By Allison Hersh
For Coastal Senior

Michael Ellison

BIKE WEEK 2003 For more than six decades, motorcycle aficionados have gathered each spring in Daytona Beach, Fla., for Bike Week, a high-energy celebration of motorcycle culture. Bike Week 2003 will be held in downtown Daytona from Feb. 28-March 9, attracting hundreds of thousands of motorcycle riders from across the country for a 10-day event. For additional information about Bike Week, including a detailed calendar of events, please visit www.daytona chamber.com online.

Harley riders come in all shapes and sizes - and include more and more riders over 50.

When Richard Braithwaite, a popular English teacher at Savannah Country Day School, pulls into the school parking lot in each morning, the entire student body can hear him coming.

This 52-year-old teacher rides a beefy 1997 Harley-Davidson Road King or a custom 2001 Bourget Low Blow Chopper to school every day, cruising into school with a deep, high-decibel rumble.

"There's a radical sense of freedom on a motorcycle," he explains. "It's like driving a convertible times 10. It's almost an anarchic freedom."

Although there are no documented demographics about motorcycle riders in coastal Georgia, Braithwaite is part of a national trend of bikers over the age of 50 taking to area roads, highways and interstates. Some mature bikers have been riding since they were teenagers, while others have picked up riding in recent years, often fulfilling a lifelong dream of owning a motorcycle.

According to a recent Harley-Davidson study, the median age of Harley riders is 47, which is 10 years older than the survey found just a few years earlier. Several factors may be at work in contributing to an older motorcycle-riding population.

Baby Boomers who traded their motorcycles for minivans as they raised families have been increasingly returning to motorcycle culture in middle age. At the same time, celebrities like Jay Leno, Harrison Ford and Arnold Schwarzenegger have helped glamorize the image of over-50 motorcycle riders.

Perhaps the most significant factor, however, is the reality that older adults typically have more time and money to spend on recreational activities. With top-of-the-line cruising and touring motorcycles selling for $20,000 or more, people 50 and older are most likely to have the financial means to patronize motorcycle dealer showrooms. Also, mature riders often have the leisure time to participate in day and overnight touring, two of motorcycle riding's hottest activities.

Braithwaite has been riding motorcycles, on and off, since he was a 12-year-old paperboy, delivering newspapers from the handlebars of a Yamaha 100. Over the years, his bikes have gotten bigger and faster, resulting in six accidents, including two that occurred while he was riding at a speed higher than 70 miles per hour.

Last spring, he was on his way to Bike Week 2002 in Daytona Beach, Fla., when a teenager driving a van accidentally ran him off the road just outside of Richmond Hill, resulting in a painful slide down the highway that burned off several layers of skin.

"That's the scary thing about riding bikes," he says solemnly. "Other people." Braithwaite has been to a dozen motorcycle-related events, including eight trips to Bike Week in Daytona and three trips to the legendary Sturgis Rally in South Dakota. His wife, Pat, and their sons, Richard Jr. and Robert, all enjoy riding motorcycles, taking to the open road as a family, often with 12-year-old daughter Elizabeth riding on the back.

In addition to the thrill of the ride, Braithwaite also enjoys the connection he experiences with other area motorcycle enthusiasts.

"There's an intense sense of brotherhood and fraternity," says Braithwaite. "Anyone who wants to get on a Harley and ride with us is one of the guys."

He believes that motorcycle culture appeals to a generation of Baby Boomers who were brought up on cowboy movies and muscle cars, pointing out connections between horses and motorcycles and between cowboy and biker attire.

"The cowboy connection is a big part of the fantasy element," he explains. For Michael Ellison, a 53-year-old Savannah property manager, riding a Harley is a form of therapy.

"It gives me the opportunity to get a lot of things out of my head," he explains. "I really enjoy the freedom of the open road."

Riding on a motorcycle provides a far more intimate experience of the road, enabling the rider to feel more connected with his surroundings.

"When you're not encased by a 3,000 pound vehicle," he says, "it's just such a pleasure to experience things that you wouldn't normally experience in a four-wheel vehicle."

Although Ellison rode motorcycles in his 20's, he purchased his first serious bike, a 2001 Harley-Davidson Road King classic, in October 2002. After taking a motorcycle class through the Georgia Department of Motor Vehicles, he took to the open road with an old high school buddy who lives in Charlotte, N.C. The duo is planning a trip to Milwaukee in August to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the Harley-Davidson company.

"There's nothing else like riding a motorcycle," he says. "It's a very unique experience."

Dr. Bubba Victor, an internal medicine specialist at Southcoast Medical Group, couldn't agree more. An adventurer at heart, Dr. Victor has tried hang gliding, parachuting and scuba diving over the years, but says that nothing beats the exhilaration of riding a motorcycle.

"There's a sense of adventure," he explains. "It's very, very personal. When you're riding, the whole world is cycloramic. You're not distracted by the radio or conversation. You're more in tune with your environment."

Dr. Victor, 54, first discovered the thrill of two-wheeled adventure in the mid-1970s when he toured around Europe on a motorcycle. "The sort of got it into my system," he laughs.

Much to his surprise, his wife gave him a 1994 Harley-Davidson Low Rider for their wedding anniversary in 1996, prompting this well-respected physician to take to the road.

"I immediately started hyperventilating," he recalls, "and then went out and rode it up and down the alley."

He has since sold his Low Rider and acquired a 1994 Harley-Davidson Ride Glide and a 2001 Harley-Davidson Road King Classic. Dr. Victor is currently planning a cross-country trip with some of his closest riding buddies from Savannah. "Riding a Harley is just fun," he reports. "It really is that simple."