Love, Loss, and Motorcycles : A Rider's Journey

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This episode of FÉROCE, hosted by Annick Magac, features guest Sabine Hrechdakian discussing her long history with motorcycling, which began in her youth in Lebanon. Sabine recounts how a planned motorcycle trip to Africa with her partner Mark proceeded after his unexpected death, highlighting the journey as a way to process grief. She also shares anecdotes about riding various motorcycles over the years, including the challenges and joys of riding in different environments like the chaotic streets of Lebanon and the supportive community found at women's riding events. Sabine reflects on how her relationship with riding has evolved, moving from intuitive learning to seeking formal training and appreciating the diverse subcultures within motorcycling.

You can find out more about Sabine Hrechdakian HERE:

Instagram - 

@sabinehrechdakian 

https://www.sabinehrechdakian.com/

@morphine_band

https://morphineband.com/

Transcript

Sabine Hrechdakian Interview

Annick: Hello, my beautiful Motorheads. Welcome to FÉROCE where we inspire you to live fiercely.

Today's guest is Sabine Hrechdakian and in this episode, we cover love, loss, and motorcycling, and how the three of them can often be tied together. 

 We cover her evolution of how she started motorcycling to where it's evolved presently on different types of motorcycles and different experiences through classes and trips.

 * INTRO *

Annick: Where were you when you heard that Mark had passed,

Sabine: I was on an island, uh, off the coast of Maine called Vinalhaven. That is 15 miles from, uh, from the mainland.

Annick: why were you in that area that day?

Sabine: I had ridden up there with the saxophone player's wife, Kate. Um, the boys were touring very heavily at that point, and she was like the perfect bitch. She was, she's like tiny, but like tough as nails and. Loved speed. So she, and she's British. She'd always be like, faster, faster, you know?

Annick: You guys are riding too up?

Sabine: Yeah. Riding two up and often like they'd go on tour all the time.

So her and I were always like going off on adventures and um, and it was July 4th week and the town has this like wonderful parade, like so old school where people like build floats and, you know, costumes and. So we went up there because I know a bunch of people, you know, I got to know the island because there are all these people who had GSS up there.

I met one of the guys in Boston and when we discovered we had the same motorcycle, he was like, oh my God, you've gotta go, you've gotta meet all my friends on this island. Actually I did find, I found an album 'cause I was remembering like photos in my head that I couldn't find because you know, of course there was a time when the stuff was not digital, you know,

Annick: Yeah.

Sabine: and uh, so here it is.

Oh my God. This is hilarious. I heard the news in this building called The Schoolhouse 'cause it was a schoolhouse once.

Annick: Oh wow.

Sabine: And then here's my buddy Pat who lived in Boston, who I met, who knew and introduced me to everybody. There's brother Jerry, who's still on the island. My friend Deborah, who pitched that documentary about women and motorcycles and who also had a gs.

here's Deb and I walking around. So anyway, Kate and I went up there, you know, It was before cell phones. So the manager, when when they heard the news, there was no way to get in touch with me. I hadn't left a phone number or any information. So the manager and the drummer's wife drove up to where the ferry, where you take the ferry, this town called Rockland, and they explained the situation and managed to find somebody on the next boat and

gave them some vague instructions about where they thought I was, and they had the first name of the guy whose house that was with a piece of paper and a number with instructions for me to call. So this guy, you know, this truck pulls up and I'm like that. He calls my name and I'm thinking, oh man, it's this woman whose windshield I smashed because the ride up there were all these bad omens.

There, it was raining on the whole ride up. The bike was shorting out. Like I had these, like, I was so not geared up at that point. I had these like shitty cheap gloves that, that got soaked. And so the, my hands were all black from the ink.

Annick: Oh

Sabine: And

Annick: Yeah.

Sabine: and then on the ferry ride over, you know, you always like tie down the bike, but the swells were so intense that it tipped over and smashed somebody's, uh, passenger windshield.

Annick: Oh.

Sabine: she was cool about it. We exchanged info and so when I, when I saw this guy pull up with the thing, he was like, call this number. I was like, oh shit. It was July 4th. Like I, you know, I hadn't called yet, the insurance company.

Not, not the call. I was expecting to get,

Annick: can you share with people who he was, who Mark was?

Sabine: yeah, he was, uh, my partner, for seven years. Uh, and he wa was the lead singer of a band called Morphine. And we were in the middle of, you know, buying a house. I was living at this time in his studio and, um, and Loft, like, it was like a home studio type situation, but. Yeah. Which, you know, it was fun, but it was pretty intense living in a place where there's just constant like music and noise and so yeah, it was, it was, you know, the kind of call that you see in movies and you know, you can't help when you see those scenes think like, how would I play it?

That happened to me, and that's kind of, I had the, this disassociative moment when, when I heard the news because the brain cannot process that kind of information. So it's almost like it disassociate as a way to, to protect

ego or, or you from, from absorbing the reality all at once because you can't.

