Lidia Reyes is a woman who wears many hats, but she is best known online for wearing a motorcycle helmet on her “Mermaid bike,” a 2016 Harley Davidson Softail Slim. Reyes first made history over seven years ago when she became the first and only known Latina to earn a one-piece patch through a respected and male-dominated Motorcycle Club (MC), Old School Riders.
“In the MC world, it is the highest honor to earn a full patch and be part of a motorcycle club if you’re a man, but it’s a greater honor for myself because women are considered property in the MC world and are not usually allowed to be in motorcycle clubs, let alone be full-patch members,” she says.
Reyes has since shifted motorcycle culture by challenging the masculine stereotype society expects to see riding a bike. Her respected notoriety from Old School Riders and the community has paved the way for women to ride their own motorcycles and ride alongside other men, not just behind them. “You’re starting to see Latinas riding their own bikes more often. Before, they would ride in the back, and now you can just buy your own bike, fix it up, and look badass on your own two wheels,” Reyes notes.
“Of course, there were women riders before me, but back then, it was a masculine thing. Yes, I’m a feminine woman, but I can handle my own bike better than your average male rider and look sexy doing it. I’m not saying I’m better than men. I give credit to my husband and club brothers for always helping me out.”
To no surprise, there are still internet trolls in 2021 who question how an MC who calls themselves Old School Riders would allow a woman to join. Reyes says she hates the pressure these sorts of comments put on the MC’s president. However, the president and other club members hold their own and continue to be supportive of her. “People who are intimidated by a woman who’s 5’1 and is just riding and hanging out have a problem, not me,” she says.
Like many women, she is a superhero who can do it all while making it look easy.
When Reyes is off her motorcycle, she’s focused on her non-profit organization called Biker Chicks, Inc., and being a real estate agent, and marketer, influencer, wife, mom, daughter, and sister. Like many women, she is a superhero who can do it all while making it look easy. She says, “I don’t fit into one label. I can be like Martha Stewart and make a bomb cheesecake, but I can also ride a motorcycle. I’m balanced because I’m many things, in different ways.”
However, as the oldest daughter of four, Reyes was naturally expected to take on many roles in a traditional Mexican household. “I had to step it up, so I learned a lot at a very young age,” she notes. “That’s one thing I always did. I was always hustling. In my mind, I always needed to work to try to help my parents.”
Growing up fast is the norm for many Latinos, and Reyes confirms this sentiment as she recalls living in the Boyle Heights Pico-Aliso Projects during the early 90s. “We were dodging bullets every other day. I remember playing tetherball, and then here come the bullets from a drive-by shooting,” she recalls. “So that part was pretty crazy because it didn’t allow us to have a normal childhood, but we made the best out of it.”
In the late 90s, Reyes attended Roosevelt High School, where she molded herself into the multifaceted mujer we see today. By the time Reyes was 15, she had begun working her first job at McDonald’s and played in her school’s basketball and baseball teams, all while maintaining good grades in school. “It’s always been like that for me growing up. I was wearing my flowery dress during the day, and then I was a whole different person with my tennis shoes,” Reyes notes. “I handled business, though. Honest to God, I’ve always had that balance. I had my friends, and I was still responsible.”
In 1998, Reyes graduated from Roosevelt High. Later that year, she met her boyfriend, Edgar, who is now her husband. A couple of years later, Edgar and his brother decided to take the permit test for their motorcycle license. When Reyes overheard, they were taking a class, and she decided to tag along as well. She says, “I was like, ‘okay, that sounds fun. I want to come too,’ and that was it. It wasn’t something I always wanted to do. It just kind of happened. Next thing you know, I had my M1 License.”
Ever since Reyes and Edgar have been riding together all over L.A, they first started riding sports bikes, but once they transitioned to Harleys, they joined the MC scene and soon joined their current family MC, Old School Riders. When the MC’s president initially approached them, Edgar vouched for Reyes and said he would stop riding with them if his wife could not ride along. The president agreed, and a few years later, Reyes requested to wear a patch symbolizing her support and affiliation with the MC. The conversation eventually led to Reyes earning a full patch. She says, “That was a very touchy subject for some of the guys, but the president backed me up, and that meant a lot to me.”
These days, the pandemic has slowed things down, but not Reyes’s busy lifestyle. You can still find her working from home as a real estate agent and marketer while getting her kids ready for school on Zoom and prepping her husband’s coffee in the morning. She says, “Before the pandemic, we were all in a rush to go nowhere, so it has put a lot into perspective.”
“I want girls to know they have options. It doesn’t have to be one way all the time. You can be a little different.”
Between Reyes and her husband, they now own over six bikes and love riding together. However, she still faces criticism from people who don’t always understand her passion for motorcycles. “As women, we get judged a lot. ‘You have kids. Why aren’t you at home being Betty Crocker? You’re on a motorcycle. What are you doing?’ but I don’t feel like I need to prove anything to anybody,” she says. “We’re pressured into certain things by a certain age—but just let me be.”
Reyes’s fight for her place in a man’s world continues to inspire women and men alike. She says, “I get messages all the time from parents, which is crazy to me, saying ‘you inspire my daughter. She’s going to be a strong woman like you,’ and the fact that dads are bonding with their daughters over motorcycles is awesome,” says Reyes.
“Maybe one day there’s going to be a Latina biker princess, like a Disney princess but without the gowns. I want girls to know they have options. It doesn’t have to be one way all the time. You can be a little different.”
The post Women Aren’t Just For Riding in the Back, Meet the First Latina to Join the ‘Old School Riders’ appeared first on L.A. TACO.