride and yo gotta wait for someelse to ride you. So I figured it was time to get my own it was time to control my own on destiny.
Several of the male bikers partying with the QT’s say they respect the women because they are more than just a social club they serious riders. The President of the #1 Stunass Motorcycle Club calls himself; Rocket.
“The QT’s just have an aura about them they just a have an aura about them their style is not often duplicated.”
And maybe one day the QT’s pictures will hang on a museum wall in another time in another exhibit about women in motorcycling. because these ladies have made their mark.
I’m Gul Tuysuz with Next Generation Radio.