It's like your life changes an instant. You can't handle it. So, so I got the call and like kind of, I just dissociated and kind of felt like I was in a movie, you know? And I, how was I playing this role? Did I play it right? You know, should I have like, fallen on my knees? Should I have, I kept waiting for somebody to yell.

Cut.

Annick: Thank you for sharing that. 'cause it's, it's, it's hard to, I, I asked you an intense question and it, it's hard to, share that kind of thing. And a lot of people we like, we don't wanna talk about death or losing a loved one who, you know, was your life partner. So thank you. And the reason I want to ask that is 'cause I know that it led to another experience around motorcycling. Maybe you can share a little bit about your trip to Africa afterwards.

Sabine: Yeah, so before he went on that tour, um, he, we had planned that actually it was that guy Pat who introduced me to the island, you know, was a big planner. Um, really great in, in that way. And he wanted to plan a huge motorcycle trip. At the end of 1999 to Africa and for us to ride to Tanzania and then summit at Mount Kilimanjaro on the eve of the new millennium.

Like pretty dope. Yeah.

Annick: Yeah.

Sabine: And it was like, hi, how do you say no to that? So, and then Mark, who had not ridden motorcycles, before, you know, it is real testament [00:07:00] to his love for me that he got his motorcycle permit and he was like, determined to go on this trip with us, which

Annick: Wow.

Sabine: would've, you know, I mean, we put in really long days in the saddle.

Like that had been a really intense trip for somebody who had never ridden before. And so he was supposed to go on the trip and when, so he died in July on July 3rd, and the trip was, you know, in December. I had to make a decision whether or not I was capable of doing it, and I just said, yeah, fuck it. I'm gonna go.

And I, I wonder if I still, no. the sax player gave me a, a reed, you know, with, with a note. I had some stones from Mark's grave that I wanted to leave, which I know you're not supposed to do that kind of thing.

Annick: Really? I didn't. Yeah. Oh, oh, I see, I see, I see. Yeah, I get it. Yeah.

Sabine: But, uh, but yeah, so I went on the trip and it was, it was amazing. I really made me want to go back. We were supposed to go the western route, so like Namibia and Botswana, I. Instead, there was, I don't know why, I can't remember why we went a more like traditional, more well traveled route called garden route.

That's beautiful. But, I vowed to go back, but, and also we couldn't actually ride all the way to Tanzania because there was trouble, um, in Malawi or something. So we, we only got to Zimbabwe and then we flew from Johannesburg to Tanzania to climb. And then after that we went to, um, forgetting this little island off the coast of Africa where we rented these little dirt bikes and just like zoomed around there.

I have my, and I have my Africa photo album

Annick: Oh, do

Sabine: here.

Annick: on the mountain?

Sabine: Uh, I do, you know, it's, it's a little underwhelming because, but here and, and you know, we are so fucked up at that point. Here's, here's Dawn Rising

Annick: Wow.

Sabine: like literally on the roof of Africa.

Annick: Wow.

Sabine: you know.

Some people, uh, on the way down, like you have to imagine it took us six days. Here we are like, I don't know if you can see from the shiny on the top.

you have been hiking. Oh yeah. Here we are at the top and that's me and the colored glasses with the guide.

you know, we'd been hiking. The elevation is like, it's, it's really high. People get altitude sickness, so you have to take like some medication. Some people get sick. You have to take the stuff I was doing. Okay. We were going, very slow. You know, in Swahili they have this term called Ole Poe, which is like slow, slow.

So it was like you had to acclimate to the

Annick: Mm-hmm.

Sabine: But by the time we got to base camp, we were supposed to get up at like three in the morning to start making the ascent. So you're hiking at night, it's freezing up there, you're wearing all these layers. And by the time I got to base camp, I just like kind of like all the emotions and everything.

And probably the altitude. Who knows? I like kind of. Lost my shit a little bit. I got very emotional. And these two guys, these two brothers, they're awesome. They thought I was having like some kind of altitude delirium, so they gave me that

medication, which makes you kind of hallucinate a little bit, you know?

So, so you're like waking up in the middle of the night and like trudging in the dark and you're kind of like seeing trails and you don't know what the hell's going on. It's, it's, you know, it's no picnic.

Annick: No, but it also seems like a very appropriate Sabine story.

Sabine: The, and the way down. Like I just remember I was by myself and I, you know. At the top, it's all loose gravel. So like you, you, you are so tired and you'd take like two steps up and then slide down like five steps. And so you just had to keep, it was intense, but on the way down it was just like scree slopes.

So it was like I was in a dream, I would just run and leap and like slide and then take another leap and slide and it was just surreal. I can't imagine Mark having, I mean, you know, he had a heart attack. Uh, that's how he died because of a blocked, you know, arteries. I don't know how he would've managed it, to be perfectly honest,

but it would be a great place to go back and ride.

Annick: Well, there's always time and we do like to travel

Sabine: lots.

Annick: how did you start your whole motorcycle journey?

Sabine: Kind of on the back of, uh, a bike, um, in, I was like 17 I think, and I was in Cambridge, mass and I had a bunch of guy friends with bikes and we all went out one day and I. Thought to myself like, man, I really, I really like this, but I don't, I don't like not being in control. I mean, was cool at first. I mean, young boys are, you know,

Annick: Oh.

