9/13/2006

Bikers are not always what you expect
By Don Klein

When Sherry Looney drives to work every day her co-workers are no longer shocked to see her perched atop her motorcycle. She is the 51 year old computer lab manager at Berlin Intermediate School and is not the kind you would expect on a motorbike.
 "The kids get a big kick out of it when they see me ride to school," she observed. Ms. Looney started hopping on motorcycles when she was a teenager and should be considered  a pioneer in an era when good girls did not do such things.

She had to abandon cycling later when she grew up and was raising a family of two sons and a daughter.

 "Today, my sons are very jealous of me because their wives won't let them buy a motorcycle," she says with amusement.

Ms. Looney is like thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts who will converge on the seaside area to participate in the sixth year of the popular Delmarva Bike Week. The four day event is set for September 14 to 17 at Ocean Downs Raceway and offers free admission and free parking for bikes. Automobile parking will cost $10.     

The image of cyclist has changed over the years. Although there may still be some bearded, tattooed visitors, a substantial number of attendees are the same upright people who are seen fishing or golfing or doing ordinary recreational things done by most people in their spare time. They are doctors, lawyers and other professionals out on a fun weekend.

One such person is John "Sonny" Bloxom, a Worcester County commissioner and a current Democratic Party candidate for the House of Delegates seat from Worcester County's District 38B. "It's no different than the people who like boating," he said, "those I know who like motorcycles are all fine decent people."

Mr. Bloxom, a 60-year-old Pocomoke City lawyer, bought his first Honda motorcycle 40 years ago when he was on 30-day summer break from the United States Merchant Marine Academy. "I had to leave it with my three brothers when I had to go back," he said.

A few years later he upgraded to a Harley-Davidson Sportster 900 cc but he had to give it up when he married and started raising a family. His youngest is now a senior in college, so last year Mr. Bloxom bought a 1995 Harley Davidson Fatboy to get back into the swing of things.
"It's really enjoyable to be out there driving around. You are much more a part of the environment on a motorcycle," he raptured. "You can feel the sun on your back, feel the breeze in your face, smell the fields. Things you can't do in a car with the windows closed and the air conditioning on."

A major program of Delmarva Bike Week during the weekend is called "Cruizin the Coast" in which bikers make the rounds on their bikes to different locations in the Worcester County and Sussex County in Delaware. Bikers will register for this event at the Harley-Davidson showroom on Route 50 near Stephen Decatur High School on each of the four days of the event.

Larry Sackadorf, 46, a firefighter/paramedic assigned to the Montego Bay station in Ocean City, feels the same as Mr. Bloxom about traveling on his motorcycle on the open road. "Riding a bike is freedom, a way to get out and enjoy the outdoors, a way to get away from it all," he said.
He is the founder and president of the Maryland Chapter 3 of the Red Knights International Motor Club, a group of mostly career and volunteer firefighters. Police have a similar motorcycle club called the Blue Knights.   

"We started the club in 2002 with 17 members and today we have about 150 representing 39 fire departments on the Eastern Shore." There are some members from Delaware and Virginia. Besides riding along the open road, he said, "we like to meet people and socialize."
Mr. Sackadorf was among five people from this area who joined a total of 300 other Red Knights for four days at their August convention in New York. "We went on a fireboat and visited ground zero," he said. "We had a great time."

Like most bikers, he started out young.  He grew up in northern Virginia and had a Suzuki motorcycle when he was in his 20s. He stopped riding when he married and in his family years and started up after a 20 year layoff. He lives with his wife and three children in Bishopville.

 Riding motorcycles are as much a sociable act as an escape into the open road. Bikers often ride together once a week, when possible, and other times at least monthly.

"It's a social gathering with people of like interests," said Mr. Bloxom. "There are all types of people involved, you name it. They are all hard working types, even lots of retired people."
Mr. Sackadorf said his group "holds fund raisers (for different causes) and participates in rides just for the fun of it once a month." There are different events on the schedule throughout the year. He mentioned the "Poker Run," in which cyclists make a series of stops where they pick up a playing card and at the end of the run the person with the best poker hand wins a prize.

 Ms. Looney focused on the changing nature of cyclists. "When I started there weren't many women riding bikes," she explained, "now there are lots more. Many girl friends and wives have gotten their own bikes."

Send an Email Letter to Courier Editor - be sure to include your telephone number.