The bike has opened up a whole new world for me in New York.
The City I've been living in for 9 years.
I'm not mixed up with the chaos when I'm on the bike.
I feel like I'm the observer now, which I really enjoy being
I have been able to get out of the city
whenever I want
I no longer have to rely on public transportion
to get me somewhere
I've made so many new friends on the bike
And I've also rekindled some old connections.
It's been a really great way
for me to rediscover what New York has.
My home town is a pretty small town
It's called Norman, in Oklahoma
A suburb of Oklahoma City.
The music scene in Norman is pretty cool
When I go home I like to go see
local bands play or I'll also play myself with friends
that I have been playing with for fifteen years or more
The main thing I think about when I think about Oklahoma is my family.
My family is very huge
And we all get together when I go home.
I have a very warm spot in my heart for Oklahoma because of them.
Of course, I still have tonnes of friends there
And I've made new ones since I left 10 years ago.
My uncle has been a bike enthusiast for
for my entire life and I guess his entire life.
I must have been about 8 years old, I don't remember, when I first got on his bike
And we went really fast.
He turned a corner and we came probably
a foot away from the ground and I couldn't believe we didn't just fall over onto the pavement.
I was really scared, but super thrilled at the same time.
And ever since then I just have been drawn to motorcycles.
When I finally finished my degree
I took off. It was perfect timing.
No boyfriend. No rent. No lease.
I just came to New York and
I just decided that I'd be back in two months if it didn't work out and I'd have nothing to lose.
So I always wanted to work in the U.N.
The next day after moving here
I literally walked up to the information booth
and asked them how I go about getting a job here.
It was kind of scary to move to New York.
But a month and a half after having moved here I started work at the United Nations.
A week out of every year in September
All the United Nations members come to New York
to speak and I was working in the office that facilitates the meetings.
And I was meeting all these Heads of State.
And I have pictures with all the people.
George Bush.
Condaleeza Rice. Tony Blair.
Vincente Fox. People...
I would never, in a million years, imagine I would come into contact with.
It was very exciting.
For me and for my family.
But since then...
I've been dealing with the public transportation
in New York City for nine long years.
Getting to Manhattan from Williamsburg in Brooklyn
is pretty much a nightmare.
There's one train.
One line that connects Williamsburg to Manhattan.
You are crushed.
Herded.
You don't have any control over what's going on.
There's constant noise.
It's impossible to find peace.
Before I moved to New York
my boyfriend at the time in Oklahoma had
A Honda CB 750
and I used to take his around town.
But when I got to New York I really wanted to get one.
I just decided at the time
that it was an expense I couldn't really afford.
And besides, I was kind of scared to ride one in New York City.
So, fast forward about
eight years later
I had been visiting a friend in San Fran Cisco
who was really into bikes
We were talking about them a lot and I was riding on his bikes.
And when I got to back New York City that night
I finally decided that I was going to
get my motorcycle license and buy a bike.
Later that week
a friend of mine
wanted to also buy a bike
He wanted to go to the Triumph store, so I said I'd go along.
Once I got there, the Triumph was actually
a Bonneville and was always my dream bike
So I just decided that it was
it was probably a better idea to buy the bike that I was going to be really happy with
than something that I was going to grow out of
in a couple of months
When I finally purchased the bike
the first thing that I said to myself
was "I can't believe I own a Triumph Bonneville".
It's just a beautiful bike.
Something about it is just electric.
It was just something that I never thought...
I would ever do in my live
Even though I always loved those bikes
I was like I never thought I was ever see the Pyramids in Egypt.
I never thought I would see the Panama Canal.
I never thought I would own a Triumph Bonneville!
(laughs)
When I left the Triumph shop that day
I wanted to keep riding, I didn't want to go home!
So I just took a spin around Brooklyn
and, honestly, I didn't know the streets that well
so I just kind of got lost
I went Downtown Brooklyn
It was one of the coolest experiences of my life.
It was a completely different perspective of the City
Being on the bike and
seeing people on the street
and watching them while stopped at the stop light.
Being a part of it, but in a completely different way.
More like an observer.
It gave New York City a whole new spin.
Since I got the bike
I have discovered a lot of things.
First of all, how many people in the city ride bikes
and how many women ride bikes
I disovered an all-girl motorcycle club in Brooklyn
called the Miss-Fires
I just met these women, I didn't know anybody there.
But immediately they were so welcoming.
So we have had a lot of rides together since then.
I really like forgetting about where I am and where I'm going and just being in the moment.
And watching the others
I can just get a sense of the
the bond that we're living together.
It's just great to know that there are
so many people around that
like to do something that you like to do.
And I don't drink alcohol so
it's a really good thing for me to do with other people
who also don't drink alcohol
because you can't drink and drive
"D.G.R.!"
I rode it for a few months and I started noticing
a lot of other bikes around the city that had been customised.
and I started seeing my bike in a different way.
The more I rode my bike, the more unsafe I actually felt on it.
Because it was so quiet. The stock pipes
really don't give off any noise, there's no warning that you're coming.
And I got into a little bit of an accident at one point.
Then next week after that I decided I was going to
get the new pipes, and then of course once I
got the new pipes I was going to add all the other little things
at the same time just to get it all knocked out in one shot.
I had had it for a year at that point and after the modifications it felt like
I was rediscovering a new machine.
First of all it sounded a lot better and louder.
So, I cross the bridge every day for work
and the first day I took it on the bridge
it was like parting the red sea.
Cars could hear me coming. I instantly felt safer.
I thought I loved the bike when I bought it
And I just fell in love with it even more.
When I'm riding I don't
experience the noise that I felt
while taking public transportation.
Yeah, there are some annoying drivers
and some oblivious pedestrians, but it's
it's so much of a more serene experience.
I've found a new feeling of quiet since I've been riding.
that really didn't exist before in New York City.
And even though riding in the city can be pretty stressfull...
It can be so serene at the same time.
When I get out of work and get on the bike
and head home and cross the FDR and cross the bridge
into my neighbourhood
I just forget about the stress of my day
I'm not fighting people to do anything.
I just go.
But when I get attention on the street.
When I'm stopped at the stoplight and someone is talking to me
when I'm on the bike, which is really cool because
nobody just talks to you on the street unless they want your money.
So they want to talk to me about my bike
and I just find these conversations so interesting.
Whether they're telling me a story about a bike that they used to ride
or whether they're just complimenting me on my bike
These conversations that I have periodically are
a totally new experience for me in New York City.
I can't imagine my life without the bike.
It's just such a big important part of my life now.
I feel like I'm constantly making new discoveries with the bike.
It's changed my life completely since I got it.
And I kind of get bored easily with things that I do in life.
And I never see myself getting bored having a motorcycle.
It's going to always take me to new places.
It's going to always introduce me to new people.
It's going to always spark up a new conversation.
And those are the aspects of life
that I really enjoy.
So it's the tool that I can use
to have these new discoveries.
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