- Move back guys, women motorcycle riders are on the increase.

Sharing stories and riding the wind, coming up next on "Inspire."

(gentle music) (laser sizzling) - [Announcer 1] "Inspire" is sponsored by the estate of Ray and Ann Goldsmith.

- [Announcer 2] And the Raymond C. and Marguerite Gibson Foundation, and.

- [Announcer 1] Friends of KTWU.

We appreciate your financial support.

Thank you.

(bright music) (upbeat music) - Hello, welcome to "Inspire."

I'm excited to be here with my beautiful "Inspire" sisters, Leslie Flueranges and Amy Kelly.

And of course, you.

Women motorcycle riders are on the increase, but why the uptick?

And are there benefits of riding on two wheels?

- I can't see why not, Betty Lou.

It's exhilarating.

Riding a motorcycle makes us feel like we're free and breathing the fresh air and seeing the beautiful landscapes, all of which lead to the benefits, including stress relief, improved mental outlook, and increased self-confidence.

- This episode of "Inspire" features a discussion with "Inspire" hosts Betty Lou and Danielle who had the opportunity to visit with two motorcycle riders recently, Indy Saini, filmmaker and producer for the documentary film, "Women in the Front Seat," and KTWU's own General Manager, Val VanDerSlluis.

On the first segment, we talk with Indy about her film.

Let's take a look.

(upbeat music) - Hey there.

I'm so happy you're here.

We have wonderful guests, our, my "Inspire" sister Danielle Norwood and KTWU's General Manager who also happens to own a Harley.

And we are thrilled to be here with a young lady who has traveled across the United States to tell stories of women who prefer the front seat, that means on their own motorcycle.

So Indy Saini, thank you so much for being with us.

And what took you so long to write this book?

We need these women to be out there by golly.

(group laughing) - Well it was actually, the film was in the works for, the idea for the film was in the works for a long time.

I had been, in the 2000s, the number of women riders started to grow exponentially and I was watching the statistics go from single digits to double digits.

And I had pitched a couple of ideas around the idea of focusing on women motorcyclists and women who had been traditionally in the backseat moving to the front seat.

And it took quite a number of years before I actually was able to make it happen.

- Can you give us an estimate of how many women are in the front seat?

Because I, at this particular time, I have like a girl clique of people who go and they're out doing their own thing and leaving the men at home.

But I mean, how many women are actually in front?

- The statistics that I'm aware of comes a lot from the manufacturers and and who's buying gear.

And so that number has gone into the 20s, 20%, like 25%.

But I think a lot more women than that are riding and riding their own bikes.

And if you start including like cruisers and people who are doing like dirt competitions and all the different avenues of riding, I think it's probably higher than that.

- Wow.

I think that's amazing.

Just the whole idea of being in this film.

There's a young, very young girl in there who thinks it's getting better all the time.

And Val, your your daughter has a starter cycle.

But what got you going?

What got you going and then thus her going?

- Well I would have to say I went through some life-changing experiences several years ago and motorcycles were something that I was always very interested in and I just said, "Screw it, I'm gonna go ahead and do this."

I'm gonna go ahead and I went to a riding class for the Harley Davidson shop here in Topeka and it was not the plan to buy a motorcycle, but within a month, I had a motorcycle and I was out on the road.

And it's hilarious because I bought that motorcycle, I took it out, made it around the city, got it back home, and I downed it in the driveway.

(group laughing) Lesson learned and a little few scratches to bring a memory.

- The learning curve, right?

You gotta know you're gonna drop the bike and then once you do it once, then it just gets easier and easier.

- You learn how to drop it right.

- In your film you talk about, I mean there's some serious accidents, but one of the quotes was, it's just like if you're in a car wreck, you don't quit driving a car, you get right back in the car.

So can you expand on that a little bit about accidents and so forth?

- Sure, and I think it's that feeling of like, oh, you gotta do everything perfect and you can't make a mistake.

But you realize like life is about making mistakes and then getting back up.

So picking your bike back up and continuing on.

And I think a lot of people when they're first learning to ride, it's a fearful thing.

