Desert Rose are proud of the fact that so many groups choose us for private group riding days. In the summer of 2021 we hosted several groups of lady motorcyclists. We have included snippets of the feedback in our rider reviews. We also feel it worth sharing one of the lady’s stories here.
Charlotte joined a Desert Rose Riding Academy course in the summer of 2021 and had an absolute blast. She has ridden in many countries, from the West Coast of the USA on a 1978 XS650 chopper, through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Greece and into Turkey on a little 125cc monkey bike.
We asked her to give us a quick run down on her motorcycle history. She was about fourteen when she first saw Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider and right back then thought that motorcycles were just about the coolest thing in the entire world. Her first bike was a little 100cc Kawasaki, and since then she has always had motorcycles in her life. In her words, shit little ones at first; mopeds, dirt bikes, rat bikes, whatever she could afford. University saw her studying Mechanical Engineering, where she even did a year working for Triumph up at their Hinkley factory as part of her degree. She was one of the team who helped put the brand new Bonneville into production.
As far as Charlotte is concerned, riding a bike is about freedom; no matter how bad it gets, if she has a working bike in the garage and enough money to buy a few tanks of petrol, she knows she can always ride away for as long as it takes to clear her mind and become herself again. Sometimes that’s an evening blast to the pub and sometimes it’s weeks on the road with a tent and absolutely no idea where you’re headed next. Even if it was just fighting the tedium of sitting in an office all day – feeling those keys in her pocket and knowing that at half past five, she’s going to be starting up her engine and opening the throttle whilst everyone else sits in their cars or on the train – that’s what made her different.