WOMEN AND MOTORCYCLES Featuring Keeley Ward

WOMEN AND MOTORCYCLES Featuring Keeley Ward

Contributed by Susy Silverman

Keeley has been riding since she was five years old. ‘From the time I could hold myself upright, my dad would put me on the back of his bike and take me to Kindergarten. He would put a bungie cord around me and him and put my hands in his pockets so he could feel if I had fallen asleep,‘ she says. She is intelligent, whitty and beautiful. When I met Keeley, I instantly felt a kinship with her. She’s no newbie rider - this year is her 50th anniversary riding motorcycles.

She got her first Honda mini trail with Harley Davidson stickers on it when she was 5. ‘I was the tomboy of the neighbourhood (she laughs). When I was 13, I was working at a golf course and I would ride my motorcycle on the road to my job. It was a 350 Honda CB – gold with the big long gold seat on it. We were in the country so you never got caught (she laughs). When I was 16, I rode my motorcycle to high school. That’s where it all started, and it just never stopped.’

Keeley taught at riding schools for 10 years and was one of the first female instructors in 1997. ‘I had the opportunity to help people get that ‘AHA’ moment and watch their faces light up. I really enjoyed that.’

What started Keeley on this life long love of riding? ‘My family all rode. My mom and dad raced sidecar motorcycles in England. They would take my two sisters to the beach in England every weekend on the bike. Dad would box for grocery money and then they rode home.’

She does a lot of charity rides and sponsors the Riders Group, supporting their efforts towards PTSD. She also supports the Kawartha Charity Riders, Ride for Sick Kids and Ride for Dads. ‘Anything we can do to help someone else and we’re in’, says Keeley.

‘My bike’s name is Klide the Glide. Everyone knows Klide, he’s pretty famous.’ (she laughs)

This past summer, Keeley and her husband, Robin, rode to the East Coast, riding for exactly 5,300 kms in 11 days through Nova Scotia, PEI and back again. Their purpose was to attend the Wharf Rat Rally. ‘Riding down was 12 to 15 hours a day in pouring rain. But it got better after that,’ she says.

Keeley was a Road Captain for the International Female Riders Day this year, leading a group of women riders to Guelph for the celebration. She also participated in the Worlds Largest All Female Burn Out Event in Smith Falls.

Why does Keeley ride? ‘It’s a part of me, it grounds me. I get on my bike, and I can’t hear the world. I don’t think about anything when I’m on the bike. I love riding with Robin because it’s our time. When we take a day to ride, we will go all day,’ she says.

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