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Remember the movie Easy Rider? Well, if you’re a bike enthusiast, you had better remember that movie or at least know of THE movie. Peter Fonda all dressed up in his American Flag leather jacket, riding across the United States on his California-style chopper. When this movie came out, it was the motivation for many to begin riding a motorcycle. There were men who wanted to be just like him. To be as cool as “Captain America,” riding for the freedom of the road. This holds true for women as well. Take Christine Haggard, a 48-year-old lady biker whom I met up in Ohio. When we talked about riding, she was full of smiles and excitement when she told me, “It was during my Sonny & Cher days when I first saw Easy Rider. I was hooked when I watched Peter Fonda ride across the country with Dennis Hopper. After that I began to watch everything that had to do with motorcycles.” She too wanted to feel the freedom of the road, and she did. She rode her first bike at the age of 17. A friend of Christine’s allowed her to experience the feeling on a 1979 Harley-Davidson Panhead. From then on she was hooked.

Christine grew up in Westlake, Ohio, and lived down the street from a motorcycle gang. She described them as “hard core bikers.” “They weren’t liked by anyone in the neighborhood except me,” she said. They had a family nature upon them that made them watch out for each other. “No matter who you were, as long as you rode a bike, they were always there for you,” she said. “I always saw them riding in a group. The bikers had friendliness and togetherness amongst them and that was a great influence on me as well.”

Christine now rides within in her own family, side by side with her husband Tony, her son Duane and his girlfriend Jessica. “Makes for great evening rides when the whole family is out and about,” she said. Christine rides either her own 2003 Honda CBR 954RR, which is a sports bike, or her husband’s bike, a 2007 Harley-Davidson Dyna Street Bob. She loves the fact that she can simply switch back and forth from one bike to another. Not many people can do that. But, Christine is the exception. “I love to ride fast and as long as there are open freeways and open roads in front of me, I’ll ride anything. It doesn’t matter to me.”

Christine will be taking a worthwhile road trip from Ohio down to the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina. Her plan is to take on the “Tail of the Dragon.” An 11-mile stretch of road on U.S. Highway 129 that has over 300 turns and no straight pieces of road. A great experience for adventure seeking motorcyclists to ride along and enjoy the mountain scenery. “I’m looking forward to the country side that I’ll see, but more important, those turns,” Christine said to me with so much excitement. “I’ll be taking the Harley for this trip.”

So, if you see Christine out there on the road; watch out. She’ll be passing by you just to get to the open part of the road and feeling the freedom just as in Easy Rider.