Growing up as a child, I remember every summer standing near the gates watching the groups of motorcycles riding pass. I would stand there in awe up until the very last bike passed. I would then tell my best friend, “that’s gonna be me someday. Im gonna be the only female riding with the guys.” She would laugh and tell me how crazy I was.

As I got older, the passion to ride grew stronger and stronger. In 2004, my cousin had a terrible motorcycle accident. He actually died 3 times and was bought back. He suffered a fractured skull, broken neck, broken knee cap and broken elbow cap. Hospitals said he would never walk, talk, let alone ride again. I vowed at the time that the only way I would ride was if he survived and rode again. Through the power of prayer & family, he pulled through and started riding again. Cool.

Next on my list was to have my cousins best friend, now my President, teach me to ride. He agreed. Before he had a chance to start my lessons, he went down. Broke both of his fibulas. He swore off riding. Said he was done, would never touch another motorcycle. In my mind, down went Frazier. That was it. No riding for me. I would just buy a motorcycle for the sake of saying I had 1. A few months later, I go on fb and what do I see, this guy, now My President, had just brought a new motorcycle. Booooooooooom, I’m back on track.

I bought my motorcycle in 2011 and havent stopped riding since. It’s in me. It’s in my blood. I love riding.

I ride because of the freedom! The freedom leaves me feeling like I can take on the world! It’s a great stress reliever. With speed added makes it even better! It’s a rush in my blood!

My bike is my best friend. It’s always ready, never late, no drama, no lies, gas and go! A friend that’s ready to keep me excited and full of fun!

Yes, I talk to myself and answer in my helmet time! Why not…I get to think of good and bad times. Problems and solutions…and what happens if I don’t return home.

Every ride becomes another learning experience. Every ride creates another reason to ride again!

Be careful they say…I say Pray and ride!

Being the only girl with 4 brothers I was kind of forced to be a tomboy. I had to always compete and be better than them at everything just to get treated as somewhat of an equal with any level of respect. Also, being the only girl raised with 4 brothers I was very sheltered and wasn’t allowed to do anything without them.

Riding a motorcycle is the ultimate expression that as a girl I could do anything.
Fast forward a few years. I am now a young wife and mother so I didn’t get around to getting my motorcycle license until I was 25 years old.
I got my first bike in 2000 after giving birth to the last of my 4 daughters. Unlike most women who stop riding after giving birth, that’s when I really got started. Some people in my life made it a point to try to make me feel guilty about this, but no matter.

I ride because I was told that I couldn’t.

So me being the competitive woman I am I didn’t stop at just riding. I had to take it further. I would cross multiple state lines on a whim and I decided to take up endurance riding. I knew this was for me. So in October, 2014 I entered the Iron Butt Association’s Saddle Sore endurance challenge. This challenge requires you to ride 1000 miles in 24 hours. I completed the task in 18 hours and 19 minutes. I felt like I was on top of the world!

I ride because I can.

It’s therapy for me. It’s the only thing that I have that is just for ME. Being a full-time wife, mother, and employee, I have yet to travel all across the country, but hopefully that will change sooner than later. I’m looking forward to it. I know it’s coming. I think about it every day.

I ride for the love of the ride and for the freedom it provides.

After obtaining my Bachelor’s degree, I had no desire to unite with classmates nor walk across a stage. I am a Loner and enjoy my own company.

After all that hard work and all the obstacles that I had overcome, I wanted to reward myself. My graduation gift to me was a motorcycle.

Apart from the obvious reasons of: low cost fuel efficiency, adventure, the dangerous exhilaration, the culture and camaraderie;

The reason why I ride is because of the mental fitness that riding provides.
My patience, strength, determination and stamina are all tested each time I get on 2’s. This mental fitness allows me to see what I am really made of.. helps me to broaden my views and expand my horizons, not take things for granted and also a great reminder that there is still some beauty in this world.. Whether it’s a sunrise, sunset, a river or a forest.
I ride to be be physically and mentally free!

ML&R

I began riding in 1993, shortly after college. It’s kind of funny but I saw a woman in some track leathers and was bound and determined to have a pair of my own. I said to myself, “I’d look hot in those!”

LMAO! Still to this day I haven’t tried on a pair of track leathers or tried doing an actual track day. What seeing that woman in track leathers did was ignite a fire within me to learn how to ride a motorcycle.

Unlike others, my parents didn’t own motorcycles or know how to ride them; in fact they tried to discourage me from riding.

During the time I learned to ride, you saw few women riding and more women riding as a passenger. Once I learned to ride, I was hooked.

Yes, I have been down; once as a passenger and the latest being in 2011 when I ended up in ICU with a major laceration of my liver and a cervical fracture. Most would say I’m surprised you are still riding but I tell them riding my motorcycle is like breathing, if I’m not able to ride my motorcycle I would feel as though I’m dying.

So I ride:
– because I can
– because I love the freedom
– because I love the comraderie
– because I love the adventure and

I LOVE MY MOTORCYCLES!!!!!

I grew up in the country, our next door neighbors were dairy cows we were so country. Growing up my parents had friends who would ride their Goldwing down to our house from the “city”, when they got there Bob would take me out and the feel of the sun and wind hitting my face was amazing. I always wanted to ride, but I was “a girl”.

Fast forward through life, a marriage, a kid, a divorce, another marriage and a retirement, I found myself bored and craving an adrenaline rush. My mentor and I got talking one night (he had just purchased a Goldwing and let me sit on it) and I confided to him that I wanted to ride, but had been told I could never do it because my throttle hand did not bend. After getting home that later that night, I started getting texts and pictures showing me that I could in fact ride with some modifications. So after speaking with my husband and son and told them what I wanted to do, I started looking for a bike.

The first bike I had was a Honda VTX 1300, orange and sexy as hell! I started riding it around my house practicing, then I would come home so excited I was like a kid on Christmas morning. The adrenaline rush I was seeking was available anytime I wanted it…just sitting there in my garage.

Four months after I started riding I went and bought my dream bike, a Road Glide, and 1 month after that went to Deal’s Gap and rode the Dragon! HOLY SHIT, what a trip, rode my ride and didn’t sleep that night I had some much energy flowing through me!!!

Riding is the outlet I needed to stay sane, become one with myself again, and to keep me young.

Not much of a story, but that is why I ride.