I joined Shelly Henriquez-Neill on Uncommon Minds to share my journey, from falling in love with wheels as a kid to becoming a Vice President of Communications in the powersports industry. I explain how my personal passion for motorcycles evolved into a fulfilling career and why staying present on two wheels offers a unique sense of freedom.
Top Insights
- My love for being on wheels started young, progressing from skateboards and rollerblades to bicycles, and eventually, motorcycles, driven by a desire for movement and freedom.
- My transition into motorcycling was a practical solution for a 20-mile commute, but taking a motorcycle safety class ignited a lifelong passion, leading me to buy the very bike I learned on.
- I intentionally shaped my career by embracing a growth mindset and saying "yes" to opportunities, even when I did not fully meet the requirements, which eventually led me on my path from journalism to the powersports industry.
- Riding a motorcycle offers a unique form of "moving meditation," demanding hyper-awareness and focus on the present moment, which helps to calm my mind and block out daily anxieties, much like my martial arts achievements in Brazil.
- My cross-country motorcycle trip during COVID-19 revealed that people have more in common than not, reinforcing my belief in humanity through unexpected connections and shared experiences.
- My uncommon belief is that motorcycling should be presented as something that augments an individual's existing lifestyle and passions, rather than requiring them to adopt a new "biker lifestyle."
Full Transcript
Shelly: Welcome to Uncommon Minds, where we sit down with truly amazing innovators and unique practitioners across common fields who think outside the box and carve their own paths to success. I'm your host, Shelly Henriquez-Neill. Let's lean into another great episode right now.
Hi everybody. Welcome back to our newest episode of Uncommon Minds. Today, we are so, so excited. We're always excited for every guest we have, because the brilliance of what makes them uncommon, it gets us all stoked about what it is we're going to talk about, but also what it is you're going to learn that we know it's something that you've either rarely heard of or haven't ever heard of.
So, Uncommon Minds, as you know, is a show about people who live at the intersection of unexpected worlds. Worlds are colliding for them that you probably wouldn't put together, and this guest is no different. She teaches motorcycle safety, she is a rider coach, she serves as the vice president of communications for four organizations: The Motorcycle Industry Council, the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America, and the Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle Association, and she rides. She seriously rides. Andria Yu, welcome to the show. It is so great to have you on Uncommon Minds.
Andria Yu: Thank you so much for having me, Shelly.
Shelly: So the combination of roles, right, is genuinely rare. We could talk about this all day, and I know for you, it's something that comes up very often in your career, in your walks of life, but before we break it down, I want to start at the very beginning.
When did you first get on a motorcycle, and what happened? When did you first get, because when people have all of these things that are connected to their name, you're like, okay, but how did they start? So, tell us that story if you would. Take a walk down memory lane.
Andria Yu: I, just as a kid, I loved being on wheels. I want, I remember for Christmas, I wanted a skateboard. I didn't know how to skateboard, but, you know, I was like, oh, that looks like fun. And then I wanted roller skates, and then I wanted rollerblades when those were a thing. I wanted a bicycle. So I always wanted to be on wheels. I guess I just love the movement and the way that just kind of makes me feel kind of free and it just, and this goes to motorcycles, too, but it opens up a world of possibility. It's, you're moving, you're outside, you're getting places. So,
Shelly: Yeah. Yeah. And you're gliding. It's a very, it's a gliding thing, right?
Andria Yu: right. And then fast forward, I went to college in New York City, and to get around, I had a rollerblade, and I bought a $50 old, old Peugeot bicycle from the flea market, and this was in the 90s when bike messengers were a big thing. And so, just to amuse myself, I would see like, okay, can I keep up with them? And so I get around a lot in traffic on a bicycle or on rollerblades. So when I then got my first real job as a journalist, so I studied journalism, and I worked at
Newsday, and then The Baltimore Sun in Maryland, so that's what made me move to Maryland. After about half a year, I was like, and I had a 20-mile commute, I was like, you know what, there's got to be a more fun way to get to work, because I used to bicycle, I'd love to bicycle, but you can't take a bicycle on the highway. So,
Shelly: Right.