Sabine: like, but considering that he was, he was a good rider, but I definitely decided like, I, I need to be upfront.

And he is so cool. He was, it was, we were on a GPZ. The Kawasaki GPZ 650 and he was waiting to get a BMW When he got that bike he gave me, or sold me, I think he gave me the GPZ and this was when there was no like, uh, safety track, like training. There wasn't. He took me to like a parking lot. To show me how to ride the bike.

And the first thing he did was like, it had me just hold it and walk it around to feel the weight. And I instantly dropped it and like broke. It had like a little ball at the end of, you know, the clutch or something, and it broke off. Well, if you, if you break it, you buy it.

Annick: Yeah,

Sabine: That was my first bike. And um, and I just learned like, Intuitively, like I really didn't have any classes or training or anything. Um, and that was it. I was off to the races. I mean, I was a kid who played with, uh, I had a whole collection of matchbox cars. I had, um, this plastic steering wheel with a suction cup when I was little. I would sit in the, this was Lebanon, by the way, where I grew up.

So we didn't have like the same safety standards. I guess I would sit on the lap of the passenger, um, in the car, and then I'd have this thing suctioned on so I could pretend like I was driving.

Annick: Oh, that's

Sabine: I know I've looked for this thing forever and it has like a button in the middle. It even had like a horn. And I even think I learned to drive stick, like it's kind of a vague memory, but I.

Again, because you can kind of do whatever the fuck you want there still, like driving and riding there is so wild. People just going backwards, like down a road, just like, you know, or, or the wrong way.

Annick: Yeah.

Sabine: Like, oh, I missed an exit. Gotta back up. Like, I'm just gonna assume people are gonna get outta the way.

It's like we, we all decide together that we're, we're not, we don't want to die. And

Annick: Yeah.

Sabine: so it's not like fear of the state or, you know, violations or I'm gonna get, you know, it's kind of cool in a way because it's somehow the chaos works.

Annick: Yeah. I've always been fascinated about that in certain countries where you're like, how does it work though? Like how,

Sabine: We, we all make a contract, like, you're gonna get outta the way. This looks like scary. But

Annick: Mm-hmm.

Sabine: I come and head on, you're gonna get out the way. Right? Because you don't wanna die. I don't wanna die. So it's, it's like a little contract we make with strangers to, um, protect each other in that way. So it's, it's pretty cool.

It's a pretty wild way to. And when I rode motorcycles there for the first time I was riding on the highway, there was definitely an experience, you know?

Annick: Was that when you, uh, did the trip where you were, you wrote, I'm sorry, you wrote an article for the magazine, the travel magazine.

Sabine: it wasn't. I don't know if it was then, but I had just met. I met all these riders. There's a whole adventure riding scene and an off-roading scene.

Annick: Wow.

Sabine: um, yeah, they're the motocross, you know, there's a, a whole group, actually one of them, did really well at, uh, Paris Dekar. He actually placed

Annick: Oh wow.

Sabine: Lebanon.

It was a big deal first time. and I knew this woman actually who, who rode and she managed to get me a bike, and we went out with her friends. And then she had to, like, she had to skip back to the city. So, and somehow take the bike that I had, maybe I was riding her bike, so I had to get on a GS, uh, a 1200 GS.

Some dude's bike. I don't even know. You can't rent there. It's 'cause insurance is not possible. So it's like you have to know people to get bikes and,

Annick: Okay.

Sabine: I'm like, all right, see ya. So I'm riding with all these dudes I've never met and uh,

Annick: Also seems very

Sabine: I know. It was awesome and, and actually it was a revelation for me to be on that bike, which I also thought looked huge and really un ungainly, but it was super nimble, more nimble than her 700, which is what I was riding before. And we had a great time. We ended up going to the Cedar Mountains, which is where I spent all my Christmases and summers with my family.

and I even went to a like a GS rally type event, like a huge event with a stage and music and all these bikes. Like I'm dying to bring all my riding friends there, you know, 'cause

Annick: Yeah.

Sabine: it would just be so cool. And so many of the, the back roads and the mountains and stuff are kind of off road.

Like, you know, the terrain would be just insane.

Annick: Ah,

Sabine: you,

Annick: you ride year

Sabine: you let me know when, uh.

Annick: Okay.

Sabine: I mean, uh, there's a lot of snow in the mountains, so,

Annick: Okay.

Sabine: um, it's, it is a very mountainous country. Most people don't realize that the, the, the coast is, is a very thin ribbon, but the rest of it is super mountainous. And there's, you know, a lot of skiing.

I grew up skiing there. 

Annick: so cool. When you were, talking about that first bike that you got, you lived in Boston, but at some point you ended up going to New York and you still had motorcycles there. So what was that like?

Sabine: Yes. Uh, well, New York City's a whole different ball game to ride in. Um, you know, and I fell in with this crowd, who rode, who had that. We used to all hang out at this place called, um. It was on Avenue A and sixth Street

Annick: It

Sabine: right on the corner. Uh, not, not, they were the mechanics who, who

Annick: Yeah.

