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.

In the long days of winter, I find myself wandering into the garage. I have been known to start my bike and let it idle for a while just so that my hoodie can soak up the smell of exhaust. Then when I wear it the rest of the day I catch small whiffs of the fumes. Missing my motorcycle is a longing so strong it is physical. But what is it about the ride that I miss? What draws me to place my hands gently on the seat as I pass by, feeling the grain of the leather under my fingertips or to give a quick shine to the chrome with the sleeve of my shirt when I notice the smallest of smudges.

I am a person who truly values time alone in my own headspace. It’s not something that can be found easily these days. The world that surrounds me today is full of noises and distractions. The sound of a TV, cell phone, voices of loved ones, co-workers, club sisters echo in my head at every turn. My busy life does not have an off switch. I am connected constantly and find myself at the beck and call of other people’s whims both invited and not.

When I was a kid I grew up in the serenity of the country. Weekends spent on horseback camping with my best friend, walks through the fields to find a muddy creek, playing chase in the apple orchard with a pack of adoring dogs, running away with my imagination and getting lost in my own fantasy world. I was always happy to go outside and play even if I was by myself. Life was simple and losing yourself for an afternoon was as easy as stepping out the back door.

Nowadays People have grown inpatient, they have grown to expect instant responses and absolute attention. It seems as though your very existence in the same space as other people requires that you pay full attention to them. Open roads give me a place to allow myself to slide into my fantasy world without people becoming offended that I am not paying attention or listening to them.

Today it’s not easy to find time to be alone without distraction. It’s not easy to empty your thoughts of the stress and distractions. I can think about the things I want to think about and not what my audience demands of me. When I sit on my bike and turn the key, I can physically feel the stress of the day leave my body. I have no choice but to eliminate the distraction of my cell phone and disconnect from all else in the world. “I was riding” is the perfect excuse to be unreachable.

As my bike begins to rumble, I feel the vibration in my chest and it starts to shake free any of the stress of the day. My mind starts to clear of the thoughts that consumed me only moments before and I begin to think about nothing but the ride ahead. There are no interruptions, no requests and no distractions. I can work through a thought from start to finish.

As I roll back the throttle, thrust surpasses gravity in the most magical of ways. I can feel the pull of the thrust against my chest, as my body breaks free from the space it used to occupy and hurls into a forward motion. I can feel the strength of my fingers on the grips and the pull on my arms, my body resisting movement but my arms binding me to the handlebars. I tighten my thighs against the tank and twist the throttle harder allowing the thrust to pull my head back just a little so that I can feel the power of it taking over.

The only sounds I hear are the rumble of the engine and the thunder of the pipes. All other noise and distraction is lost. I can feel myself melting into the bike as it becomes an extension of me, and I it.
I love the feeling of having some play time to push my limits and discover the ability of my ride. There is nothing like the exhilaration of pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and getting your heart racing. Finding some unexpected curves in the road can completely make the ride.

Being on the road you begin to experience the environment on a way you simply cannot connect with by any other means. The details you notice in the pavement, the wildlife in the fields and the smells of the road. Riding through neighborhoods you notice the smell of the homes cooking their evening dinner, at the red light you smell the cigarette in the car ahead or at times you can smell the perfume of the lady driving the car beside you. In the country the smell of rain hitting warm tarmac or freshly cut grass. You become one with that which surrounds you and you can truly lose yourself in the experience.

At the end of the day you return home with a clear head, your face road dirty and sun kissed. I love listening to the sound of the pings and gurgles of the engine cooling off as I strip my gear off after a long hard day of riding. Riding is an escape from the world, and an opportunity to rediscover myself. It’s a way to hit the “reset” button and helps me to come back to the demanding world having cleared the dust and cobwebs out of my brain.

And that…. Is why I ride.

Ride safe sisters!

In the long days of winter, I find myself wandering into the garage. I have been known to start my bike and let it idle for a while just so that my hoodie can soak up the smell of exhaust. Then when I wear it the rest of the day I catch small whiffs of the fumes. Missing my motorcycle is a longing so strong it is physical. But what is it about the ride that I miss? What draws me to place my hands gently on the seat as I pass by, feeling the grain of the leather under my fingertips or to give a quick shine to the chrome with the sleeve of my shirt when I notice the smallest of smudges.

I am a person who truly values time alone in my own headspace. It’s not something that can be found easily these days. The world that surrounds me today is full of noises and distractions. The sound of a TV, cell phone, voices of loved ones, co-workers, club sisters echo in my head at every turn. My busy life does not have an off switch. I am connected constantly and find myself at the beck and call of other people’s whims both invited and not.

When I was a kid I grew up in the serenity of the country. Weekends spent on horseback camping with my best friend, walks through the fields to find a muddy creek, playing chase in the apple orchard with a pack of adoring dogs, running away with my imagination and getting lost in my own fantasy world. I was always happy to go outside and play even if I was by myself. Life was simple and losing yourself for an afternoon was as easy as stepping out the back door.

Nowadays People have grown inpatient, they have grown to expect instant responses and absolute attention. It seems as though your very existence in the same space as other people requires that you pay full attention to them. Open roads give me a place to allow myself to slide into my fantasy world without people becoming offended that I am not paying attention or listening to them.

Today it’s not easy to find time to be alone without distraction. It’s not easy to empty your thoughts of the stress and distractions. I can think about the things I want to think about and not what my audience demands of me. When I sit on my bike and turn the key, I can physically feel the stress of the day leave my body. I have no choice but to eliminate the distraction of my cell phone and disconnect from all else in the world. “I was riding” is the perfect excuse to be unreachable.

As my bike begins to rumble, I feel the vibration in my chest and it starts to shake free any of the stress of the day. My mind starts to clear of the thoughts that consumed me only moments before and I begin to think about nothing but the ride ahead. There are no interruptions, no requests and no distractions. I can work through a thought from start to finish.

As I roll back the throttle, thrust surpasses gravity in the most magical of ways. I can feel the pull of the thrust against my chest, as my body breaks free from the space it used to occupy and hurls into a forward motion. I can feel the strength of my fingers on the grips and the pull on my arms, my body resisting movement but my arms binding me to the handlebars. I tighten my thighs against the tank and twist the throttle harder allowing the thrust to pull my head back just a little so that I can feel the power of it taking over.

The only sounds I hear are the rumble of the engine and the thunder of the pipes. All other noise and distraction is lost. I can feel myself melting into the bike as it becomes an extension of me, and I it.
I love the feeling of having some play time to push my limits and discover the ability of my ride. There is nothing like the exhilaration of pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and getting your heart racing. Finding some unexpected curves in the road can completely make the ride.

Being on the road you begin to experience the environment on a way you simply cannot connect with by any other means. The details you notice in the pavement, the wildlife in the fields and the smells of the road. Riding through neighborhoods you notice the smell of the homes cooking their evening dinner, at the red light you smell the cigarette in the car ahead or at times you can smell the perfume of the lady driving the car beside you. In the country the smell of rain hitting warm tarmac or freshly cut grass. You become one with that which surrounds you and you can truly lose yourself in the experience.

At the end of the day you return home with a clear head, your face road dirty and sun kissed. I love listening to the sound of the pings and gurgles of the engine cooling off as I strip my gear off after a long hard day of riding. Riding is an escape from the world, and an opportunity to rediscover myself. It’s a way to hit the “reset” button and helps me to come back to the demanding world having cleared the dust and cobwebs out of my brain.

And that…. Is why I ride.

Ride safe sisters!