T-Rex - President 2023/24

T-Rex - President 2023/24

Meet T-Rex aka Teresa!
What is your name (or your nick name) Teresa, I also get T or Rex/Rexxy
What are your pronouns? She / Her / Hers
When did you become a member? May 2020
What bike do you ride? I got my first bike a new Yamaha R3 in October 2020, then upgraded to a CBR650R in Ocober 2022.
How long have you been riding? And what got you interested? I learned to ride when I was a kid, growing up on our family sheep station in the far-west of NSW. Riding was a part of everyday life for us, and we’d often spend much of the day riding, doing sheep work and other jobs.  When I moved to Melbourne years later, riding stopped other than brief trips home. I’d been wanting to get my licence for around 20 years, but never had the spare cash to do it.
At the beginning of 2020 I started saving to take my son on holiday to NZ in 2021, but then COVID hit and everything was uncertain. I decided to go for it & get my licence and a bike, because I want to live my life and have adventures and not have regrets.  Life should be simple, COVID forced me to slow down and properly appreciate the small moments, and riding gives me such joy.
What is the most important thing you have learnt so far being a part of Dykes on Bikes Melbourne? The most important thing I’ve learned is that it’s OK to be exactly who you are.
What is your favourite song and why? I have an eclectic taste (even some country music features in my playlist), but a longtime favourite is “This is me” from The Greatest Showman, as performed by the cast. I love it because the score (can’t go past a slow build!) and because it’s a song about owning who you are, being proud of who you are and when people try to minimise and shame you, letting your strength keep you safe.
Where’s your favourite place in the world? In keeping with my simpler slower life, each afternoon when I finish work and I’m out in my garden checking my vegetables, with my dog at my feet and my son talking to me, the lazy buzz of bees in the air … That right there is my favourite place in the world with my favourite beings.
What is so empowering to you about riding a motorcycle? And how has riding transformed other areas of your life? I’d started buying my gear before I even booked my Ls, yet right up until I sat on the bike on the first day of training, I was honestly wondering if I was having a mid-life crisis and would be too nervous to ride. But as soon as I sat on the bike I knew I’d made the right decision and I wouldn’t look back.
Riding a motorcycle has boosted my confidence, you have to have a bit of self-assurance to take a container of flammable liquid, put it on top of a hot engine then put the whole lot between your legs and ride with cars that apparently can’t see you. I love riding on my own, I love riding in groups, I love the “nod” when you see another rider. I’m very independent and I enjoy my own company, so knowing I’m alone but part of a wider family is pretty amazing.
I’m sure that riding has made me a better driver too. I’m much more aware of who and what is around me.
What is the best advice you’ve ever been given? The way someone treats you is a reflection of how they feel about themselves.
What gets you out of bed on a Sunday morning? My bladder. Or my dog’s bladder. Or thoughts of coffee. Or a ride.
On a ride day day, I’m wide awake staring in to the darkness HOURS before I need to be up. The adrenaline is pumping on those days.
What’s your life motto? Kind heart.
Fierce mind.
Brave spirit.
Which pride parade would you love to ride in? Mardi Gras for sure. ChillOut is another I’d love to do. In Hay NSW they have an annual Pride march & I’d love to go there too if they’d have me!
What is your dream bike? Make/Model/Year and why? Triumph… Thunderbird 1600, Bonneville Bobber, Rocket 3, all of them! I can dream.
What do you wish other people knew about DoBM? My favourite part so far of DoBM has been how I’ve been made to feel welcome and comfortable by all the members I’ve met. DoBM members are from all walks of life, with people from all age groups, cultural identities, careers and families. In any other situation, some of us mightn’t ever cross paths or be friends, but loving bikes and being DoBM members ties us in a way that nothing else can.
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