Women Riders World Relay

Never could I have anticipated that it would feel this powerful, I had just signed up to join the ride and meet the girls and yet there I was – one of the Guardians carrying the baton from Zaragoza to Andorra. However, symbols are powerful and should not be underestimated. Slowly, woman by woman, this baton had made its way from John O’Groats in northern Scotland, via Ireland, Wales, England, France, northern Spain and Portugal. Hundreds of women before me had held the baton, signed the scroll and passed it on. And this was just the beginning, onwards to the north and then to the east and further east, on to Australia and New Zealand, over to Canada, down through the Americas and finally up through Africa. This week it all ends in Dubai and next week we’ll have the final party in London. I can’t wait to meet all the women I have met through the WRWR, Women Riders World Relay – a game changing idea by Hayley Bell – that the world of women motorcyclists came to embrace and ride for.

My first contact with Hayley was shortly after she put her idea up in a woman’s motorcycling group on Facebook. As the purpose of the WRWR and the aim of WIMA overlapped in large part, I contacted her immediately when I saw the message. I wanted to help in my capacity as international president. Please boil down the essence of WRWR into one paragraph so I can help spread the word, I asked Hayley. “We co-ordinate women motorcycle riders across the world to participate in Women Riders World Relay, bringing fun, experience, confidence and a sense of unity to women riders globally” was her answer. The overarching goal for WIMA is to promote international friendship through motorcycling, so yeah, there you go, match made!

My own actual riding participation in the relay was small, just one leg, but the experience was great. I met the Spanish Ambassador Eva and the girls in Zaragoza. I had arrived late, riding straight from work, but just in time for the interview with the TV crew broadcasting live on national TV. Our ride to Andorra was a breeze, nice weather and pleasant food and coffee stops, no hardship at all. However, when we arrived in Andorra it was raining and the team from Andorra, Penya Motorista L’Esquirol, had been waiting for quite some time at the border. They were cold and wet but very welcoming. They escorted us into the city where we were welcomed by people in general and the mayor in particular. The high street was closed off and there were photoshoots, meet and greets and then, off to our hotel. Muntza, the Andorran Ambassador, had arranged everything very neatly and we were very well taken care off. At dinner, I learned that the French girls taking over the baton were actually WIMA France members, amusing as I had tried to recruit them to WIMA before finding out. On the other hand they tried to recruit me to the following leg, and I had decided to tag along but a severe headache put a halt to that plan and I had to wave my goodbyes in Andorra de la Vella while they rode on towards Italy.

The WRWR team in Zaragoza
Muntza and Eva
Muntza and Eva
Eva showing us the scroll that is inside the baton
Eva showing us the scroll that is inside the baton
The French WRWR team

Back home, networking continued and now, by contrast, I was contacted by women who wanted to bring their country’s WRWR participants together under the WIMA flag. WIMA Norway was initiated by Emilija and Ann Kathrine did the same for WIMA Luxembourg. In the meantime, the baton was kept moving through northern Europe despite rain and snow. The baton continued on through eastern Europe and into Asia. I kept a close eye on the progress and followed the informative and entertaining daily live videos provided by Colette, the amazing Australian who was determined to follow the relay for as long as she could.

French ripple relay on WIMA Day

Summer came and I arrived in Sweden to spend some time with family between jobs. Simultaneously with the world relay, many countries arranged ripple relays with the purpose of involving all the areas that the baton had not been able to reach. As I had enjoyed being part of the kick off for the French ripple relay on International WIMA Day back in May, I thought that it was a pity that there wasn’t a ripple going in Sweden. Lots of people had shown disappointment that the relay didn’t come to their area or that they were not able to take part on the actual days the relay passed. I thought that there would be enough interest to make a ripple happen, if only someone would kick start it. I was thinking all these things while I baked the traditional midsummer cake for my father and when I put the cake in the oven I thought, why could it not be me? By the time the cake had baked I had made up my mind, I would do it!

The Swedish WRWR Ambassadors, Ina and Berit, had already arranged a reunion ride in Gothenburg on Midsummer Sunday and they let me take advantage of this as the kick off. I had a day to prepare and set up the Facebook page with information about the ripple and about its philanthropy. I had decided that the ripple would raise money for MJ Piki, a female workshop and transport service in Tanzania. I hoped to raise 327 euros, enough to pay for the full driver’s license training, paperwork and test of another woman rider.