Sabine: British bikes and, and I knew them a little bit.

But this was just like a cafe that used to have a, like on, on the, now it's been renovated and changed. It's changed hands. but there was like a big portrait of this big Russian guy who was Alexander's Ian's stepson. Um, his name too, I shoulda for the, for the call. And, uh, yeah, just, just a gnarly group riders.

And I, for some reason, I, I was big on the inappropriate bikes. Like at first bike is probably shouldn't be a GPZ 650, you know, so I already, I kind of started big, so I was like, no, where, where do I go after that? Oh, an 850. What kind of bike? A Norton Commando special edition. from 1975, that, that what technically was when they, you know, when the electric start, when it had the electric start hookup.

But of course, being British, it never worked. So I really took shit out and I had to kickstart 850 ccs every time I wanted to ride. and it was, you know, as, as you know, those bikes are very finicky and.

Annick: Oh, yeah.

Sabine: So I'd tell somebody like, yeah, man, I'll meet you there. Like, and whatever. And then I'd show up two hours later if I was lucky, covered in grease, or, you know, I mean, speaking of those Sixth street special guys, there was a time at that cafe, you know, where they were all like, and they were just like, kind of too cool for school, you know, like they're really [00:19:00] judgy and, and the, the bikes would all be lined up and then they see, they see my bike, which by the way, they later let me know.

Told me was like the ugliest Martin they'd ever seen because the special edition was red, white, and blue.

Annick: No way. Really. Do you have the book, you showed me the book earlier.

Sabine: I have, yeah. I actually, the only, the only remnants I have

Annick: So great.

Sabine: of this. And then, yeah, and I, I like opened it inside and there was like, you know, back when people sold, sent, uh, instead of emails and e-marketing, it was like these like. Little newsletters from British marketing and the only,

Annick: So

Sabine: the only photo I have of it, which unfortunately isn't color, so you can't see how hideous,

Annick: Yeah.

Sabine: look at what I'm doing.

I'm like, I'm either looking for a bunch of bolts that fell off, or, you know what I mean? Like what am I.

Annick: totally. I mean, if it's gonna be a little bit complicated and big and heavy, you're gonna wanna buy it.

Sabine: I wanna make my life hard, like the clutch was. I remember like, it was so hard to pull in. Like, it was like, oh, it was so stiff. And, you know, there were, there were some times I couldn't kick the bike over, but, but I'm like walking. All these dudes are sitting there looking at me and I'm like, I'm walking all fucking cool to the bike.

But inside my head I'm like, oh God, please, please let it, let it start. One shot and I get on and I couldn't do it. I had to be on the bike standing and then using all my weight to, I couldn't do it any other way. I couldn't do it like next to the biker and it fucking fired up, you know, with the one kick.

I was like, see ya

Annick: riding off into the sunset.

Sabine: off. Into the sunset. Yeah, that was a wild bike to have. I mean, when it ran, it's just, it's just perfection. It's, it's super sexy and just hums and it's just beautiful to ride and, and it was just, yeah, really fun. [00:21:00] It was a rare moment when I had, uh, there was like a culture of people around which I was riding, which has been very intermittent for me a lot of the time.

I'm very much solo. Because my boyfriends at the time didn't ride. So, you know, I wasn't gonna be taking off every weekend being like, see ya, you know? So

Annick: Yeah,

Sabine: I didn't, I didn't really get into the whole community thing until quite a bit later.

Annick: I think it's more common than people think. 'cause it's definitely a lot of comments that I, or interaction I get with people that it's been the same. Like, and I think it's like life. Like we just, you ebb in flow with different groups or like, you know, you, you changed your motorcycle so then you kind of end up

Sabine: Yes,

Annick: to like a different set of people that have a similar like

Sabine: but it's interesting. I've always liked the the upright riding style. I have never been drawn to the sport bike thing, you know?

Annick: right.

Sabine: I've never been on the track. I've never done any of that kind of stuff. when I got into BMW, it was like I hadn't remembered. I found this photo, you know, at some point when I had been living in Greenpoint, I had this kinda like police looking.

Annick: So great. That fairing is awesome.

Sabine: It was during a time like this was like still. late eighties maybe, or something when, you know, the, the neighborhood was still really polish. There weren't a lot of, hipsters or whatever you want to call me who were there. And these, the, the, the very conservative people living in the buildings around us, me and that, my friend Deborah, who had the other GS, they just like.

They didn't know what was going on. They saw people coming and going. They thought we were running a fucking brothel, like they thought convinced we were whores. We would find like cigarette butts put out on the, like it was, it was not cool. at some point, and it's all a bit vague 'cause this was so long ago, but I went to some kind of rally.

It was a BMW rally and I rode, uh, a GS, somebody's Gs, they had like a sheepskin on the seat or whatever, a GSR 100, which, had recently come out. And I kind of just like, I kind of fell in love with it. So it was always in the back of my mind. And on my 30th birthday, I was living in New York. I had gone back to Boston at that point.

