ONCE NIGHT HAS FALLEN AND the streets have emptied of vehicles, Tehran’s motorways become a playground for many young Iranians. Escaping the day-to-day pressures of life, car drivers and motorbike riders rip around the highways at high speed, under the cover of darkness. Clup Ninja, a Tehran motorbike crew with over 400 members, descends on the city, en masse, three nights a week, holding drag races on the empty motorways. Among this swarm of superbikes and smoking rubber, Behnaz Shafiei, on her metallic blue Yamaha YZF-R25, is the only woman.
“When I ride my motorbike, this happiness and energy intensifies,” Behnaz explains. “With the adrenaline rush, all my problems vanish and I think of nothing but to ride. It gives me a sense of flying and freedom, a sense of…