The kick off went overwhelmingly well and people were very positive. Slowly the flag, together with a guestbook and a roadmaster t-shirt, made its way up north, all the way to Trerikesröset, where Norway, Sweden and Finland meet. One of the riders, Margareta, hiked 20 kilometres to make it to the actual point. In Stockholm, 1500km to the south, Susanne organised a ride within the very heart of Stockholm, at 5am, when the city was still asleep! The flag was then taken over to Gotland for a ride and some iconic photos by the mediaeval city wall of Visby. It then continued further down to Skåne, before finishing at WIMA Sweden’s autumn meet near Gothenburg, covering a shade over 5000km over 23 riding days with around 90 participants in total. There, Ina took the flag on a final tour on frosty roads before sending it off to Hayley. The roadmaster t-shirt and the guestbook have now been auctioned and in total we have raised about 750 euros for MJ Piki. As this is a lot more than the initial goal, we can contribute to the general running of their workshop.

The MJ Piki riders

Of all the things I set out to do last year, I must say that the ripple relay is what I am most proud of. For the ripple, just as for the relay, my riding contribution was small, but my main work was behind the scenes, networking and connecting people. The WRWR has been a very intensive experience where I have communicated with so many women, literally from all over the world, and I look forward immensely to seeing some of them in London on Valentine’s weekend, when we celebrate our achievement and of course Hayley – the woman who was brave enough to dream big.

Versya, Hayley and myself at the International WIMA rally in Derbyshire

WIMA rally in Derbyshire, England

Finally it had arrived, yet too soon it would fly by, the International WIMA Rally, that I’d been looking forward to since buying my ferry ticket back in February.

Parade day! Photo courtesy: Okunishi Sonoko

It is hard to capture the essence of a WIMA rally in words and do it justice, I struggle every year while typing up my blog post. WIMA is an organization with a long history, indeed it will be celebrating its 70th year in 2020. The international rallies started in 1958 and I’ve been attending them since 2005 (Sweden and New Zealand) and I’ve become addicted to them – but what is it that brings me back year after year and makes me plan my summer around being able to attend the rally?

Our international rallies are always a shade under a week, arrival on Sunday but official opening on Monday night. This includes the welcome dinner and speeches, and a party. During the week we have trash night with silly performances, the parade with national flags, visits to local cultural places, suggested ride outs and a treasure hunt, disco, live music and more. It ends on Friday night with a farewell dinner, awards and presentation of next year’s rally. Departure is Saturday morning. There can be some variations to the content during the week, but I would say that the opening and closing evenings are rather fixed structures, as is the parade. Quite a lot of stuff is crammed into the rally week, most of them included in the fee, plus you get a goodie bag. I love the way we have lots of social activities on offer and I can choose to take part or just hang back and chill with friends, some I only meet every two or three years. 

If I were to choose one element that I valued the most from this year’s rally, it would be re-connecting with old friends, making new friends and meeting some famous people.

For the opening cermony WIMA GB had invited Anna Zee, president of FEMA, to give the welcome speech. What a treat to be seated with her during dinner and learn about motorcycle culture and FEMA’s work in different countries. It was so interesting that we re-filled our wineglasses and withdrew to continue our discussions in a more quiet place. I believe there was a band on that evening that I missed.

The red wine was very tasty and I ended up in the office, having a few more glasses while discussing motorcycle travelling and rallies with Tiffany Coates and Caroline Carver. Tiffany has attended plenty of Horizons Unlimited events, so has Caroline (she is also the organizer behind the massive HU event in Baskerville Hall in Wales). With this background, their view on WIMA rallies interested me, what they found similar, different and the demographic of the participants. We concluded that the events are vastly different. The HU events are based on presentations and workshops whereas the WIMA rallies are based on social activities, fun and games. In addition, many of the HU attendants are round the world travellers, in WIMA most of us are more modest in our distances but still dedicated travellers.

So, already on the first night I had met 3 famous people! This resulted in a serious headache the next day, totally self-inflicted by too much delicious wine – Carolina and Tiffany had no blame in that at all, nor had Anna. The next day was a busy one, oh dear: first a visit to the Blue John Cavern in the morning, then an assessed ride with an IAM instructor after lunch, followed by the Pikilily presentation, national presidents’ meeting and dinner back-to-back. Sometimes it is difficult to understand how it was possible to muster the energy for all the things scheduled but somehow I managed to get through it all.