I was back in New York at this point. Working and I happened to be walking to work and I went a different way. For some reason, I went on a different, you know, like different road street than I was used to, and it was raining and I see kind of in the distance. It was almost, it's like a, it's like a movie, you know, like, like love at first sight when you kind of like, you see somebody walking towards you and you're like, oh my God, I'm gonna marry that person instead.

It was a motorcycle and I, I was. Wait, what is that? Is that, is that what I think it is? And it was like the GS with a for sale sign on it and I was like, okay, this, this was meant to be, so I called the number, it turned out to be an Australian dude called Joe Coffee, who was very handsome.

Annick: Did he come with a bike?

Sabine: Sadly not because when I went, like we did the paperwork and I opened the door to his apartment, I was like, this woman answered.

And I was like, gosh, she looks really familiar. She was some kind of model. So yeah,

Annick: Oh, pesky models.

Sabine: it was a Canadian, he bought it in Canada so it didn't have the same requirements. Um, and so it had fatter carbs. And it had, you know, the, the speedometer was in kilometers, so it was so fun to have passengers on the back and like, and then just them, and like have them look and, and then feel them like, just great.

I was such an asshole because they thought we were going a hundred miles an hour. They, you know, they didn't know it was in kilometers.

Annick: That's so great.

Sabine: And I also, I was like, I got a little more power. I can go a little faster than the other gss, but you know, I didn't know there was no category at that time, even though they came out the first quote unquote adventure bike, actually the first one was the R 80, which my friend Pat and a bunch of others had in, uh, in Maine.

Um, they ship those from. Italy, I think because they weren't available. Where the hell are they? I think I have some, like these are, uh, some of their r eighties, a little

Annick: Oh

Sabine: blurry on Main Street in Vinalhaven. but I, I liked something about that upright stance. I liked something about being off the ground.

There was something about the GHI dea, which is what GS stands for. I later learned. That just appealed to me, even though I didn't quite, I didn't understand it really. And,

and I didn't do it that intensely. Like I found these photos, you know, I'm like in jeans and, you know, I don't even have proper like, writing pants and

I had that bike for 20 years and, when I started getting more into off-roading and more adventure riding, you know, I, I took, I started taking the bike to Dirt Daze and doing other stuff with it, and I added, uh, risers so that when I was standing I wouldn't, you know, my back wouldn't be so stooped and different foot pegs and whatever, but it just got to the point where it was like, this thing's like a.

It's a tank for God's sakes.

Annick: Yeah.

Sabine: And at Dirt Daze, I remember this was the one in, the, uh, Adirondacks, which was really great. Did you

Annick: Oh, lake George. Lake George. I, I was there that weekend at a

Sabine: Oh, that's right. You were doing road riding and test driving.

Annick: Yep.

Sabine: Yeah, I basically went out. I was, I was supposed to like camp with a bunch of friends, mostly dudes. But I went ahead of them and because it was like pretty, it was like a long, not just a weekend thing, it was like a five, six day thing and I did the whole thing.

'cause there were classes I want, I wanted to take. But when I got there, there was literally no other women. And I woke up in the morning, a video I took and there's just like, it's just a sea of tents and men and all these like. Ex-military dudes and all, you know, and the, with these like brand new ADV bikes that later.

And you know, I took this like class 'cause I was learning. So that's the other thing, because I never learned proper riding technique, honestly. I was like, I'm, I was like the Peter Sellers on a motorcycle kind of like, like May, maybe that's not fair to. Like, I was like being there, like there's nothing in my head, but there is something where it just, I was just doing things intuitively without really understanding

Annick: Yeah.

Sabine: technique.

Annick: as somebody who's observed your riding, me weigh in here and say. Because I don't think that we give, we give ourselves enough credit. Right. And I always say it like a comparison is a thief of joys, whatever the saying is that I don't get. Right. You're an excellent road rider a totally different thing to, um, to do, to, to do off-road, especially on a really large, heavy motorcycle. And you feel like you're starting new again, right? Because there's just, you just don't, your body's not acclimated to that.

Sabine: A hundred percent like that. I started taking so many classes because I didn't know what the techniques were. What, and it was really fascinating to learn, but also eye-opening that all these guys who look, you know, like had all these bikes, whatever were falling left and right. Here I'm on this old tank, like, you know, like, ha ha.

Eventually it did fall. I ended up wrenching my foot and I remember sleeping with the boot on, 'cause I had to ride back the next day. I was like, I'm not taking this boot off

Annick: oh my God.

Sabine: my foot. And then followed Turu 

Annick: home

yeah. Oh,

Sabine: That was one of the best rides I ever had.

Was really fun.

Annick: Yeah. He's a good rider too.

we've actually taken some classes

Sabine: yes.

Annick: and I was trying to think of that, but We did one in, Babe's in the Dirt,

Sabine: Yes.

Annick: which I forgot about. And then remember we've actually done a lot of trips together and I, I, until we started talking, like started remembering, but also we knew each other 10 years [00:29:00] before we rode together, which I think is crazy 'cause we missed 10

Sabine: I

Annick: together.

