A motorcycle ride with an aim to empower women

Michelle L.

July 24, 2017

Photo credits: USA2Ride

Alisa Clickenger has helped organized a cross-country motorcycle trip, namely the Sisters’ Centennial Motorcycle Ride, for women in order to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the most amazing ride by two sisters from Brooklyn, New York, which were Augusta and Adeline Van Buren.

The two sisters rode motorcycles more than 5,000 miles across the country in 1916 to prove that women were able to withstand long distances and harsh conditions as well as men.

Photo credits: AllEvents.in

“The ride was important to me,” Clickenger said as quoted from fayobserver.com.

“It was the realization of a long-held dream of mine to lead a group of women across the United States on motorcycles. Seeing nearly 250 women on motorcycles in my rearview mirror riding over the Golden Gate Bridge was epic — something I’ll never forget. It was very emotional for me.”

The ride also helped Clickenger demonstrate what her company, Women’s Motorcycle Tours (WomensMotorcycleTours.com), could accomplish.

Photo credits: Womens Motorcycle Tours

“For me, part of riding motorcycles still is the challenge of embracing the unknown, the mastery of machine and also facing my fears and meeting the challenges of an extended motorcycle adventure.”

“It was the first time I’ve seen so many manufacturers (Indian and BMW among them) come together for a common goal — promoting women and motorcycling. It was wonderful.”

Genevieve Schmitt, founder and editor of the online magazine “Women Riders Now”, believes that the “copycat effect” is established in order to increase women riders. She stated that the effect meant that ‘If she can do it, so can I!’

“Personally, I feel we’ve kind of seen an exponential growth in the 11 to 12 years that I’ve had the site,” Schmitt said.

“There is a whole new market of young girls in their 20s who have taken up riding that we haven’t seen, really, in history.”

Clickenger’s main aim is to empower women and provide a change in stereotypes.

Photo credits: Rider Magazine

“My company tagline is life-changing experiences on two wheels,” Clickenger said.

“The bottom line is it’s about empowerment, and the feeling of freedom — freedom from our fears, freedom from societal constraints, freedom from our own self-constructed, pre-conceived constraints, and breaking those boundaries.”

“The joy I finding bringing women together to ride and explore and become empowered through mastery over machine is what drives me,”

“It’s been really fun watching the ripple effect, how the cross-country trip affected them and their self-perceived limitations about what’s possible for them in their own lives.”

Photo credits: Concord Monitor