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Biker Chicks rumble into town for a cause Providence Journal, July 2, 2007
The ladies rumbled into town yesterday as part of a charitable motorcycle ride that took them from northern Rhode Island to Providence, raising money for Day One's Children's Advocacy Center. It was the inaugural event for the all-female club's Rhode Island chapter, which was started this spring. The Boston-based motorcycle group, now four years old, is just like any old-fashioned Harley club, except for a few key rules: members must be female and must ride their own bikes. For too long, women got relegated to the back of motorcycles, passengers of whatever man was driving, founder Cookie Belcamino says. But as any biker chick will tell you, the driver's seat is the place to be. With the idea for the club in mind, Belcamino thought up the Biker Chicks name in a 3 a.m. epiphany. It was that or Biker Babes, and frankly, Chicks sounded cooler, she says with a laugh. Their motto, "Come take a ride with us and become a chick for life," has attracted more than 150 members in three states. Apart from the camaraderie it offers, the group raises money for women's charities, something Belcamino thinks has brought in participants on all kinds of bikes. The Boston club donates its proceeds the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition. When Attleboro resident Joy Richard started the Rhode Island chapter this spring, she designated Day One as its charity of choice. Each time the group does a fundraising run, the money goes to the Advocacy Center, the Day One program that assists in child-abuse investigations. "I'm a sexual-assault survivor, so it speaks to me and it touches a lot of women," Richard said. Yesterday morning in Lincoln, the low grumble of engines mixed with the sounds of laughter as the ride got under way. There's nothing like riding with an all-female crowd, said Kathy Johansen — it's less intimidating, but it's also lighthearted. Like so many women, Johansen used to ride pillion with her husband, Ralph, until he suggested she get her own bike. "Now it's just me, my bike and an endless ribbon of road," Johansen said. "When you're in a car, you can't feel the wind on you. But on the bike, you can actually smell the flowers. There's nothing like that." As she and 14 other women mounted their motorcycles for the annual ride, they brought along cash donations and some fluffy passengers: teddy bears to donate to the Advocacy Center. Together with corporate sponsors, they donated more than 100 teddy bears — to be given out to children who come to the center, as a way of calming fears and making little ones more comfortable. It was an unusual sight: leather-clad biker chicks with pink bears strapped tight as they roared off down the highway behind a Providence police motorcycle escort. An hour later, the group motored into Providence tired but energized, their horns blaring. "This was wonderful, and hopefully it brought some awareness to sexual assault," Day One's Jennifer Wheelehon said as she greeted the riders. Comparing notes from the road, the women promised to be back next year, when the event is expected to grow. "The best part was being with the other women," Johansen said, shrugging off her helmet. "And it's for a good charity. I was lucky to be brought up in a loving home. Not everyone is." |
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