Andria Yu: I was like, wait a second, motorcycles. That seems like the logical transition. So, I didn't know anybody who rodes, rides motorcycles. No one in my family rides, I have no friends that ride a motorcycle, but it was just like, this just seems like fun. So I remember, what did I do? I'm like, okay, let me, let me look this up. Oh, the Maryland Vehicle Admin, Administration says you should take these classes. All right, sign me up. Signed up, paid for it. I was probably one of the only people there,
I had a big, big grin the entire time. I was just thinking this is so cool, this is so fun. I did see one guy fall over, like it wasn't a big dramatic thing, but he just kind of fell over, toppled over, and then he seemed like really frustrated and then he just walked out. But the whole time I'm like, this is just the best, and I'm, I'm just having, I'm having a, a grand old time the whole time. A bunch of us did pass, and so I went and bought the motorcycle that I learned on, because I'm like, well, I know I can ride this one.
Shelly: Yes.
Andria Yu: So I looked for a 1986 Honda Rebel 250, bought it up in Delaware, I had a friend bring it down for me because I wasn't ready to ride across the bridge and everything,
Shelly: Yeah.
Andria Yu: and then just like, a couple of days later, hopped on and rode to work, and that started everything.
Shelly: Oh, my gosh, what a cool story. It, it was born from necessity, though, which is very interesting, right? There was sort of like that natural interest,
Andria Yu: Mhm.
Shelly: but that conversion was like, you know, I need to, so let me take what I need and make it blend with what I love,
Andria Yu: Love, right.
Shelly: or what I find intriguing, and therein lies this just amazing experience.
Andria Yu: Mhm.
Shelly: I love that. Very important question for you, do you still have that bike?
Andria Yu: I wish I did, but when I was starting out, and I wasn't super, I was like, I was 23. I couldn't afford a whole lot of things, so when I needed a different bike, I had to sell that bike so I can put that money toward my other bikes. Part of me, well, a large part of me wishes I kept that because it would be so amazing.
Shelly: Yeah. How did you then take that and turn it into a career, right? This is not just a weekend thing, it's not just a hobby that you have that also gets you from point A to point B when you have to get to school or get to your early jobs. How did you then take that and turn into a career, because you talked about journalism study,
Andria Yu: Mhm.
Shelly: talk about that a little bit.
Andria Yu: I was a journalist for 18 years, and in journalism, when people asked me to, like, what is your goal, 5 years, 10 years, what do you want to be? In journalism. And I knew roles keep changing, and that's probably one of it, is having that sort of a growth mindset and the idea that things can change, and that you can shape whatever it is you want to do. It's not always laid out. So, some people might say like, I started as a copy editor, like, oh, I want to be the editor of the paper one day, but maybe that's not what I want to do. Maybe there's something else. So all I would say, all the time was like, well, I just want to have a leadership position at the newspaper. I want to have more responsibilities, and just kind of shape the way the paper runs. And to me, I felt like that gave me more options, I wasn't kind of trying to pigeonhole myself somewhere.
Shelly: Yeah.
Andria Yu: So I went from Baltimore Sun to USA Today, where I did eventually become the front-page editor for the last,
Shelly: Fantastic.
Andria Yu: oh gosh, maybe six or so years I was there. So I got in as a night editor, and that's the other thing, I just, I would want all of your audience members to know, even if the job description will say, XYZ and want these requirements, I didn't meet the requirements fully, I didn't have enough years of experience, but
Shelly: Wow.
Andria Yu: I knew I could do it, so it's this belief in yourself. I was very transparent, I said, I don't meet the experience years that you require, however, I'm a quick learner and I got this, essentially.
The other thing is, I showed up for my interview on a motorcycle, which is very unexpected. In fact, I think that's what made them remember me, because they said we've never had someone walk in with their helmet and their boots, and they're like, but I also had like a dress on, and they're like, we, how did you to, so
Shelly: Love that.
Andria Yu: that made them remember it, but you do have to work hard. So I studied up on what I need to know, and got the job.
Shelly: Yes.
Andria Yu: While I was there at the newspaper, I mean, I just, as you know, I loved motorcycling. And so I had these opportunities come up where a friend of mine at the paper introduced me to someone in the motorcycle industry, they knew I liked to ride, so I spent a full day with them, I took a day off, I spent a full day with them, we used to have these motorcycle shows. I let them talk, and talk to me about things. This, this person, just so you know, a little bit ended up hiring me years later, but we talked, he said, hey, would you like to do a review of one of the newer motorcycles that came out? And I was just like, sure. Now, do I know, did I get permission from the paper? No.
