Kendra Farber

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Rider of the Month Kendra Farber

@Wild.and.restless _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

INterview BY Sam Wake

PHOTOS Kendra Farber - @wild.and.restless Patrick Thomas - @coach_patrickthomas Sam Wake - @samwake_ Lanakila MacNaughton - @womensmotoexhibit

Kendra Farber

Motorcycles are great, but it’s the people who ride them that make the moto community a treasure on earth and Kendra Farber is no exception. We were super stoked when Kendra agreed to be featured in this issue of the Slow Mag. If you follow her account @wild.and.restless you know all too well that this gal is an insanely talented human being. She is a photographer, musician, motorycle ridin’, powerlifting accountant and we love having her in the K&C family. Once upon a time we were all pulling out of our parking spaces to go on a ride when I accidently knocked my bike into second gear when I thought I had popped it into neutral. Without thinking I let go of the clutch, only for my bike to launch forward bucking me off the back like a dummy! I scrambled to catch my bike before it hit the ground, but I quickly knew I was in a losing battle as all 500lbs of my Triumph Thruxton was coming down on me. Then, all of the sudden to my left, Kendra grabbed my bike and deadlifted it back right up from the ground. I just sat in the road, staring at her with that surprised and dumfounded look one gets. She is a beast and truly one of the sweetest gals you will ever meet.

Here is her story..... Let’s start with an introduction! Who are you?Where are you from? How did you end up in Portland?

Hi! I’m Kendra Farber, and I’m all over the place - both literally with how many places I have lived and figuratively with how many interests I have. I was born and raised in Houston, Texas but always had a nagging feeling of wanting more. After graduating high school, I went off to college in Ohio, spent a semester in France, took corporate jobs in Boston, Connecticut and Florida, spent a few brief years back home in Houston, and then finally landed in Portland for going

on 5 years now. I was always a little mystified by the West - I had never traveled beyond Colorado until my mid-twenties. I finally booked a trip to visit friends in

Vancouver, BC, Seattle and Portland to see if any of those cities appealed to me, and Portland easily won me over with its quaint neighborhoods and easy access to everything nature can offer. During that visit, I had also met someone here through my friends, so that sealed the deal for Portland as well. When did you start riding motorcycles? Why did you start? What was your first motorcycle?

I ended up dating that guy for a few years, and he had a Sportster that I rode as a passenger on some great rides. It turned out that his brother had a 2012 Triumph

Bonneville sitting in his garage unridden for over a year, and everytime I saw it I swooned a little. Back in Houston I had dated a guy with almost the exact same bike - same year and everything - so I already had a soft spot for Triumphs and the whole cafe racer look. It finally dawned on me one day that hey - maybe I could learn how to ride a bike myself! For whatever reason, that thought had never crossed my mind before. Maybe it was a lack of confidence or the fact that I’m mechanically illiterate from growing up in a house full of women with no interest in that sort of thing, but one day I decided to just register for the Team Oregon endorsement class and see how I liked it. I ended up acing the class and was immediately hooked. And lucky enough for me, my boyfriend’s brother ended up selling me that Triumph for a great price, and I’ve had it for 2 years now. It had a road hog of a first owner and has over 30,000 miles on it, but it was meticulously maintained by him and barely ridden since then until I got it.. Tell us about the rebuild you are working on right now.

This winter as I was facing the higher-mileage maintenance that needed to be done on the bike, I had to make a decision - do I put money into this bike or buy a new one? And as appealing as the newer bikes are, I just have an unshakeable soft spot for this bike. So I decided to give it a worthy makeover, both as a testament to the bike itself and to push myself to learn more about motorcycle maintenance in general. I knew that I was really drawn to the “brat style” bikes - very little chrome, black tracker bars, no rear fender and a small front one, short exhaust, flat seat - and just started gathering the parts. Legion has been a lifesaver for the custom exhaust fabrication and just generally guiding me during DIY time so I don’t completely break anything, so I was able to change out the handlebars and front fender and do a little of the maintenance. The bike has these great honey brown leather details, which will pair nicely with the matte black and silver paint

job on the tank and matte black exhaust and side panels. I’m most excited to hear the new exhaust - the stock pipes were so quiet I was sometimes scared I would get sideswiped riding at night. What’s the most memorable ride you have been on?

