I first met Rashmi during the photoshoot. But i had previously ( like 4 hours earlier) read about her on fb as well as her website. The fact that she was around, gave me an idea of doing this post about her.
We decided to have the shoot earlier than she wanted, which am really grateful for, cause doing the shoot when she was having a meeting with other lady bikers would have been a task. ( i should know i have photographed our bikers before) Without further ado, Meet the biker,
“The following interview has been extracted from her interview at Global Women Who Ride.”
Hello! My name is Rashmi Tambe. I grew up in Bombay, India and I now live full time in the USA. I live in Seattle and work as a software engineer at a Redmond-based company. In my spare time I’m a writer, editor, voracious reader, runner, hiker, and of course, motorcyclist. I’ve been riding for almost ten years since the summer of 2005 when I got my first ever 250cc motorcycle.
How did you get into motorcycling?
Early on in my tech career, I had a manager who rode a Harley that was stripped down to look like a WW2 era motorcycle – paint matted down, no chrome, no mirrors, no bling whatsoever. I remember that he had cut his exhaust too so that it was obnoxiously loud. He rode to work every day and he would occasionally tell me that I should get a motorcycle too. I didn’t own a car at the time, so I decided to take his advice and bought a motorcycle – a Yamaha Virago 250, which looked like a tinier version of his Harley.
The better question would be why I stayed in motorcycling. After all, I’ve dabbled in a lot of things just to try them out and see if it sticks. Motorcycling is the one thing that stuck. It’s the one thing that brings me joy and makes me happy to be alive. Not every time I’m riding of course. Not when it’s pouring down rain, windy, muddy, or challenging in a way that’s mentally taxing, although even those days I’m still happy that I’m on my bike rather than at my desk job. When conditions are good though, and I’m riding my bike down a twisty road on a sunny day, it’s a gift, and I’m happy, joyous and grateful. There is simply no better feeling than blasting down a winding road, throwing the bike around corners, rolling on the throttle and feeling the power of your machine as you melt into one.
Do you do maintenance and repairs on your bike?
I do the bulk of my own maintenance, repair, service,
accessories etc. So I can do your basic checking and changing spark plugs, oil changes, air filter cleaning, changing fluids, replacing parts like tires, fuel tank, levers etc.
I knew none of this when I first started riding and slowly worked my way up by taking a class at a local community college, forcing myself to do my own work with the help of a manual, working with a more knowledgeable friend etc.
I’ll usually have a mechanic work on my bike if it’s something that I don’t particularly feel like doing, if I don’t have access to garage space, or if it’s something that needs doing so rarely that I don’t want to spent time learning e.g. doing valve adjustments or carb cleaning.
You can read more about Rashmi’s riding adventures at her blog here.
After the shoot this is what i thought of her.She is a very strong willed lady and great company to be around. And yes she is funny as you will see in the pic to follow. This explains why you will never find bikers in a psychiatric waiting room.
Last but not least . The couple that made it all possible for us to do the shoot and hosting Rashmi. Dos and Joan ( we should be doing a feature of them soon. )
The picture below has a story to it. The two are planning a three year trip around the world. And yes you guessed it. Riding on motorbikes..
And yes i finally got photographed. ( Am the cool guy in dreads. )
Light assistants: Mercy & Elijah Omega .
Thank you so much. We are honoured.
Great stories and am inspired to hear of the couple and their planned adventures, I hope more people can take up motorbike way if life and transport. Great also to see more ladies motorbike riders and hope there will be more ladies and more Kenyans taking it up