The story of how a premature quarter-life crisis led one rebel to her Rebel 250.
by Kaylen Ralph
photo illustration by Grace Molteni
A few months off the series finale of “Sons of Anarchy” at the end of last year (a completely addicting and disturbing drama I binge-watched, sorry not sorry), Lily Brooks-Dalton’s Motorcyles I’ve Loved, on sale today, is a welcome respite from the male-centric storylines that dominate pop culture depictions of motorcycle-riding characters. This boy’s club mentality is being reflected in documentary depictions, as well. “The Devil’s Ride,” which airs on Discovery next month, has been described as the real-life version of “Sons of Anarchy.” If it’s true to “Sons of Anarchy” form, there likely won’t be one woman on a bike.
Brooks-Dalton addresses some of the inherent sexism that exists in riding culture, but Motorcycles I’ve Loved is a delight because the depressing reality of the author’s chosen hobby doesn’t bog down an otherwise inspiring memoir of a young woman’s life in flux as she searches for a smoother road. With an opening reminiscent of Cheryl Strayed’s infamous advice to fellow writer Elissa Bassist (“…Write like a motherfucker”), Brooks-Dalton begins: “…I knew without a doubt—I didn’t want to be a passenger on someone else’s motorcycle. I wanted to be the one riding that motherfucker.”
She carries that mentality throughout the duration of the book. After impulsively leaving a long-term boyfriend behind in Australia (a place she ended up after a series of impulsive decisions starting at age 17), Brooks-Dalton finds herself back in her Virginian hometown, craving some sort of middle ground between the impulsivity of her past and the uncertainty of her future. At the ripe old age of 21 years old, the author describes starting all over again. “I realized that empty space was what I’d needed all along,” she writes. “The chance to consider my own contents. To cull, reshape, and ultimately to innovate. To find stillness, and then, eventually, discover a new kind of motion.”
First on her agenda? Acquiring a motorcycle to carry her on her journey of self-discovery. After completing basic motorcycle training (and being told by her instructor, Ray, that she has “balls…an’ a fuckin’ brain. One’s no good without the other”), Brooks-Dalton makes it her mission to find a bike of her own. Since she had always “looked both younger and smaller” than she actually was or felt, the author starts her search with the intention of straying from any bike that could be considered “cute.” Of course, after finding a Rebel 250 that fits her just right, which a male friend inevitably calls “so cute,” she has the pièce-de-résistance realization of the entire book: “After years of letting that word diminish me, I reminded myself that it was only a word: a house-trained, second-rate adjective that had about as much potency behind it as fine or cool. Maybe it was true, and so what if it was? It wasn’t his reaction that mattered, it was mine.”
Motorcycles I’ve Loved was released today, April 7, from Riverhead.
[hr style=”striped”]
Kaylen is The Riveter’s co-founder and editor-in-chief. She moved to Minneapolis, MN after graduating from the Missouri School of Journalism in August 2013. In addition to her editorial duties at The Riveter, Kaylen also works as a freelance researcher for The Sager Group. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter at @kaylenralph.
Grace Molteni is a Midwest born and raised designer, illustrator, and self-proclaimed bibliophile, currently calling Chicago home. For more musings, work, or just to say hey check her out on Instagram or at her personal website.
