Interview and Ride with Actress, Model, Journalist Leticia Cline

The awesome folks at AIMExpo offered The GirlRiders Network the opportunity to interview their Garage Party Ambassador, Leticia Cline. Of course, I not only jumped at the chance, I suggested we turn it into a ride (any excuse, right?) and Leticia being the true rider that she is, happily agreed.

Leticia Cline and her Harley Davidson Iron 883

About Leticia quoted from her Portfolio:

I am just a journalist trying to find my way doing what I love and documenting it for the masses. In my younger years I was a model and was fortunate enough to make it to the cover of quite a few magazines, Maxim, Playboy, Fight, Stuff, Sports Illustrated, Modo, La Palme, Southern Boating and En Vie to name a few. I also was the backstage interviewer for Impact Wresting on Spike TV as well as a contestant on the reality show Beauty and the Geek.

From modeling in them to writing for them, I now am a contributing journalist for publications such as Iron & Air, Racer X, MXP and a number of travel magazines.

We had a blast with this interview and ride, even with the 100 degree Florida heat. We found a shady spot to chat for a few minutes then hit some back road twisties with a few other GirlRiders. Check out the ride video at the end of this article.

Interview

Leticia and Katie

(If you prefer to watch video, CLICK HERE, I had tech issues- please forgive the blur-KM – come back to this page to watch ride video – scroll to bottom)

Guest: Leticia Cline (LC) – Interviewer:  Katie McKay (KM)

KM Hi, this is Katie McKay with The GirlRiders Network and I am here today with Leticia Cline. Leticia is going to be the Party Ambassador at AimExpo this year and she is also a model and actress and a journalist, Leticia, thanks for talking with us today.
LC Thanks for having me.

KM Could you tell us first, a little bit about your experience as a model and actress and how you’re now getting into journalism?
LC Yeah, I’ve been modeling and acting for over half my life.  It was kind of a weird dichotomy of making a living off of trying to be pretty but also then going on the weekend with my dad and riding motocross and literally beating the crap out of my body. Now it’s awesome to be able to just do what I completely love and transition that, and then to write about it, too. Kind of get stories out there to hopefully inspire others. I just meet so many people that have amazing stories to tell that I just feel like everyone should know it. So journalism just seemed kind of natural to me, the next step.

KM You mentioned your Dad, you started riding when you were very young about four years old, if you could tell us a little about that. When in your life did you realize that riding was gonna be a passion for you, that you wanted to stick with it and you wanted to write and share stories?
LC Sure, my Dad actually built motorcycles in the living room of our house, I don’t know why it was in the living room of our house, we didn’t have a garage and maybe he didn’t want people to steal his bikes or whatever, but I just grew up around motorcycles. My baby pictures are on bikes. Then he put me on one when I was four, I started riding and I just took off and never stopped and I always loved it. My Dad passed away seven years ago and it was somewhat hard, so I actually stopped riding for a little while, because I didn’t have him to share that with. Then one day I went to a race and I said ‘you know, what am I doing this is crazy’ and [now] I ride all the time I sold my car, don’t even own a car and I feel closer to him than I did before you know, riding my bike.
KM It’s great to have that connection back.

KM So, as a woman in this industry, you’re riding, you’re racing you’re writing; do you run into any obstacles? Being a woman in in the motorcycle industry? Also, just the everyday obstacles that all women riders face, like we have a hard time finding gear. What kind of things have you run in to?
LC I think there’s a lot of things. I think, sometimes it’s due to other people and sometimes its with ourselves, like when we were born we’re taught that we’re kind of somewhat the weaker sex and we have to be feminine and that if we ride a motorcycle, do things that are masculine things we lose our femininity.  Sometimes, it’s like trying to find the balance ourselves, how do I remain girly but also do this really, considered masculine thing. Then at the same time, yeah, I get it, some prejudice. One day someone asked me “oh, is that your bike?” they couldn’t grasp the fact that that was my bike, they were like “that is so cool I never see girl riders” It’s cool, I just don’t think of it that way because I’m always on a bike and I’m always around girls that ride.
So yeah, I think that there’s that and there’s also the gear which is a huge thing, people just don’t focus a lot on the women’s gear, they basically just make the men’s gear smaller. We have totally different body shapes and sizes and it’s not comfortable to ride in or they just make everything pink or everything is super shiny. There’s not a lot of diversity, that’s all and yeah I think the gear is definitely a huge, huge thing.
KM I do see it turning around and AIMExpo for example, is a great place where we could go in and talk to the vendors and say, hey we have these needs and I have seen things come out of that. So, I’m really excited that you’re involved in that and you’ll have a voice as well.

