Everybody should ride a bike.

Sharon Wilcox rides every chance she gets, and she is already planning her next big road trip in July.  “I’ve been to Sturgis three years in a row, I plan to go again this year,” she insists.  

For many bikers Sturgis, South Dakota, is the pilgrimage every motorcyclist  should take at least once in a lifetime. “This will be my 4^th year to go. The Black Hills is the most beautiful country. We go to all the towns. We see all the sites. I enjoy doing all the rides and watching people as we drive through, in mass."

This tiny 51-year-old blond biker has put over 30,000 miles on her Harley since 2008 when she 

got her first “bike." That’s six thousand miles each year, not on the back seat, but riding and driving –everywhere.

“Mostly I have been to Reno, Vegas, Grants, New Mexico, and all over Colorado.”

“Since I joined the Western Slope Harley Owners Group Chapter, (HOG, for short) we go on two or three rides each month,” Wilcox said.“This is my 3^rd year as Road Captain and photographer for each ride we go on.”

This group of over 100 Harley owners sponsored by the local Western Slope dealer welcomes new members at its monthly meetings and rides.

“There are more and more women riders,” she noticed

“I’m looking for others who want to ride to Sturgis this year. So far only four have confirmed they 

will go with me,” Sharon said. She hopes others will join in the fun trip.

She didn’t start out on a Harley.

“For 13 years before I rode a 20-year-old Yamaha, and I rode dirt bikes with my ex-husband and 

my two kids,” she said with a smile.

The kids grew up, the ex- moved on, and Sharon Wilcox followed a friend’s recommendation

to go riding on a Harley Davidson.

That was enough to make her want to get her own “hog,” and she didn’t go small.

Sharon’s bike is a big 070 Heritage “Softail” Touring bike, “about 720 pounds, but she can handle it, 

“just fine, thank you.”

Her kids, 24-year-old son and 27-year-old daughter, “thought I was off my rocker with I first started,”

she admitted. One even told her, “That Hog chopper is taking over your life.”

It hasn’t really. She still has her other life, being a hair stylist who owns her own shop in her home 

in Paradise Hills, and her family, especially her 12 month old grandson.

Wilcox has started designing and selling jewelry and purses, especially ones that match her “leathers.”

   That is, her black leather pants, jacket, vest, complete outfit for going out on the road.

“I recommend riding highly. It is my freedom and therapy,” she says as she straps on her helmet, 

revves up her motor to head out. “You can be having a worst day, take a ride and it makes everything

 okay.”