UK & Ireland exclusive: Ladies of Harley (March 2019)

ALL THE LATEST NEWS AND UPDATES FROM THE LADIES OF HARLEY

The start to this year continues to be full of activity and the upcoming months promise to be jam-packed with even more adventure! This was evident at the recent H.O.G.® Road Captain training held at the H-D European headquarters in Cowley, Oxford. These training weekends provide H.O.G members an opportunity to meet their peers and to enjoy some relaxed yet extremely informative time ‘in class’ before spending time out on the road putting into practice new skills or to expand on qualities brought with them. Participants make new friends – seeing contact details being swapped, Facebook profiles being shared and arrangements being made to meet up at a rally somewhere is extremely rewarding. The latest course saw two Ladies of Harley taking part. It’s always encouraging to see female riders becoming more involved, wanting to give something back to their Chapter, to assist with their Chapter’s rally rideout or become more involved in a Sparkle Tour – always inspiring others.

Hopefully Chapters are on board with Ride 365 and the H.O.G. UK & Ireland Chapter Challenge by now. Some Chapters kicked off the new season by incorporating it with a challenge of a different kind – those BBQ and Bake Off gatherings sure do pull people into Chapter’s sponsoring dealerships and help raise funds for local charities – a great way to promote your Chapter within your local community.

To help clock up those miles, I, like everyone else, am certainly looking forward to the rally season getting underway; the opportunity to catch up with H.O.G cousins is always an exciting prospect. With the Cider Rally kicking off the season it will definitely be a chance for ladies to be out on the open road for International Female Ride Day (IFRD) on Saturday 4th May and take pleasure in that much loved helmet space that we each enjoy.

Already this year, the interest in other initiatives, tours and adventures for female riders has been remarkable to see.

The first of which is the Women Riders World Relay. This unique initiative to literally ‘pass the baton’ to others started at Scotland’s John O’Groats at the end of February, passing through Ireland, the Midlands, the Ace Cafe and Gillingham before heading to Europe and 90 countries during the course of the year. This exceptional ride will see women riding not just Harley-Davidson motorcycles but all brands of motorcycle. These ladies not only share the spark, but fuel the fire at the same time!! Again, always inspiring others. For more info have a look here: womenridersworldrelay.com

For those female riders attracted to a long weekend tour a little nearer to home, the 2019 TOUR1 Bubbles & Chocolate Tour in France, or the Sparkle Tours in Scotland, North East, Midlands, East or South West regions have received a lot of attention this year. Growth has been encouraging so watch this space as plans are already underway for tours in 2020.

But ladies, wherever you are and with whomever you chose – on any day of the week, just get out there, ‘ride and have fun’! Just be sure to share your pics to: HOGUKandIreland@harley-davidson.com or via the HOGUKandIreland Facebook page.

Share the Spark

Elaine Shepherd
National Chapter LOH Officer, UK & Ireland
ChapterRepLOH@harley-davidson.com

Spring is now upon us and many chapters are about to host their Chapter Sign Up Days. Whether you are a new or existing H.O.G. member joining a chapter can be a big step – one that can bring even more enjoyment to membership.

Taking part in rallies with your chapter is always great fun, allowing you to celebrate good times together. And not just with your own chapter but, with others across the globe. We all have the same enthusiasm and adventure in our veins; nothing beats being out on our Harleys and feeling the wind in our face and the road beneath our wheels.

February’s glorious weather took us all by surprise and it was great to see so many out and about so early in the year. However, March saw wintery weather return, reminding us that it’s not quite ready to say goodbye. So how about getting to grips with some more detailed planning of the routes of rides that you will be journeying on in the months to come? It certainly reminded me to check my riding gear, so that whatever season I’m riding in I’m prepared.

I’m always excited to meet fellow Harley riders on my travels, particularly if they’re part of H.O.G, and to learn about their particular riding habits and the gear they employ. This enables me to make informed decisions when in the market for something new.

I love looking in the merchandise section of the many dealerships I visit, checking out their new stock. The glove section is a personal favourite and in particular new styles seem to capture my attention first. But then I have to think whether they will meet all my expectations and requirements as a pillion rider. I ride in almost all weather conditions and I don’t always want to be thinking I will have to change my gloves. So I ask myself, are they water resistant? Breathable? Will they keep me warm? Do they have any reflective stitching so that I am visible at night? What kind of material are they made from? How do they rate in their ease of movement and comfort? This is just one of the basic bits of riding gear. There are others of course. Helmets, jackets, trousers, boots and base layers - they all have their own specifications. So it’s great to ask questions of the specialists who are serving you about them. From what I have learnt they just love to share their knowledge - enabling us to make the correct choices.