Sabine: that too, like, yeah, through our, through our friend, 

Annick: Cheryl.

Sabine: Yeah, that's right. And we, we knew, we shared this passion. We always talked about making it happen, and then we finally did, and it was like, now looking back from there,

Annick: No, no. And we were at the inaugural Over and Out

Sabine: yes. I mean,

Annick: Our first adventure.

Sabine: was amazing. Yeah. that was 2017. That was the year where my 17 year relationship after Mark ended, my mother died and my restaurant closed. So I was just a shattered

Annick: Yeah.

Sabine: being at that point. Like, I was just like, you know what, El what else? What else are you gonna take from me? So.

And perfect opportunity to discover off-road riding through a friend of mine who sold me his, again, inappropriately large XR 400. And I was like, in my mind, I'm like, well, a thousands, you know, four hundred's, a lot less than a thousand.

Annick: So bad. That bike was so big, bad.

Sabine: Oh my God. Um, still here.

Annick: It it is. 'cause it is actually ridiculous with bikes you

Sabine: And how we found each other, like how we found this group of riders, I think was through Instagram. I was looking for women to ride with or how to ride off road and somehow we stumbled on, posts and connected that way and then heard about this event. And Kelly, it was the first time she was like, workshopping whether or not there was something in this.

Idea of, of bringing women together to ride off road. friends there who, who are friends to this day, who I've got, had, had so many fun riding adventures with and, and also just blew my mind, the riding, the, the level of riding that women were doing. Because when I started, in the eighties, people would point out of their car windows.

Like, like, oh my God, there's a, there's a woman on it. Or a girl,

Annick: Yeah.

Sabine: or, they were so shocked, you know? It was like totally shocking. So, to, to be in this culture now where there's just so many badass, I mean, there always have been, there have been racers and like

Annick: Mm-hmm.

Sabine: al female riders throughout. 

Annick: there's so much more options now to connect with other women, and once you see somebody doing it, it becomes easier to do. And you know, I've looked at the stats. So in

Sabine: yeah.

Annick: of the riders were women. In 2019, when they did the last poll, it was at 19%. So like, let's say right now we're at between 20, maybe 22%. So in the eighties could have been 5%.

Sabine: I mean, I think it was less than that dude that was like, I might as well

Annick: when you put it in

Sabine: been wearing like, like a crazy mask on my head or something like this,

Annick: yeah.

Sabine: It's so funny, like I, I'm always in these little bubbles and the bubbles get bigger and I think like, but I'm still in a total subculture. Like it hasn't quite, you know, in my mind it seems like there are so many women riders, but I remember as I was getting into off-roading more, trying to find clothing.

Annick: Oh yeah.

Sabine: And, uh, like confronting that thing that they're not manufacturing that those clothes because they're, they're not making enough money on it. There aren't enough people buying it, even though,

Annick: and then six years later it's probably doubled, but it's still not great, but it, it's like probably doubled in options. And you also brought up, like, you know, when we went to Babes in the Dirt, the level that those girls

Sabine: oh my God.

Annick: the

Sabine: Yeah.

Annick: both of us were like, what?

Sabine: Yeah. Just. Flying in the air and I mean, and the level

Annick: tabletops.

Sabine: we thought we partied hard. Oh my

Annick: Oh

Sabine: God. The DI mean those girls, we, we were just like, whoa.

They put us to shame. There was like wind whipping. You remember that wind was whipping the sand around like

Annick: Oh,

Sabine: Yeah. Totally different riding technique. You're.

Annick: Different vibe. The whole, the whole California scene was West Coast scene is not like we're opposites on the East coast. different.

Sabine: Yeah, totally.

are so many different subcultures and motorcycling that you can access. You know, it's, it's like a little nesting doll thing. That's part of what makes it so appealing. And I love your show because you, it's so easy when you're in one of those subcultures to be like, well, this is how it's done.

And you know, you know, you don't, this person's the loser if they don't do this, that, or the other thing. But you just wanna tell the stories of everyone. You're kind of about celebrating riding, whether it's like the weekend warrior or somebody who's racing or you know, like just. Validating the experience of everyone who loves, you know who feels so much joy being on a motorcycle. 

Annick: Thank you. And we, we need to like bring it back to that. 'cause it's supposed to be fun if it's stressful and getting to a point where like, it's too hard. Where it's not challenging, not fun, challenging, but just awful challenge. Then to me it's like, you know, gotta rethink what type of writing we're doing.

Sabine: We live in a culture that loves competition and, and mastery over things. And so we, you know, we feel less than if we're not con, you know, if we're not pushing ourselves all the time.

Annick: Yeah.

Sabine: I felt like it was really interesting for me as such a long time rider to go to that first over and out, and I had predicted, I was like, I'm gonna be the oldest one and I'm gonna be on the biggest bike.

