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My world is wicked tiny and I admit that. I never backpacked across Europe or spent a week sunbathing in Turques and Caicos. I almost drowned while being sucked out to sea (eight miles per minute!) in the Bahamas once as my girlfriend sat and laughed safely from her beach towel sipping rum from a coconut, but that’s about the extent of my knowledge beyond my own backyard. So yeah, by the standards of some my world is very, very small.

Nothing underscored that fact as dramatically as when I woke up to fact that the numbers of women who want a Harley of their very own is growing by leaps and bounds not just nationally but globally. The Motor Company, and my ISP, has been a bridge for me to make new friends from all over the world, women riders who’ve found they revel in being a rebel. One of these women embracing her newly discovered inner wild child is Lau Garrett of the UK. I don’t know what endeared her to me more, the fact she wasn’t bashful about admitting she’s still got a lot to learn about her 883 Sportster low, or the fact her Golden Retriever is named Boston, after Boston, Massachusetts, which is where I’m from. (The Garretts love vacationing in the US) Either way, I knew I liked her.

Lau lives in Totton, a small town on the outskirts of Southampton, Hampshire. If Southampton sounds familiar, it may be because it’s where a little boat called the RMS Titanic sailed from in 1912. She’s originally from Paris but has lived in Southampton for 24 years, the last four of which she’s been a Harley rider. During the day Lau can be found at Steel Stockholder, an American-owned company in Southampton, but on the weekends she’s riding her 2008 Sportster, shown here, alongside her husband Steve. Like many H-D couples, Lau and Steve joined their local HOG chapter, which changed their lives dramatically. “I love being out and about on my bike, and spending time with the great lads and lasses from New Forest Harley Owners Group [www.nfhog.com] ,” Lau said. “They’re a really great bunch of people.”

Lau wasn’t, in the immortal words of Bruce Springsteen, Born To Run. It was her husband who ignited the Harley fire in Lau. “Steve has had bikes on and off since he was 16-years-old, but he’d always wanted a Harley,” Lau said. “But you know how it is; the money always goes toward just living and surviving. During a vacation to the US back in 2006, after meeting and talking with some bikers at Boot Hill Grave Yard in Tombstone, Arizona, he decided life is too short and you never know what’s round the corner waiting for you. That’s when he decided he would buy himself that Harley he had always wanted. A week after getting back home to the UK, he ordered a new Dyna Low Rider FXDL.”

Though Lau had no motorcycle experience, she was game to hop on the back of Steve’s new Dyna. “I enjoyed going out on the back of his bike as pillion [FYI: pillion is a British term for passenger] but I hated that I couldn’t see ahead of me and that I wasn’t in control!” she said. “I still wasn’t into bikes, but after two months of this I decided I wanted to learn and ride my own bike.”

So in May of 2007, Lau decided to take a motorcycle riding course. “I had never ridden a bike on my own before. I bought a Suzuki Marauder 125 from eBay to practice on,” she said. I wanted to know all about riding lessons in the UK, so I made her give me a blow-by-blow. “Well, first you have to take a test called a CBT, which stands for Compulsory Basic Training,” she explained. “Then you can now ride a 125cc motorbike displaying white signs with a red L on it and called L Plates; these have to be displayed at the front and back of the bike, just the same as if you are learning to drive a car in the UK, to show other road users that you are learning and be patient and give you a bit more room. What that means in real life is they have no patience and will overtake or cut you up, just to get in front of you. The roads in the UK are very crowded.” You can ride like this for up to two years, Lau said, before you’re required to take the full license test or, if you’re not ready, another CBT test. “If you choose to take the full license test, the first thing you have to do is a theoretical test, which includes an interactive safety awareness part to see if you spot potential hazards,” she said. “After a few lessons you can take the test either on a bike which exceeds 46.6 bhp (which means after passing, you can ride a bike of unlimited power) or a test on a bike with less hp, like my 125cc, but this results in you only being able to ride a bike with power not exceeding 33bhp. Due to my small size I had to take mine on a 125cc bike. The larger bikes, even the lower ones, were too tall for me and I couldn’t touch the ground! So after my second attempt I passed, but it meant I would have to get the Sportster’s power decreased, known here as restricted.”

So finally she could fulfill her ultimate goal: owning a Harley. “I loved the sound — with the non-standard mufflers — and the look of the bikes, and the great company that seemed to go with them,” she said. “The only Harley that fit me and I could touch the ground on properly was the Sportster 883L, so it was time to start saving.”

In November 2007 Lau and her husband spotted an ad for a new 2008 Harley-Davidson Sportster 883L for sale from an H-D dealer in Edinburgh, Scotland. “It was the same price I would have paid for a two- to three-year-old bike,” she said. “I couldn’t really afford it at the time, but the bargain was just too good to miss. So we bought it.” Lau was excited, to put it mildly. She ordered a bunch of aftermarket parts before she was in full possession of the bike.

