With adventure motorbiking being a mostly male-dominated community, it’s pretty rad to see how this stigma is slowly fading away, with more women tackling the rough terrains.
We have been following the travelling adventures of The Travelling Tortoises, as they take the scenic route through Southern Africa.
We are thrilled to share Cissy’s story of how she got into the nomad life, how she faces challenges, tips, and interesting anecdotes.
1. What initially sparked your interest in adventure biking, and what do you love most about it?
What sparked my interest in adventure biking might be quite different than what you would expect, especially because we are doing it full-time. I did not have any interest in adventure biking! So why am I doing this now in our daily lives? Because it gives me the opportunity to explore places with myself in control. Let me explain it quickly: When we decided we wanted to change our lives, our fully equipped land cruiser was standing right outside of our house. It had a rooftop tent, a fridge, drawers, basically everything. A very easy and comfortable option. But I asked my husband one question that changed everything “Will you let me drive the cruiser fully loaded once we leave?’ The answer was as I expected, “No, I would not feel comfortable with that.’ As a European, I was used to being independent and doing my own thing and being a full-time “passenger princess” was not part of that. So, the over-landing idea was scraped. Werner now saw an opportunity; he already had an adventure bike for a while, and he loved the off-road adventures he could experience with it. So, he mentioned the idea: ‘If you want to ride yourself, why not do it on motorbikes and you can get your own? ’At that stage I had never been on a motorbike, I did not even have the slightest idea how to start it. But I liked the fact that I could ride myself, while we still travel together. So, we made a deal, I do a half-day course learning the basics and if I liked it, we are going to do this on motorbikes. The course was a success, so we bought me a motorbike a couple of months after the first conversation.
2. Have you faced any challenges as a female adventure biker, and if so, how have you overcome them?
Funnily enough, challenges I have actually only experienced the manufacturing side. There is not much choice for woman riders in gear (jacket, pants, boots, etc) for adventure riding. In Street riding and even motocross, there are already more choices, but for what we do there are minimal options. But I am wearing man/unisex clothing, so that is not the end of the world. Also, a lot of motorbikes are heavy and/or high, which was a challenge for me as a new, short, and light rider. I felt there weren’t many options that I could comfortably start with. But further than that, I cannot think of many other challenges specifically as a female adventure biker. Actually, I had the feeling that it is easier to start as a female adventure rider because the (mainly male-dominated) adventure biking community is much easier on a woman. Men are much harder on each other, and they immediately compare you to other more experienced riders and how you need to “toughen up and just do it,” Women riders seem more encouraging.
3. What has been the most memorable adventure or experience you have had while biking?
In the bigger picture, this whole year has been a memorable adventure! But if I had to pick one day it would definitely be the day, we got stuck in the deep sand on the many gates’ road just outside of Prince Albert. That was also the first hard crash I had. It all started perfectly fine, and the first few kilometres of deep sand actually went pretty well. I never experienced deep sand before and everybody always told me “Pick up speed and get the weight off the front wheel,” so I did, and it was fine. But then I hit a very deep section, underneath the sand there was a stone ridge that was invisible. My front wheel hit that stone ridge at full speed and my bike started to wobble, I did not have the experience to straighten the front wheel and I went down, face first, into the sand. I flew about 2 meters over the handlebars at over 50km/h. Luckily there were no major injuries, and the bike only damaged some plastics and the front indicator. But that day just got started and it became more and more difficult. With a bruised confidence, my sand riding skills disappeared, and we paddled through most of the deep sand. On average we managed to do 30 km in 3 hours… and at 40 degrees heat, we quickly ran out of water. There was no way to get a quick road back to the tar, so we pushed through. Every water trough, JoJo tank, and the dry riverbed was inspected to see if we could restock our water supply as we needed it desperately. We found water only twice, at a riverbed that was dry at first glance (a cow was actually peeing in it upstream as we were filling our bottles) and at a water trough in a cow pen. Luckily, we carry water filtration systems with us. Just before dark we managed to get off the long dirt track by cutting through on a farm road towards the highway. It was definitely an interesting day I won’t forget!