Some rock information: The name of the stone, Blue John, comes form its colors and the fact that there were many french miners working in the mines in the early days. In french blue is bleu and yellow is jaune 🙂 linguistics is fun! Blue John is only mined in 4 places in the world, all in this area, there were quite a few circumstances that needed to coincide for the stone to be created therefor its rarity. In a few years’ time this cave will be fully excavated and from then on only used for guided tours.

Our excellent IAM instructors! I got Linda Ashmore and I know hear her voice my head when Im riding, which is a good thing! Btw, Linda is also famous! Photo courtesy: Keiko Osawa.

Throughout this summer the weather has been rather chilly wherever I’ve been (apart from a few days in Spain and France). England was no exception, we had plenty of rain and some rather chilly nights when I had to layer up with all my clothes to stay warm and cosy in my tent. I slept well, though, and my tent didn’t leak. I find it super cosy to be snuggled up in my sleeping bag listening to the rain. A side-effect of the rain was the slugs, more about that later.

Clear sky and full moon – we’re in for a cold night at the campsite. Photo courtesy: Sue

Losehill Hall was a perfect venue for the rally, especially for such rainy weather. Lots of rooms, nooks and crannies where we could socialise indoors. For example, Sue and I spent a long morning drinking mug after mug of coffee and catching up on things. Then we dragged Georgina with us to take in the view from Lose Hill. 1 1/4 of a mile, yeah, we were all sure it was much longer. It was admittedly quite a hike and I wasn’t quite prepared, wearing my running shoes and woolly long johns however my new Knox Olivia jacket kept me warm and dry. In fact, I wore the jacket all week, both on and off the bike, very flexible piece of gear!

Another highlight of this year’s rally was meeting Hayley Bell, founder of the Women Rider’s World Relay, and listening to her talk about the relay and beyond. As international president of WIMA, I have been involved from the start and spent a lot of time networking both within WIMA and for the WRWR and I have followed its development with great interest. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the next step will develop. The WRWR can best be described as a movement and it is highly dynamic, involving and connecting women from different cultures and countries and broadening the horizons for everyone. As well as showing the market how many women we are and that we want better adapted products, the relay is showing us how many strong women there are out there and how different our situations can be just depending on what country we are born in. In Western Europe we want gear without pink and at the same quality as men’s gear. In Pakistan they want gear, any gear, because the availability is very poor. This gives greater awareness of the inequality in the world, we might not have the gear we want, but they don’t have anything.


One way that WIMA as an organisation is making an immediate impact is by our support of MJ Piki. We were fortunate to be able to hear Anne talk about the latest development in the Pikilily workshop and the progress of the women riders at MJ Piki. There are now 6 trained women and WIMA continues to support them, aiming to raise money for the training of another woman and to fund a motorbike. The rally successfully raised money for MJ Piki – the fundraising was split between our official WIMA World support project and the Derbyshire Air Ambulances, a local charity. So we are working towards our goal already. We also collected protectors that can be sewn into their riding gear, I find it amazing how crafty they are in creating their own riding gear when there isn’t any on the market.

On a more personal aspect of women empowerment, Tiffany Coates held a workshop on how to keep yourself safe and how to act in a dodgy environment. We learned about how to show security through body language, break free when held by the wrist and other tips to deter an attacker. The old tip, key between your fingers, was something I used all the time when running the trails in the Gothenburg suburb where I lived before moving to Spain, but I had no idea how easy it can be to break free from a wrist grip if you know how to do it. Tiffany was fresh back from India, where she led a ripple relay from Chandigarh up to Khardungla, probably the highest altitude ripple ride yet performed – they called it “the Ultimate Ripple”. I hope that, in the future, I will have the possibility to travel with Tiffany in India on one of her tours. She is an inspiration, and it was amazing to finally meet her, she is such a humble person yet extraordinary. As you can see, I had to take some photos of her famous bike Thelma as well.

Too quickly, the rally began drawing to a close. There was the farewell dinner, awards ceremony and concert, this time I didn’t miss out! Thor – the gods of rock kept us well entertained with their 70s and 80s rock, they’re seriously one of the best cover bands I’ve seen.

