OUR DIRECTORS

Christine Malazarte

Current Bikes: 2007 Yamaha FJR1300, 2008 Kawasaki Z1000
Previous Bikes: 2005 Suzuki SV650, 2004 Suzuki GZ250, 1993 Suzuki Intruder 800, 1983 Yamaha Maxim XJ750

BIO: I've been riding since college, but I've always had a fondness for motorcycles. Got my M1 not very long after I received my driver's license and I've been on two wheels ever since. As my experience grew and my skills improved, so did the bikes and the distance. Currently, it's the 70-mile daily commute from home to work, but when school and students are out for the summer, it's time for some out-of-state action! See you at the next WOW Ride-In.

Also, please read about my latest long-distance adventures @ http://thesilverfox.pbwiki.com!

 

Veronica Bobe-Kollmeyer


Current Bike: Honda VLX Shadow 600cc
Previous Bikes: 1971 Honda CB100 and several others throughout the years.

BIO: I learned to ride in Connecticut during my summer breaks from school. I grew up riding bikes in Staten Island and Brooklyn, New York in the late sixties and early seventies. My adoring brothers taught me to ride in the Brooklyn streets so I would not have to depend on the buses to get to school. (I was extremely shy as a girl, although some may find that hard to believe who know me today).

My brothers took me everywhere so it wasn’t difficult for my mom to allow me to ride street bikes. I was licensed in the State of New York at the age of seventeen. I rode my bike to high school every day of my junior and senior years!

I own and/or rode bikes in several countries as well. The south of France along the Dordogne River was one of my favorite places, but there are many.

I stopped riding for five years after the birth of my son. Started up after a divorce and have been riding since. My son knows how to ride but prefers sports more.

Riding for me is therapeutic. I have had many bikes throughout the years; Hondas are my preference as I can work on them. I continue to partake in skills development classes because I never profess that I know everything about riding - I don’t.

I ride all weather with the proper safety gear and ideal situations.

 

Some of OUR MEMBERS....

Jill Hall
Current Bikes: 2003 Yamaha FJR1300, 2007 Kawasaki Ninja 650, 2007 Yamaha TTR125, 2003 Yamaha Warrior 1700

BIO: I've been riding since I was about 11 yrs. old.  Rode in England, with my boyfriend when we were teenagers.  Traded the bikes for a mortgage and a couple of kids for 20 yrs. or so.  My re-entry bike was a VStar 650 then the 1100.  A couple of years ago, I fell in love with a Supersport tourer, and got the FJR.  The boyfriend (now husband) went through a series of bikes and now has a BMW K1200S, a BMW RT(P), Yamaha 250 dirt bike, and the Warrior, plus a couple of project bikes.

Delma Flammia


Current Bikes: H-D Sportster 883

BIO: Christine’s (the Co-Director) Side of the Story

I met Dee when I was still one of the co-directors for the Los Angeles Chapter of WOW. One of the other co-directors sent me an e-mail one day last July informing me that there was a “newer rider” who was interested in riding with us but had never ridden in a group setting before. In addition, she lived in the South Bay. Being only co-director that lived within vicinity of that region of LA County (it’s quite big), it became my task to follow up on her.

Later that day, Veronica e-mailed me and asked if I’d be interested in going down to Redondo Beach to meet her. I had met Veronica on one of the Iron Angels’ previous rides and we had talked about newer riders and getting more people involved with WOW. So we met up at her place and rode down to Redondo Beach.

When we got there, we met Pat, Dee’s husband. He was standing next to Dee’s bike, a Harley-Davidson 883 Sportster with a modified pneumatic shifter operated with a set of buttons on the handlebar. He told us a little bit about how Dee came to get the bike, her surgery, and how much she wanted to just get back on her bike and ride. We were hoping that we could help her make that a reality, and Veronica and I started thinking about how to get her on that path.

A few minutes later, Dee came out. She was wearing a t-shirt and long jeans. I was thinking in my head, “She’s an amputee?” as her clothing completely concealed her prosthetic leg. We introduced ourselves and got started working with her.

First, Veronica asked her to get on her motorcycle and ride down the block so that we could see how she felt about starting, stopping, and turning. When Dee returned from the quick loop, we had her go up the street again with slow starts and stops. She was fine for the most part, except for coming to a complete stop and putting her foot down. Our challenge was to get her more comfortable with putting down her prosthetic leg when bringing the bike to a halt; it didn’t help that plastic doesn’t have any nerve endings.

After a couple more runs, we felt ready to take her on a quick loop through Palos Verdes, a route that had a nice mix of slow curves and straight roads with a nice ocean view. I took the front of the group and Veronica remained at the back so that we would both shield her from traffic. Dee traveled well down Pacific Coast Highway toward Palos Verdes and she handled the traffic quite well. However, Dee asked us to stop as soon as we reached the top of the hill overlooking the ocean. We pulled over and gave her some more words of encouragement and we continued on. She was a trooper the entire way and I could see that she was slowly pushing herself a little more each time as we took a few more gentle curves and descended down into Rolling Hills. We got her home by sunset (she only had a learner’s permit at the time). We could tell that she enjoyed the run and was very excited about the next WOW ride that was happening in a couple weeks.

We would later go on a few more rides for fun and to get her more used to using her prosthetic leg on the bike. Pretty soon, Pat joined along on his Harley Electra-Glide and we became four friends on the road. Occasionally Dee would invite friends and family members along as well. Even though work and tight schedules can get in the way sometimes, we’ll always find some way to meet up and catch up!

So, if you’re traveling down the streets of Southern California and spot a Harley sporting a license plate that says, “Amputee and Still Riding Free,” it’s Dee. And she’s still putting on down the road.

[If I recall, Dee performed her first U-turn on a street during that first WOW ride she participated on!]