But once you've taken the course and you start to feel it and you start to understand, it all starts to make sense, it really excites you.

So like there's women in the film who'd had near fatal crashes, and for them it wasn't about like, oh this terrible thing happened and now I'm never gonna ride again.

It was like, how long is it gonna take me to heal so I can get back on the bike and do this thing that I love so much and that brings me so much joy and brings me so much relief about the other things in my life.

And the passion doesn't go away, it just, for some of the women, it increases because it's like this is my freedom, this is what gives me the most joy.

And so the accident was just something that made them realize that they can be stronger and keep on going.

- So is it all about freedom, the wind in your hair, and just going out on the open trail and doing your own thing?

- Freedom is a big part of it I think for most riders, but there's so many other aspects of it because I know for like a lot of women, and I bet it's true for men too, that when you're on a bike, it's a very empowering thing when you learn to ride, you're taking on this sort of like big challenge and people find their challenges in life in a lot of different places.

But for anybody who learns to ride and can go out on the open road and it's a huge sense of self-esteem building.

But it's also a huge community, no matter where you go as a rider and I'm sure this happens with you, you pull in a gas station and people just start talking to you.

They're excited to learn about your bike and how you got started and why you ride.

And so the community that you gain just from showing up on a bike opens doors that wouldn't normally be there.

And then the community of people who are like-minded who learn to ride, like we immediately share something.

We have a communication, a shorthand being motorcycle riders and that community is international.

No matter where I go as a rider, I run a bike somewhere in Thailand and people are like, "Oh man, you're a rider."

And all of a sudden you have like this commonality.

And that is a beautiful sense of community.

So a lot of people are drawn to it for that.

- Sounds like a clique I wanna belong to.

Well Indy Saini, you are definitely an inspiration.

We wanna thank you so much for joining us here on "Inspire" and we've got so much more to come, so stay with us.

(upbeat music) - Such an inspiring discussion.

We'll be back with more.

But first, we visit KTWU's fourth annual Women on Wheels Car Show and we're talking cougars.

(upbeat music) If you go to any car show, you're gonna see Shannon.

She's there.

She wins.

Shannon, tell us about this gorgeous orange beauty.

- Her name is Simba.

She is a 1970 Mercury Cougar XR7.

We plan on making her a Eliminator tribute car.

So she'll look like the other two that we have.

We have two other 1970 Mercury Cougar Eliminators.

We have competition blue and competition yellow, and then we have our orange.

- [Betty Lou] What is it about this particular model that just sends you into high gear?

- I love the '70s.

I like the body lines a little bit better than the '69.

I love all the other years.

But the lines and everything about the front end, and I just like the '70s.

- And I love seeing you at the car shows.

What is it about coming to car shows that you really enjoy?

- I like the comradery.

I like to visit with people.

Of course we all like to talk about our vehicles, but I like to see other women participate.

I really love the younger generation when they show an interest and they really want to work towards getting their own car and following their dreams of doing that.

We definitely like to, most of us like to encourage the teenagers and the kids in getting involved in cars.

Keeps them out of trouble and gives him a hobby.

(upbeat music) - And we are back with more discussion featuring Indy Saini and Val VanDerSluis.

Betty Lou, what a fabulous discussion you had with these two.

In the next segment, we talk about why they started riding on two wheels.

- I'm so excited to be here with Betty Lou Pardue and of course Val VanDerSluis, who's the General Manager of PBS here, KTWU, and a woman who is not afraid of taking control of the front seat and hitting it full throttle across the country.

I'm talking about Indy Saini.

Indy, thank you so much for being here with us.

How did you get into wanting to ride a motorcycle?

Did you have family members that were riders or is this something that you said, "You know what, I'm gonna get my own bike and do my own thing"?

- Well, when I started riding, it was sort of a circumstantial thing, but my family, my dad's from India, and so we used to go visiting family when I was a kid.

And I mean in India a lot of times, a motorcycle is the family vehicle.

And that was the case with my family.

So if we were gonna go anywhere, it was on a bike.

And so my first ride, I was seven years old.

So my cousin would take me to the movies or go to the swimming pool and I'd be like in my shorts and my flip flops and I'd hop on the back of his motorcycle and we'd go off to where we were going.

