Chicks Not Dicks

Bros Not Pros isn’t dead.  We just wanted to give it some time to recover.  What better way to re-start than with the female variant; Chicks Not Dicks.  Dorothy  Luebke seemed like a nice sensible lass at first.  Nobody is sure what happened next but soon she was unleashing mayhem (her word!) at North Shore Rippers, with the Muddbunnies and everywhere in between.  Andrew Major figured she was a great subject for this column and we couldn’t agree more.  Andrew and Dorothy – over to you.

Cam McRae

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Drew: Dorothy, welcome to Bros-not-Pros…er Chicks Not Dicks. Lets start with your full name, where abouts you reside, and the all important favourite colour.

Dorothy: Dorothy Grace Luebke, currently a North Vancouverite whose fave colour is rainbow. 

  Dorothy before. The seemingly mild mannered version.  When she vollied for Rippers instead of putting everyone else to shame. Photo ~ David Ferguson

Drew: This is Bros-not-Pros so we have to prove you are legit. How do you do to support your habit?

Dorothy: By working Monday to Friday, 8 to 5 in Burnaby.  This is done against my own wishes but apparently being a housewife wasn’t a career option for me.

Drew: So how long have you worked in the bike industry for?

Dorothy: I’ve been working for a real paycheck for just shy of one year, however I’ve worked/vollentold for a couple of years with various clubs and associations.
 
 Dorothy after as Marg Princess Warrior at the CBC Ripper.  Photo ~ Cam McRae

Drew: Your handle on NSMB.com is “Heckler’s Better 1/2.” A lot of people around these parts know Sven (Heckler) pretty well but in your own words what makes you the better of the two parts?

Dorothy: I think I help bring out the fun side of Sven.  He’s your typical, ever-thinking/planning/organizing engineer, where as I am more of the party gal.  I make the messes, he cleans up.  It’s really a win/win situation.

Drew: Who gave you the nickname, or did you make it up yourself?

Dorothy: My own creative genius.

Drew: I guess you could say that you are infamous? That was a picture of your red-painted shoes, or should I say ruby slippers, I saw floating around in various print and e-mag articles about the North Shore Ripper Race’s right?

Dorothy: Ha, ha,  That’s me alright… the girl with a bit of reputation for disorder and mayhem.  Plus I am usually at the frontlines trying to do something a little “different” from the rest of the crowd. 
 
 Marg pushing hard for DFL on Corkscrew. Photo ~ Cam McRae

Drew: Tell us about the North Shore Ripper’s. How many have you been in? If you like you could rattle it off by costume theme!

Dorothy: I think in total I’ve participated in 8 rippers over 3 years.  My first year I did a Ripper I only dressed up my bike.  Added a couple of pink and yellow decorations and off I went.   After that year I started to dress myself up instead.  I realized I would never be infamous for my riding skills, but I can whip off a pretty darn good costume in a couple of days at the sewing machine.  As a result, I now have a “Dorothy” from the wizard of Oz costume, an original Marg Delahanty outfit, and Oktoberfest beer wench outfit.  If my career in the bike industry flops I can always go work at Jagerhof Schnitzel House. 

Drew: And for how many of those have you dressed your other half up as a woman?

Dorothy: Only once for a ripper, all the other time it was for my eyes only.

Drew: Is it true you managed to come last in every one? Any reason why?

Dorothy: You bet i did.  After winning the Ripper Queen in 2007, I realized I wanted to get more women involved with this kind of event.  So in my own fashion (read: while slightly intoxicated)  I challenged all the muddbunnies to come out and try a ripper.  I pledged to came in DFL at any of the timed Rippers so that no one would be worried about being in last place.  It really wasn’t much of a stretch for me to come in last either, I had been doing so for previous rippers without even trying!  

  Dorothy ‘don’t call me Dot’ Luebke on the Sunshine Coast.  Photo ~ Dave Bryson

Drew: I have heard the Ripper format will be changing for next year. Any costumes you regret not trying out?

Dorothy:  Several, I always wanted to do a Teletubbies 4 person Super D, and (because I am a bit of a nerd) I wanted to do a full all female Klingon team.  Those Klingon women would have made amazing dh riders.

Drew:Putting the Tickle-Trunk (Ed note: it is a Mr. Dress Up reference thanks) aside for a moment. Where is your absolute favourite place to ride?

Dorothy: do I really have to pick just one ?  Okay… if I have to choose then I would have to say Naramata.  Ending your ride with a dip into the lake after nipping thru a winery is pretty hard to beat.

Drew: What is your favourite trail?

Dorothy: I don’t really have a favourite, pretty lame eh?  It’s hard to pick just one as I like different trails for different reasons.  On the shore my fav section of trail is the Fern Valley on Bottletop. 

  Dorothy in her grrl room.  Photo ~ Dan Barham

Drew: How about some details about your ride? You are in the bike industry so you must have what five or six bikes maybe one of which is running?

Dorothy: Since I am new to the industry I’ve only got 3 bikes and one uni.  All of my bikes are Specialized with the exception of the unicycle.  All are somewhat Franken-bikes which I have modified over the years.   

Drew: Is there anyone you regularly ride with? This would be people that you are not embarrased to have associated with you in print.

Dorothy: Sven is my numero uno riding buddy!  My girlfriend, Marilee is my other “regular”  riding buddy.  She is my riding hero and a big inspiration in my life. 

Drew: This is my favourite question and I warn you, I have seen people get called out on this one before. Who works on your bike?

Dorothy: Ah, this is a trick question… I have a triage system approach to my bike maintenance. First step, if it’s something I already know how to fix then I will do it myself.  If I don’t know how to fix it myself and we have proper tools at home in our shop, then I will have Sven show me how it’s done so that I can do it myself the next time round.  And lastly if it is something that we don’t have the tools to fix at home then my bike gets to go to the “spa” … Lou at Obsession. 

Drew: Here is an old-school question ripped from the annals of Bros-not-Pros: Who is “babalicious” in your book?

Dorothy: Oh… all my girl crushes are going to be revealed.  I have a really really big crush on the actress Jaime Murray,  she plays the hottest british con artist ever! 

Drew: Any last words?

Dorothy: can I have another beer ?

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Thanks for your time Dorothy!

We know there are more photos of Dorothy in costume – and perhaps in compromising situations – out there.  Please feel free to post them in this thread.  Or pipe in with anything else you have to incriminate her further.  Post way…

If you think you or someone you know are up for Bros not Pros or Chicks not Dicks send me an email