ABSTRACT

This chapter explores the politics of belonging for the Queensland Dykes on Bikes during their one thousand eight hundred kilometres return journey from Brisbane to the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade. Particular attention is paid to the requirements of belonging to the Dykes on Bikes, the demands of preparing the riding body, knowing the rules, and the gendered characterisations of both the bike and embodied riding performances, to illustrate how belonging is able to emerge on-the-move, working to clearly identify the Dyke on Bike identity. The chapter questions bounded assumptions of certain festival scholarship that frames belonging and identity formation as taking place within the temporal and spatial boundaries of events.