Front Page News (aka Yes, I Do Exist!)

Proof that Corvallis is a small town: I made the front page of the Gazette Times this morning in an article about my WITW chapter winning this year’s national safe mileage award.

Yes, there is photo evidence that I do exist!

Here’s a link to a PDF of the front page as it looked in print: GT front page – 20090128

Riding safely
By KYLE ODEGARD
Gazette-Times reporter

Local women’s motorcycle group wins award from national league

Water beaded on Stacy Brock’s sportbike as she pulled into a parking lot at Oregon State University on Tuesday.

The 28-year-old loves motorcycling and rides to work nearly every day, except when it’s icy, so a bit of rain wasn’t a problem.

“It has the potential to be dangerous,” she said. But Brock concentrates on riding smoothly, increasing her stopping distance and avoiding painted lines on the pavement.

Those safety skills have been reinforced through the motorcycle group she belongs to, Women in the Wind.

The local chapter has been honored by its national organization, and is the recipient of its 2008 trophy for the highest safe mileage.

Women in the Wind has more than 60 chapters in the United States and Canada. Each chapter combined the mileage of its top five riders, and the Northern Women chapter — which includes riders in Corvallis, Philomath, Tangent, Lebanon, Eugene and Salem — accumulated the largest, accident-free total, with nearly 105,000 miles.

“We have rules that we ride by. We encourage each other to be safe, and we discourage unsafe behavior,” said Karen Zimmermann, 50, the “web goddess” for the group.

The local chapter has about 20 members who come from a diverse mix of backgrounds, and includes straight and lesbian women.

The leading rider for the national organization was Shirley Garland, 63, of Tangent, who rode an astounding 38,979 miles last year.

“It’s the same sensation I got when I rode a horse,” Garland said, when asked why she rides her motorcycle so much. “It’s the relaxation, the smells you smell, the winds you feel. It’s just being in the open.”

While safety is a major goal of the group, there’s also camaraderie. Garland, the secretary-treasurer of the local chapter and a founding member, said she can usually find someone from the group to go riding with.

And often that person is Denise Harchuck, 51, of Eugene, who had the second-highest total in the nation, with 38,763 miles last year.

Harchuck said she probably rode at least 30,000 of those miles with Garland, including long trips.

“You learn everything about a person when you travel like that. Shirley and I are both pretty easygoing people, and that helps a lot. I pretty much learned to ride with Shirley,” she said.

Garland and Harchuck’s husbands get along, too, so the couples will often hit the road together.

Most of the local chapter’s organized rides, however, are women only.

For more information on Women in the Wind, go to www.womeninthewind.org. For more information on the Northern Women chapter, go to freewebs.com/witw-nw.

The reporter, Kyle Odegard, is a fellow rider and it’s always nice to see the GT publish a positive article about motorcycling!