The first impulse of me and many others was to photograph or film the band, later on the dance floor was full with rocking women!

Thank you WIMA GB for an amazing rally, you did brilliantly!

Also, please accept my humble thanks for the “Slug in the boot award”. Very much appreciated 😀

WIMA Rally Estonia

The activities were endless and the week passed very quickly: Live band and dancing every night, yummy food and tasty drinks, treasure hunt and visits to manor houses, bog walk and swamp water tastings, parade with 200 motorbikes, castle visit and medieval culture, fundraising in aid of women less fortunate, camping and crispy cold nights… and most important of all, meeting old friends and making new ones. This is what I love the most about WIMA rallies.

This year, for the first time, I had to fly in to a European rally. Sadly, my bike had to be stored away in Barcelona and I got on a flight and flew the 3300 kilometres to Tallinn. This might not be common knowledge, but the vacation periods differ vastly in Europe and in Spain the holiday period is August, so when I return home my official holiday begins and I’ll be heading up into the Pyrenees for riding and camping, taking advantage of the lovely mountains we have so close to home. But I’m getting ahead of myself. At the moment, I’m still in Sweden visiting my parents, my sister and her baby, relaxing with friends and savouring the good memories from the WIMA rally. Since I was working until the Saturday before the rally, I had the pleasure of getting home from work every evening checking Facebook, following others’ journeys and reading about good fortunes and motorbike breakdowns. I could see how friends from all over the world slowly made their way towards Estonia. I could see what weather they had and where they were staying for the night. Likewise, now after the rally, I can follow my friends, en route back home, with pleasant detours to make the most of the journey and finding enjoyable roads to ride and places to see while I spend time with my parents, who I haven’t seen in a year.

Everyone makes their own memories, here are some of mine:

The venue had a large field for camping and I was happy to use it, there was a hotel for those who sleep better in a bed. The night were insanely could though - coming from a temperature above 30 it was quite a shock for me. Luckily, I was saved by friends who lent me a blanket and thermals. I always sleep best when my nose is cold, but I want to keep my body warm.
The venue had a large field for camping and I was happy to use it, there was a hotel for those who sleep better in a bed. The nights were insanely could though – coming from a temperature above 30 it was quite a shock for me. Luckily, I was saved by friends who lent me a blanket and thermals. I always sleep best when my nose is cold, but I want to keep my body warm.

Svata Vatra - one of the amazing live bands we danced to. I even got their CD. i love bands who use lots of strange instrument, if they can do it in a rock style even better.
Svata Vatra – one of the amazing live bands we danced to. I even got their CD. I love bands who use lots of strange instruments – if they can do it in a rock style, even better.

Liv and Val - my team for the treasure hunt. We had an excellent day trying to be clever and resisting the temptation of googleling the questions. The countryside in the north west of Estonia is beautiful, and as you can see - the weather was windy :)
Liv and Val – my team for the treasure hunt. We had an excellent day trying to be clever and resisting the temptation of googling the questions. The countryside in the north west of Estonia is beautiful, and as you can see – the weather was windy 🙂

A beautiful place to stop for a coffe. Some come and some leave, there was constant movement along the treasure hunt route. Here is Syl on her way just as we arrive.
A beautiful place to stop for a coffee. Some come and some leave, there was constant movement along the treasure hunt route. Here is Syl on her way just as we arrive.

How many suitcases are there? I counted them 4 times and got a different number each time. The suitcases symbolises the amount of luggage the emmigraters had with them.
How many suitcases are there? I counted them 4 times and got a different number each time. The suitcases symbolise the amount of luggage the emigrants had with them.

Estonia is famous for its manor houses, we saw a few of them and I must admit that they are impressive and the gardens are fantastic. Worth mentioning is that you can stay in this manor house, there are ensuites as well as dorm beds and the price is not bad for what you get. In comparison, it is about the same as a hostel in central london but I belive the ambiance is a lot grander.
Estonia is famous for its manor houses, we saw a few of them and I must admit that they are impressive and the gardens are fantastic. I enjoyed walking around the grounds trying to find the facts required for the treasure hunt. Worth mentioning is that you can stay in this manor house – there are ensuites as well as dorm beds and the price is not bad for what you get. In comparison, it is about the same as a hostel in central London but I believe the ambience is a lot grander.