So I felt comfortable on a bike at a really early age.

It was just like part of the whole thing.

So when I ended up dating somebody in my early 20s and he was a motorcycle rider and he was like, "Yeah, I'll teach you."

It just felt really a natural thing.

- And how long did it take you to learn?

- Well, I think I learned pretty quickly, partially just because at the time, I didn't have a vehicle, and I really loved it, and so... - So necessity kind of helped that out.

- Necessity helped it out, yeah.

And I always liked like adventure sports and so I was just like, this is super cool.

- A lot of the girls in the film talked about and women in the film talked about having ridden on the back.

And I know you have, and you just said you had, so what was it like to move from the back to the front?

- I mean, a lot of people are like, "Oh, the backseat is terrible," it's fun.

I mean you still get the wind in your hair and you still get that feeling.

But the thing about being in the front is where you're making all the decisions and it's a different kind of feeling.

It's a different power.

So I learned to ride, I was in my early 20s, and the thing that really became noticeable to me is if I'd be going down the street and I would stop at a stoplight and literally all the heads would turn and people would be like, and then people would wave at me and a car would pull up next to me with like, you know, a woman or a girl in it and they'd see me and they'd wave.

And so there was like a constant communication of the people around me observing me as a woman in the front seat.

And I became aware of that really quickly and that had a lot of meaning to me.

- Absolutely, it is very empowering when you get up in the front seat there.

And what I love is when you get to a stoplight and you have a man over here and a big old pickup or whatever and he kind of looks over like, oh okay, whatever.

And then that light turns green, it's like vroom!

(group laughing) And the dust behind you, he's like, bye.

- And then in movies, and in your film you had that big, the thing where the lady takes her helmet off and shakes her head.

And she's so cool.

Have you guys done that, let's just say?

- No, no, your hair is matted down, you're sweaty, or you know, no hair flowing in the wind.

- It's not as glamorous as it's made to be.

- You got bugs in your face.

- Not pretty scene.

- Well we have so much more left with Indy, so please stay there.

We'll be back in just a few moments.

(upbeat music) - I love hearing about the empowerment of motorcycle riding.

Don't go away.

We have more discussion coming up after another feature from KTWU's Women on Wheels.

Anybody interested in Corvettes?

(upbeat music) - A car show would not be a car show without Corvettes, and this lady owns two of them and these two.

So first of all, tell us about these.

- Okay, well we have a 1990 and a 1992.

The '92 is the first year that had the LT1 in it.

They are fun, fun cars to drive, and they were definitely our saving grace during Covid because we would two and two, my husband would take one and a kid, I'd take one and a kid, and we'd go drive those curvy roads out by Dover.

It was the best thing about Covid for us.

- We've got a couple of beautiful women over here.

Would you tell me your name?

- Kat.

- Kat, and?

- Anna Marie.

- Okay.

Tell us about which one you like better, if there's a choice and why you like them.

- Well I like the '90, and a little fun story, for my senior homecoming in high school, I got to drive it in the homecoming parade and I got to try and shove the biggest football player in the small car.

- Did he fit?

- He did, barely.

- And what about you?

- My favorite is the '92 because I mean, with all my gear, I really like K State, and this one's purple, so.

- [Betty Lou] Tell me what you love, Anna Marie, about driving them.

- I don't know, it's just, yeah, I like having the wind in my hair when I'm in it and just going around.

It feels cool, you know.

(upbeat music) - It was a blast talking with such inspiring woman, a mom and her daughters with a love of awesome rides.

In this next segment with Indy Saini and Val VanDerSluis.

Indy talks about the diverse landscape of motorcycle riders, including a 72-year-old rider.

We are glad you're here.

Danielle Norwood and I are in the presence of two powerhouse women.

We have KTWU's General Manager and Harley owner, Val VanDerSluis, and we have Indy Saini, and she has done this film that is so cool.

We need to talk about how you got into it and the importance of it and the fact that you have so many women from so many places.

- Yeah, when I wanted to make a film about women motorcycle riders, it was really important to me that it covered the diverse landscape of riders.

