Group bonds while raising money for breast cancer

GALVESTON — For women discontent with the back of the bike, this year’s Lone Star Rally will host a Women Riders Event, driven by a group called Harley’s Angels.

Set for Saturday, the program will include demonstrations and training for new and would-be riders, as well as a heritage tour and women-only bike show.

The Janis Joplin tribute bike and other customized bikes will be among the ridable art displayed.

Steering the activities will be a group that defies any labels of biker chicks.

“We’re normal women; we work for a living; we have kids; we’re mothers, grandmothers, professionals, and doctors,” Kimen Metzger, one of the leaders of Harley’s Angels, said.

Metzger, 56, is a supply chain manager for a computer manufacturer in Houston and one of the charter members of Harley’s Angels.

The group includes women in real estate and the oil and gas industry, medical professionals and retired military. They are drawn together by a love for biking and a calling to raise money for breast cancer research.

“These women were not your ordinary band of fundraisers,” Metzger said, recalling the start of the group.

She just completed treatment for breast cancer in 2002 when the Ladies of Harley group she attended asked for volunteers to man a calendar sale, raising funds for breast cancer research.

“I said, ‘I’m all in; let’s do it,’” Metzger said.

The women raised $60,000 the first year in a project that grew so fast, volunteers decided to create a separate organization to man it. They called the group “Harley’s Angels.”

The annual calendars feature Harley’s Angels members from the Houston and Galveston area, without cheesecake poses.

“It’s very tastefully done,” Metzger said. “It showcases real women and real bikes.”

With the calendar and other fundraising activities, Harley’s Angels have gathered donations totaling $471,000. The group now numbers about 100, including some 10 to 12 women from the Galveston area. Plans are in motion to coordinate more chapters in Texas and other states.

Candy Lockhart, a Galveston nurse practitioner and owner of West Isle Wellness, is among the charter members.

“We laugh together that we’ll go out of Harley’s Angels on our wheelchair scooters,” Lockhart, 61, who retired from the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Houston three years ago, said.

“A lot of us are in our 50s and 60s. Our oldest member is 79,” she said. “It’s like lifelong bonding.”

Lockhart, who started riding motorcycles as a teen, is another cancer survivor in the group. Many of the members have battled cancer and other difficulties.

“A lot of the women have had challenges in their life,” she said. “Once you are on a bike, you feel very powerful; you’re empowered to do anything.”

Cookie Dupas joined Harley’s Angels after surviving cervical cancer.

“They told me 10 years ago I’d only live four months,” Dupas, 56, of Houston, said. “They didn’t know who they were messing with.”

She joined Harley’s Angels four years ago, not long after taking up biking.

“I wanted to give back to MD Anderson,” she said.

Sporting pink “bling” T-shirts emblazoned with jewels, Harley’s Angels also helps celebrate the growing trend of women riders.

“It’s really a growing market in the United States,” said Lockhart, who straps on a helmet decorated with pink skulls when she rides.

“It’s a sense of freedom, of being powerful, being in control, doing things that are nontraditional.”

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At A Glance

WHAT: Harley’s Angels Women Riders event at Lone Star Rally, with keynote speakers and demonstrations, including the Allstate Garage Party for interested and new riders; Galveston Military Heritage Ride, live entertainment, prize drawings, celebrity bike displays, women’s ride-in bike show, raffle and silent auction.

WHEN: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; keynote speakers and Allstate Garage Party from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Keynote speakers and topics include Dorothy Westin-Gibbons at 10 a.m., breast cancer and the impact of the health care bill; Donna Wick at 11 a.m., domestic violence; Eldonna Lewis-Fernandez at noon, her experience in the military and how to empower women to make good choices; Ride Like A Pro at 1 p.m., demonstrations of bike maneuvers and skills.

WHERE: Holiday Inn Resort on the Beach, 5002 Seawall Blvd., Galveston

DETAILS: Visit the Harley’s Angels booth at 25th Street and The Strand from Thursday through Sunday at the Lone Star Rally. Calendars and raffle tickets are for sale through the website, and can be purchased at the booth.

ON THE WEB: www.harleys angels.org and www.facebook.com/harleysangels

PROCEEDS: All proceeds will support breast cancer research through the University of Texas MD Anderson’s Breast Cancer Prevention and Research Fund and the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston

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WHAT: Lone Star Rally

WHEN: Thursday through Nov. 7 in Galveston

ON THE WEB: www.lonestarrally.com