They ride their own machines

Queens Together Motorcycle Club helps biking women make their mark in community events

Queens don't always say hello. Sometimes their bikes do it for them.

That was the case Sunday when a faint rumbling told the rest of the Queens Together Motorcycle Club that Shemone "Chyna Doll" Daughtry and Patrice "Treecey" Johnson had arrived.

"That's our Virginia girls coming," explained "Foxy," aka Patrice Johnson of Garner. Foxy, like most of the members of the Queens Together, prefers to be called by her bike name, prominently displayed on her rhinestone-encrusted belt buckle.

The Virginia girls -- Chyna Doll lives in northern Virginia; Treecey recently moved to Durham from the Virginia Beach area -- pulled up to the curb and hopped off to join the group selling doughnuts to raise money for Interact, a Wake County non-profit that provides assistance to victims of domestic violence.

The club, which also goes by Queens Together Making Changes, began in 2003 and caters to women who want to ride as well as participate in community events. The group has 22 members, most of whom are professionals or small-business owners, selected through a rigorous screening process to make sure the Queens all get along, Chyna Doll said. The majority of the group's members are black women, but the Queens are open to women of all colors who ride all types of bikes.

The Queens have been busy lately planning their anniversary weekend, which draws motorcycle clubs from across the country to the Triangle. This year's event, from March 31 to April 2, includes a charity ride followed by a cookout at Lake Wheeler Park. About 3,000 people attended last year, and more are expected this year, with attendees already booked to fill several Durham hotels, said Tametka "D'syna" Pittman of Raleigh.

D'syna, the treasurer of the group, earned her bike name because of her love for shopping. Louis Vuitton logos sprayed on her Kawasaki 2X-7 speak to the name; last year the bike sported Chanel logos, D'syna said.

For Letesa Blue of Durham -- who goes by the bike name "Blue" -- the Queens offered a way to act on her lifelong love of motorcycles.

"I didn't want to ride on the back," Blue said. "I wanted my own bike."

She now rides a Suzuki GSX-R600 and has been getting help from the other women in learning how to care for it.

The anniversary weekend is the group's most important event, with thousands of bikers coming to support the all-female motorcycling group and its charity of choice, Interact.

"We show the motorcycle community so much love that they show it back to us," Foxy said.