Shelly: Right.
Andria Yu: Do I know what I'm doing? No.
Shelly: Right.
Andria Yu: But it's always that yes, right? Like,
Shelly: Yes.
Andria Yu: let's try it out, let's see, I'll figure it out. So I had a place to, where I could publish these stories, and I also knew enough about the paper that knowing that on the weekends when things are quiet, we don't have a big staff, they're always looking for original content. So,
Shelly: Lovely.
Andria Yu: I have to know my audience, so I can't get too technical. So I did, I would get these motorcycles to use at no cost, they're press loaners, which is great. However, I still had my full-time job, so I wrote the stories on my days off. When I did, they had me come out to a couple of, these call them press intros, where they have you go out and see the bikes and talk with all the executives. And I was like, oh, this is a great opportunity. I would do that, but I did this all on my time off. We also did some fun rides, right? And I would include my partner, so it was like a minivacation, because I would take time off from work,
Shelly: Yeah. Yeah.
Andria Yu: but I still had to write about it, so there's always work. And I did this for at least 3 years, but it got to a point, too, where I was just thinking, oh, my gosh, this is so much work and I just want to have a vacation where I just enjoy and I don't have to think about doing something more on my weekends.
Shelly: Mhm.
Andria Yu: But in the back of my head, too, I always thought about wouldn't it be cool if this thing I love, which is motorcycles, which I actually don't have a background in, right?
Shelly: Mhm.
Andria Yu: Most people who end up working in the industry started at dealerships and I wasn't going to go back and go become a salesperson.
Shelly: Mhm.
Andria Yu: But I just said, wouldn't it be cool if somehow I got to combine the two? So the person I spent all day with, actually said to me one day, well, he called me up from out of the blue, and there's some type of divine intervention, or as my one friend would say,
Shelly: Mhm.
Andria Yu: if you want something, put it out into the universe. I was working at the paper, this was 20, end of 2015, start of 2016, when we had it was Trump versus Hillary,
Shelly: Mhm.
Andria Yu: and politics were just like so heated up. Things were getting really just, oh, my gosh, so much work. We had a bunch of cuts at the newspaper,
Shelly: Yeah.
Andria Yu: and I was really feeling burned out at that point. I mean, I still love journalism, I love what it's all about, but I was getting burned out and I really wanted to do something new. And so I just kind of put that thought out into the universe, like, you know, it's time. And I said, I'm going to make a promise to myself, that before the national conventions, which are usually in August, that I will have found a new job, and I'm going to leave journalism because I just, I'm so tired.
Shelly: Mhm.
Andria Yu: In April, the guy I spent that day with, he called me and he said, hey, we have an opening at the Motorcycle Industry Council, would you like to join us? So that was the other thing, too, that I had thought about, because throughout my career in journalism, to get a job, I had to actively look, keep my resume updated, take all these tests, because we do writing tests and editing tests, and I'm like, gosh, I hope my work is enough that people see my worth and ask me to join them instead of testing into it.
Shelly: Uh.
Andria Yu: And here it is. This guy who calls me and said, we have an opening, would you like to join us, because he had seen everything that I did already, and he knew I could do it, and he knew I loved motorcycles, like it was my personal passion.
Shelly: Yeah.
Andria Yu: And so he's like, we've been actually watching you for a while, and so we'd love for you to come on board. I didn't come on board as VP, he was the VP. I did also have to take a slight pay cut,
Shelly: Mhm.
Andria Yu: but again, where does my dream arrow point to, right? And so I'm like, no, let's do this.
Shelly: Yes.
Andria Yu: At the same time, I got another offer from a friend, too, who's starting a new, it's called like The Drive, it was owned by Time Magazine, it was online, it was covering cars and automotive and you get to go on these like trips and review cars. And the guy who hired me knew about this too, and he said, that sounds like a dream job, are you sure you don't want to do that? And I said, yes, I'm tired of chasing clicks.
This, I want to do a new thing. And so, everything I've worked up to, so that's why I always say when people say, how did you get your job? I'm always like, it's 50% hard work, 50% luck. But that luck is really these opportunities that come when you make them. Like, you have to always prep yourself so that you're ready for the big opportunity that comes your way, and you jump in. That's what I tried to do. So, again, I was offered the job, I didn't have to look for it.
