Sandie Reynolds: A Woman Motorcyclist on the Move!
Last Updated: April 1st, 2024
This month, in the spirit of Women in Motorcycling Month, we wanted to highlight a TEAM Arizona graduate and female rider in our midst. We found her story to be very special and unique in its own way, yet familiar to a lot of female riders. Here is her motorcycling experience in her own words:
I started riding because I became friends with a group of riders from work. They invited me to come out on a couple rides as a passenger, and I really enjoyed it; enough to make me want to see about learning to ride. I heard of T.E.A.M. Arizona through them, and looked it up online. At the time the Introduction to Motorcycling course was being offered at a very reasonable rate, so I figured I couldn’t lose! Having never operated a motorcycle in my life, I was surprised to find out in that 4 hours class I was on a bike riding around the course, and absolutely loving every moment of it. I knew then I needed to do this!
A few weeks later I signed up for the Basic Ridercourse. The classroom instruction was eye opening and very clear. It gave me valuable detailed knowledge about the motorcycle, its controls, and how to maneuver the bike in normal and “sticky” situations, but there’s no better way to learn to ride then to actually get on the bike and test out that book knowledge. The most wonderful thing about learning to ride with T.E.A.M. Arizona is the closed course. It can be challenging at times to coordinate learning to ride a motorcycle, but on an empty open “road” with instructors that know what they’re doing, I felt safe and could focus my time on mastering my skills, and less on obstacles on the real road. I was able to learn so well that I passed the road test with a perfect score, and received my motorcycle endorsement that day (well after going to the DMV the next day).
My first bike, and still my current bike, is a 2007 Kawasaki Ninja 650r. She’s beautifully blue and absolutely perfect for me after just a bit of altering to fit my 5’2″ shortness. I lowered her about 1 1/2 inches, and raised the handlebar about 1 1/4 inches. She has enough power for me to take her on weekend trips up north. She can certainly fly up those mountains! So far my favorite trip since getting my own bike was a weekend trip to Prescott. We took a much longer route through Payson and Camp Verde, and I can’t say enough about the ride into Payson on the Beeline. The swerves, climbs, and downhills are simply too much fun! (As you can see, I love the speedy stuff).Looking into the future, I can certainly see myself riding into my retirement years and beyond (considering I’m in my 30’s, that’s many many years from now). I’d love to one day upgrade to a Ninja 1000, but that will be a few years still. I may need to eventually move into a cruiser style bike, but that will be way down the road for me, I just simply love the sport bike! I do plan to take more courses at T.E.A.M Arizona to enhance my skills as I become a more confident rider. The more practice and knowledge I get, the more safe I’ll be out on the road.For other women entering motorcycling, don’t get discouraged! At times it may seem intimidating, but we can ride right along with the best! Motorcycling is not only for the adventurous men of the world, we can ride too! You may need to shop around a bit more if your interested in a sport bike and you’re a bit on the short side, but with a little altering you can make it work. I’m extremely thrilled to be a Woman Motorcyclist. I would’ve never known how amazing it is if I didn’t take a chance and straddle a bike for the first time on my own.
