WOMEN RIDERS ROCK
ADVOCATES Maggie McNally-Bradshaw Maggie McNally-Bradshaw started riding in 1981 in her home city of Albany, N.Y., when a friend said, “Girls can’t ride motorcycles.” She had her permit within a week. In 1992, Maggie participated as a member of the local Women on Wheels chapter in a motorcycle training class. The class made a significant impact, and she was determined to become an MSF instructor, becoming a Rider Coach in 2007. Due to her role in the InterMountain Area chapter of Women on Wheels, Maggie became highly active with AMA District 3, became the Road Division Chair, and later became an AMA Field Rep. In 2009, Maggie was accepted to fill an AMA Board of Directors vacancy for the Northeast Region, the third female ever
36
AmericanMotorcyclist.com
seated on the AMA Board. In February 2013, she became the first woman to chair the AMA’s Board of Directors, continuing in this role until 2020. Maggie continues to promote the AMA and motorcycling as the AMA New York State chapter coordinator, a member of the AMA’s Recreational Riding Commission, and a participant in the specialty subcommission on women riders. “I believe that female riders should embrace being considered riders that just happen to be female,” Maggie said. “Quoting my ninth-grade social studies teacher, Mr. Dugan, ‘as long as a group of people prefer to be treated as special or unique, they will never be accepted as full members of that community.’”
Joe Grant
First woman to chair the AMA Board of Directors
