The Women Who Ride Conga Line is rolling into Shell, Wyoming, today, July 14. The ladies (and men, too) have been on the road since July 1, raising funds for breast cancer research. They’ve picked the little town of Shell, population 50, for the festivities, which will go on until Sunday, July 17, 2011. There will be an auction, barbecues, poker runs and fund raisers. Shell is named for the abundance of fossil shells in the area and is located at the base of the Big Horn Mountains.
Organizer Flo Fuhr started the Conga Line in 2008 when she bought her Harley from Donna and Jerry Palladino in Florida. You may recognize the Palladino name from the Ride Like a Pro motorcycle instructional DVD series. Flo, who lives in British Columbia, flew to Florida to pick up her bike, with the intent to ride it back home. Before embarking on her journey, she went on a women riders forum and talked about her plan to ride the almost 6,000 miles back home. Through the forum she found riders who wanted to ride part of the way back with her or escort her through certain states and make sure that she sampled well-known motorcycle roads like The Dragon in Deal’s Gap.
Once on the road heading back home, she met up with more and more riders who wanted to join the ride. Flo says the camaraderie among bikers was amazing—people she’d never even met before rode out of their way to show her parts of the countryside and make sure she made it to her next destination safely. One rider offered to pay her $10 for each state she rode through to donate to charity, and then it just snowballed from there. By the time she arrived back in B.C., she’d raised more than $1,000 that she then donated to breast cancer research. Since then, she’s done the ride every year, raised and donated thousands of dollars to breast cancer research, and met many riders along the way whom are now her friends.
There’s going to be a lot of pink in Shell for the next four days! Flo and her entourage of riders are on bikes draped in pink boas, so you can’t miss them. Flo even painted her Harley pink. Several other riders from Canada joined the ride early on, like Tracy and Sandy—Sandy has a bright-pink sheep skin draped across her bike’s seat. One of the riders is Judy, who started riding six years ago after surviving breast cancer. Even Flo’s brother, Eric, is going with the flow, wearing a long pink wig under his helmet.
If you’re near Shell, Wyoming, pop on by and join WWR. You can’t miss all the pink in this small town! Check out http://gowitheflo.org for more information and to join in next year’s ride.
