Shovelhead Redemption – The Ride Back From Hell

Shovelhead Redemption is a memoir from a woman who’s been described as “fiercely independent.”  But she wasn’t always that way.  Abby begins life in a typical alcoholic family and vows to become a biker chick as soon as she can get her hands on her own motorcycle.  The misguided journey she takes to find love, happiness and a Harley Davidson leads her into a world of drug dealers, strip clubs and outlaw bikers.  This revealing story is an inspirational tale that takes the reader on the trip of a life time.

Abby’s story gripped me from the moment is opened the book!  I’ve had several first-time biker chick authors approach me about helping them promote their book but I just couldn’t find the connection in the reading that gives you that complete sense of what it’s like to actually be a biker and to be a girl who rides her own motorcycle.  Well not only did Abby nail it — she lived it.  This is an amazing story that both men and women alike are finding inspiration and empowerment.  I was filled with pride and amazement as Abby details her trip from the North East area of the country, all the way to California and back.

This is one of my favorite excerpts from the book.  I can relate to this part of the story on many levels.  Enjoy!  – Jen Berryhill

“When I crossed into California, I started crying.  It took me completely by surprise.  While I’ve been very excited about the trip and feel it’s an extraordinary adventure, I haven’t felt sentimental about it.  Steve said I was doing it to prove something.  It never occurred to me that I couldn’t do this.  I’m not climbing Mount Everest.  I’m riding a motorcycle across the country.  Fun, exciting, but not an amazing feat.  However, when I crossed the line, it wasn’t just that I’d made it to California.  I made it from giving birth to a child while living in the woods with a psycho husband and no electricity and running water, to raising an amazing son on my own, earning an Associate’s degree, a Bachelor’s degree, and recently an MBA.  I was able to buy the motorcycle back in 2001 and now have a great job where I could take the time off to do the trip.  It wasn’t just a  trip across the country, it was having nothing and being in dire circumstances and working my ass off to make life better.  I arrived.”

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Laura Klock – Helping With Horsepower

A far off gaze, focused outside the window, barely masks the emotional scars of the young girl sitting in the back of the classroom.  “Oh great.  Another empowerment session to get me to open up and start talking” she says to herself with indifference.  A beautiful woman is at the front of the room talking about motorcycles of all things.  “Why couldn’t they just let me sleep in.  That’s what makes me feel better” she breathes silently to herself.  Several minutes go by and the girl barely hears any of her words and remains insistent on watching a crow perched on the branch of the big oak tree blowing in the breeze.  Suddenly the woman’s voice starts to become more clear and vibrant, as if she and the young girl were the only two in the room.  The girl glances forward silently asking “What did she just say?”  She isn’t sure what words were spoken to catch her attention, so she decided to move up a couple of seats.  The ease and beauty of her voice becomes even more clear.  Now the girl is gripped and ready to listen.

“At last, I finally got her” says the woman at the front of the class.  “Now I know I can make a difference.”  Laura’s voice, full of beauty and grace, sounds eager to help this young girl, like so many others like her, to rise up from the shadows, and heal.

When you hear the word “passion” many things come to mind.  Excitement.  Enthusiasm.  Dedication.  After speaking with her myself, I realized that Laura Klock is an amazing blend of all three.  Her words instantly got me listening, ready to hear what she has to say, and feeling more inspired and more empowered to follow my own dreams.

Laura Klock, vice president of Klock Werks Kustom Cycles, knows motorcycles.  She loves to ride, wrench and race.  She started riding at age 10 on dirt bikes and then progressed to a softail.  On her 21st Birthday, she went home with her first baby and now is the mother to 2 amazing daughters.  Laura has worked for several years alongside long time friend Brian Klock, one of the premiere builders in the industry.  With their professional relationship as President and Vice President of the Klock Werks Kustom Cycles gaining them amazing success, they fell in love and decided to get married.

