Well this was a fine book， for the right reader – although it didn't start by being that for me。 Coming on board for a history-through-example of female motorsports and motorbike riding， I started with an introduction that goes nowhere， and then a four-page encomium for someone I'd never heard of。 Only at the end did I get the biography I needed。 Yes， this was awkward as the author attests， as writer and subject were great friends， and the topic's passing was not long ago， but this looked like b Well this was a fine book， for the right reader – although it didn't start by being that for me。 Coming on board for a history-through-example of female motorsports and motorbike riding， I started with an introduction that goes nowhere， and then a four-page encomium for someone I'd never heard of。 Only at the end did I get the biography I needed。 Yes， this was awkward as the author attests， as writer and subject were great friends， and the topic's passing was not long ago， but this looked like being too personal a book， both in selection and in writing。 Luckily， that blip was soon over and done with， and I was meeting ladies who had won world championship points， the fastest bikers of their gender ever， lasses who had been turned away from the Isle of Man TT， sisters who went coast to coast in a US they could not vote in， a woman with her mother packed in the sidecar ditto， and a whole lot more。 Yes， this is still not nearly as all-welcoming as it might be， referring to organisations， races， and suchlike that only bikers will know， but this cuts through the ignorance of many a reader – several of these sportswomen should have crossed my path in headline fashion， but had never done so。 So despite the initial sense of this being a clubby， bikers-for-bikers-by-bikers book， this does come as a feminist directory of the sport。 Great photo selections add to the appeal。 too。 。。。more