Starting Your Own MC: Proper Transitions

By: Tanya L. BKA Rain, President of Lady Ryderz MC

My name is Tanya L. BKA Rain and I am the President of Lady Ryderz MC.  The club was  formed on April 2nd, 2011 and we are the 3^rd chapter in the Lady Ryderz family.  Originally created as an SUV and SC  I joined the SUV chapter on December 2006.  I was originally drawn to the community to extend my social circles through a network and group of people I had much in common with. In 2008 I became the business manger for the SUV chapter and became to work very closely with the Founder, Lady and President, Big Girl. 

Inevitably however I got the itch and in 2008 the call to ride started. 

 I had always wanted to but just never had the initiative.  In the summer of 2008 a member of the SUV chapter had gotten into a terrible accident, which deterred me from even wanting to learn any more. Though the curiosity remained, the accident was enough of a deterrent to keep me off two’s for the entire year.  In 2009 I was voted Vice President of the SUV chapter but that familiar itch was barking again.  This time before anything could turn me away, I decided to schedule a few classes with MSF (Motorcycle Safety School) and I fell in love with the motorcycle. The school was a terrific gateway into riding but by no means did it teach me everything I needed to know. Nothing can supplant the actual riding experience so I continued my lessons with DT the president of Brooklyn United Ryders MC.  I brought a bike, 94 KAWASAKI Ninja 500 in June 2009 so that I was able to continue to learn when I wasn’t taking lessons. At the same time another member Redbone (who is the VP of Lady Ryderz MC) started learning at the same time and also brought a bike.  We were truly the blind leading the blind going to parking lots and hitting the belt parkway locally all the while we both obtained our licenses in 2009.  That year was delightful but treacherous at the same time. A lot of falls, bumps, bruises, stalling etc but we didn’t allow anything to deter us from learning so with each fall we got right back up and kept riding. 

The new rider process is hard as hell. Looking at others maneuver that machine is nothing like doing it yourself. What happened internally with me was a new found respect for everyone that rode.  I remember the 1^st time I hit the Belt Parkway I rode form Erskine exit to Floyd Bennett Field.  I was with Redbone and we were "doing it" or at least we thought we were. I get back home so proud of myself, got off the bike and forgot to put the kickstand down and BAM my bike hits the floor.  I look around and there was no one in sight.  All I thought was, "This shit is gonna stay right here I'm not picking it up."  I waited almost 5 minutes and no one came.  I looked at the bike like damn why, but I proceeded to pick my bike off the pavement.  The shit was heavy as hell, but to date I know how to pick up a bike and walk a bike very well.

Internally the thought of starting a female MC was toyed with before as we were approached in the past by other females to start the chapter.  However as a Board we knew that we had ladies with in the club that knew how to ride or that were learning to ride.  Lady Ryderz as a club was taught and modeled out by-Laws off of the motorcycle clubs.  So the roots of our organization was based in motorcycle rules and protocol.

Starting a club was by no means a simple endeavor so at this point the education process began. We had to learn, understand and appreciate what MC stood for, the history, the structure, non written rules, the do and the don’ts. Redbone and I started riding all the time and riding everywhere.  We started to get a new found respect from and for everyone in the motorcycle community.  We were like adult kids in an adult MC store because we had so many questions. Why do they wear so much stuff?  Why do they look so mean? Why are their vests so dirty or ripped up?  What was the history behind this person and that person?  There were a lot of questions so I started talking to very knowledgeable people in the motorcycle community; both males and females. 

Unfortunately I have to admit some females shunned me and others were vague. I say this because I would ask some females questions and I would be brushed off or looked at like I had three heads because I was a newbie in the MC scene.  I had basic questions like, "How did they start?" or "Where did they get training?" or "Where they were riding to?".  I guess no one wanted to ride with the new rider on the block, but people forget that EVERYONE had a 1^st season. Part of me felt like I did not want to be involved in a culture where the women were so stand offish.  Overall I continued to enjoy the unity on the motorcycle set and there is nothing sexier than a female “RIDER”, wink, wink.  This made the thought of LADY RYDERZ MC go from a thought to a reality. 

The men were never a problem.  The more I asked, the more they shared information forwarding me to other folks where I could obtain information as well as resources through books and the Internet.  By  2010 we had become aware enough of the responsibility of launching our own club and we were more intent then ever on doing just that.  Because of how serious we took what would be, our respect and obligation to the MC culture, we wanted additional assurances in terms  of what we were doing and how we were going about it.  During this education process we were approached by so many males trying to recruit us. The overwhelming urgency to their recruitment had us thinking and pondering a great many things. Is it about the love of the ride or the family bond or just adding another bike under you belt?  Along with starting this club the right way and talking to the right people we wanted female RIDERS who weren’t concerned about getting a little dirty or/and riding across state lines without the drama.  Our research had exposed us to the ugly underbelly of drama surrounding all female MC’s and we wanted no parts of that. We had every intention of conducting ourselves with decency and order (in the words of our Spiritual advisor  Dr. Nixon AKA Church Lady). 

