Hi Ladies, Rain asked me for
a bio and I really don't know where to start. I've been around motorcycles all
my life, but only got street legal in '92 and learned how to
properly ride on the road in traffic 11 years ago and it just
seemed like a Great Idea that I had put off for too long already. I
took the old MRC that’s the Motorcycle Safety Foundation taught
back then and was off to a good start for riding my own.
I'm mother to 4 lovely young women
that I actually birthed, and one I inherited from my best friend,
when she passed. I'm a
grandmother with 3 really cute grandchildren (you can see them on
my website!). My
extended family, Melissa and her daughter Jessica ~ those two
started riding their own last summer (9 yo Jessa rides on the
back). My other
daughters enjoy riding on the back, but have showed no interest in
piloting their own (yet)!
Somehow about 8 years ago, I missed
a meeting with my local Rocky Mtn. Chapter of
WITW and my sisters volunteered me
to be Maintenance Officer for the National Club and then I missed
another meeting and they voted me in ~ before I knew anything about
this!!! You
Daren’t miss a meeting in this
chapter or you'll surely be signed up for some job or another you
never heard of before.
As it turned out, being nominated
and elected to this position changed my life in so many wonderful
ways and the girls just thought they'd give me a hard time and have
a laugh at my expense!!! Actually, I was fairly well
qualified for that position. At the time, I was an ASE
certified auto mechanic working 5-6 days per week in an Auto
Garage. On the
weekends I was learning motorcycle mechanics at an ever
increasingly rapid rate (thanks to the OLD IRON HEAD SPORTSTER that
I owned at that time ~ and rode over 40,000 miles). Ultimately all
these trials and tribulations served me well as I came to learn A
LOT about motorcycle mechanics and now teach a class in mc
maintenance to women (and other willing participants). I have also benefited in that I
found out that I can write!!!
Something I never aspired to before
~ but my one duty as WITW Maintenance
Officer was that I about
wrenching. I knew the
wrenching end of it quite well but as for the writing…well that
took some time, practice and some favorable encouragement from ALL
of the Editors I’ve worked with so far. Since I've recently finished my
first book and have also just joined the BA gang, as a staff writer
with my own little column I sort of feel like well like
I've Arrived! Not sure where I've arrived
at but I'm enjoying the heck out of my lifestyle these days and
looking forwards to even better days ahead.
A little about my bike. My motorcycle is a custom home
built FXR. My husband and I like to add on Steroids, so a custom
built FXR on Steroids with a factory bored out twin cam engine
modified front end and frame. Stock HD Tank, engine,
transmission, dyna black pipes, etc. She's got a deep red powder
coated frame and I call her Scarlett Dancer. She's powerful ~ that's for
sure. Beautiful
too. I usually ride
7-10,000 miles per year on my bike and also ride a few hundred
miles each year on other motorcycles as well.
As for this position at BA, Safety
Queen or whatever they're calling me I became an MSF certified
instructor and rider coach 7 years ago and usually teach about 50
classes per year to both beginning and experienced riders. I'm always
teaching/preaching safety while riding and hope to convey some life
saving tips to you in future BA issues. I live and breathe
motorcycles and motorcycle people. I love it so much ~ even my
children envy my work and lifestyle.
Just yesterday one of the daughters
sent me an email, detailing problems at her office and saying she
wished she got to work with a bunch of bikers all day long! I do and it IS a wonderful
life. I paid my dues when I was raising those three. I worked my
butt off and was in constant motion, much as they are now but that
is the Luxury of Living this Long ~ more play time, tee hee hee.
Check out my website for more stuff and nonsense also information
about the new book at:
www.bluecreekartworks.com
