From its origins in the USA in the 1950s, the Women’s International Motorcycle Association (WIMA) has grown into a worldwide association of women and motorcycles and embraces countries as far apart as Australia and New Zealand in the southern hemisphere to Sweden and Finland in the Arctic north, and from central Europe to Japan.
It was the first time I’d been involved in a motorcycling group and it was fun fun fun! In Europe there is no bike snobbery. Nobody cares what kind of bike you’re riding, they just care that you’re riding!
At the worldwide meeting in Utrecht 100 women gathered. I rode from Amsterdam to meet my German friend there, who had made the trrip with a bunch of other BMW owners from Stuttgart. The variety of women and bikes was just amazing. There were Ducatis and Guzzis from Italy, a bunch of Japanese bikes, too (France, Italy, Finland), a Swiss woman had the most beautiful custom white Yamaha cruiser I’d ever seen – white leather, white paint…it was white even down to the cable covers. There was a Bultaco (Spain), one Harley (an American expat living in Denmark), and even a few scooters.
We rode around southern Holland and camped, and had silly contents, and I think I won something in the motocross contest (riding over logs, through puddles, etc.) but I don’t remember because I was laughing too hard.
Women – if you’re going to ride in Europe, get online and see if there are any WIMA meetings in your area. You’ll love it. I don’t know what the WIMA scene is like here in the US, but I’d like to find out.