Again, impressive grounds and here we were invited to view the rooms as well. I enjoyed walking around the grounds trying to find the facts required for the treasure hunt.
Again, impressive grounds and here we were invited to view the rooms as well. I enjoyed walking around the grounds trying to find the facts required for the treasure hunt.

A seminar on traffic culture in different countries was offered and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Here is Keiko, national president of WIMA Japan, talking about Japanese trafic culture, prejudice against motorcyclists and potential road sign confusion.
A seminar on traffic culture in different countries was offered and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Here is Keiko, national president of WIMA Japan, talking about Japanese trafic culture, prejudice against motorcyclists and potential road sign confusion.

Bog walk - here you needed to be light on your foot and only step where the guide allowed us to, or we could disapear into the bog. An amazing nature experience. The water was clean and purifying, we could swim if we wanted, too cold for me although some were brave enough to dip in. I settled for a drink from the water and a splash on my face.
Bog walk – here you needed to be light on your foot and only step where the guide allowed us to, or we could disapear into the bog. An amazing nature experience. The water was clean and purifying, we could swim if we wanted, too cold for me although some were brave enough to dip in. I settled for a drink from the water and a splash on my face.

The parade is my favourite activity during a WIMA rally. Here is Margaret from Australia flying her ossie flag.
The parade is my favourite activity during a WIMA rally. Here is Margaret from Australia flying her Aussie flag.

The Swedes are dressed uniformly with pink WIMA Sweden vests for this occation.
The Swedes are dressed uniformly with pink WIMA Sweden vests for this occasion.

Chris from WIMA Austria volunteered to fly the banner during the parade, here with Maura, national president of WIMA Poland and my good friend Fokje from the Netherlands. We all come together under the WIMA banner :)
Chris from WIMA Austria volunteered to fly the banner during the parade, here with Maura, national president of WIMA Poland and my good friend Fokje from the Netherlands. We all come together under the WIMA banner 🙂

The week passed so quickly and too soon it was all over. Then we missed each other so much so we got to gether for an after party :) Thank you Kaialiisa for inviting me!
The week passed so quickly and too soon it was all over. Then we missed each other so much so we got together for an after party 🙂 Thank you Kaialiisa for inviting me!

This was the Estonian WIMA rally represented in pictures, I wish I had more photos to share with you, as always, the photos don’t do the event justice.

Below, I’ll share some links where WIMA and WIMA members been interviewed by the media:

From the pre-rally which I sadly missed. Pat and Sheonagh from WIMA GB were interviewd by the local newspaper in Pärnu. 
From the pre-rally which I sadly missed. Pat and Sheonagh from WIMA GB were interviewed by the local newspaper in Pärnu.

On the local TV channel TV3: WIMA Rally parade and visit to the Rakvere castle. Contains interviews with Keiko, the national president of WIMA Japan, Elsbeth member of WIMA Switzerland, Liv, member of WIMA Australia and Anneli, national president of WIMA Estonia. It starts with an advert, then scroll forward to minutes 21.20 – 24.54 for the relevant section of the programme.

Photos from the parade in the local online newspaper Virumaa Terataja.

Interview with Sheonagh from WIMA GB in Virumaa Terataja.

Before the parade, a little jig. Kindly posted on YouTube by Veronica Vefur.

Coverage of the parade with some great footage in the local car magazine Accelerista. (Thanks to Gerli, WIMA Estonia, for sending me this link and the following!)

YouTube video by Hannes Arus, showing the entire group when arriving in Rakvere finishing the parade.

And the media attention doesn’t end here, members of WIMA Curacao were interviewed at the Jögevatreff, Estonia’s largest bikemeet which took place the weekend after our WIMA rally.

Lastly, I am proud to announce that I have been elected international president of WIMA. I look forward to working further with female riders worldwide and strengthening our sisterhood. Perhaps less time for the blog, but more time connecting with women motorcyclists.

Thank you Carola, president of WIMA Sweden for this photo!
Thank you Carola, president of WIMA Sweden for this photo!

Next year, our international rally will be held in Finland and I look forward to travelling there and meeting my friends again. But WIMA is more than a one week rally once a year – it is an endless possibility of networking, building international friendship and connecting with female riders all over the world.

Updated with new links to different media coverage, you’re welcome to contact me if you know of anything else I could add and share with our WIMA community.