MotoLadies unite! Hannah Johnson, me, and Janell Mattson outside MotoCorsa. We’re holding the book “Chicks on Bikes” by Christina Shook.
Chicks on Bikes by Christina Shook
Stories of Bike with MotoLady
Behind the scenes photos from the MotoLady + Stories of Bike photo and video shoot in Ventura County.
Just over a month ago, Cam Elkins of Stories of Bike (storiesofbike.com) was visiting Los Angeles all ze way from Australia for a couple projects- and luckily for me he had some spare time to meet up and film an episode for season three! He wanted to get some still footage of the Monster, riding shots, and interview stuff. So the first day, we got some grub, headed back to the shop and filmed some Pandora glamour shots, some interview stuff, and plotted the next couple days. The following morning we grabbed breakfast and headed out toward Ojai to the 33 for twisties and lookouts. That’s where we found the pretty sunset and spot in the photo above- in Los Padres National Forest.
Cam Elkins of Stories of BIke filming the MotoLady Ducati Monster
On the side of the road for some still shots along highway 33, a friend of Cam’s drove by, pulled over, and came to say hello. They know each other despite half a continent’s space between them- and ended up running into each other outside Ojai in the country. How crazy is that? The motorcycle community never fails to amaze me.
Please note- yes, I am wearing the Killer Bee + MotoLady Monster tank top… haha! My monster, next to my Monster. I’m such a dork.
I spoke with Caroline that evening after I got home and asked if she would bring the DualSporty out to be in the video, and luckily for me she had a day off work! The stars aligned, and she joined us for the third and final day of shooting. Cam’s flight was somewhere around 6p at LAX, so we had to work fast to get what we needed before he split somewhere around 3p. Keeping it close to base camp, we headed to the Ventura State beaches for some drive by shots and stills.
Caroline and I zipped back and forth on our sparkly V-Twins (ssshhhh Ducati people don’t go into the L-Twin stuff) making some [fantastic] noise along the way. As we rode side by side behind the rental car and camera rig- I looked over at Caroline and the DualSporty in all their glory. It was magical. I finally got to see Blondezilla on the Blondezilla Harley- and they fit perfectly. It was great to see my goal in the build come to fruition- it fit her like a glove. Not only physically speaking, but in attitude as well.
After conferring with Cam about one last run- I noticed a Police SUV creeping in the distance. I say creeping because he kept sloooowly inching his way toward us in the parking area on the side of the road. I knew at that point we were going to be having a little chat with him in the very least. As we rode again, side by side, this time with Cam and the rental car right up on the tail of our bikes (as planned) for the last footage- the biggol SUV cop rig jammed itself between the bikes and car and lit us up. “I pulled you over because your license plate is sideways, and I can’t see yours at all.” [insert stern face here] There was then a long discussion about the legality of LED lights and spacing of blinkers, blahblahblah. He was nice, and I have all the respect for Police in the world…. but– when he realized that Cam was actually with us, and we were doing a video, he proceeded to then tell Cam not to follow so close because “if one of them went down, you could run them over and kill them”. Well, yes, that’s completely true. And if you did not realize that he was filming us with the large camera strapped to the hood of the Silver 4-door mom-vehicle, how in the world did you not pull him over for a completely outlandishly tiny following distance? Truly, he was probably 2-4 feet from our rear tires, which we planned for… but if he was some stranger riding the ass of the motorcycles on the road- WHAT?! I mean, pull that guy over, not the bikes! Dang man, dang.
Either way, I’m not mad about it, I understand Police are doing their job. It just boggled my mind, honestly.
Cause I mean really, look at my license plate. It’s not like it’s visible. And actually, I’m working on a fix for that right now. It wasn’t intentional, it was the lack of forethought regarding plate clearance. Go me!
After our little run in with Johnny Law, we happily headed back to the compound for goodbyes and pack-up.
Big, huge, heaping thanks to Cam Elkins for making time to come work with me, and to miss Caroline Patterson for riding all the way out to the coast on almost no notice. You guys rock, and it was a blast.
Photos by Cam Elkins of storiesofbike.com, copyright 2015.
related: more DualSporty project | Stories of Bike
Posted on May 20, 2015 in Blog, News & Features by Alicia Mariah Elfving
Looking forward to the film…………Great to see our Aussie “Stories of Bike” fellas caught up with my favourite “MotoLady” 😎
Keep it up Motolady! Your an inspiration to allot of people out there..All of us at Von Baron Motorcycles and Watsonian Squire USA support your work! ROCK oN ! Motolady !! Rock ON!