I mean, one of my mission in life is also to get more stories about complex women in the mass media landscape.

And so it was fulfilling both of those things.

And so when I was looking for women to be in the film to be interviewed, I wanted it to cover full spectrum of age.

So I have women 22 to 72 across gender, across class, across different races.

And I was really lucky to find a lot of women.

I mean, I didn't really know, because when I first started to film, I didn't know who I would encounter or who would meet me, who I would meet, who would introduce me to somebody else.

But in the end, I did manage to cover all of those bases.

I mean, it is a diverse landscape, and so I was happy to be able to represent that.

- I wanna hear about the 72-year-old woman.

Tell me that story.

- So the 72-year-old woman, her husband was a rider, and he wouldn't let her ride.

And he had died when she was in her early 60s.

And she went out and took a class and got a Sportster.

- That's awesome.

- And has now been riding for 12 years.

- [Betty Lou] That's awesome.

- And she's a tiny little thing and she's just a powerhouse.

- Well, and the power of it, because you guys, you hear each of these riders talk about why they wanna ride, the freedom, the responsibility, control, but also feeling that power.

Will you explain that, what's that like?

- Well, feeling the power, one experience I had was a women's ride that happened here in Topeka and this was right after I first learned a ride and people from all over the country, women riders came in to Heartland and we all got to ride around the track together.

And so being able to meet all these women, I have friends still today from that ride that I keep in touch with on Facebook and we talk about our rides and everything, but so many stories as you were talking about, the diversity, the women, and women were coming with their children, their young girls.

I had my daughter with me there.

And so some of those stories, one of them, she was riding on behalf of her mother who died of breast cancer.

And so it's just the stories that come with it, the empowerment that women have when they get on those motorcycles, you feel strong and you feel independent.

And really it's all you, you get on that bike, and there is nobody that can control you or control what you're doing.

You're out there in the wind and it is very exhilarating.

- How about for you ,Indy?

How does that feeling of that power, like the actual physical power from the bike?

- Yeah, it's exhilarating.

It's a feeling that I don't get in any other way.

I like a lot of action sports.

I was a gymnast as a kid.

And so things that are like challenging, I like to meet those challenges.

But getting on a bike and getting to like speed out of a stop sign or a stop light, all the cars are lined up and you're up next to like some nice sporty cars and you can put them in the dust.

(group laughing) There's really no other feeling like that.

- Someday I would love the feeling of saying "Eat my dust."

- Yeah, or you can just show them.

- Or I can just show them.

Exactly.

Well I'm so excited that you've been here with us and to share your stories and your passion and your motivation to go after your dreams is just really inspiring me.

And maybe I'll actually get on a bike at some point.

We'll see.

(group laughing) Thank you for joining us here on "Inspire."

(upbeat music) - Such impactful and moving stories.

I love how Indy Saini's film, "Women in the Front Seat," captures these moments.

Now we'll be back with more, but first, enjoy our last Women on Wheels interview segment with Betty Lou.

Looks like we have Jeeps on the menu.

(upbeat music) - Okay, I've got to say this is distinctive and probably the most fun for kids of all ages.

Please explain your Jeep.

- So before it was Ninja Turtles, I had a Rafiki from Lion King.

So we do a lot of parades and kids love it.

So that's kind of my, I like making the kids happy.

- [Betty Lou] Well the kids are definitely happy.

You have so many scenes on here.

I know Donatello, Raphael, who are the other Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

- Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo.

And then we've got Shredder and Splinter in the back.

- [Betty Lou] And these are like life-sized Shredder and Splinter.

- Well they're skeletons with masks on.

(laughs) - That's okay.

Why do you love being in this group?

And especially with women?

- We're not just a women group.

Most of us are married, we're just a family.

We hang out together at Jeep Events, non-Jeep events.

We just have good time.

- [Betty Lou] Well, I love the appointments, even on the back wheel where you've got all of the characters.

- My little figurines.

(upbeat music) - And we're back with our last segment featuring director and filmmaker for "Women in the Front Seat," Indy Saini, and KTWU's General Manager, Val VanDerSluis.

We talk about the fact that riding across country isn't the easiest endeavor.

