Perewitz

I met up with Jody Parowitz on the back roads near Halifax. The first thing you notice as we wind through the countryside is your motorcycle. It's a bit unusual. It's a 1926 Harley-Davidson JD. It's nearly 100 years old. And before you think this is antique muse Not in 1926, but just last year. Jody is known for racing some very unusual motorcycles. I absolutely love them. I want to trade in all my new motorcycles for pre-1935 motorcycles. She's a fierce competitor in the vintage circle track racing. Classic machines that go 75 miles an hour, but have no brakes and no gears. These are rickety old bikes that, Last year, she took this 1926 Flathead Harley on a 3700 mile endurance race across the US, becoming one of the first women to ever complete the Cannonball Run from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine. These are 100-year-old motorcycles that we're riding 3700 miles. So you want them to last the whole trip, so you've got to take care of them. These bikes are all hand shift, foot clutch. Every 100 miles, I would have to drop my oil. No GPS to show the course. Instead, a scroll of paper to guide her from point A to point B. See each mile, Makka? Mm-hmm. Of where you got to go. I was just She's preparing this 1936 Harley-Davidson for a cross-country race known as the Chase. Kicking off in September, it goes from Michigan to Key West, Florida. Slowly rocket forward and give a hand. With a foot clutch and hand shifter, even understanding how to ride these bikes is confusing to most. Mike, you just had an awful lot of work to do. They literally are. It's fun. It makes riding the conventional motorcycle to me boring. Jody is part of a motorcycle dynasty. She's been around them all her life. Her father, Dave Parowitz, is a well-known builder and painter of some iconic motorcycles. And Jody didn't fall far from the tree. There's a lot of enjoyment out of me teaching her as much as I can about painting and bikes and building bikes. And she's always anxious to learn. Here at their shop at Halifax, she does a little bit of everything. But And to make it perfect, it's all about preparation. A finished masterpiece involves layers of paint. Tape is used to decide what color goes where. There's little room for error. Some of these paints can cost more than $1,000 a gallon. How long does it take you to do something From start to finish, 50 hours. And while dad may look over her shoulder, she's on her own. My dad and I are best friends, And then the other 10, it's But it's not all about motorcycles your great grandfather may have l She also knows how to go fast, really fast. 17 land speed wreck is one world wreckage. In 2011 at the Bonneville Soft Flats, she became the first woman to drive an American motorcycle over 200 miles an hour. So 208 was my average. And to put that in a better perspective, it took me 17 seconds to go one mile. It took less than a second to go the length of a football field. At those speeds, you have to mold yourself to the machine and hold on tight. You have to think about lifting your pinky. Pinky's going to go then your fingers, your hand, your arm, and then you are going to get ripped off the motorcycle. She's been back to the flat several times and keeps getting faster and more thrilled by the speed. No matter what, I'm going to be smiling. But to know that it's got a little bit of danger to it, I think makes me more excited. Whether it's record breaking runs or working to keep a 100 year old motorcycle visiting the back roads and main streets of New England, it's all about the joy of riding. I love it. I hope I can keep doing it until I'm 75.