International Female Ride Day

In 2007, Vicki Gray, a road and race instructor and the founder of the women’s motorcycling resource MOTORESS, looked at the motorcycling world and saw a gap between the growing number of women riding and the recognition they received. So she created a day to profile and highlight the many diverse women enjoying the activity of motorcycling. Her call to action was disarmingly simple: on the first Saturday of May, women should get on their motorcycles, scooters, or trikes and just ride. No entry fee, no official route, no club membership required. Just ride.

What began as one woman’s idea has grown into what participants proudly call a movement. Every first Saturday of May, women in countries around the globe ride in celebration, unity, and support, whether that means a solo sunrise cruise, a group ride with friends, or a charity run organized by a local club. Major powersports brands have joined the cause, with Polaris and Indian Motorcycle both partnering with International Female Ride Day to celebrate and empower more women through powersports. Each year the photos pour in from around the world, showing women of every age and background on every kind of two and three wheeled machine, sharing them with the hashtags #IFRD and #InternationalFemaleRideDay.

But the day is about more than a single ride. Its mission is to build awareness of female motorcyclists across all cultures while encouraging other women to take up the sport. Organizers describe it as a call to action for fast-tracking gender equality, awareness, and respect for women in motorcycling and motorsport. It celebrates women’s advancements in powersports and rides for accelerated gender parity. Every twist of the throttle on the first Saturday of May says the same thing: women belong on the road, and the road is better for it.

The sisterhood of the road has its own traditions on this day. Many riders mark the occasion with a favorite jacket, a small ribbon, or a group photo that travels the world within hours. Mentorship is a quiet engine of the day: experienced riders take newcomers under their wing, sharing tips on everything from smooth cornering to basic bike maintenance, and some dealerships and training schools host open houses timed to the day. Organizers and brand partners also use the day to remind everyone about safe riding, encouraging appropriate safety gear and pre-ride vehicle checks before heading out. For women who have always ridden alone, the first Saturday of May can be the day they discover they were never really alone at all. The numbers tell the story too, as women now make up a steadily growing share of new riders, and each International Female Ride Day makes that growth visible in a way statistics alone never could.

First-timers wondering what to expect will find the day refreshingly pressure-free. There is no pace to keep and no destination to reach; some women simply ride to work and back, and that counts. If you are new to riding, consider a refresher lesson or some parking lot practice before the day, and always gear up fully. Many longtime participants say the day rekindled their love of riding after years away from the saddle. However you take part, you will be riding alongside thousands of women doing exactly the same thing, and that shared throttle is what makes the day special.

THE STORY BEHIND INTERNATIONAL FEMALE RIDE DAY

🏍 A Ride Born in 2007
Vicki Gray is a lifetime motorcycling advocate, road and race instructor, and the creator and owner of International Female Ride Day. She drives the day exclusively through her business platform MOTORESS, the women rider and motorcycle enthusiast magazine and resource she founded after relocating from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to Canada. Her purpose in creating the day was to profile and highlight the many diverse women enjoying motorcycling, and to build awareness of female motorcyclists across all cultures. Nearly two decades later, the day she started keeps growing in strength and power, from ride to ride. Gray still personally drives the day, keeping it true to its original spirit: women riding for women, everywhere.

🌎 Just Ride!
The day’s famous call to action is just two words: Just Ride! Women are asked to be on their motorcycles, scooters, or trikes on the first Saturday of May each year, wherever they are in the world. It is a globally synchronized day that is not country, group, or organizationally specific, which means every woman takes part in her own way. Some ride alone in quiet celebration while others gather in roaring groups that fill whole streets. The beauty of the day is its simplicity: there is no registration and no starting line, only the open road and the women who love it. In 2027, that first Saturday falls on May 1, and riders from Toronto to Tokyo to Tasmania will answer the call.

💪 Riding for Parity
From the start, International Female Ride Day has carried a bigger mission than a single Saturday spin. The day marks a call to action for fast-tracking gender equality, awareness, and respect for women in motorcycling and motorsport. It celebrates women’s advancements in motorsports and powersports and rides for accelerated gender parity. As more women take up riding, the day underlines their growing numbers and the steady change in who the motorcycling world pictures when it hears the word rider. Every mile logged is a small vote for a more equal road. The day also highlights how far women have come in a sport that once barely pictured them at all.

🤝 A Movement, Not Just a Day
Participants themselves refer to International Female Ride Day as a movement, and the momentum backs them up. Powersports giants Polaris and Indian Motorcycle have joined the movement, celebrating and empowering more women through riding and rallying their networks of female riders and ambassadors around the globe. The day gives women motorcycle riders a platform to bond with one another, meet like-minded women who ride, and develop friendships through which to enjoy and advance motorcycling. For many riders, the friendships formed on this one Saturday last all year long. New riders often say the day was their first group ride, and the welcome they received kept them riding.

WAYS TO CELEBRATE

🏍 Just Ride
The whole point is in the day’s famous action: Just Ride! Fire up your motorcycle, scooter, or trike on May 1 and ride, whether that is your morning commute, a winding backroad cruise, or a lap around the block. Solo rides count just as much as group rides. Even a short ride counts, because every woman on a bike on May 1 is part of the picture.

📸 Share Your Ride
Post your photos from the road with #IFRD and #InternationalFemaleRideDay so the world can see how many women ride. Your picture might be the one that convinces another woman to finally take up the sport. Tag a riding buddy who inspires you and keep the chain of encouragement going.

🤝 Bring a Friend Along
Encourage a woman who has always been curious about riding to join you, even as a passenger for the day. Offer to mentor a new rider, share what helped you get started, and keep the movement growing one rider at a time. If you learned from a mentor, today is the perfect day to pay that kindness forward.

Celebrate International Female Ride Day

On May 1, the road belongs to the women who ride it. So check your tire pressure, zip your jacket, and point your front wheel toward the horizon. However you ride and wherever you ride, you are part of a global sisterhood that has been growing since 2007. Helmet on, throttle open, and ride into a future where every girl who hears an engine roar knows she is invited. See you on the road on May 1.