Shelly: Yes.
Andria Yu: I was like, oh, they didn't make me take a test. This is great. So like checking off all these things I want.
Shelly: Yes.
Andria Yu: And so, yeah, it's
Shelly: That's fantastic, Andria. Oh, my goodness, what a great story echoing all the things you said about putting the work in, believing that what is for you will come to you.
Andria Yu: Mhm.
Shelly: It's a true passion that you had, it wasn't just something you dipped in and out of. You met the right people,
Andria Yu: Mhm.
Shelly: but you put yourself in a position to meet the right people. You know, I think when you're talking about the fact that you used your PTO and went to these, and I'm thinking, oh, my gosh, you want to talk about dedication, you made it work so that you weren't putting in jeopardy where you were,
Andria Yu: Right.
Shelly: you were using the opportunities when you could, but you made the most of those opportunities, and I just, I absolutely love that story.
I want to stay personal a little, for a little bit longer and ask you, what is it that riding gives you that nothing else in your life does?
Andria Yu: Riding, not writing, right?
Shelly: What is that feeling? Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Good, good catch. Riding, you know, a motorcycle or an off-road vehicle give you that nothing else in your life does?
Andria Yu: It's what people talk about now, being in the moment, being present,
Shelly: Mhm.
Andria Yu: being focused, and for me, it's possibility. You have to be present and in the moment and aware.
Shelly: And just let it be, let it flow.
Andria Yu: And when you're on a motorcycle, you have to be present, because you can't be distracted. Everything you're doing, all of my senses from sight to hearing, I'm listening for traffic or anything, feel, I can feel the different temperatures change. I'm riding through dips and valleys, I'll smell freshly-mown grass, I'll smell like cow manure, I'll smell flowers, I'll smell, smell if you're in California like the eucalyptus trees,
Shelly: Mhm.
Andria Yu: all of that. And then feeling the temperatures change just from like, you know, dips and rises and altitude changes, hearing different things from traffic noise to just kind of like, you always hear the road, you know, and you have, but you can hear traffic, you can hear sometimes like animals. Being ready for the unexpected. I was doing a cross-country trip and we're riding on a 60 mph single lane, and all of a sudden, I go around this bend, and there's a cow in the road. And so you have to like kind of react,
Shelly: Uh.
Andria Yu: but just like when you practice martial arts or meditation, you react without panic. And so because you're so focused on doing one thing, which is riding a motorcycle, that's why a lot of people that you do talk to about riding motorcycle, they'll say it feels very Zen, it's like moving meditation. It calms me down, it like refreshes my mind, because all you have to think about at that moment is just riding a motorcycle. But you're not turned off, your senses aren't turned off, they're all on,
Shelly: Yeah.
Andria Yu: hyperaware, because anything can happen, can kind of disrupt you. It's also like, well, I need to stay alive, so
Shelly: Yeah.
Andria Yu: and it sounds strange because you're like, oh, wait, stay alive, it sounds like survival, but it's so super calming and relaxed. The other thing I love about it, too, which has been hard for me to reach in a like seated or standing meditation, is to not let other thoughts creep in and bother you.
Shelly: Yeah. Yeah. Or knowing what to do with them when they do, right? So like, just like when you, when you said you turned the corner and you saw that cow,
Andria Yu: Right. Right.
Shelly: you cannot avoid that, right? That's a big thought. It's a big image, you know, it's a living being. So it's, no, I'm not going to let it freak me out and tense up to the degree that I might fall or I might hurt the animal. I see it, let me respect it, let me see where it is, see where I am, and make the necessary adjustment.
Andria Yu: Right. Right. So,
Shelly: Yes.
Andria Yu: also like, I, things People, when they talk to, I said, when I'm on a motorcycle, all of a sudden nothing bothers me, and I know you do a lot of meditation, Shelly, and so you get to that state where work problems, life problems suddenly don't matter. It's not that they don't matter ever, but at that moment, they can't bother you, they can't penetrate your mind and like get you feeling anxiety. So that's what motorcycles helps me do, because I'm so focused on the ride and just enjoying it. I mean, it's it so fulfills all of my sensory aspects.
Shelly: Yeah.
