KELLY’s KORNER: Welcome KELLY TEAL to the starting grid!
Last Updated: April 1st, 2024
TEAM Arizona is excited to present motorcycling from a fresh, new perspective with a female slant provided by the one and only Kelly Teal!
To start things off, we thought we’d have Kelly introduce herself to the TEAM Arizona family!
Hi. I’m Kelly Teal, a rider since mid-2007 and longtime professional journalist. I’m excited to come at you each month with a column on motorcycling from a woman’s perspective. Here’s why you give two figs:
I’m neither the most nor least experienced rider. I realized later in life (okay, my early ‘30s) that motorcycling was for me, too – not just for the guys or the women whose dads got them on bikes at age three. A lot of women seem to share my background. Not all of us are Elena Myers (that lucky girl).
I do more than ride. Motorcycling makes up just one of my many passions and pursuits. In other words, I am not consumed by motorcycling. I am a woman with diverse interests and responsibilities; what’s great is that riding tends to fit into many of them. And yes, I still drive. Few of us have the lifestyles to accommodate going 100 percent car-free. However, I will say that my husband and I have shared a single car for six years now because we are both riders. More on that in a future column.
I heart TEAM Arizona. This is where I took the Basic Rider Course and earned my endorsement. The unexpected part was, after I got my “M,” my husband, Tealdo, became an MSF Rider Coach and a Total Control instructor. Who knew that my deciding to ride could so dramatically reshape my life, and my husband’s? Since 2007, I have taken the BRC, ART, CRC and Total Control Level 1 classes at TEAM AZ, and attended a number of Skills Practice Series events. Pursuing training opened me to the privilege of participating in two – and the third, this October – Total Control Track Clinics on Horsethief Mile at Willow Springs Raceway. Rider training keeps me in touch with my weaknesses and strengths. If I’m going to put myself out on the roads with crazy drivers and other hazards, I want to ride with knowledge and skill so I come home in one piece to my husband and dogs.
I live by “Ride your own ride.” I am not the fastest rider, nor am I one of those women desperate to impress men. Instead, I am adamant about adhering to the phrase, “Ride your own ride,” and I think more women riders need to learn to feel at ease with that message. Again, more on this in a future column.
I have fun. Someone who embraces the nickname “Kaboose” has to have a pretty awesome sense of humor, if I say so myself. Why Kaboose? It started in early 2011, watching MotoGP with friends. We each chose two racers; at the end of the season, the person whose racers accumulated the most points would take home bragging rights. Race after race, my riders – Ben Spies and the gone-too-soon Marco Simoncelli – kept me at the bottom of the tally. The hilarity (Marco’s death excepted, of course) of that perpetual standing, and the ribbing it fostered, one evening landed me the distinction of “Kaboose.” And the name sticks because of my own stubbornness. Each MotoGP season, I continue to choose Ben, he continues to fail me, and I predict he and I will perpetuate that cycle until he retires. Plus, when you factor in that I’m seldom the fastest rider, “Kaboose” holds its own outside of MotoGP.
We’ve got lots to talk about. Confidence. Track riding. Solo trips. Gear. Riding with someone you discover you don’t enjoy riding with. And much, much more. Until next month!