After winning the Discovery Channel’s Biker Build Off with their bagger in 2006, they headed to the Bonneville Salt Flats where Laura herself piloted the World’s Fastest Bagger “WFB”.  Laura holds AMA and SCTA National Land Speed Records from the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Each year, Laura has returned to Bonneville and improved her own record, racing the second year with her eldest daughter, Erika, who at 16 years old at the time set her own land speed record. Her younger daughter Karlee joined them in 2008, and at 14 years old became the youngest to ever set a record on the salt. Laura, Erika and Karlee are the first mother-daughter-daughter trio in history of land speed racing to hold records at the same time.

Laura has an amazing desire and gift to inspire others.  Despite all the remarkable accomplishments and awards, she was still asking herself “what else can I do?”   So she started volunteering and putting together charity rides and bike builds.  “Motorcycles became a really cool tool in my life.”  Word got out about her amazing ability to empower others and soon after she was approached by the Abbott House to give a talk to the young girls at the facility, a private residential treatment center for girls ages 7- to 17 who are at risk of not reaching adulthood, and have suffered trauma and abuse.

After one of her talks at Abbott House, she woke up one day with an idea.  She wanted to start a hands- on program where the girls could help her rebuild a damaged motorcycle; much like the way they were working to fix their own lives.  The project became known as “Helping With Horsepower TM”.

The young girl who was once feeling so lost as she stared out the window of the Abbott House, is now one of the “helping hands” on the bike named “Salt”.  Laura has a way of bringing people together.  To help them feel like they are part of something important – something special.  With her guidance and powerful words, Laura has helped transform these young girls to feel better about themselves.  To feel like it’s OK to try something new and not be afraid.  They learned to ask questions and to laugh as well as learn.  Laura still visits that Abbott House and is a magnificent mentor to many young women who are healing and ready to live life!

Laura has a strong commitment to her faith, her family, and her community.  Most of all, she never lost herself in any of them.  Instead, she brings light to so many aspects of her own life by lighting the way for others.  Thank you Laura, for being a great inspiration to so many women, young and old alike!

Helping With Horsepower is continuing in strength!  A new program is set to launch in mid-January to help raise funds for the Boys and Girls Clubs.  To find out more, and to get involved, check out www.helpingwithhorsepower.com

Fueled By Passion … Jen’s Story

One Bad Bitch - Jen

 ONE BAD BITCH – JEN

When you hear the word “passion”, many things come to mind.  For me, passion is not only intimacy and romance, it’s about me being fueled by doing something special in my life.  Creating One Bad Bitch was an alchemic reaction manifesting into something I desired.  My passion was being a strong independent women who LOVED riding her Harley.  That part has not changed.  What has changed is that I realized that One Bad Bitch was really about a journey.  A journey of my life.  And now One Bad Bitch is creating me….

My parents are survivors of World War II.  At a very young age, they both lived the horrors of war in Berlin Germany, and grew up as playmates in a city built on rubble.  Later in their youth, their paths separated but each found safe refuge in America.  My mother resided in New York with her mother and younger brother, meeting her father (a prisoner of war in America) for the first time at the age of 3.  A young German girl, living in a Jewish New York neighborhood was not easy.  She had to be strong, independent, and believe in herself and in the good of people.

In her late teens, my mother found a job she absolutely adored.  Working at McGraw Hill in New York was a dream job.  One day, she received a letter from a long ago friendship. A boy she used to play with in Berlin.  Soon they become “penpals”.  One day at work, the man she once played with in the streets of a warzone showed up at her office asking to take her out for lunch in New York City.  This man became my father.

In the early seventies, I was born the youngest of 3 children in Denver, Colorado.  My father worked his 9-5 job, and my mother raised us kids.  Deciding to break free from urban living and follow their dream to build their own home in a mountain wonderland, my parents found a beautiful plot of land on a very high mountain in a small town named Conifer. I grew up in these hills from age 6.  I really connected to nature and wildlife, but always felt the isolation of being in a “far off place”.  This beautiful, strong and loving person I called mom, soon became my best friend.

“The world is your Oyster” she would say.  What an odd saying I thought to myself.  But she explained “You can do anything you set your mind to … you must simply believe in yourself”.  My mother is my greatest mentor. She always listened with a kind and loving heart.  She pushed me to try new things.  She put wind under my wings and let me sail away on the waters of life with grace.

