Bessie Stringfield fought for civil rights and equality by doing what she loved despite the struggles and danger that came with riding motorcycles.
Bessie Stringfield: African American Queen of the Road
Sunday Mass Hosted by ESMB
After the shoot with Shaik Ridzwan, I finally made it to a Sunday Mass event at Deus ex Machina in Venice Beach. This time hosted by East Side Moto Babes and taking place after the big Venice Vintage swap meet (website) and VVMC ride, the parking lot was completely packed. Sunday Mass was literally massive.
Bikes of every style, riders of every experience level. So much fun was had!
Above photo from Deus’ instagram.
Julian Heppekausen’s super loud pea shooter wearin’ BSA- my friend Karissa was standing right behind this when he fired it up. She jumped and her hair all blew back, it was amazing.
Deus’ BBQ’s up burgers and served up beer, coffee, and sodas. I especially enjoyed my massive intake of caffeine in the form of a large iced latte and glass bottle Coca Cola.
This custom Monster parked next to Pandora… it was a Monster Mash!
There were so many amazing women riders there, it was pretty crazy. MotoLady overload!
Misty and her husband Shad came down from Bakersfield, I’ve featured her on the website a few times and finally got to meet her at the MotoLady three year anniversary party. It was awesome to see her again.
A great example of why motorcyclists dating/marrying other motorcyclists is a match made in heaven; That lovely helmet was a Christmas gift to her husband, custom painted by Ornamental Conifer. What a lady!
I spotted this cute, very petite bobber when up came Liz, who I mutually follow on instagram. She was kind enough to pose for a photo.
It’s a 1986 Honda Rebel that she customized herself. So rad.
Later in the day I ran into Renee Renee Gunter, who I have featured many times on the website, with her bike Bones and her helmet complete with MotoLady sticker!
I took off shortly after on the Monster, once I hooked up the iphone speedo. I’m using an app called WisePilot- it gives you GPS directions, speed, speed limits and warnings when you go over them, trip records etc. I plan on making a nicer mount for it, but in the mean time I got one of those arm bands and strapped it onto the top triple clamp. Just had to make sure it was definitely out of the way of the steering stem and neck.
On the way home I stopped to take off my sunglasses and top off at the gas station, right as the sunset got it’s prettiest.
☣
Posted on March 18, 2014 in Motorcycles by Alicia Mariah Elfving