Twisty Sisters Riding Club USA

Women making their marks on motorcycles

Article from the Dahlonega Nugget
By Terrie Ellerbee

That word, “empowers,” is spoken often when women talk about motorcycle riding. Ask a man what he enjoys about it, and the word is more likely to be “freedom.”

If it was freedom from their wives and girlfriends they wanted, men will just have to learn how to fly – and fly fast. Women are drawn to the beauty and power of motorcycles, and many are no longer content to be passengers.

It was when Karen Hillman and her husband, John, a long-time Honda Gold Wing fan, took a safety course together that she first thought about riding her own bike.

The course, offered by the Gold Wing Riders Association, was designed to show passengers – typically women – what to do should something, say, a heart attack, happen to the driver of the motorcycle.

“I took the course to find out what he was doing,” Karen Hillman says. “Then I wanted to drive my own machine. I fell in love with the fact that I could do it.”

For his part, John Hillman, an electronic design engineer before he retired, likes the idea. He is a “support member” of Women on Wheels (WOW), a national group of female motorcycle enthusiasts. John got the designation of support member when he helped a woman whose motorcycle had a flat tire.

Hey, these women never said they don’t need men, they just don’t need them to drive their motorcycles for them.

A local chapter of WOW, called the Georgia Mountain Riders, meets at 10 a.m. the first Saturday of every month at Toosy’s Way Station in Dahlonega.

Karen belongs to WOW, the Georgia Mountain Riders, and another group called the Twisty Sisters, a national association for women who like to drive “twisty,” curvy roads. Karen Hillman’s group consists of 10 Twisty Sisters.

The 3rd Annual Twisty Sisters Rally was held at T.W.O. (Two Wheels Only) in Suches Aug. 15-17. A portion of the Twisty Sisters Rally was devoted to first aid and how to right a fallen motorcycle (a problem women, in particular, fear).

The women who ride are serious about safety. While nearly all the 10 who took the trip ride sport bikes for their agility in the “twisties,” none would risk life and limb just for a thrill.

Karen Hillman takes an Experienced Rider Course almost every time she buys a new bike. (The Kawasaki is her fourth. She began riding seven years ago.)

Judy Meecham, owner of She Rides, an apparel and gear shop for the female rider, is the hub of the local Twisty Sisters. She pulled nine women together to go to the Women and Motorcycling Convention in West Virginia last year.

It was an experience none of the women can properly describe. They just smile instead.

When riding with their spouses, they feel a little pressure, Meecham says. Men tend to offer women unsolicited advice. Women talk to each other more about the beautiful scenery or how well they took a curve. It’s a different level of enjoyment.

But Karen Hillman has not abandoned men. She is an honorary member of the Grumpy Old Men’s Club at Mountain Home Bake Shop because she possesses her motorcycle license.

(“They,” the 61-year-old Karen says with a giggle, “ride like old women.”)

And she certainly has not abandoned her husband for strictly feminine biking. She and John take off this week for their annual month-long motorcycle trip. They are going to Niagara Falls, the Great Lakes and Canada. They have in the past gone to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, to Crater Lake in Oregon, took the Lewis and Clark Trail and visited Mount Rushmore.

On their bikes they saw Glacier National Park in Montana. They’ve been to Pike’s Peak and to Yellowstone.

Life is fleeting. Karen Hillman and many other women have found that riding their own ride is one way to live it to its fullest.