Riders You Should Know: Pat Jacques

Toyota and Monster Energy AMA Supercross have produced a series of videos tagged with #makeup2mud, which they’re touting as a “movement.” The point is to focus on the women who are having an impact on the world of motocross.

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One of these videos features 50-year veteran dirt rider, life coach and motorcycle trainer Pat Jacques. Even in this tiny blurb her personality shines bright: she is an incredible inspiration. So many manufacturers and dealers create all-woman events that are at root just pandering to women instead of celebrating them. In stark contrast, Pat’s whole life is a celebration. Her all-women events create spaces for women to grow and learn and, as she says, “stand in the truth of [their] own brilliance.”

I dare all the women riders out there to watch this, and then dig up her other videos, maybe watch her TED Talk, and not get choked up at her triumph over adversity and her obvious enthusiasm for riding. That enthusiasm bubbles over so much, she can’t help but encourage women everywhere to get on two wheels as a form of empowerment. Her self-described passion is “empowering women through off-road motorcycling.” As she puts it, she aims to “give people permission to be who they are, and celebrate who they are.” She’s all about “ripple-effect” inspiration: every woman she inspires, in turn, inspires others.

Jaques is based out of Colorado, but travels all over the country to run off-road motorcycle training sessions for groups of 6 or more women. She runs a Back Country Discovery Tour through her website, advwoman.com. Her goal, she says, is to get more women riding motorcycles off road. To that end she has just launched a “Zero to Hero” campaign, a four-month training track that she has designed for women who have never ridden before. She teaches them to ride a motorcycle, but also teaches them all about motorcycles.

One of the biggest hurdles for anyone who is very new to motorcycles is that initial knowledge gap, and for a woman, walking into a motorcycle dealership with interest but little knowledge can be extremely intimidating. Lots of us have been told our whole lives that motorcycling isn’t a sport that women should be interested in, and that lifelong social training can take a lot of inertia to overcome.

Pat is doing God’s work here, and even though I have never met her, I love her already! Her Colorado training is definitely going on my bucket list.

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Source: YouTube, AIMExpo, ADVWoman, SupercrossLive

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