Both were true. and you know, my ego to just sort of be like, but wait, I've been doing this for so long, but I didn't have the technical know-how really, and it didn't matter. You know, usually I muscle my way through situations or just like muddle my way through or figure it out. But there are ramifications when you start at that level.

Like, you, you're gonna get hurt and, which I did. and. There was a point where I felt like, okay, well I have to keep, you know, I have to keep improving. I have to take more classes. I've gotta keep, you know, it's scary, but I have to try to push through. And it did reach a point where I was like, I don't know.

Is this really what I want to do? Like, or is it just my competitive nature? Or, or, or the, the influence of the culture

pushing me to ke, you know, to keep going for it. I don't know. 

Annick: Yeah. Well, we took the super, uh, American super camp and that, that was a good example because it also, I mean, it, that was such a different style of riding. Yeah. The whole experience was completely different. But it also brings up that like, you know, you're on a track, so you are getting more and more competitive. And it did have a ramification by accident.

Sabine: Yes,

Annick: Not you, but somebody ran into

Sabine: my first, uh, I don't know if you can see the scar.

Annick: Yeah.

Sabine: yeah. This woman who had annoyed me during the entire weekend. Who was like a really bad rider who seemed totally distracted. I remember you and I being like, why is this person even here? This person should not on a bike. have known, should've known them.

That yeah, and it was, thank God it was towards the end of the training. 'cause that would've sucked if, if like I'd gotten there and. I would never pulled a ride, but, and I was just starting to feel the flow. All the techniques they were teaching us were gelling and then she comes, turns in, in me, in my inside, which you're not supposed to do on a super tight turn, which I knew she wasn't gonna make 'cause she didn't have the skill.

And instead just T-bone, you know, her handlebars hit hit me here actually, but it shattered the bone here. So I've got a little titanium. Um. But yeah, that was like a really, that, you know, sometimes hardship in our life just opens up a whole, it's an opportunity to open a whole new world. So I just jumped into motorcycling so hardcore once I didn't have to worry about a boyfriend who didn't ride, and, you know, the over and out thing happened and then I went and did that and then, you know, dirt daze and I don't know, there, you know, I got the XR.

Then I got a WR 250 R, which, you know, from still a bit too big for the technical kind of stuff that I thought I was gonna get into.

you know, if you, if you have a bike that's not a dual sport, you then you need a truck and it's just like, what am gonna get a fucking truck now? Like, like you could go down that road, you know, it was like, It just seemed a little excessive, so I never could rationalize having a bike that was just for off-roading events. You know,

Annick: Mm-hmm.

Sabine: I'd have to usually rent a truck to haul the bike out to these things. So the bikes were always, you know, a little big. 

Annick: you know, I always ask, how many motorcycles do you have? You've,

Sabine: Oh, I, I use that.

Annick: have.

Sabine: I, Tom would laugh at me. So many people laughed at me. They were like, you have one bike and you've had it for 20 years. What is wrong with you? You know? I like keep, you know, I like minimalism. So I, you know, I understand the appeal. If you have the garage, if you're like, if you do your own maintenance or something like that, I can, I can see why it would be appealing, and also because if you get, you know, an adventure bike or a dual sport, it's, it's doing two things and neither of them particularly well.

So you're always, it's always a compromise. eventually I got rid of the, um. GS when I, I think it was like the fourth foot injury I'd had within like six months or something. And my friends and I had a stick shift car at the TI at the time. And my friends were like, okay, we are not,

Annick: This is the intervention.

Sabine: yeah, we're getting an automatic because we're not

Annick: Yeah.

Sabine: driving you around anymore.

But it happened in Maine on that island and I actually left. I couldn't ride home 'cause it was my shifter, foot. So I left the bike up there where it remains, I sold it to my friend Joe, who's schoolhouse, uh, I first rode to when I, when I got to the island. And, uh, then I decided, I, I, I looked, I thought how hard about what kind of bike I wanted.

I looked at a bunch and then decided I wanted the Yamaha Tenere. Which at the time was, you know, hadn't come out. They were all, you know, it was supposed to come out [00:39:00] and then it wouldn't. So the buildup was like insane. one day I just started making calls to these dealers and they're all like, come, you know, like kind of laughing at me and I start to go way out to the Midwest thinking I'll go out there, you know, whatever, I'll write it back or I'll.

And then I, no strike out on all of them. And I, I go back through the list and I'm like, oh yeah, there's a dealer here in the Queens I didn't call, happened to call them. And they're like, lady, you're not gonna believe your luck. This guy just who put a deposit down just called to say he couldn't, this was during Covid, so you know, poor guy had lost his job or whatever.

He couldn't. Buy the bike. So he asked for the refund to the thing, and I was like, I said, what What color is it? and he goes, Matt Black. I was like, yes.

So I totally lucked out. I mean, I was just like,

Annick: Yeah.

Sabine: the mechanical gods smiled on me. So, um, so I now have a, I have two Yamahas. It's crazy. I have itinerary and the WR, which is now on that island in Maine.

' cause I've started doing less and less off-roading around here, not going to the events. And, and it's a fun bike to have up there to tool around on. So

Annick: It's perfect. It's perfect for the island.