KM As far as all the things that you do, you have your family and your business and your riding; how do you find balance in all that?
LC Lucky for me my family is the motorcycle industry too, so that helps. My husband owns a parts distribution company and so a lot of times the things that he does I have to go to as well, we’re hired for the same gig. My son rides motorcycles and has since he was four years old. I got him a bike when he was four. So he goes with us too and he’s in the scene and everyone knows him because he grew up around them and so that’s nice. Only challenging thing is when you ride a motorcycle it is a little, it’s a lot more actually, dangerous than just riding a car. So I struggle sometimes, as a mother with that, like I’m always endangering my life. I go out on journeys, like I’m about to do a ten thousand mile ride with my good friend and there’s just no guaranteed safe return. That’s kind of scary knowing that I have a kid at home waiting on me.
KM It’s hard to justify that but, at the same time he knows who you are and what you love and that its your passion. You’re setting a great example for him.
LC Absolutely, and that’s the way I see it too, I’m teaching him to do what he loves and don’t let anything hold you back.

Photo by Biker’s Choice

KM So the AIMExpo, you are the Garage Party Ambassador. What is that, exactly?
LC Well, I’m helping promote. I’m gonna be there, I think that I’m signing a few autographs and then helping judge Chopper Showcase. Going around talking to everyone and basically I’ve been doing a lot of interviews for it and and talking about AIMExpo. I’ve been involved with AIMExpo since it started, just in different capacities. I’ve worked with a lot of the companies. I happen to be on the cover of The Biker’s Choice Catalog right now, and they happen to be a big sponsor, so that’s cool, it kind of all just worked out. I’m just helping bring awareness and letting people know about this really amazing convention and the events that go on around it.
KM And, you have a ride going on?
LC Yes, there’s a ride from Daytona to the site in Orlando. We’re in the process of changing our venue because we’ve had a lot of great response so we need a bigger space. Right now, we should know that in the next week or so. But yeah, it’s going to be a ride from [Daytona] because it is also Biketoberfest. So it’s kinda cool to bring people that don’t think about Daytona being so close. But at that hour, you can make it in forty minutes over to AIMExpo and you get the best of both worlds.

Harley Davidson Sportser, Iron 883

KM So, we are sitting on your bike, do you want tell us what you got?
LC Yea, I have a [Harley-Davidson Sportster] Iron 883, its a 2014 and I’ve done a lot of custom work to it. We made the sissy bar and put on a fairing, a lot of bolt-on things, custom steering damper and 2-in-1 exhaust. The point of the bike was that you don’t have to have a garage or a huge working knowledge of motorcycles to be able to customize your bike. A lot of people think “I want this, I want this, I have to spend all this money and take it to someone” but you can do it as well. So, we actually video’d it. Almost every part that you see, the vendors are at AIMExpo. Roland Sands, Burly Brand, Builtwell, everyone will be there. I’m going take it to a couple of events for AIMExpo to show.
KM Yea, its a perfect example!
LC Yeah, here’s all the stuff and you can buy it at AIM!

KM So, last question. What is the most fun you’ve ever had on a motorcycle?
LC Oh my God, wow I don’t know. You know honestly, it’s the best adventure every time, I can be in the worst mood and whenever I get on my bike and its no lie, I just feel amazing. It just puts me in the best mood. One of the best times, I don’ know.
KM I love surprising people with this question.
LC I’ll tell you what, me and my husband had just gotten together this is when we first started dating and we were in Nashville Tennessee and it flooded. I mean we were in the middle of nowhere and it flooded on us and for some reason we just laughed. We know our riding style is very similar, so we know what to do and we just roosted each other with water. You know, reckless riding but it was super fun. We came home looking like we had rode motocross, mud and water and it was fun!
KM I love it, you turned a bad situation around that’s great.

KM Well, thanks again, so much. You and I are going riding now and have some fun!
LC Thanks!

Quick peak of our ride and a few behind the scene photos!

AIMExpo – American International Motorcycle Expo 2015

October 15-18, 2015 – Orange County Convention Center – Orlando, FL
Open to Trade & Media: October 15-16 • Open to Public, Trade & Media: October 17-18

Need Tickets?  Use promocode GR15  for a nice discount!

Photos, video and text is the property of and Copyrighted by GirlRiders, LLC unless noted otherwise.  Special Thanks to Leticia Cline, Kristen Lassen, Teura Jones, Amber Dimalanta, Mira Sprague and AIMExpo.