Andria Yu: And then for me, I started, so we started by commuting, and then we started, my partner and I, we started traveling together, and that opened up a whole other world of possibilities, like, oh, I don't have to sit in a car, I don't have to be in an airplane. It will take me longer, but I get to feel the entire journey. When I did a cross-country ride, interestingly enough, this was actually during kind of It was in 2021, so COVID was going on,
Shelly: Mhm. Yeah.
Andria Yu: but it's something you can do that I'm definitely away from people, and I'm in my own helmet.
Shelly: Yeah, I was going to say that too. I would imagine that there was this huge uptick in people getting motorcycles or getting certified to go, because that's, it was a perfect thing to do when, when the pandemic was happening, yeah.
Andria Yu: So I wrote across the country, and it was also when a lot of Asian hate was going on, because people are blaming COVID for, you know, like the China virus or whatever. And so I was telling my friends like, I'm going to ride across the country, and I'm going to go through like Where did we go? Arizona, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas,
Shelly: Wow.
Andria Yu: Mississippi, Alabama, all Southern states because it was in March, so it's kind of chilly.
Shelly: Right. Right.
Andria Yu: And so people are like, aren't you worried? And I said, we'll see, you know. But what I found is that people have more in common than they have uncommon. And I told everyone, I said, not once did I get anyone critical of me or disparaging. It really helped me believe in humanity again, because you meet the people who come out and talk to you and warn me about the feral pigs in Texas that are really strong and they can flip a car over, so be careful. People telling me where you should go eat. It's like again, it just So motorcycles in many ways brought humanity back to me, even though it seems isolating, but it's an icebreaker, you start talking to people, they start feeling inspired, well, if she did it, I can do it. This is something I want to try. They tell you about their community and it's just a great way to meet people, too. So,
Shelly: I love that. What a beautiful experience that you've had, and it's such a warm and wonderful adventure, right, to take a ride across country, obviously, staying safe and all of the things, but I loved what you said about the fact that you have so much more in common with people than you realize. You can connect with them and people ask you questions and they, and you're also probably without even realizing it inspiring people
Andria Yu: I hope so.
Shelly: to do what you've done. Yeah, to absolutely do what you've done. So what bike are you riding right now and why?
Andria Yu: I have several.
Shelly: Do you have a favorite?
Andria Yu: I don't. It's like asking who your favorite child is or which is your favorite pet. They're all different and they're all special for their own reasons. Depends on what type of riding I'm doing. I have a BMW R1200RS. That's really, it's a sport tour, great for like long-distance travel. Of course, I did my cross-country trip on a KTM 390 ADV. It's an adventure bike, but it's a smaller, 390 cubic centimeters displacement versus like a 1200 cc cubic displacement.
Shelly: Okay.
Andria Yu: So a lot of people are like, oh, a 390, well, that's not, I mean, it's not super fast. I can do 80 mph if I need, but it's really happiest at about 70 and we were just enjoying, we were seeing the country, we were I always say riding across the country is the closest I'll ever get to like walking across the country, because
Shelly: Wow.
Andria Yu: I'm riding, and sometimes I just kind of look down and I dangle my foot down, and I just skim the surface of the road, and I'm like, it's right there. The Earth is right there beneath my feet. I'm traveling faster than I could ever walk, but
Shelly: Yeah.
Andria Yu: I smell, and that's why again I say, I smell everything, I open up my visor and my face is right there in the air, I see everything, and you stop and you talk to people and when you get off the motorcycle, I'm right here. I'm not in a car, I'm not enclosed. I'm right here. And so that's why it's just been great. So for some of the long-distance travel, the sport tour is actually great. I took something different because we thought we might get some off So the adventure bike can go on and off-road. And we thought we might hit some dirt roads, and we did, and it did perfectly fine. I have some more dirt-specific bikes like dual-sports that are made more for off-road. I have an enduro motorcycle for like really more tricky off-road terrain. So I'm learning that. I like that because you can take risks, but you met So with all of motorcycle riding, people are like, aren't you scared? I said, no. I never feel more in control than when I'm on a motorcycle.
Shelly: Wow.
Andria Yu: Because there are certainly risks. You know what those risks are. The other thing about motorcycling is you have to be very self-aware. Know what you are like as a driver, know if you're a big risk-taker, know your reaction time. Knowing this, now how do you put that forward? So, these are all things, I always say there's so many parallels with motorcycling as with life.
