Hundreds of women motorcycle enthusiasts congregated at the Texas-side convention center, celebrating a sisterhood of cyclists, which is a relatively new phenomenon in biker culture. Featuring a chrome cornucopia of machines and flocks of females in biker finery (not just leather, by any means), engines roared and voices chatted and laughed as they reveled in a weekend of road culture.
"This is a new thing for women, relatively speaking," said Robin Pecht, president of New Life Riders, Austin CMA Chapter. "The numbers of lady bike riders is growing each year."
The male side of biker culture has had a rough, clannish reputation, though there is also talk of brotherhood and community service among many, with biker subcultures proliferating over the decades.
"Lady bikers have saddled up with a decidedly family and community orientation right out the gate," she said.
The men who love motorcycles have been supportive of the women entering the culture, certainly the men attending the conference with their wives, girlfriends and friends.
"Majority of men in the bike world support the ladies coming into the lifestyle," she said. "In the case of couples, this is something they can do together. My husband and I have been together 37 years and I've been riding since age 21, when I was pregnant with my second child. Lots of women felt they could not enter this overwhelmingly male dominated world, but now, they are proving themselves wrong."
Elizabeth Carleo, a Texarkana native, says her husband, Zach Torres, a new technician at Harley Davidson-Texarkana, has drawn her into the bike world. She looks forward to the day she actually mounts up on one of those machines.
"I ride with my husband right now, but I'm learning right along with him," she said. "For me, this is unexplored territory. We both like to travel, do new things. Exploring and doing it through Harley's view of things, Harley Davidson culture has opened a new world for us."
The bike world, Harley Davidson and beyond, is like a big extended family to her.
"When you meet a fellow biker, you have common ground with them immediately," she said. "It helps establish an easy bond with others. It is a big family, very inclusive."
Ladies in Leather, the third rally under that organization and the first in Texarkana, was attempt to beat the record of the previous number of women cycling enthusiasts gathered at once. The previous record of more than 1,000 was established at a rally in Australia. As of Saturday, they were at several hundred.