My Mentor, My Best Friend, My Mother 

One of my best and most humorous memories is when my older brother introduced me to riding dirt bikes at the age of 8.  Not knowing anything about a clutch and brakes, he somehow got me going on a little Honda 50.  Having no clue, but being fearless nonetheless, I took on riding this dirt bike with fierce determination.  Always looking at where I DIDN’T want to go ALWAYS led me into crash, after crash, after big dusty crash!  I still have the scars on my knees and can taste the dirt in my mouth just thinking about it!  The words “look where you’re going” took on a whole new meaning.  Shouldn’t you really say “look where you WANT to go!”?

My childhood was far different from that of my parents.  “So what must it be like to be a young girl now” I often find myself wondering….

By the age of 23, with the help of my mom (God I love that woman) I bought my first street bike.  A 1989 Softail Custom.   This bike changed my life forever!  Any girl who buys a bike, rides like a bat out of hell AHEAD of the boys, knows what I am talking about!  Many changes happened quickly with this new found energy, independence, and empowerment.  I was literally ready to set the world on fire.

The first ride on my OWN bike!

The first ride on my OWN Bike!

One Bad Bitch was created in 2003 based on a simple idea fueled by passion: Strength, Independence, Empowerment, and a love for riding motorcycles.  These fiery elements became what is now known as the “baddest” motorcycle clothing for women in the industry.  In January, 2004, we had our first show at the Denver Swap Meet.  A little white tent set up in the “Antique Attic” with rusty old parts, and rusty old bikers as far as the eye could see, was gleaming with this huge banner that said “ONE BAD BITCH” set next to an image of a fiery haired woman in the shape of a motorcycle.  When the doors to the event opened, I said to myself “just have fun — I’ll be happy just making back my $100 rent! I am following my dream.”   To my shock and complete delight, we literally had a line of women out the door and nearly sold every piece of clothing we brought.

Active Founding Bitch - Jessica

 Founding Mothers of One Bad Bitch

Toni, Ashley and Jessica have been amazing inspiration – Thank you all for all your help and support!

Within 6 months of our debut, I decided to take the leap of faith, and truly commit myself to following my dream.  My husband Brian and I hit the road, and took One Bad Bitch to a whole new level.  Through this amazing adventure over the following years, we saw most of the country, met amazing friends at every turn, and successfully created a product that soon became a brand.  The ultimate brand of clothing for the lady that rides her own.

With an undying dedication to continually up-the-ante, and keep the brand alive by hitting the road, I began to lose myself.  I became known as One Bad Bitch – the clothing line for women.  My husband and I now joke that we aren’t “Brian and Jen”, we are Carnies!   That was all fine and good, for a while.  But, the sacrifices of missing holidays, parties, family gatherings and time with friends was beginning to take a toll on both of us.  So in 2008, after returning home from Sturgis – the ultimate show that ultimately kicks are asses  - we found out we were going to have a baby.  ”A BABY”???  “WHAT”??? “I’M NOT READY!”  “I CAN’T HAVE A BABY”… “I’M ONE BAD BITCH”!

This was God’s way of saying it’s time to slow down and ultimately we did.  At that point, it was really hard to say who I was.  Becoming a mom was not something I could easily wrap my  head around.  But when that baby boy was born, my life was forever changed AGAIN!

ONE BAD BABY – STURGIS 2009 

So at this exact moment, I am finding myself climbing out of this foggy place of having this kick ass biker clothing line, and this totally badass baby in my life, and seeing a whole new light.  This light that is my journey.  As part of my journey, I am seeking to showcase women who inspire me, who reignite my passion for motorcycles, and who are simply and perfectly: strong, independent, and empowered.

Finding passion in life comes naturally to some.  For others it is fleeting.  For many, it is continually changing.  For me it is evolving.  No matter what your own personal journey is, finding your inner passion is your greatest empowerment.    Sharing our greatest empowerment is the fuel that lights the flame for all to see and believe.