Many women have seen the business head of a steel horse over the years, meaning that, if you’re a female, there’s a good chance you’ve ridden as a passenger on a motorcycle. I happen to know a number of people that own motorcycles, so here are some tips that I’ve come up with over the years for those ladies riding on the smaller seat.

1. Think about your hair and ears because your “do” can get ruined and/or you can experience physical pain with the wrong setup.

First of all, avoid the obnoxious earrings. The wrong studs, too big gauges or dangly earrings can all pose problems for the average female wearing a motorcycle helmet.  

Next thing to keep in mind is your hair. I’ve had too much experience with my messy bun, perched on top of my head, causing my huge headaches during long rides with a helmet on. Your curls could also get ruined or whatever else.

If you have long hair, make sure you have a ponytail to secure it behind your neck while you ride. If you don’t, your hair stands the chance of becoming a tangled mess, and it’ll be all over your face while the wind whips it around during the ride.

2. Pay attention to the weather before and while you’re riding.

A bike ride for the day can be extremely relaxing until you realize you have to ride home after the sun goes down, the temperature having dropped ten degrees. Even if it’s sunny when you leave on your ride, thrown on a hoodie to wear later if you know you’ll be out into the night. You’ll thank me later.

The same concept goes for wearing gloves. With many bikes, a passenger feels more secure holding onto the driver when in motion. This being said, your fingers could get pretty chilly if you have them out in the wind.

3. Have a plan set up when you go riding if you have poor vision.

This isn’t a problem I really anticipated when I started riding on the backs of bikes, but it can be a pain. If you vision requires you to wear eyeglasses or contacts, you need to pay attention to this before you go on a ride.

For example, if you’re limited to wearing glasses to see clearly, that can cause some problems. Many bike helmets are too tight to allow you to wear your eyeglasses comfortably. If you take off your glasses, there’s a good chance your surroundings will be blurry, which isn’t pleasant. You’d also have to find a safe place to store them.

4. Lean with it, rock with it.

Leaning with your driver can make a huge difference in how hard he has to try to direct the bike. If you feel him or her lean to the right, you lean to the right as well, no matter how scary it might seem. I promise that you won’t fall off the side of the bike unless you don’t have commonsense and send yourself overboard.

With this, riding onto the driver is perfectly acceptable, but to an extent. Don’t overdo the grabbiness because the driver could get distracted or uncomfortable, which isn’t fun.

5. Don’t go out in the wrong gear.

It might be miserable to wear blue jeans in 80-degree weather, but they could save you from road rash in case of a crash. You might want to keep your flip-flops on for the ride, but be mindful of your toes. That sweatshirt seems like it’ll cause you heatstroke, but you’ll thank yourself when you’re not pelted with all those bugs on the interstate.

The most important thing is safety, but keep in mind those other, less critical things that can make your ride more comfortable. When riding any sort of bike, I firmly believe your should wear boots (or tennis shoes at least), jeans, a long-sleeved shirt of some kind, possibly gloves and a helmet. Bike crashes are nasty things, but the right cover-ups could save you.