Nova Scotians going hog wild - Runs and rallies all the rage as more Nova Scotians catch the biking bug
By LOIS LEGGE Features Writer Sat. Aug 15 - 4:46 AM
Pam Vickery stands with her Harley, a limited-edition 105th-anniversary copper-coloured Goliath, with leather seat and saddlebags, at her home in Dartmouth. Vickery, who rides her bike to work most days, is founder of Bikers Down Society, a non-profit group that promotes safety. She wants more government-sponsored initiatives specifically warning car drivers to watch out for their two-wheeled fellow travellers.(CHRISTIAN LAFORCE / Staff)
MOST MORNINGS Pam Vickery slips on her riding gear, hops on her "hog" and motors into her Halifax job as an accounting clerk.
After tucking her 340-kilogram Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail safely away in an underground parking garage, she heads to the office — trading her motorcycle jacket, helmet and gloves for a business suit and (sometimes) heels.
"Yeah, boring accountant by day; wild biker chick by night," jokes the brown-haired, blue-eyed, 47-year-old, one of thousands of Nova Scotians taking up a vehicle hobby once stereotyped as the choice of outlaws.
"We’re kind of embracing our sort of inner rebel in a socially acceptable way," the Cole Harbour woman says with a laugh.
But these days the bikers are as likely rebels with real estate, or mavericks with money, freedom-loving riders travelling on the cheap or with menace on their minds.
Doctors, lawyers, business people, women and men, 30-somethings and seniors — everyone it seems — has caught the biking bug.
And the motorcycles are multiplying almost as fast as flies on windshields.
Statistics from Service Nova Scotia show the number of motorcycles registered in the province has almost doubled since 2003, up from 12,580 back then to 22,587 as of July 24 this year. The figures do not include mopeds. And 81,197 people currently hold a motorcycle licence.
People like Vickery see evidence of the upswing on the roads and at motorcycle "runs" and "rallies" — group outings that have become all the rage.
"(There are) certainly way more bikes on the road and a lot more . . . women riders," she says.
Vickery also sees way more women at the motorcycle courses she teaches for the non-profit Safety Services Nova Scotia, where she’s trained everyone from teenagers to a 77-year-old man.
"You can get everybody from the sanitation guy to lawyers, doctors," she adds.
Peter Robertson, a 46-year-old Digby native who’s been riding since he was 16, has also seen the numbers rise and the demographics expand. People of all ages and professions travel to his town in droves each September for Wharf Rat Rally, an event he founded five years ago and watched grow into the largest gathering of its kind in Atlantic Canada.
In 2004 the rally attracted about 5,000 people and 750 motorbikes.
Last year, 60,000 folks and 17,000 bikes showed up over three days, pumping $3 million to $4 million into the local economy, according to an economic impact study conducted for rally organizers.
He and Digby Mayor Ben Cleveland expect just as many or more this year.
Cleveland doesn’t ride a motorcycle.
"I keep mentioning it and my wife rolls her eyes," he says with a laugh.
But he appreciates the motorcycling boom. It’s good for business, especially for a town of Digby’s size.
Hotels in the town (population 2,100) and surrounding areas are booked solid months in advance and restaurants have been known to run out of food when the bikers roll in, he says, adding that some people in the community are even opening up their homes to board visitors this year. There’s also talk about making fields available so riders can camp out.
"It’s huge," the mayor says. "It’s actually probably the largest event that Digby has ever hosted. It’s unbelievable . . . . The Town of Digby recognizes it so we actually have street closures for three days because we just can’t handle the traffic, so we close streets because of the huge crowds."
And the atmosphere, he says, is always "great."
"One of the positive things about it is that there’s been absolutely no trouble. We work very closely with the police, actually we meet on almost on a weekly basis to discuss the rally, and they’ve been pleased over the past three, four years.
"Harley-Davidsons are $25,000 to $50,000 bikes, so the majority of the people buying those bikes are professionals that can afford that and that’s who’s riding those bikes and the stereotypical motorcyclists that you see on TV with the tattoo all over them and the long hair . . . they’re not what’s here. You get some, but it’s a great crowd.
"Actually even with the downturn in tourism by the end of the summer, because of the rally, it brings our numbers up so it’s been great for us here."
But while economic spinoffs from motorcycling stretch far beyond the Digby event, some wonder if the increasing number of motorcycles on the road is behind a number of recent deadly accidents.
Vickery — who loves the "freedom" of the open road, the wind in her hair, the smell of passing ocean spray — worries too about potential dangers.
The latest statistics from the Transportation Department show 30 people died in Nova Scotia motorcycle collisions from 2006-2009: six in 2006, 12 in 2007, six in 2008 and six so far this year.
Vickery believes lack of awareness by car drivers is part of the problem.
She’s involved with a non-profit organization, Bikers Down Society-Toad Memorial Fund, which promotes safety and provides temporary financial help to riders who’ve been injured in accidents. She wants more government-sponsored initiatives specifically warning car drivers to watch out for their two-wheeled, fellow travellers.
"I don’t think anybody’s out there to get us, the car drivers just need to be educated. The most common thing they say is I never (saw) you, they’re not trained to see us. . . .
"Manitoba has some really good (awareness campaigns) that are government sponsored to motorcycle awareness. That’s the kind of thing we’d like to see; and more (information) in the driver’s handbook."
Lindsay Mills, communications officer with the Transportation Department, says it’s difficult to pinpoint any one cause for the fatalities or know if accidents are on the rise.
"There’s so many factors involved in any collision," she says. "Like the driving season can really vary, so it sort of depends on the length of the motorcycle season. . . . I know in 2006 we had a collision that involved two bikes and there were two passengers on each bike, so that’s four people in one collision; so there’s so many factors involved I wouldn’t want to speculate."
But, she adds: "We’re very, very serious about road safety in our department and we’re working on a provincial road safety strategy that will be released in the fall and motorcycle safety will be one of the elements in that strategy so that will all be laid out."
Even with her safety concerns, Vickery can’t say enough about the joys of riding, whether she’s logging 7,000 kilometres on a cross-continent road trip by herself or participating in events like the Wharf Rat Rally, where she socializes with other riders and checks out their bikes.
The hobby, she says, has a place for everyone, no matter their income, age, profession or gender.
She started out with a $350 "piece of junk," wearing a jacket she bought from Frenchys.
And even though she’s graduated to her "dream bike" — a limited edition, 105th-anniversary, copper-coloured goliath, with its leather seat and saddle bags, gleaming chrome and nostalgic character— the spirit of riding’s the same.
"That’s one of the wonderful things about biking," she says, standing next to her Harley. "It just transcends all those barriers — everybody’s a biker. Yeah, there’s a few that have got the Harley snob thing happening, but it’s not very predominant. We all get along regardless of what they do or where they’re from or what they ride. . . .
"I don’t know, I guess I was always a little weird as a kid or something, but I never really found that place I fit until I got here."
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llegge@herald.ca)
‘Everybody’s a biker. . . We all get along regardless of what they do or where they’re from or what they ride. . . .’PAM VICKERY‘Biker chick by night’
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