by Nadia Pflaum
Last night I met Kristin at Howl at the Moon, the dueling piano bar at the P&L District. She was sitting with a couple of her motorcycle buddies, wearing work boots (despite the dress code?), jeans, a sequined shirt and a sequined bandana. Kristin told me she bought her Harley Davidson Road King from a shop in Junction City and she and her friends rode in tonight, adding their hogs to the motorcycles stacked along Main Street. (I always imagine knocking them over like dominoes a la Pee Wee Herman, or like Johnny Depp does in that Tom Petty video for "Into the Great Wide Open.")
Kristin rides even in winter, like last January when she was riding with the Patriot Guard, a group of bikers who counter-protest against Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church when they picket US soldier's funerals. "We'll ride whenever, as long as there isn't snow on the ground," she says.
The sparkly bandana was adding some serious attitude to Kristin's look. "I only would wear this if I was on the bike or doing yardwork," she says. "You'd like to think that you can ride without one, but you'd really regret it. All that wind gives you split ends."
Kristin admits she dresses to stand out, and probably always has. I asked her if she had any style pet peeves -- you know, like flip-flops on men. Kristin was too kind a soul to come up with anything she finds irksome. But there was one thing any serious biker would find reprehensible: bikers in shorts.
"NEVER!" Kristin exclaims. "I burnt myself pretty badly as a child. Growing up, I had a motorcycle, and I got on there in shorts and tipped over and burned my right calf. That's something you never forget. I've never ridden again in my life without pants, no matter how hot it is."
The dress code is bent everytime the bikers gather (on purpose).
Posted at: August 8, 2008 2:12 PM