Shelly: I want to shift to the industry piece and the industry voice a little bit, because there's a natural transition there and connection. You have a lot of motorcyclists now who see it very differently than the fundamental or foundational way of seeing it. They get the license, but they only want the license because they want to show out, and they want to do whatever it is they want to do on the roads, be it safe or not.
I want to talk a little bit about who the new motorcyclist is today. Is the face of who's riding actually changing? Are you finding that it's more shifting towards people who are younger or people who are, you know, really want to do the thrill-seeking, or is it still the same as it always was?
Andria Yu: Well, that's a tough one. I probably don't have the answer to this. There are many answers, I think, with this. In my classes, I do see younger people doing this. But what's been interesting is, maybe they are drawn to the way the bikes look, or how cool it seems, but they have fewer skills in like, they don't ride a bicycle as often, they don't know how to use a manual transmission, they don't even know what it is, but they just don't necessarily have that concept, because they don't have to work on a lot of things at home or, you know, anymore. Also, a lot of people don't even want to drive a car.
I just did a satellite media tour. I was on, what was it, 17 TV channels and 8 radio or something, just talking about it, but part of it, too, is like fuel prices are up, right? So there are people looking to ride a motorcycle because they're more economical in fuel, but also with fuel prices up, there is a sort of shift to people looking at electric vehicles. The thing we're seeing a lot of people go into now is electric bicycles.
Shelly: Mhm. I've seen a lot of those, yeah.
Andria Yu: Yep. And a lot of kids are on electric bicycles because they do solve two things. First of all, parents like, well, it gets the kid outside. Secondly, because it's electric, they can get farther, so a lot of parents are looking at this as another way for their kids to get to their after-school programs, their soccer practice, football practice, whatever it is, get to their friend's house. As long as they do it safely. And speaking of that, actually, the Motorcycle Safety Foundation did come up with, we worked with PeopleForBikes, a bicycling advocacy group, for an online e-bike e-course.
Shelly: Wow. Wow.
Andria Yu: It's at ebikeecourse.com, because what we realized, too, is you have teenagers who do not have a driver's license, but now you're throwing them into the traffic mix. So, how do they know the rules of the road? A lot of them, if you ask a 14-year-old, okay, do you know what the yield sign means? What do you do when you get to a yield sign? At the stop sign, are you supposed to stop? Where can you ride? What are you supposed to do if you need to make a right turn, what hand signal do you have? They don't know these things. They also don't know that all of the road signs and traffic lights apply to them, too. They are not pedestrians, they're not crossing wherever they can, they need to understand. So that's what we created. It takes just under two hours to do, we're hoping it can help them learn a lot more of these. And we also put in some skill-building practice exercises they could do in a parking lot with their parents, because, also with motorcycles and anything you do with your life, you have to know how a thing works. With your e-bike, with your motorcycle, you have to know your vehicle. How quickly can it stop? How do I swerve? And so the only way to do that is practice, and in a safe space, so
Shelly: Yes. Yeah.
Andria Yu: those are things we encourage people to do.
Shelly: That is so fascinating. It's interesting when you put it like that. It's a simple deduction. Of course, I'm on the road, I have to, but that connection between a teenager who is not yet of legal age to drive a car,
Andria Yu: Mhm.
Shelly: but can still drive another vehicle, has to also know the same rules and signs and things like that, it's fascinating. It's fascinating when people don't really think about until something happens, right?
Andria Yu: Right.
Shelly: I want to name a tension directly, right, as the vice president of communications for an industry group, you know, and you're also a safety instructor, does the industry ever want you to say something that you can't as a safety professional like stand behind? Do you ever have like something that would, I can't tell people they can take this on the road and it can go up to 100 and this and you can go ahead, test it out, try it. And as a safety professional, you're like, well, really, there are other things that you need to keep in mind if you choose to do that. Has that ever happened, or is it rare that would ever happen, or it doesn't happen at all?
Andria Yu: I love this question, because before I accepted the job, I actually said, I asked, I said, what is it you want me to sell? And they said that motorcycling is a lot of fun, or can be a lot of fun, but if you want to learn, you have to do it the right way, proper training and proper gear, wear all the gear all the time. Go to a formal class, wear all your gear, and that's it. And I said, you know what, great, because I'm not selling anything, that's what I personally believe. You know, I've told you, I'm like motorcycling is so much fun, you should try it out, but if you want to try it out, do it the right way. Don't just go borrow a friend's bike and Obviously, you borrowed mine, but I am a professional.
