I’m back in London for a bit and had the opportunity to visit the Ace Café yesterday when female bikers set two new Guinness world records, one for the largest all-female bikers meet and the other for largest all-female ride out.
A huge organisation was set up to register and count all women arriving, they were filmed and given a sticker with their number. Betwen 9am and 2pm a total of 618 women aging between 10 and 73 arrived. Of these, 251 joined in for the ride out. This greatly smashed the previous records and needless to say the event was a great success.
Sadly, the Ace Café had to close early due to an individual (male) who did a burn out on the public road. The cafe has notices informing that the police have the power to close the Ace Café down due to anti-social behaviour and that it is each and every individual’s responsibility to not make this happen. Annoyingly, it seems the police thought the presence of such a high number of women bikers had triggered off something amongst some male bikers and they thought it best to close the place down. However, I think it is important not don’t give focus to the shit-heads who are out to disturb. The event was a success and I believe we all had a very good time mingling and making new friends and at the same time showing how many we are and that the market need to cater for our needs, for example regarding appropriately fitting safety gear. We are still a minority but we are to be counted with.
Here’s my summary in pictures, enjoy!
On the premises were the British racing icon Maria Costello as well as the traveller and author Zoë Cano, which gave diversity and as well as inspiration. Zoë rode her Bonneville across the Americas “On The Roads Less Traveled”. I have her book on my shelf and I look forward to reading it. It is available from Amazon among other places.
The women behind this event are Sherrie Wolf and Nimisha Patel and I want to end this post by expressing my admiration! Well done girls! You did it, pulled it all together and made it happen. I think this new record will stand for some time!
If you want to read more about the background of the event click here.
If you’re interested in reading more about the event I recommend this article: 618 women set new bike record
Lastly, I’ll link to a youtube clip from the event, I do think that the title is misleading and, again, I want to emphasise that the main thing happening this day was the female gathering and the record breaking that took place. Nevertheless, the video is a good watch.
