Today for my 31 Days of Women in Motorcycling series, the spotlight is on Cris Somer Simmons. Cris has most recently given us the gift of her book, The American Motorcycle Girls, The Early Years, 1900 to 1950. This labor of love is a pictorial journey of women’s longtime love affair with motorcycling, well sprinkled with their stories, confirming that women have loved motorcycles all along.
In 1985 Cris founded Harley Woman magazine with Jo Giovannoni to give women who loved to ride a voice. She went on to write a women's colom for Hot Bike Japan for 12 years, and other magainzes, while she raised her three kids with her rock star husband of 20 years, Doobie Brother Pat Simons, who she met at Sturgis.
When I met Cris at the Women's International Motorcycle Conference in Colorado, we were talking about motorcycles, publishing, marriage, kids, and she told me, "Everybody said that when I got married and had kids I'd stop riding motorcycles and I'd cut my hair, and I did neither." She jokingly calls her husband, who shares her passion for motorcycles proudly accompanies her to events when he can, her "book groupie."
Cris is a three-time motorcycle hall of fame inductee. She's in the National Motorcycle Hall Of Fame, in the American Motorcycle Heritage Foundation,and in the Sturgis Hall Of Fame. And if there are any more hall of fames out there I'm sure she'll be in those, too, because she keeps doing stuff. For example, last year in 2010, Cris went to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina to participate in the Cannonball Endurance Run, a 3325 miles grueling coast to-coast vintage motorcycle race (pre 1916) ending 17 days later in Santa Monica, California. Cris rode her 1915 Harley-Davidson, and was only American woman in this physical and performance endurance race among 44 men and 1 other woman from Germany. Check out this video of her and Pat in their garage kicking over the bike.
Read more about Cris in this great interview in Helmet Hair magazine.
Carla King is a trailblazing travel writer, memoirist, and publishing coach dedicated to helping authors transform their stories into polished, professional books. Renowned for her solo motorcycle adventures and as a pioneer in online travel blogging, Carla’s memoirs and essays capture the power of personal storytelling. With a Silicon Valley background in tech writing, she combines creativity with efficiency, offering clear, actionable guidance to nonfiction and memoir authors. Through her books, courses, podcasts, and partnerships with writing and publishing organizations, Carla empowers writers to achieve their publishing goals with confidence and expertise.