Sabine: I would love to have a T seven a a Zi, just for like fun road riding. 

Annick: I know you keep talking about it. You gotta make it happen. You gotta make it happen.

Sabine: maybe for my birthday next year.

Annick: There you go. That would be the perfect birthday gift. And then we should go on a trip.

Sabine: Yes, please. Any, anytime. I,

I love going

Annick: do have the, uh, the, the best post ride ritual.

Sabine: champagne and oysters.

Annick: Because we keep riding classy.

Sabine: Classy ladies. Oh no. We wanted to go to Revic and then the Babes in the Dirt did a whole trip out

Annick: I

Sabine: there. I know.

Annick: saw that. I

Sabine: Re

Annick: 'cause I really wanted to go on that

Sabine: take you to Lebanon. Like, you know, I've been wanting to do the Motor of Vermont thing for years and finally gave up. It's hard to, and lately I haven't really been riding that much. yeah, the last, like last year was a little.

Bummed because I was spending all this time in Maine, so my, my T seven was not getting ridden that much. I just find it hard to constantly be rallying people on rides together. You know, if you're the person who's doing that, you just, sometimes you just get tired and you're like, 

Annick: It's hard.

Sabine: I miss it.

I, and I want,

Annick: Yeah.

Sabine: I want us to ride in May, please.

Annick: Okay. We can do that. 

Sabine: it was interesting diving into all this and because I haven't felt like much of a rider for the last couple of years, just not been riding as much. And then I stopped doing more of the off-roading women's thing, which was so fun, challenging and like, and then you start to just wonder. You're like, and actually the last road ride I went on up here, I was almost bored. I'd been,

Annick: Oh.

Sabine: a road road, I'd done many times, and I was just kind of like, what This, like, I'm just like a grown ass woman riding around on the, like, this just, it just seems stupid.

I had never felt that in my entire life and I thought. Oh, is something like, is my relationship to riding shifting or, I would say I think adventure riding makes road riding pretty boring after you,

Annick: Mm.

Sabine: because you're just. You know, not, not super technical woods riding, but you're on like four class Jeep roads and you're going through landscapes and sceneries that you would never have access to otherwise.

There's always something fresh but that requires some planning. 'cause I, I still don't know the ro need other people to ride with me. I don't wanna ride on my own on those rides. So.

Annick: Yeah.

Sabine: But the one we went on with tour, you, me, Toru, and Tom a couple years ago,

Annick: Yeah, that was

Sabine: four or five hours.

Annick: sometimes the stars aligned. You just get that, like that ride.

Sabine: You think

Annick: I

Sabine: it just happens? Or do we have to like

Annick: I think it does, like, I just think that reason, like everybody shows up on the right bike in the right

Sabine: Yeah.

Annick: The weather's good.

Sabine: Yeah.

Annick: I think that there's, and, and the riding ebbs and flows.

Like there's, there were years that I didn't ride much either. I was just like, ah, you know, I had stuff going on.

And then there's other

Sabine: I heard that episode. I love that, uh, episode where you just talk about what, you know, encouraging people to pick it up after a hiatus and not do what I'm doing, which is start telling yourself like, oh, I'm not a rider anymore. And

Annick: yeah.

Sabine: you know, it's like, yeah, shit happens sometimes and stuff shifts around.

but I, I'm determined to gather us in May or early June for a community like building thing. And yeah, to squeeze the ride in. Um, I'm gonna get some new tires on the T seven, uh, in the next couple of weeks hopefully, and then I'll be ready to rock and roll.

Annick: Perfect. So with that, I guess we should go prep.

Sabine: I am so psyched you're doing this, Annick I also

Annick: you.

Sabine: listen to the one where you talk about your goals for 2025, and I was like, oh yeah, goals, something I never do for myself. But hearing you talk about wanting to realize this podcast and finally doing it, and I just wanna say. Congratulations and bravo, and it's such a wonderful thing for the community and

Annick: I appreciate that. 'cause you know, when we were riding in the mountain, we were driving after, uh, Babe's in the

Sabine: yeah.

Annick: saying, I remember telling you all about the podcast and you were like, you should totally do it. So,

Sabine: you showing me how to use Instagram on that trip too. I was

Annick: yeah.

Sabine: like, I dunno how to do stories or whatever. It was like we were in the hotel room and you're like, this is,

Annick: Yeah.

Sabine: yeah. I'm like, wow. Add that to the list of shit and Annick knows how to do so. Yeah. Um. And I hope you get like the camera you want and the equipment and the whatever, and,

Annick: Wow. You really did listen to a bunch of episodes. Thank you. 

Sabine: thank you for inviting me to be on your show, even though I'm not a racer or a

Annick: It doesn't matter. This is the stories of real riders. Do you know how many miles you have underneath your belt? Like hundreds of

Sabine: Probably, yeah. On some pretty gnarly roads

Annick: yeah, different countries, different roads, different types of riding. So

all part of the community,

Sabine: more roads await me in the years to come

Annick: And to everybody else, ride Smart Ciao!