We’re now one month closer to September’s National LOH event. The Sparkle and Twinkle tours are a great opportunity to connect with others and share a weekend together. The Sparkle Tour is for those ladies who ride and the Twinkle tour is for pillion riders who ride as a couple. This is a unique opportunity to engage with other ladies who share the same passion as you. It’s now only six months until we get together and ‘Share the Spark. There are three Twinkle Tours available this year and although there are some spaces left on all the tours, if you are thinking of taking part - get in touch soon as places are limited.

Those wishing to participate on the Sparkle Tours email Elaine Shepherd at chapterreploh@harley-davidson.com and those wishing to participate on a Twinkle Tour email Lorraine Seedhouse at chapterrepassociateloh@harley-davidson.com

I hope to see many of you out and about during the year. Stay safe and have fun!

From the Rear Saddle,
“The Dudette”
Lorraine Seedhouse
National Associate LOH Officer, UK & Ireland
chapterrepassociateloh@harley-davidson.com

Clyde Valley Ladies Night

Every year at the start of the new season, Clyde Valley Ladies of Harley have a night out to welcome any new members and discuss the season ahead. All the ladies are asked to provide suggestions of things they would like to do each month during the year. This year we had 19 ladies attend, including two newbies. It’s difficult to find a night to suit everyone, but as long as everyone enjoys themselves then it’s always worthwhile. We ended up having such a good laugh this time that we didn’t have enough time to discuss future events! However there have been a few good ideas that I’m following up.

We have a great bunch of ladies in the group who all enjoy a night out and are willing to help whenever asked. I couldn’t ask for a better bunch!

Janice Graham
Clyde Valley Chapter

Geordie Chapter Garage Day

A garage day has been something I've been interested in organizing for a while. I’ve tried previously but it didn't materialize.

However, I thought I'd give it another try. After chatting with our Chapter’s sponsoring dealer, we came up with a format, starting off with safety checks followed by basic bike maintenance. Then we picked a date and I put the event to all our ladies, including pillions.

I've got to say I was a little nervous on what response I would get as I know the partners of most of our 26 ladies who ride, clean and maintain their bikes for them.

On the day, 9 ladies turned up to what was a very informative morning. Lots of questions were asked around basic bike maintenance - including tyre pressure, oil and fluid levels. We finished the morning off with 'how to pick up a motorcycle' demonstrated by one of our Chapter Safety Officers, giving us the opportunity to have a go. Most of us have seen the ‘how to’ video but actually doing it is definitely worth trying - even though it's something we never want to have to do for real!

Trish Gillespie
Geordie Chapter

Maintenance Day at Plymouth

At the end of last year one our ladies, Emma North, asked me if it was possible to arrange a day at the dealership to learn a little about how to maintain and look after her bike. At our next committee meeting I asked our Dealer Principal, Chris Iris, if it was something the dealership would be okay hosting. He said he was more than happy to help and would arrange for one of his technicians to come in on a Saturday morning.

We penciled it in for 2nd March as I thought it would be a good thing to do before the riding season got under way. Chris had said we would need to have about six people to make it worthwhile so, after promoting it in our weekly chapter updates, we had 15 chapter members taking part - six ladies and nine guys - which was really great.

Everyone met up for a 10am start and it lasted for about three hours. Dave, the technician, started with the safety of the rider and having the right gear and the importance of changing your crash helmet every few years. Assisted by his apprentice, Luke, we then moved onto pre-ride checks including oil, tyre pressures, lights and indicators. They also went into fault finding, using the correct oil, etc.

Everyone came away from the day with a bit more knowledge about looking after themselves, and their bikes and all said they enjoyed it.

At the end I gave everyone a certificate to say they had completed the course. These where done with the help of our web mistress Mel Jones and her mum, who did a wonderful job writing the names.

We had fantastic feedback from the group and I would recommend other chapters to arrange a similar event with their dealership.

Penny Weeks
Plymouth Chapter