May is women riders month at Harley Davidson dealerships- some women like my friend, Regina, ride as passenger on someone else’s bike; and some are like me – I ride my own bike.

Either way, we’re a special breed- for so long, motorcycles were considered a man’s domain, and women were only another decoration. For some inspiration on early women riders, and how they’ve cleared the way for us, check the Harley site linked above- great stories from yesterday and today.

I’m glad we’ve come so far- whether sitting in the queen’s chair or the driver’s seat, we’re more in control of who we are… go for it, girl!

Like most afternoons, I rode up to meet Randy yesterday afternoon at Highland Home.  It was a nice afternoon for a ride; breezy and not too hot. Traffic was light and the road was mine.

Headed back home, we came by a small country store in a curve- we always have to watch the vehicles  here. I guess maybe there’s a blind spot, or folks aren’t expecting bikes to come around. Anyway, a Jeep pulled out in front of us, just as we’re getting to the store. Instead of making some acknowledgment that they’d pulled out in front of us, and trying  to make sure we were safe, they just kept on coming out into our lane at their own little pace.

I normally have a surge of fear kick in- will we be able to stop or swerve around them, or will we end up sitting in their backseats?  I geared down, then started blowing my horn at them; I’m not sure how effective that was, since my horn sounds like the Road Runner on the cartoons – beep-beep, beep-beep.  It apparently meant nothing to the driver of the Jeep because they just kept trucking along their merry way.

As I said, normally a healthy fear kicks in to make sure I’m taking care of business, but this time righteous anger rose up, and I could feel the dragon wings on my shoulder blades trying to break through my t-shirt and denim vest as I leaned forward.  My horns were trying their best to push my helmet off.  I geared back up and instead of settling in beside Randy, I kept speeding up. I could almost feel myself and my bike lifting into the air as I prepared to breathe fire on the Jeep and it’s driver.

After a few minutes, though, I remembered who I was, and slowed down enough to fall in beside Randy. Of course, the rest of the ride home was spent in repentant prayer- after all, it’s not up to me to spew flaming daggers at drivers who won’t pay attention to what’s going on around them…

Note to self: make sure my newly acquired dragon is seated correctly on rear seat before the next ride.

I didn’t learn to ride my own bike until early 2007; before then, I’d always ridden passenger to someone else. I’ve always loved motorcycles, I just never had the chance to own my own ’til now.

So I get lots of different reactions from people- the folks I grew up  with are surprised that I ride, because it seems out of character for me; I was a quiet girl in school, too shy to speak to most folks. My goal for the day was to get through it without bringing any extra attention to myself.

The people I go to church with were surprised; I guess because of who I look like to them – I lead children’s church on Sunday mornings, sing in the choir and love to do ‘homey’ things. So I don’t look like a person who would ride a motorcycle.

Some men are surprised, because I’m a’ girl’, and it’s not always a normal thing for girls to ride their own. I guess they think I ought to be somebody’s passenger, and that’s fine. Nothing wrong with it- I am a passenger sometimes, riding on the ‘Queen’s chair’ behind my husband. When those times come, I take advantage of them by taking pictures I wouldn’t ordinarily get to take; I also have the added benefit of getting to squeeze my husband while we ride.

But I do ride my own bike, and I love it. I ride by myself a lot of the time. I take trips to nearby towns, run errands or just ride for the fun of it. I don’t have to wait ’til somebody else is ready to ride, I just take off when I’m ready.

I also love to ride handlebar to handlebar with Randy. He loves looking over to see me riding beside him.

So many people ask me why I ride, so here are my answers.

I love to ride, because I’m closer to God then. There is no radio or CD player to make noise in my ear, so I pray more. I remember prayer requests, and talk to God about them.  I think about Bible verses I’ve read, and God shows me new things about them. I talk to God about the people in my life – my kids and grandkids, my friends, my enemies; and God helps me pray for them. I think about blessings in my life, and thank God for them.

I love to ride, because when I’m on my bike, all the extra falls away.  The extra pounds, the extra years, the extra worries. I don’t think of any of those things.  I’m just a girl on her bike, riding where I want to.

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