- I'm here with my "Inspire" sister, Betty Lou Pardue, as well as the KTWU General Manager, Val VanDerSluis.

So thrilled that you're here behind the set with us behind the table.

And of course we've got a woman who is inspiring people including me to get on a bike.

I don't know how real that's gonna be.

But maybe I'll watch you a couple of times, but yeah, we have Indy Saini who is here, and I wanna thank you for being on "Inspire."

Tell us about the film that you made, "Women in the Front seat," because I'm thinking how long did it take to actually make the film and what were some of the things that you encountered?

Because I'm sure that it wasn't all peaches and roses every time that you went out to film.

- Yeah, so the film is based on a cross-country trip, my first solo cross-country trip on my Indian Scout where I rode from Boston to Los Angeles where I live.

And the whole idea of the film was to meet as many women riders as I could find and tell their stories.

And so I jig-jagged around the country meeting women and interviewing them and riding with them.

And it was my own sort of transformation along the journey with all the challenges that I came across.

I mean, I was excited to be doing my first solo trip because I was thinking about the film and what I wanted to...

The women that I wanted to meet and what their stories meant to me, I wasn't necessarily thinking so much about the ride.

And so I found myself kind of unprepared in some of those situations.

I was riding through these rainstorms as I was trying to meet up with women who I had these like tight schedules with because everybody's so busy.

And at one point, like I realized that my GPS wasn't waterproof and so that was beginning to fail.

And I was just like, you know, all the things that come up when you're doing something sort of an adventurous nature, even if you are really prepared, things are gonna come up that are gonna challenge you.

And so I had a lot of those kind of circumstances, weather, not only the rain, but wind.

And I found myself really getting pretty tired as I was going across the country.

- Especially with the wind.

- Yeah, I was gonna say the wind.

- The wind whips you around pretty good.

- One of these ladies said that it fed her soul.

What did it do for you?

- Well, I think the making of the film fed my soul kind of in a different way than riding a bike.

I mean, riding a motorcycle is a very powerful and empowering experience, but making the film and getting to meet this community of women inspired me.

And that's part of I think what comes across in the film and why people talk about it being inspiring.

But I was like, as I was saying, became really fatigued, and I was having my own sort of personal challenges.

And part of me was like, "Oh, I can't finish this trip.

I'm too tired.

I don't really have the skillset to do this."

And so I was having my own doubts, but the women that I was meeting, some of who had done a cross-country trip or many had like traveled internationally and done all these other things, were all like, "Oh, you got this and we love that you're doing this project and you gotta go meet my friend who lives somewhere else in the country and she's got a great story."

And there was all this like inspiration and excitement and energy around what I was doing and my ride and within their stories that helped carry me along this whole journey.

And I think that was like the most amazing and surprising thing to me, like beyond the empowerment of riding a bike was the empowerment of this community who all wanted to come together and share their stories.

- Well we want to invite you right here on "Inspire" to come to Kansas back here from Los Angeles, ride in the Flint Hills.

Because aren't they gorgeous?

- They're beautiful.

- And Indy Saini, this has been the best.

Thank you so much for the honor of your presence here all this way.

"Women in the Front Seat," you can watch it right here on KTWU.

Don't miss it.

(upbeat music) What an inspiring show featuring powerhouse women riding in the front seat.

I want to give my thanks to Indy Saini and Val VanDerSluis for sharing their motorcycle riding stories with us.

And we thank you and everybody who came out for Women on Wheels.

- This show featured inspirational women on two wheels and four wheels.

While I could listen to stories like this all day, unfortunately we do have to stop for today.

You can learn more about "Inspire" and watch this show again on our website at www.ktw.org/inspire.

- Inspiring women, inspiring women taking control of the front seat, inspiring you on KTWU.

Thank you for watching.

(upbeat music continues) - [Announcer 1] "Inspire" is sponsored by the estate of Ray and Ann Goldsmith.

- [Announcer 2] And the Raymond C. and Marguerite Gibson Foundation, and.

- [Announcer 1] Friends of KTWU.

We appreciate your financial support.

Thank you.

(bright music)