Five Women, Their Harleys And A Camera For A Memorable Coast-To-Coast Ride.

HDwomen-riders1Harley-Davidson is currently celebrating the strong and confident women who ride a motorcycle by supporting renowned photographer and motorcyclist Lana MacNaughton and the Highway Runaways Ride. Distinguished for her “Women’s Moto Exhibit,” MacNaughton is leading four of her closest female friends on a cross country Harley-Davison motorcycle journey that started July 3 from The Shop in Brooklyn, New York to end after a four-week tour in San Francisco.

HDwomen-riders2The Highway Runaways Ride is inspired by the infamous Avis and Effie Hotchkiss ride in 1915, when the mother and daughter became the first women to ride their Harley-Davidson motorcycle across the U.S. Many women have blazed their own trail in the sport of motorcycling, and MacNaughton leads a modern day celebration of how women riders are unleashing their rebellious spirit and living life on their terms. Like the Hotchkiss ride 100-years ago, the Highway Runaways Ride is also being powered by Harley-Davidson.

Specializing in the photography of the modern-day female motorcyclists, MacNaughton has dedicated her career to capturing and revealing the courageous and beautiful women who live to ride. During the 4,500-mile trek, MacNaughton will collect stories from women riders and take photographs of those who share her passion for the open road. “This ride embodies the spirit of strong and powerful women. Riding a Harley is about escaping the authority and the structure of mundane life; running away is our dream and it has now become our reality,” MacNaughton says.

Lana and the others have already ridden through the Southeast and are heading west to their final stop. Next stop is Rocky Mountain Harley-Davidson in Denver (today July 22). The Highway Runaways Ride concludes in San Francisco, after logging some 4,500 miles and hundreds of memories. MacNaughton’s Women’s Moto Exhibit is also being featured at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee during its Custom Bike Show Weekend, Sept. 4-6, 2015.

Lanakila MacNaughton is a Portland based photographer and motorcyclist. She started documenting the many facets of motorcycle culture through her lens shooting in medium format on a Hasselblad CM. MacNaughton is the creator of renowned traveling exhibition “The Women’s Moto Exhibit” documenting the new wave of modern female motorcyclists—revealing the brave, courageous and beautiful women that live to ride. The show promotes a new perception of female empowerment and inspires an independence and liberation through motorcycling.

10 Responses to “Five Women, Their Harleys And A Camera For A Memorable Coast-To-Coast Ride.”


  1. 1 Lyle Landstrom Jul 22nd, 2015 at 3:26 pm

    What about the not so brave, not so courageous, and not so beautiful women who live to ride?

  2. 2 SIGFREED Jul 22nd, 2015 at 4:36 pm

    Lyle,

    Sir, I’ve never seen a female rider that is not brave, courageous and beautiful.

    And to keep things P.C., I reckon, ‘CHICKS ON BIKES’ are faaaaaar better looking than a bunch of sweaty, unshaven, semi-inebriated geriatrics of the opposite gender, any day…

    BTW – check out her work; some of it is outrageous ‘COOL’ (and I hate that word).

  3. 3 Lyle Landstrom Jul 22nd, 2015 at 6:04 pm

    Sigfreed, I agree.

    I just thought it was a strange statement in the same paragraph that states “a new perception of female empowerment….”

    So, what was the old perception? And who’s perception was it?

  4. 4 Woody's Jul 23rd, 2015 at 9:33 pm

    Why do those who claim to be treated equally so often demand to still be a sub-group? I really want to celebrate the story, but there’s a nagging feeling that it somehow belittles folks calling them “women riders” instead of simply “riders”.

  5. 5 nicker Jul 23rd, 2015 at 9:35 pm

    RE:
    “…what was the old perception? And who’s perception was it?…”

    And “Who cares?”

    -nicker-

  6. 6 Sash Walker Jul 27th, 2015 at 1:25 pm

    I’m part of the “older, fatter” version of rider in this “subgroup” and certainly not pretty enough to be photographed with this group. But I love riding and I admire these women for their determination and grit!!
    We can’t all be gorgeous, but we can all ride, if we so chose. These girls really got it all!

  7. 7 nicker Jul 28th, 2015 at 11:03 pm

    Sash,

    What you look like doesn’t determine who you are.
    Moreover, Appearance should never determine Why or What you do.

    The principal issue should be “how well you do” something and that you always striving to improve.

    In this case it sounds like motorcycling is being used as a vehicle to
    “Promote … a new perception… …the spirit of strong and powerful women …independence and liberation…”

    But, “promoting a perception” is about play-acting.
    Seems to me, that’s what’s been happening down on Main street Sturgis these days.

    Those who aspires to be liberated, independent, and powerful go about by doing…. not promoting it. Those who succeed will find Recognition following them just as From Follows Function.

    Of course, the short cut to Recognition, if you don’t want to do the hard work is Promotion.

    IMHO anyway.
    -nicker-

  8. 8 Cris Sommer Simmons Jul 30th, 2015 at 12:58 pm

    Riding is riding.. no matter what you look like and what you ride. It’s all good.

  9. 9 Mis. Behaves Aug 3rd, 2015 at 10:17 am

    I do not want to be a subgroup and I don’t need promotion. I don’t need people pointing and taking pictures of me riding. I tuck in my long braid when I ride.
    I just want to ride..

  10. 10 nicker Aug 4th, 2015 at 12:46 pm

    ….. Behaves,

    Spot On…!!!

    You do it for yourself.

    Its all about what you are able to accomplish…goals…. that satisfy you, not the unwashed masses.
    If you can’t accomplish that without the participation of “minions” then you’ve accomplished nothing.

    -nicker-

Comments are currently closed.
Cyril Huze