Meet Adrea!
1. What is your name (or your nick name)? Adrea (no nickname)
2. What are your pronouns? She/Her (though I am AMAB trans)
3. When did you become a member? I’m a pretty new member having only joined in September 2024, but I’ve dived in headfirst and try to go along to every ride and event.
4. What bike do you ride? Triumph scrambler 1200 xc (2023)
5. How long have you been riding? And what got you interested? I started riding when I was 18, as getting my bike license meant not having to learn to drive with my not-so-queer-friendly parents. It was entirely a pragmatic option back then to get a scooter, but I found my love of riding after getting a motorbike 4 years later and taking full control over my bike.
6. What is the most important thing you have learnt so far being a part of Dykes on Bikes Melbourne? Joining DoBM as a trans woman has always been an intimidating prospect as we aren’t always the most accepted women’s spaces.
Joining DoBM has become one of the most validating experiences as every time I go to an event, I’m reminded that women (even cis ones) sit everywhere on the gender expression spectrum and are all entirely valid and beautiful in their identity… Including myself 
7. What is your favourite song and why? “Every other Freckle” by alt-J. It’s such a fun song and always makes me smile to visualise the imagery they use in describing such a wholesome and warm desire for another person. In someone else’s hands the sentiment could become so objectifying and possessive, but they do a fantastic job of keeping it chill and cheeky.
8. Where’s your favourite place in the world? I’ll let you know when I see more of the world! For now, my favourite place is on my bike, carving up some twisties while exploring more of regional Victoria than I ever thought I’d get to see!
9. What is so empowering to you about riding a motorcycle? And how has riding transformed other areas of your life? I’m an anxious person by nature, but riding takes so much focus and concentration that it allows me to shut off the brain noise and think about all the things my body needs to do get around the next bend. It’s always scared me to some extent, but the more I put myself out there to go on longer rides, and the more I focus on improving my road craft and riding skills, the more I find myself feeling a sense of accomplishment in the rest of my life as well. Riding (safely and with control) isn’t easy, so seeing myself improve from local-only city riding, to cruising on the freeway, and now to tearing it up on gravel roads and dirt trails keeps me from feeling stagnant in life.
10. What is the best advice you’ve ever been given? “Be the person you wish you could date”. To me that means doing things that are interesting, being kind and empathetic to everyone, looking after the people I care about, and never taking my frustration out on others.
11. What gets you out of bed on a Sunday morning? Whatever fun riding plans I have for the day, or if the weather isn’t great the knowledge that I can stay at home and bake something tasty without feeling guilty for wasting the day.
12. What’s your life motto? “You’re never too old to learn something new”
13. Which pride parade would you love to ride in? I grew up in Sydney but didn’t find my queer identity until after I moved to Melbourne as a young adult, so I’d love to be able to ride in the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and show the town the badass I’ve become!
14. What is your dream bike? Make/Model/Year and why? Oh, I’m riding her 
She’s just truly a gorgeous bike. She may be heavy and thumpy, but she has a buttload of power and torque to drag me up a dirt track at speed, or to cruise along the highway with the craziest of them. She also has the classic modern styling that only Triumph can pull off, and somehow also has all the mod cons and safety features that any modern bike should.
15. What do you wish other people knew about DoBM? Ironically, it’s not a club just for dyke-identifying people who ride motorbikes. If you’re fem* identifying and into other fem* identifying people and you happen to like bikes (even if you don’t ride), then you should reach out and say hi
UPDATED ON: Monday 10th Feb.
Question 15. In the copy/paste process some of the formatting changed & a key word was accidentally deleted by the editor! We have re-added the word 'just' in the first sentence of the answer.