4. How do you prepare for long-distance adventure biking journeys, both physically and mentally?
We only had to prepare once as we are doing this permanently. Last year October we sold everything and since then we have been on the road. The preparation was minimal and was not ideal… There was so much going on that we couldn’t really prepare mentally or physically. The departure date was set on the day our rental contract for the house ended, so the weeks before departure we were actually just stressing to sell all our furniture, cars, and other personal belongings and to get our lives set up for a nomadic lifestyle. We actually only sold our car the night before leaving, at 21:00 and we had to hand in our keys the next morning at 9:00. So, I think mentally we were a complete mess when we left! What also wasn’t the best preparation is that we never packed all our stuff in the panniers, and we never rode with our panniers before we left. So, we went to a friend living close by after handing in our keys and repacking our bags that weekend (a lot was left behind). So please, don’t take our physical and mental preparation as an example, it is not recommended. The first month was tough for both of us, mentally and physically. Luckily, we don’t have routes and we are not bound to time, so we took it easy. If our bodies needed a break, we would just camp in a place for a couple of days until we felt we could carry on again. We also didn’t really do any off-road riding for the first month as I had only 8 hours of experience on a motorbike and we both never rode with luggage. To get used to the lifestyle and the motorbikes we took it slow and easy on the tar.
5. Any tips for staying motivated and safe?
Yes, don’t feel like you need to prove yourself against other, more experienced, riders. Everybody is going to tell you what you should do, how you need to ride, what bike, what gear, etc. Let it go, this is your adventure, and you will learn. Don’t let yourself get pushed to do speeds and surfaces that you don’t feel comfortable with yet, it will cause you to lose confidence and joy. Ride with people that are aware of your skills and that respect your limits, if you can’t find them, go for some adventures alone. Always remember you don’t do this to impress people around you but for your own fun. And of course, see what YOU like to do. You want to do mainly tar, perfect! If you want to do mountain riding on easy gravel roads, perfect. If you want to cruise around looking for small, interesting towns in the sunshine, go for it! You decide, there are so many different adventure riders, surround yourself with the ones that are looking for the same.
6. Are there any specific destinations or routes that are particularly exciting or challenging for adventure biking?
It all depends on what you are looking for. We spend a lot of time in the Western Cape, and it is beautiful, so many great options! We did the main adventure bike routes such as the Swartberg Pass, Seweweeks Poort, Tankwa Karoo. All great roads, relatively easy and well kept. But for us, we felt the greatest excitement on the small unknown gravel roads in the Eastern Cape, going through reserves, up steep mountain passes on small two tracks that washed away, amazing scenery and a sense of ruggedness. Somewhere in between Hogsback and Addo.
7. How do you balance your love for adventure biking with other commitments in your life?
We try not to make many other commitments. Adventure biking is a permanent lifestyle for us, so we don’t have the commitments many people face. Income is all from online sources, so as long as we have internet, we can work on non-riding days and evenings. But further than that, we don’t have children, pets, houses, sports, or other commitments. Our bikes are our everyday life, and we are planning to go up through Africa in the next year, so our lives will stay like that for the unforeseeable future.
8. Has adventure biking changed your perspective on life or influenced the way you approach challenges? If so, how?
The lifestyle we are living has influenced the way we view life, but adventure biking has shown us the beauty of the people and the country. In the 7 months on the road, we had maybe 2 experiences that were a bit threatening, both at a petrol station with individuals either drunk or on other substances behaving a bit aggressively towards us. In both instances, they ended up leaving without much harm done. What I am trying to say is that most people are good, warm, and friendly. The world is less scary than you would initially think as long as you have a good attitude.
9. Do you have any advice for other women who aspire to become adventure bikers?
I would advise you to learn riding from a woman instructor. Then the experience is less competitive, and the tips and tricks are specifically for us (less about strength). Also, there are more woman riders than you think, so you will not be all alone!
10. Can you share a funny or interesting anecdote from one of your biking adventures?
My first deep water crossing was a funny one. Everyone always says that you need to keep momentum, which seems to be the answer to everything. And to me, momentum also means a reasonable amount of speed. So, during my first deep-water crossing, all I could think was ‘Momentum!’ Momentum doesn’t always mean speed and deep-water crossings definitely don’t equal speed… So, I created a tidal wave. With a wave higher than the windscreen it obviously ended in me being completely drenched. The next few water crossings were with momentum, minus the high speed…
11. What are your future goals or plans as a female adventure biker?
To ride through Africa to Europe, spending as much time in as many countries as possible along the way.
Let us celebrate these tough ladies who are rewriting the rules and inspiring others to join them on their two-wheeled adventures!
We hope to see more fearless females conquer the wildest of the wildernesses, exploring blazing trails with no signs of slowing down.
So, let us rev those engines, folks, and celebrate the empowerment of female riders, one dirt road at a time!
Ride on, ladies!