Orlando, Florida - When Roe Hyer was diagnosed with breast cancer so advanced that doctors gave her only a month to live the single mom decided to finally start living.
So the spunky hairdresser, then only 39 and tired of "being a passenger" in life, moved to Florida, took up body-building and bought her own motorcycle - a metallic blue Suzuki Intruder 800 - and has become one of thousands of women across the country who have found camaraderie in motorcycle clubs for women.
She's now 54, has kissed the doctors goodbye, and is still aboard a motorcycle.
From the Chrome Divas in Columbia, South Carolina and the Women on Wheels in Lincoln, Nebraska, to the Throttle Queens in Landover, Maryland and the Motor Maids in Erie, Michigan, more and more women are taking to two wheels.
"I didn't have control of the cancer, there's nothing you can do, but riding is something you control," Hyer, now 54, said.
Female bikers are not your stereotypical bar-brawling, tattooed, leather jacket biker chicks. The new wave of female riders are soccer moms, grandmothers, corporate attorneys and nurses with an average income of $55 850, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council.
The council, a trade group based in Irvine, California, said the number of women who own a bike rose by 36 percent to 635 000 between 1998 and 2003.
Manufacturers such as Harley-Davidson are following the trend by designing bikes with lighter frames, custom fit gear and lower seats.
"It's pretty much been a male market but a lot of women really like riding motorcycles so we've created something just for women," Ultra Motorcycles sales director Dan Houston said of his company's Groundpounder and California Kid models.
Harley-Davidson sales to women are at a record high, jumping from 600 in 1980 to 30 000 in 2005. Women make up about half of new-rider training courses on the test track at Harley-Davidson Orlando, marketing manager Tony Cianciotto said.
"I think for so long women have ridden oillion but nowadays women are very independent," Cianciotto said.
Many female riders plan this week to roll up to Daytona Beach's annual Bike Week to gab with the thousands of fellow bikers from around the country who gather to check the merchandise and ride the test tracks.
But there is still a struggle against stereotypes. At Bike Week, some female riders complained that one of the only events specifically involving women was a coleslaw wrestling contest - which, female riders say, only serves to perpetuate misconceptions.
Some, like Janet Barrett, of Clermont, will not attend.
"I'm just a 50-year-old, Harley-riding grandma," said Barrett. "I've gotten very discouraged by the quality of riders that attend Bike Week. I ride to ride." - Sapa-AP