Abstract
Belonging is what works to connect subjects, aligning them as either ‘like’ or ‘unlike’ – shaping subjectivities and expressions of identity. Thus, in deconstructing embodied experiences of belonging, we can begin to make sense of how certain identities, collectivities and performances of travel are constructed. Attending to the politics of belonging on-the-move, this chapter takes the Queensland Chapter of the Dykes on Bikes as its focus, examining their one thousand eight hundred kilometres return journey from Brisbane to the 2013 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade. The concept of belonging is conceived as embodied, political and mobile through examination of the experiences of six women claiming non-normative sexualities, who rode their bikes to Mardi Gras, as part of a larger group of twenty riders. In doing so, the chapter examines the ways understandings of belonging, the self and body are experienced through travel to, and performance within, the Dykes on Bikes. Particular attention is granted to the ways members prepared, planned, attuned and regulated riding bodies, all of which worked to identify the Dyke on Bike identity.