Shelly: I was going to say, wait a second. I was at your house. Who like hanged out, you didn't tell me that, no.
Andria Yu: No, I had you in a helmet, I had with you and Gloria had a helmet, I gave you guys gloves, and we did it on our, my lawn on a dirt bike, so it was controlled. And I am a dirt bike school coach as well, so I'm a rider coach, that's street class, the dirt bike school coach. You mentioned the other two associations, one is ATVs, so I'm an ATV instructor, and a, an ROV driver coach.
Shelly: This is one of the really amazing things about you. I have experienced it. I've experienced you as an instructor, as a safety professional, as a believer in how these two things complement each other. You know, you're not just this wild and crazy adventure enthusiast who wants to get out there and do all the crazy, you know, it was a, it was a stepwise process
Andria Yu: Mhm.
Shelly: that you, I remember when we first got to you, you had my wife and I pick the helmets that we liked, but then you were like, now let's see if it fits, because it's one thing to have like the aesthetic in mind and we're like, oh, I want the one with the mohawk. Yeah, okay, but if it doesn't fit you well, it doesn't matter what it looks like. And I absolutely loved that attention to the safety first,
Andria Yu: Mhm.
Shelly: which I'm assuming that, you know, people would say, well, of course, it's what she does, but listen, there are people who I'm sure in within the industry, too, that might forego some of the things, not all of the things, or they might give people options and say, well, you don't have to, but you really ought to. With you, you're like, no, we're not getting on even though we're in a closed space, enclosed space, we're not getting out there unless you have this down. So, you know, that's something that we really appreciated.
Question for you, because we're talking about us as women, obviously, when we came to you, there was that piece, is motorcycle culture welcoming, right? When we talk about now the culture of of motorcycling. I feel like I can answer this question and say, yeah, because you see all of these women rider clubs all over the place and it just looks so fun, but when you talk about the culture itself, do you think it's welcoming enough to women, to newer riders, to people who don't fit the traditional mold, right, if there is such a thing?
Andria Yu: Could I actually go back to your industry question on the industry, you know, how you mentioned like people going fast and what they can do with the bikes. The question I had for them when I said what is it you want me to sell was mostly because I also didn't want to work for and I didn't feel like I would be able to authentically represent something I didn't believe in. The industry is actually very much about safety as well, because, you know, if you're not safe, you're not going to have customers.
So while a lot of their products can reach, you know, really high speeds, even in the industry, we always talk about there's a time and place. If you want to push your speeds and push your skills, you do that at a track, and at a track, there are coaches there to help you learn that, too. So there's a lot of coaching involved. And again, that goes back to self-awareness, knowing what you can and can't do with your skill level, but also making the right choices. It's the, then we talk about the executive functions, making the right decisions.
The other thing that we always talk about, when you let's say you do want to be a racer, slow down and look at your technique. Smooth is fast, and fast is smooth. And the smoother you are at something by slowing down and really looking at your techniques, the faster you'll become. And then people who are really fast will start feeling like they're going really slow. And then the best way to do it, I just talked to a friend of mine, is use a timer, use a stopwatch, always measure, because once you smooth out all of your movements, you'll feel like you're going slower, but you're actually going, because you're also more relaxed.
And then we also talk about always having to practice the basics. Even if you're a top racer, we say that too, even the top racers, top athletes, they have coaches, they need coaching, but they always practice the basics. So the industry 100% behind all the safety aspects of it.
Shelly: What would actually make the roads meaningfully safer in 10 years? What would you fix first if you had all the resources you could and all the political influence and backing that you could, what would you fix first in order to make the roads meaningfully safer in 10 years?
Andria Yu: Well, if I had all the resources and anything I could wish for, it would be so fantastic to have dedicated motorcycle lanes. Now, this sounds far-fetched. However, if you go to Taiwan, they actually have those. The biggest difference I see with the US versus Asia or Europe is that in America, we view motorcycling as a recreation. For them, it's a needed mode of transportation. Because the roads are smaller, they just have more people. So in Taiwan, they have dedicated lanes even in the parking garages for two wheels, like motorcycles and scooters.
