Westender

February, 2001

by Mary Francis Hill

More Than Just a Chick On a Bad-Ass Bike

Who: Fireweed, aka Lesley Gering.

What: Artist, photographer and motorcycle aficionado, compiling photographs and interviews fore the book, Women and the Art of Motorcycles, a follow-up to a 1999 calendar that sold 1,000 copies and raised funds for breast cancer. The book portrays skilled female bikers of all ages across Canada and the US, with their beloved cycles. Her art exhibit, Ride Hard and Wear a Bra, hangs at DV8, 515 Davie, to April1. Fireweeds art and book project can be found on www.motorgirl.com.

Roots: Born and raised in the Okanagan, with one brother and sister; but stepsisters and brothers bring the number to 11. Started riding at age 11. My moms an x-ray technician who used to look at broken bones all day long, and she forbade me to ride. But I had the bug. I was a rebellious kid. If my mom said black, I said white. Studied film and video at Emily Carr Institute and UBC; has worked on Highlander, Outer Limits, and mina Shums Drive, She Said. Regular photographer for biker magazines.

Rumblin gal: Fireweed is a sponsored by Carter Honda, who loaned her a Valkyrie she rode on her motorcycle-art tour. People have this idea you need all this strength, but its the opposite. You have to be more balanced. If I had a dollar for every time someone said, how can a little girl like you ride a big-ass bike like that? Id be able to buy the bike. Om. Vroom. Om Riding is a completely sensual experience. You get into this zone. Youre not worried about other cars and police, youre more worried about little animals jumping out a t you hen youre going 100 miles an hour. You get to this amazing focused space. Theres not a thought in your mind, youre so in tune with the road. Youre in a big sage field, the rain is evaporating and all you smell is sage oil. Or you go past country farmland and you smell the mustard seed. Theres no cage around you.

Boop boop-ee-Drive: (On the four-month bike/photography tour) I met a woman who was a divorcee who wa completely dependent on her husband for her entire life. She was from a wealthy suburb of San Diego. When her husband left her for a younger woman, she went into a depression for two years. One day she saw a woman riding a motorcycle and she snapped out of it. She got herself this motorcycle, and became known as Betty Boop. She got a tattoo of Betty Boop on her ass and every high-fashion dress she had she cut out a hole on the ass of it so she could show off the Betty Boop. The motorcycle changed her life, gave her a reason for living.

Youre jacked up with silicone and Im the freak?: Sturgis, Idaho, (the site of an annual motorcycle convention that attracts 500,000 bikers) is known for the guys on their Harleys with their babes on the back, showing of their bike and their babe. Most of these girls have silicone titties and theyre wearing a G-string, sitting on the back of their bikes. Its hilarious. Then I come driving up on a bike that no one can believe its like I have a truck engine on the bike. They were taking my picture like I was a freak.

More CCs Mommy!: Theres a lot more women riding. I think its because it represents independence. The youngest driver I met was Bug, who rode dirt bikes. She was four. The oldest woman I met was 90. She and pink hair, pink leather, a pink motorcycle. When she found out I was from Canada, she went nuts, because she used to be a can-can dancer in the Yukon.

Two-wheeled lama: I like bending all the rules. I like this asexual attitude, you can be a chick and appreciate chicks, and you dont need to be a dyke to do it. I think women are really sexy, and men are really sexy, and motorcycles are really sexy. And we all gotta get along.