I admittedly have only been on a few longer rides so far, but the ride to Astoria that

I did with the Ride More Talk Less guys was really fun. It was also my first ride with more seasoned riders, so I was hyper focused on not looking like too much of a newbie. It ended up being a great ride on some really fun twisty roads, and I felt like all of the skills I had been working on came together during that ride. When you look back on the chapters of your life, what was a defining moment for you?

The past 2 years have been the greatest growth period in my entire life. Up until that point, I don’t think I really knew who I was throughout my twenties. I had let so many things determine my course for me. The recession hit in the middle of my time in college, so I changed my degree to Finance so I could get a job afterwards.

After graduating college, I ended up getting engaged to my hometown sweetheart (because that’s what you do in the South) and followed him to Florida. I think after that fell apart, I really started to examine who it was that I wanted to be. And it wasn’t until I relocated to Portland that I really felt comfortable enough to start making big changes - from simple ones like getting more tattoos to big ones like becoming a competitive powerlifter or riding motorcycles or dabbling in entrepreneurship. Portland has definitely been the fertile land on which I could finally build the life that I had wanted but didn’t know how to get. Hobbies and Passions?

Like I said, I’m all over the place! I work in data analytics by day (turns out that finance degree led to a lucrative-but-tough-to-leave career path), but all of my free time is spread across training for powerlifting meets, riding motorcycles, taking photos, writing and playing music, paddleboarding, or spending time with my two dogs and cat and boyfriend. What is something you would like to accomplish?

I’ve known for a long while that I wanted to start my own business. I’ve worked for corporations for ten years now and am in management, so I know at this point how to efficiently run a business. I also know how awful it is to work for most corporations, at least for me. If I’ve learned anything over the past few years, it’s the value of time and where I truly want to spend it. Originally I started thinking I could just do business consulting and bookkeeping. But as I got closer and closer to taking on clients, I started dreading it. It felt way too “safe” and similar to my current career. Fortunately, photography has unexpectedly taken off for me as a side business in the last few weeks, and I’m just trying to ride that momentum into creating a viable business out of this creative hobby that has been present in my life for almost 15 years. Can you share a quote or idea that has helped guide you?

About two years ago when I started making major changes in my life, it dawned on me that in my twenties I wanted to date guys who rode motorcycles, got tattoos, lifted heavy weights and made music. But now in my thirties, I want to ride my own motorcycles, get tattoos, lift heavy weights and make music. So the quote “become the person you want to attract” took on a whole new meaning for me - I was so attracted to these people who lived for their passions and carved their own paths, but I kept holding myself back from doing the same thing. And that quote continues to inspire me as I jump into the world of entrepreneurship.

What advice would you give people who want to start riding but don’t know where to start?

Don’t be afraid to just take a class and try something out - this applies to literally anything, but especially to riding motorcycles. I think we build it up in our minds that things are too dangerous or too scary or too difficult, but you never know if they are truly any of those things, or to what degree, until you try them yourself. The worst thing that could happen is you paid for a class and spent a day or two learning something new. The best thing that could happen is that your entire outlook on life could change. I think that makes it worth the risk.

Rider of the Month

There is truly something to be said about the motorcycle community. The people who find commonality on two wheels share a mythical sort of solidarity. Motorcycle history is riddled with tales of adventure and exploration. Lifelong friendships have been formed between complete strangers who happened to randomly find themselves sitting at the same bar at an unexpected time. The passion for the open road and raw experience of your body cruising down the pavement with no roll cage is special. It brings people together. We reached out to Enrique about collaborating with Kids & Cobras because we were inspired by his creative work. We were super honored when he agreed, and we are grateful he was willing to share some of his story with us. We wanted to take a moment and highlight some of his tale for you, so that you can enjoy the Enrique Parrilla Blend in context. He is an incredible creative and a good friend.