I'd Rather Be Riding

Sisters Speed, Kerri Donnelly ( left ) and Sara Rodeghiero hit the road.

BY HEATHER HAMILTON-POST

“You might have noticed that you never pass a motorcyclist broken down,” laughs Kerri Donnelly. “No, never!” Sara Rodeghiero confirms, nodding in enthusiastic agreement. “If you can’t help them with tools, you go grab gas or make a phone call for them. It’s an unspoken rule,” Donnelly says.

Rodeghiero is a Senior Account Manager, and Donnelly works as a tutor in the Boise School District. If you saw them on the street, you wouldn’t necessarily think “biker chicks,” but that’s where they say you’d be wrong.

“There isn’t really a type of person who rides motorcycles, but we share some common threads. We like the brotherhood and sisterhood it creates, we’re patriotic, and we have each other’s backs,” says Rodeghiero. “We’re all just real people–what you see is what you get, and I love that.”

Donnelly explains that the motorcycle community tends to be genuine and accepting of people. It includes a large number of veterans, whom they wholeheartedly support.

The two met through mutual friends and have an infectious joy when they talk about their bikes and their community. It promotes connectedness, frequently joining together to support groups, causes, and yes, motorcycles on the side of the highway. For many, riding is an outlet for stress, especially during a pandemic.

Donnelly and Rodeghiero both talk about the freedom of the road and the power riding gives them. Donnelly found riding casually–she got married, had a baby, and her husband got a bike.

“I was on the back of his bike and I was immediately like, ‘Nope, I gotta ride my own. It wasn’t unenjoyable, but I knew I’d have more fun on my own bike, be more free,” she says. The marriage didn’t last, but the love for motorcycles did. Her 16-year old son doesn’t ride, but Donnelly frequently rides with her ex husband, who she says is a great friend.

It is a great way to live in the present moment. You're not thinking of the future or the past, you're there smelling the air and the hot rubber. There's such a freedom on the road-an opportunity to empty your mind.

-Sara Rodegheiro

Rodeghiero says that, as a little girl, motorcycles always turned her head. When she decided to try riding, she went all in, buying her dream bike before she’d even taken a riding class. She’d ridden on the back of friends’ bikes, but, after two weeks, bought an Indian Chieftain and never looked back. “It is a great way to live in the present moment. You’re not thinking of the future or the past, you’re there smelling the air and the hot rubber. There’s such a freedom on the road–an opportunity to empty your mind,”she explains. When she met her now-fiance, he didn’t ride, but after a week and a half of seeing each other he was looking at Harleys.

When Rodeghiero first got her 850-pound bike, she was so excited to ride that she forgot to put the kickstand down and her bike fell to the ground. When she couldn’t lift it up, she got help–but she also decided that it was time to get strong. “I didn’t like feeling like the damsel in distress. That was the catalyst, and I went to the gym every day and lifted weights. I can lift my own bike now,” she says.

“It’s powerful, the energy of the bike underneath you,” says Donnelly. “And the great thing about your bike is that it is an extension of who you are. There are so many ways to stylize your bike and make it unique, it is a piece of art–there’s so much you can do,” she explains. Her bike is totally custom, built from a variety of parts to make the exact bike she wants. “When you find a bike that fits you the way you want–it’s kind of like a hug,” she says.

Rodeghiero agrees, and says that recently, she went to start her bike for the first time in a while and the battery was dead. “And I know this sounds weird, but I swear there was something in my body that felt disconnected, because when we got that battery fixed, the world felt ok,” she says. “The same thing happened to me! And that happens when bikes sit for a bit,” says Donnelly. “It doesn’t usually happen with Indians though–and you can put that in the article,” laughs Rodeghiero, who joyfully recalls beating Harleys off the line when she first started riding. She explains that, much like the branches of the military, people who ride different bikes like to tease one another. “But we all ride together at the end of the day,” she says.

Both women agree that there’s a perception of the motorcycle community as intimidating, but say it is anything but. “They’re the most giving, charitable people. They’d give the shirt off their back,” says Rodeghiero. Riding, especially as the weather warms up, brings a lot of folks out, and Rodeghiero and Donnelly appreciate the guaranteed camaraderie.

Both say they’d like to see more women riding, and emphasize there is no jealousy and there are no weird feelings, no matter how you ride. “It’s a supportive community with the most generous people. It’s not scary. We’re not mean or super tough. We’re just out there to have fun,” says Donnelly.

Rodeghiero agrees. “Once you're on the bike and you start feeling comfortable, you don't have to be coaxed to ride it. It's more like, ‘Do I really have to work?’ I'd rather be riding.”

Sara Rodegheiro and Kerri Donnelly met through mutual friends and share a love of riding. Don’t be intimidated by them, though–they’d “give you the shirt off their back.”