Meet Tracy Getty, a Ural rider from Washington State who lives life to the fullest with her sidecar. As we lead up to International Ural Ride Day, we wanted to share how Tracy goes about giving hundreds of sidecar rides and what this special effort means to her. Read on and learn how to #sharethechair for September 8th! Lead photo by Live-N-Loud Photography
What year and model of sidecar do you ride?
It's a 2009 LE Sahara Gear Up. It’s called…WARCAT!
About how many people have you given rides to in your sidecar? Do you have a single-day record?
The very first ride I gave in WARCAT was on November 13th, 2009. Since then I have given 926 rides (as of this article). I document each ride with a photo and a caption to describe our outing. After the adventure I give my riders a button that says 'WARCAT HACK MONKEY' and I print their Hack Monkey Number on the back. People think that is pretty special. My single day record for single rides is 34.
People seem to be afraid of strangers these days and the sidecar helps to break the ice.
How do you go about inviting people to go for a ride?
I just flat out ask them if they want to go for a ride. Most people are floored that I’d even ask.
Have you ever given rides to complete strangers? Any memorable instances?
Most of my riders are complete strangers. I am a WWII Living Historian, so on occasions I will suit up like a Russian Soldier. I help out with events such as fly-ins, museum static displays, and military vehicle set-ups. I enjoy giving people rides around the grounds. Other times my sidecar has been used as rescue missions. One evening I gave a gentleman a ride to the gas station and back because he ran out of fuel. Another time I gave an elderly man with a fractured hip a ride home from the hospital because he was walking! I’ve even given a very special last ride a local motorcycle enthusiast who had a terminal disease. That was heartbreaking but I was proud to be there for him and his family. I didn’t know them beforehand but word got out that I give sidecar rides and the rest fell into place. We’ve done fun stuff, too. WARCAT was even the getaway vehicle for a wedding! During the reception I gave rides to wedding guests.
My sidecar and I have done a lot together but the best part is all the different people I get to meet along the way.
What reaction do you normally get from guest passengers?
Everybody is just ecstatic. Kids are all like, “BEST DAY EVER!” and they don’t want to get out. Even the older generation light up like rockets when we go tooling around together.
I love it when people do “roller coaster arms” because they realize just how freeing it is to be a sidecar passenger.
What inspired your effort to share your sidecar with the masses?
Not only are Urals the go-anywhere, do-anything rig, they are just FUN! They bring a smile to people’s faces. The Ural lifestyle is the silver lining in any gray day, and here in the Pacific Northwest we need all the sunshine and smiles we can get. Afterall, EVERYDAY is a #sharethechair kind of day for WARCAT & me!
Photo by Jason Bledsoe
