STEPHANIE CHAGNON

As soon as you meet Stephanie Chagnon, her vitality and love of adventure are palpable – and contagious. She and her rally partner Chantal Cournoyer (profiled separately) are true Canadian riding pioneers.

“As soon as I get on that bike my senses open and I am looking forward to meeting new people and discovering new places. There is not one road in my neighborhood that I haven’t visited. Every outing on the bike is a new discovery - it doesn’t matter if you have been down that road again and again because today the weather will be different; the time of year, the smells and the colors will be different.”

Stephanie credits motorcycling with helping to push herself to the next level. “On long journeys or during a Rally you get to connect with Mother Nature and meet challenges from unknown factors like road changes, mechanical breakdowns and getting lost. It helps identify who you are and what you are made of. I use it to discover new places, people and myself.”

Her attraction to motorcycles began at an early age when she was given an opportunity to ride her cousin’s Honda 50. She was hooked and would ride it in the park whenever she got a chance. She had to wait until she was 14 to become the proud owner of her own Honda 50 Moped – silver and orange. She was introduced to street riding at age 21 and was invariably drawn to long journeys, travelling to Florida 5 times in 3 years.

About the same time that she discovered motorcycling, she also fell in love with the sky during a visit to the cockpit on an overseas flight. This led to a career as a helicopter pilot/mechanic working in every corner of Canada except the Yukon on forest fires, hydro projects, all sorts of research, archeology and mining projects. 75% of her time was spent in very remote camps with no phone, no TV, no heat, no washrooms – no motorcycles. She learned a lot about flexibility, resourcefulness and reacting quickly.”.

Stephanie has more than made up for lost time since she returned to riding 3 years ago. She’s competed in 4 events, some of which she was the only female participant or the first woman to finish. There were Canadian GS Challenges in 2007 and 2008 and the Pine Barrens 500 in 2007. This past October, she and Chantal, on new BMW G450X’s, were the first Canadians to enter the Trophée Roses des Sables a women’s only rally in Morocco on motorcycle and the first in 8 years to finish it. She also did level one Off Road training at the Enduro Park in Germany this fall. She got involved with women only demo rides and has developed a strong desire to pass on her love and passion about riding to as many people as possible.

Stephanie most enjoys riding on back roads, dirt and trails because “you get to see the nice side of the place that you are visiting, people are more relaxed, less stressed and curious to see why you choose a road that only the local seems to know.” It’s not surprising then that a dual sport with knobbies, is always at the ready.

Last year Stephanie and her husband did the Trans American trail (from Tennessee to Oregon, all back roads and trails). They actually left from their home in Montreal so they did 12,400 kilometers in five weeks. There was no schedule, no time limit - just the two of them at their own pace. They also diverted a few times from the planned map and discovered sites and towns of their own interest. It was the perfect motorcycle trip.

This summer, she will compete with the BMW G450X in the Baja 500 in June and the Vegas-Reno race in August. Completing the Paris Dakar has a dream since Stephanie was a teenager. “It is the ultimate personal challenge in motorcycling - it requires physical skills and a mental toughness that is hard to imagine. Later when life surprises you and you are faced with mortality, you make different decisions and choose to live your passion. So I went out and bought a BMW F650GS Dakar - that is my first step….“

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