Lady Biker Gang to Descend on TC

Dawn Johnson began a new chapter in life when, in her 60s, she hit the road – on a motorcycle.

“Growing up, we had four-wheelers and dirt bikes, but I never rode street,” says Johnson, of East Jordan, who decided to obtain her motorcycle endorsement after working with a group of men who were avid riders. “One of the guys even went with me to buy my first bike.”

Laughing, she adds, “After my kids left the nest, well, maybe I wanted to recapture my youth.”

Little did Johnson realize the exact road her mid-life hobby would take her down. She not only met loads of other female motorcycling enthusiasts – many of them grandmas like herself – but she also brought together a posse of women eager to do much more than simply don helmets and head for the highway together.

What started as a one-day poker-run ride in 2000 in East Jordan evolved into a fundraiser for children living with cancer.

“The ladies came in from Flint and Detroit area and Grand Rapids, and wanted to come back for more,” Johnson says of the initial motorcycle gatherings. “It just kept going and going – it took on its own life.”

Not long after the event became a two-day affair, the riders learned of a baby girl in East Jordan, Sydney Campbell, who had been diagnosed with cancer.

“We knew the family … she had to go through chemo,” Johnson says. “And then we learned about Camp Quality.”

Camp Quality, which last year relocated to Lake Ann Camp from Camp Daggett in Petoskey, is a nonprofit that offers, at no cost, year-round programs, experiences and companionship to children with cancer, and their families.

Johnson and her fellow riders began raising money for the camp through special events held throughout the year – creating calendars, selling quilts, and more. Then, once a year, the riders would meet in northern Michigan for Lady Biker Day, present the funds to the camp, and then spend some time riding the roads together.

For the first time, this year, Lady Biker Day will take place at Ranch Rudolph in Traverse City. Several hundred riders from across the state will gather August 5 through 6 for the event.

A special guest at the gathering: Campbell, who is now 10 years old and cancer-free.

“When she was just a little girl, one of the motorcycle groups – The Drifters from Grand Rapids – they got her her own leather vest. Now she wears it at our event,” she says. “She is just an awesome kid.”

In the past eight years, the riders have raised more than $100,000 for Camp Quality – “the kind of support that makes a huge difference for our children,” says Eleanor West, executive director of Camp Quality Michigan.

Contact Johnson at drjohnson03@yahoo.com to learn more about Lady Biker Day.