Most of the changes involved bringing up the bling quotient to wicked high with chrome pieces like an H-D full engine kit, rear brake lever, shift linkage, speedo cover, head lamp cover, 4-inch risers and handlebar clamp. “When we go to bike rallies and camping, I have a set of Willie & Max Compact Slant saddle bags, with extra chrome studs (added by Steve) to match the Mustang seat, tank and fender bibs, which all goes very well together,” Lau said.

When Lau did get her bike, she had to have it decreased in power to meet the UK laws, she told me. “This involved fitting a thin piece of metal behind the air intake with a hole to restrict the flow of air and fuel. I had it done by a local V-twin specialist, Mayors Motorcycles, in Southampton [http://www.mayors-motorcycles.co.uk/]. In practice the bike still has the same top speed but is a bit slower accelerating. It’s a pain, but unfortunately it had to be done. But you can’t tell looking at the bike, so it didn’t matter; it’s fast enough for me!”

Lau has lots of ideas about what she wants to do or change on her bike, then Steve goes and finds a few examples on-line and she chooses the one I like best. “If it’s something Steve can fit, then I might help him if he needs an extra pair of hands, however if it is beyond our capability, I send the bike to Wayne and Mike at Mayors Motorcycles,” she said.

With nothing to prove and everything to gain, Lau rides for the sheer fun of it. “I generally ride locally,” she said, “to various parts of the South Coast or around New Forest, or to the local Harley dealer, Dock Gate 20 Harley-Davidson, to meet up with friends, which as the name suggests is at one of the entrances to Southampton docks, where large container ships arrive from all over the world, as well as the big passenger cruise liners. I would like to ride more than I do, but I lack a bit of confidence. That will come with practice. I am getting better all the time, but I guess starting to ride a motorcycle, especially a heavy one like a Harley, when you are 40-years-old is different than when you are 20.” Lau and Steve are members of New Forest HOG, an active club with more than 600 members. “We’ve made many new friends from all walks of life as a result of New Forest HOG,” she said. “They’re a great bunch of people with a common love of riding their bikes, wanting to have fun. We’ve traveled to many places we wouldn’t have been to if it was not for the bikes the club. On Steve’s bike with me riding pillion, we’ve ridden to France, Belgium, and Holland to date. Through being members of New Forest HOG, we’ve been to various bike rallies both within the UK and abroad in mainland Europe. New Forest HOG, like all the other HOG chapters around the world, raise a lot of money for charity. There is usually something organized every week of the year for members of NF to meet, whether it’s a ride to somewhere in particular, or a meet up and chat at a local pub. Living in Southampton we’re quite lucky, as it’s right on the edge of the New Forest National Park with over 100 square miles of heath and forest land, whilst being on the coast there are plenty of great places to visit.”

Since joining New Forest HOG, Lau and Steve have increased their riding friends tenfold, among them at least 20 new women friends who are starting to ride. “Before we owned our Harleys we had a few friends who had motorcycles,” Lau said. “Now as a result of owning our bikes and being members of NF HOG, I can honestly say the vast majority of our friends — and good friends they are — ride and they all own a Harley.” With the club, Lau and Steve have gone to the Benelux Hog Rally in Belgium in both 2008 and 2009.

As for Lau’s Golden Retriever, he loves the Garretts’ new Harleys, which has given them reason to consider adding a sidecar for him. “Boston, being a Golden Retriever, is mad,” Lau said. “He was three-years-old when Steve first got his Harley, and the very first time he heard it start he just got excited. He wasn’t scared at all, but would then he looked sad and would go and lie in his bed once he realized Steve or we were going out and he couldn’t go too. He would hear Steve’s bike coming home a long time before I could, and he’d start barking with excitement. Once the bike was in the garage, Boston would go and lie next to it, and to this day he still does every time he gets in the garage. I am sure he would love to come and shows no fear of the bikes. I’ve often wondered about fitting a side car to the bike for him so he could come with us.”

So what’s next for the Harley-riding Garretts and possibly their dog? “We’re going to be riding to France with NF HOG in September with approximately sixty bikes, where we’ll have a fab time,” Lau said. “We did last year when we went to the D-Day Normandy Landing Beaches, where we experienced a real mix of emotions. We were having fun and laughing one minute and then, standing on the beaches where so many British, American, and Canadian soldiers lost their lives…it was very emotional. Steve’s uncle landed on one of the beaches and was badly injured, which made it even more personal. From my point of view being French and having family members who were French Resistant Fighters who lost their lives in Nazi concentration camps, it was also very emotional. This year we’re going a bit further round the coast to Brittany, and yes I will be riding my own bike this time.”