They have dedicated lanes and dedicated places to stop for two wheels at intersections. So they have thought it thorough, thoroughly, because the other thing about riding a motorcycle or scooter in Asia, Europe, is that everyone does it. Grandmas ride their motorcycles, because they have to get around. Your grandmother, your mom, your dad, your brother, your sister, everybody rides motorcycles. I will say that's the one thing I've been trying to work at in my position is to normalize motorcycling in the US. It's not like this niche thing that, as you even mentioned, you have, people who don't ride have in in their minds what they think a motorcycle person is.
And I'm trying to tell people, no, it's not a specific type of person, it's everybody. When you and I first met, would you have imagined I was so into motorcycles?
Shelly: I mean, the hobby part, yeah. You know, you can kind of, because anybody can sort of say, oh, you know, it's something I like to do, but the enthusiasm that you have, and the knowledge that you have, I never would have imagined that. And I think all of those things, whether it be inclusion in the culture, or more inclusion in the culture, because I think, you know, quite frankly, I think motorcycling has a very inclusive culture, because you see motorcyclists of all shapes and colors and sizes and all of that, enthusiasts, but the normalization of it within our infrastructure is so important from a safety standpoint, from an acceptance that it is a vehicle that is not purely recreational. I mean, there're just so many things, but I think that's really key, and it made me realize, huh, it's one thing to see a bicycle lane in a residential area, in the suburbs or wherever, in cities. It's another thing to see a bicycle lane on a highway, and we are sharing the space.
We've come to the end of the episode, and with every guest, we always like to ask a signature question that ties in Uncommon Minds to the work that you do and the way you live your life. And my question for you is, what is an uncommon belief that you have about motorcycling that you have and that you hold that some riders or industry folks might see differently or, or not the same way?
Andria Yu: So, because I came from it differently than a lot of people in the industry, I hear often when people talk about getting more people into riding, they say, oh, we want to introduce them into our lifestyle, bring them into our community. I always say, no, that's not how it works. We need to show people how motorcycles fit into their own lifestyle, how it fits into their community. Because that's how it worked for me. I didn't decide I want to join a biker group, or, you know, like, hey, I want to change my lifestyle. No.
I always talk about motorcycling as how can it augment you? So it could help you become the best that you are. I am a person who I love travel, I love exploring, I love the outdoors, I love challenges, and motorcycles brings all of that together for me, because I can use it to travel, I can use it for adventures like explore different places, I like the challenges of doing some things off-road. Can you get over this log? Do I have the skill? Can I dial everything in so I can do these things perfectly?
And it also is a great way of self-expression, you know. Every motorcycle can say something about that person's personality or what they want to do, because they are built People say, why do you have three motorcycles or I actually have, we have like 12. But I would say like, well, if you have a tool box, do you use a hammer for everything? No. Sometimes you need a wrench, sometimes you need a screwdriver. Same thing, they're kind of tools that I use for whatever it is I want to do. So, but that's the biggest thing, not force it onto someone else's life, but how does it work in their life?
Shelly: I love that. Oh, my gosh, that was brilliant. That was brilliant. Thank you so much, Andria, for joining us, thank you so much for sharing so much about your life. It's, interestingly enough, it is a way of life for you. That is why it's so easy for you to create the parallels to the other things that you do, and practice, and I love that you've made it so attainable and accessible and tangible for people who are, who've never done it before to get into it, for people who are, you know, seasoned in motorcycle riding to learn something new, and I am just so thankful for all of your wisdom and of course your time.
Before we close out, I want to make sure that people can get a good resource for people to go to if they want to learn more about courses, where to find courses and just how to sort of get into motorcycling if they're, if they have any, if there are any resources that you can share.
Andria Yu: I would say go to the Motorcycle Safety Foundation website, and that's msf-usa.org. So msf-usa.org. There's a zip code finder that you can use to find a, a school or class near you.
Shelly: Thanks for joining us for another amazing episode of Uncommon Minds. If you like what you heard, please like, share, and subscribe on any of the major podcast platforms. And if you are on Instagram, please follow us at @uncommonmindspod. We'd love to hear from you, share your thoughts, also like and share the information that you see there, because it's always fun and it's always uncommon. See you soon.
Announcer: This podcast was edited by Resonate Recordings.