“Sports bikes are not restricted to men.” This is what the Lebanese engineer Mona Al-Khatib, or “Moni” as everyone knows, says, and she is one of the few of the fairer sex who chose to practice this somewhat dangerous hobby.
In a unique competition, Mona challenges her fellow male drivers to drive motorcycles on the roads and in private races, and even outperforms them, unaware of the dangers she faces and the many bike accidents in Lebanon.
Talking with the young communications and computer engineer takes you to terms far from those she knows about her scientific specialization, to move with her to a world of phrases that are difficult for those who do not know motorcycle technologies to know, starting from the power of the bike and its mechanical information, to the names and types of races.
About this hobby, the daughter of the border town of Shebaa told Sky News Arabia: “My story with the motorbike began in 2005 after a picnic that a friend invited me to on the roads of Beirut for a short period. The tour was enough to ignite in me feelings of adventure and make me relate to this fun and dangerous hobby in Both. I need accuracy, focus and correct calculations so as not to be subject to fatal errors.”
the beginning
Mona entered the field with passion and bought a small bike that she trained on, and her activity at that time was very secret, as it was not easy for friends and family to be convinced of this hobby, which some consider masculine par excellence, especially in the Arab countries. The volume of a thousand cubic centimeters.
She added, “That’s why I used to hide my bike from sight, as well as the sports uniform assigned to it with a head protection helmet in my car to avoid any interference that hinders my hobby.”
And she continued, “I am a daughter of nature and I love the world of fishing and excursions, and I also practice scuba diving, horse riding and skydiving.”
And about her family’s knowledge of her driving a bike, Al-Khatib said: “A security checkpoint stopped me once and asked me for identification papers and a driver’s license to verify them. Meanwhile, a military car stopped near me, and my father was a former Lebanese army officer inside. Then I told the policeman, I am the daughter of Brigadier-General Al-Khatib, and I referred to my father who He was stunned by the shock, and I sped down the road. My father asked then that I sell the bike, and to this day he still insists on it on every occasion, fearing for my life.”
And she continued with a laugh, “I practice my hobby with discipline and without recklessness, and all the members of our Super Bike Riders Group are my brothers and they fear me a lot, despite my constant victory over them.”
At the end of the week, the engineer, who is fond of cycling, spends her vacation in the areas designated for driving motorcycles, most notably in the Mina Avenue in the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon, which is called “black pitch” by cycling enthusiasts, and often returns to Beirut victorious over the groups that participated with her. .
Mona does not like driving cars as much as she loves a motorcycle that burns its tires on the track, even if it costs her to buy new tires, and besides this hobby she works on teaching motorcycles driving and says: “Currently, there are many women who drive small motorcycles to reach their work in order to save money.” for gasoline.”
She added, “My mother always opposed my hobby, but my mother, Hajja Aida, started riding a bike behind me to take her where she wanted.”
Al-Khatib hopes to pay attention to the fans of this machine, which is considered an economical means of transportation, and calls for the provision of appropriate roads for it after the significant increase in fuel prices, as she sees the possibility of the small motorcycle solving some of the transportation problems in Lebanon.
She concludes, “I don’t feel strange because I am a female among many males in this hobby. I lived a similar life while studying engineering at a university that includes more than 90 percent of male students in this major.”