I’m Judy Michael, and I’ve always been a thrill seeker. In the 70’s I raced snowmobiles, in the 80’s I learned to fly an airplane and flew to all four corners of the country including Alaska, so it was just natural that I tried motorcycles. Friends from Indiana stayed with us during the Harley 100th in 2003. We had a great time riding on the back of their bikes to all the events. They left at 8:00 a.m. on Monday. By 10:00 a.m. my husband, Larry, and I were the owners of two new Harleys. Then we had to scramble to find classes to learn to ride. Oh, did I mention that I had just retired? I refer to my first motorcycle as my rocking chair!

A Harley Sportster was my first ride. It was fun to ride the back roads for short trips with Larry. I met three other women who liked to ride, so we started riding every Tuesday during the summer and fall to nice destinations like Cambridge, Cedarburg, and Lake Geneva. We call our group the Back-roads Biker Babes.

In April of 2007, I decided to move up to a bigger bike. It’s a 2007 Yamaha V-Star 1300, Candy Red. I just love it. It’s got a great suspension, so I can ride a lot longer in comfort.

The day I picked up my new bike, I was stretching after exercising at Curves. I mentioned to a new member that I was excited to pick up my new bike. She said she also rode a V-Star. Her name was Bert. Need I say more? She joined our Tuesday ride group, and I joined WOW. What a great group of women! I really enjoy riding and talking with women who are a lot like me.

My husband and I haven’t done any long cross-country rides. Instead, we have tried "Fly n Rides". Last year we flew to Denver and rented Harleys for Thunder in the Rockies. We had a great time riding the Rocky Mountains. What a High! (That was pretty bad, wasn’t it?) This spring we flew to Phoenix for a convention, so we rented bikes for the weekend. We rode part of the Historic Route 66 and stayed in the old ghost town, Jerome.

When I’m not riding, I spend my time making contemporary quilts and clothing, and gardening. We live in a three story contemporary house in the middle of a native prairie so there are endless possibilities. We even have prairie growing on our roof. My vegetable garden is on the garage roof. At least the deer and rabbits can’t get at it. (Raccoons are another story!)

I’m so glad I found WOW, and I’m looking forward to lots of riding and ride-ins.