Have I been on a motorcycle before in my life? Yes. Am I a person who ever plans on owning one? Nope. But am I crushing hard on the new AMC series, Ride with Norman Reedus? You betcha.
You may be wondering why I’m covering the show if I’m not into the biker lifestyle. Really, though, that explanation needs only two words: Norman Reedus. Am I right? As I suspect is the case with many of you reading this review, I’ve been a huge fan of Reedus since the first time I watched The Boondock Saints. So, naturally, I was stoked when he landed the role of Daryl Dixon in The Walking Dead.
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Given my deep abiding love for both Reedus and his roughneck character on TWD, I was fully willing to invest an hour of my time every Sunday to see what his new docu-series was all about.
Can I just say I’m so glad I did? Again, while I know and love many people who are bikers, that particular branding does not apply to me in any way, shape or form. In fact, buying a motorcycle is an argument my husband and I keep half-heartedly circling — he wants one, but I’m not budging.
Enter Ride with Norman Reedus.
My husband and I watched this week’s episode together and laughed out loud as Reedus dropped his trousers in the desert to cool off his balls. We marveled at the sweeping red-dirt vistas as he and his fellow actor and longtime buddy, Balthazar Getty, drove their matching Ducatis through Death Valley and shredded some sand on dirt bikes.
We pretend planned our own desert trip, complete with a stop to the off-the-beaten-path Hot Box BBQ joint run by Lead Feather who, oh, you know, perfected his recipe feeding the exotic dancers at Cheetah’s Gentlemen’s Club in Vegas.
But my favorite part of this week’s episode was getting to know the badass chicks from the all-female bike collective Babes Ride Out. Meeting up with Getty and Reedus at the Inn at Furnace Creek, Nina Kaplan, Anya Violet and Ashmore Ellis explain how they originally formed their group out of the simple desire to meet other women who ride.
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Soon their group grew from 50 female riders at their first event to 500, and then 1,200 within two years. Their shtick? They’re just chicks who like to hang out with other like-minded chicks, riding their bikes and chillin’ by campfires.
This is the point in the episode where I started thinking, “Where do I sign up?” Especially when the ladies mounted their undeniably rad Harley Sportsters and Triumph Bonnevilles for the ride down Artist’s Drive to Dante’s View in Death Valley.
I’ll just go ahead and say it — they seem so fucking cool, you guys.
Biking through some of the most stunning scenery the country’s got to offer, and capping off the day around a campfire, who wouldn’t want to have adventures like that? I’m starting to see my husband’s point-of-view in the great motorcycle debate.
But the bottom line is this: You don’t have to be a biker to enjoy this series. Love Norman Reedus? Tune in. Have an incurable case of wanderlust? Tune in. Want to meet some incredibly cool and empowering women along the way? Tune in.
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There are plenty of reasons to love this show if you give it a chance. So, c’mon, keep on watching (and touching base right here for reviews) each week at 10/9c on AMC. We’re in for one hell of a ride.
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