Angie's Ride

Angie Washo’s Incredible Ride

What inspires someone to race a motorcycle for nine straight days, over 5,000 kilometers (3,500 miles) of rugged and unpaved terrain, in cold temperatures, through moose and bear habitat, more or less just for the fun of it? Ask Angie Washo and she’ll tell you.

“It sounds cliché,” admits Washo, “but it’s the same answer that mountain climbers give when asked what makes them climb mountains. ‘Because they’re there.’” But she also confesses that it was a little more than that for her. The challenge of a grueling nine-day race on her choice mode of transportation, and the beautiful countryside from Kirkland, Washington, through British Columbia and the Yukon Territories and to Alaska were motivating factors. And the fact that it made for a great 40th birthday present to herself.

The race was the Alcan 5000, a modern on/off road competition based on the original concept of a “grand tour and motoring adventure.” Angie Washo did not win the race but the competitor from small-town Howey in the Hills, Florida, made history nonetheless. She was the first female motorcyclist and the first amputee to ever compete in the Alcan 5000 Rally.

A long time motorcycle enthusiast, Washo lost her left leg in 2002 after being struck on her motorcycle by a hit-and-run drunk driver. She was on an advanced instructors training course when her Harley Davidson was hit head-on. “The bike died; I didn’t,” she says matter-of-factly.

Washo owns her own motorcycle school – Florida Motorcycle Training of Lake County – near Orlando. Along with a staff of 16 Motorcycle Safety Foundation Instructors, her school teaches beginners how to ride, and experienced riders how to ride more safely.

She started the school just months before she lost her leg below the knee and spent the first six months instructing from a wheelchair. “The irony of it all scared a lot or riders,” she grins. “It also motivated them to wear helmets and other safety gear” (helmet use is optional in Florida).

Biker at Alaska Sign

Washo remembers her first demonstration as a prosthetic-wearing instructor. “No one in the class knew that I was an amputee until my leg fell off… literally, out my pant leg and onto the pavement,” she laughs. “I just kept riding, casually, like nothing happened, up to the stop sign. I went to put both feet down, just like we teach, and fell flat on my left side. No one in that class will ever forget the ‘both feet down’ lesson.”

Her motorcycles have been outfitted with only a few minor adaptations, and a few modifications to her sports leg has corrected the ‘falling-off-while- riding’ problem. She solved the $14,000 payment predicament on her first sports leg by selling her Harley. Her sports leg – a Springlite prosthesis from Otto Bock - is really her everyday leg which she also uses for in-line skating, snowboarding, spearfishing, jet-skiing and scuba diving. (Washo is also a Master SCUBA Diver Instructor which makes for great “most of the time sharks aren’t a problem…” stories for her students.) Her sports leg takes on a few extra modifications for outings like the Alcan 5000, with additional bracing up around her thigh. “But when I want to wear heels and look like a girl I wear an Endolite cosmetically finished leg,” she tells.

Washo’s attitude toward making a living on the machine that some would say took her leg is rather insightful. “The motorcycle was not the cause of my injury; it was a factor in my survival,” she maintains. “In a car I would have been crushed. As a pedestrian I’d be dead too.”

The injury did affect the way she approaches life she says. “Appreciate how little time we may have here. Don’t waste it. There may not be time to put things off. Tell your loved ones you love them. Make a point of talking to your neighbors.” And what did this summer’s Alcan 5000 teach her? “Keep your feet on the pegs, your butt in the air, and your eyes on the prize – a great life lesson.”

For more on Angie Washo, her Alcan 5000 Journal and her training school, visit: www.floridamotorcycletraining.com.