So for starters we RODE. 

To belabor the point, let me repeat that again. We RODE.

Secondly we gained information from multiple people in the MC community in terms of how they started their respective clubs. We heard the horror stories such as peoples colors being snatched, being run up on at events by an OMC, being followed on the highway because they were riding through unknown territory etc. and we heard the good things such as people gaining respect, getting their blessings or sanctions and all the hard work it took but feeling that it was well worth it.  

So we knew we had to go about this right way and that meant respecting traditional MC protocol and values. We had to get blessed in by the dominate in our area which is also an OMC.  I knew I couldn’t just call a brother (brother in the sense of being a male) up and have a conversation with him.  After a long road of research, hanging around others and RIDING and feeling we were prepared to start the MC, I went through a male member of another male club in order to be able to talk with the OMC.  We sat down and exchanged ideas, thoughts on the MC life in general and because it was obvious I had done the research and respected the culture we were invited to a event in Atlantic City, NJ.  At this point we did not know what to expect and we were scared because of everything we have heard about the OMC’s and we knew that women had no role in their world. We didn’t know what to expect. I really thought we were gonna be quizzed on what we knew about the MC Community and that world. 

We were instructed where to go and who to ask for and never once did I know what this person looked like.  We arrived in AC, went through the door and asked for who we were instructed to look for. Upon hearing his name he looked up, approached us and though hesitant I gave him a hug which he graciously accepted.  We didn’t want to enter their vicinity empty handed so we came with a lil gift that he was very pleased and impressed with.  He escorted us to his table where a few more members and his Ole Lady were sitting.  We laughed, talked, danced until the end of the night.  This man was so polite, calm, approachable and I just thought to myself, “this is the infamous such and such?”  Please understand what I mean by that. He is clearly not someone you’d want to fuck with but he was very approachable. OMC’s have always stressed if you approach them with respect, you’ll be given the same respect back and that’s what we did and sure enough, that’s what was done.   At the end of the night I told him that I would like to speak to him.

A few days later a phone call is made.  

I never gave him my number but he knew it was me calling. OMC’s have a way of finding things out which is another reason why they always stress to be honest with them. They’ll find out the truth and most the time they ask you something is either because they already know or they’re going to know so just be honest.  He said that he was familiar with Lady Ryderz SUV as a social club and we were good people, so we were good in his book.

I was also told there was nothing about this MC world that he couldn’t answer so I was welcome to question.  I understood that the question was understandably limited to certain topics but was grateful nonetheless that he was willing to talk to me.

It was important that we did everything the correct way because as females we already were coming in with a stigma.  We saw females (MC’s) that attached themselves to male clubs in order to be recognized without pounding the pavement and we did not want to be that club.  Lady Ryderz MC was formed under dedication, blood, sweat and tears literally.  It was a stressful process partly because it was a changing of the guard in a sense,  from getting our miles up, to designing our colors (because we knew they could not be the same as the SUV and Social chapter color), to getting our paper work together, talking and politicking with other MCs. 

Everything came together and from having the idea in 2009, to staring the education process early 2010 to our official coming out on April 2, 2011.  Lady Ryderz MC started with 4 members that crossed over from the SUV or SC chapter and 2 other females that we had been riding with over the past year.  We rep  “Ladies with a Purpose” because the goal  is always to conduct yourself as a LADY and everything else follows suite.  We are mothers, wives and daughters and we act accordingly to the position we are in and at the time acknowledge and rep where we are in the MC world.  We understand that this is a male dominated world and we take the MC very seriously. 

“MC” MOTORCYCLE CLUB does not stand for make up club, metro card club, money club, or more cash club. MC means dedication, commitment, family, loyalty and rider.  We take ownership of these letters that we bear on our backs. When we mount up and take off we never know if were are going to return safely but that is a risk we take once we became part of this community.  Some have asked why start your own MC as oppose to joining another and our response is, “ Why?”.  LADY RYDERZ is where we started and LADY RYDERZ will be where we end.  We would rather extend out our current home as oppose to building a new one.  LADY RYDERZ is family, LADY RYDERZ is home and there will be nothing after this. 

Lady Ryderz SUV and Social Club has been in existence for almost 6 years and has been the biggest Female SUV and SC in the circuit to date. MC is not trying to be the biggest but we plan to have the same longevity by continuing to be educated, crossing state lines and meeting others, promote safety and togetherness and last but never least, the RIDE.  As long as we stay on two’s the longevity will remain.  We have a prospect  that told us she had been observing us over the past year and she liked what she saw in us a team mainly because she saw females who actually rode. The love of the RIDE is what brings us together as a club but the nurturing aspect we have as females is what will keep us as a family. 

Lady Ryderz is a Sucka Free MC and we’re always going to stay that way.  

*****~Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs~*****

Rain - Lady Ryderz MC President