By Deborah Speicher

There were lots of girls at Daytona Bike Week and each year it seems as though more of them are on their own motorcycles. Girl power was in full force on Tuesday, March 8 when close to 150 women riders lined their motorcycles up on Beach Street for the 4th Annual Harley-Davidson MDA Women’s Ride.

This is my favorite ride and it gets better each year. This year’s ride had a new route which started at Riverfront Park on Beach Street and ended at Destination Daytona. In between, the police escort took us down Main Street and through The Loop.

Leading the pack was Karen Davidson, the great granddaughter of one of the founders of H-D, along with Cris Sommer Simmons on her beloved “Effie.” Effie is a 1915 Harley-Davidson Three Speed V Twin, which was ridden by Cris in a recent coast to coast cannonball endurance run. Also joining us as a passenger on a trike was Mary Vida. Mary has Muscular Dystrophy and it was her wish to ride on a motorcycle. This wish was granted courtesy of Peggy (from Bruce Rossmeyer’s H-D), the owner/driver of the trike.

I would be remiss not to give a big thank you to the motor officers from the Daytona Beach Police Department and the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office. These guys and gals rock!

As the ride concluded, everyone gathered in front of Saints & Sinners. Karen Davidson, Shelly Rossmeyer and Scarlett Marchman from MDA thanked everyone for supporting this ride. But the most heartfelt thanks came from Mary Vida and Skyler Keim-Jones (who also has MD) and Skyler’s mom. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house afterwards. Some additional fundraising was then done via an auction and, when the monies were counted, over $35,000 was raised for MDA. Way to go ladies – let’s do it again in 2012!

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