HER STORY | Paula Paz

Her Story. A series of blog posts telling the stories of 'women who ride' from all corners of the globe. We hope that by sharing these stories we can help encourage other women to build their confidence, learn from others and inspire others.

This month we have a story by Paula Paz of Galicia, Spain. Paula fell in love, fell in love with riding, didn't underestimate herself and wasted no time hitting the road on adventures through Spain, Portugal and onto Morocco.

We hope you enjoy her story!

Hi, everyone! My name is Paula Paz, I’m 38 years old and I’m from Galicia, a region of Spain. Galicia is known for its cold and rainy days but there are a lot of riders anyway.

I started to ride quite late. I bought my first motorcycle, Fury, in August of 2020, in the middle of the Covid Pandemic. It was a 125cc Kymco.

I have always liked motorbikes but speed wasn't my thing, so I never thought about it much until 2016. That summer, I was working in southern Portugal and I fell in love with a Harley Davidson owner. Riding with him reminded me that motorbikes and speed don’t always have to go together, and also that I loved motorbikes, even though I was so afraid at that point.

I spent a few summers with him on that bike and I realized that I needed to ride myself. I didn’t like the absence of control when someone else was riding. And for a few years that thought stayed with me.

In May 2020 in the middle of the pandemic, we broke up and it was quite hard for me. So, in the middle of my grief, I decided that a motorbike would really help with my heartbreak. And, I have to say, it did.

Purchasing “Fury” was a funny experience. I didn’t have many friends who had a motorbike, so I went alone to see the ones I saw advertised. I didn’t have any idea of what I was looking for, and I couldn’t even test them because I didn’t know how to ride, but I managed to find one anyway. When I fell in love with “Fury”, I asked a friend to come and try it for me and with his approval I bought it. Another friend had to come and pick it up and ride it to my home. He also taught me how to ride on his vacations. My friends really supported me. They drove behind me in their cars when I went on my first rides. What a journey! I remember thinking that I wasn't gonna be able to make it, but here I am now with the A2 license and a 500cc motorbike (don't underestimate yourself!).

The next year, in 2021, I travelled 5120km around Portugal. It was an amazing trip. I went alone and rode for a month and a half. I rode along the Portuguese coast and finally reached Tarifa in the south of Spain. Then I came back home through the famous N2 in the interior of Portugal. It wasn’t my first journey undertaken alone, but it was the first one riding a motorcycle. Portugal is an amazing and beautiful country. I loved it.

In 2022 I decided to go around Spain, a distance of 5642 km, for a month and a half, mostly alone, riding from Galicia to Barcelona, taking the Transpirenaica route. I went from Barcelona to Murcia, stopping to take The Silent Route in Teruel. And rode from Murcia to Tarifa again, and from Tarifa to Galicia, this time through Spain.

Each day in a different place, the natural environment was so different in the north and the south, and the people were really nice. I made some friends and had a lot of AMAZING experiences. It was also hard sometimes because of the heat and the number of kilometres that I travelled some days. Also, carrying my luggage everyday was tedious...But I enjoyed it anyway.

On that trip I realized that it was time for a change. I loved “Fury” with all my heart, she swiped away my tears, mended my heart, helped me to meet new friends and connected me with my adventurous spirit again. But if I wanted to travel longer... 125cc was no longer powerful enough.

Then “Illa” came along. It was a friend’s motorbike, 500cc and a Honda Rebel. So beautiful. She was mine by December 2022 and in March 2023 we were crossing the Moroccoan border together. She is a true friend, a great motorbike and so easy and comfortable to ride. I went to Morocco with a friend who has another Rebel and we rode in the sand and did a bit of off-road. It was really funny. Morocco is an amazing country, the food is good, the people are nice and the landscape is so different.

Riding is an amazing way of life. You have friends everywhere, it is easy to connect with your surroundings, and you never feel alone because YOUR BIKE is always there for you. People help you a lot on the road and I think is a great way to discover and work on yourself. It is very empowering. I have always loved traveling and traveling with a motorbike is another thing entirely. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Thank you so much for reading my story. Love **