The Niagara Frontier Chapter is comprised of women from the Western New York region. We are all different...various ages, various lifestyles, but we all share the same love...the love of motorcycles. Come and meet our members!
LuAnn Bondanza: Ever since I was a teenager, I have been fascinated with motorcycles and the special people that ride them. While serving with the U.S. Marines helped provide me with several opportunities to be a “rider,” I never even dreamed that I could ride myself. After marrying a Marine in 1993, we decided that one of our “new things to do as a couple” would be to get our motorcycle licenses and ride. Well, the reality of new responsibilities took hold and “on hold” was our plans to ride. After several years, I still had the aspiration to ride, but the desire had vanished in my husband. In February 2004, I bought myself a Harley Sporty Custom. I next found myself in a MSF course, after a co-worker had taken me out for some “basics.” After receiving my license I searched for folks to ride with, which brought me to the ladies of WOW. I’ve enjoyed every minute!!
Patricia Cheney:
Karen Denne:
Marge Dorato: She wears a pin that says "Biker Grandma" and is very proud of it. She wanted to ride her own bike since the first time she rode on the back of her cousin's, even though she burned her leg on the hot tailpipe that day. In 1993, she finally bought herself a shiny red 250 Honda Helix. She taught herself to ride and in two months time, she had her license. She has put over 15,000 miles on it, taking it on trips to Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Written on the trunk (yes, it has a trunk) is the word "Shesawow" meaning She's a Women On Wheels (WOW). It's a wonderful little machine that she wouldn't trade for the world.
Carol Dunshie:
Annette Gramaglia: (Treasurer) Hello, let me start by welcoming you to our web site. Cindi Cook organized our chapter and I was at the first meeting, 20 years ago. My first experience with motorcycling was on the back of my boyfriend’s Honda scrambler in the late 60’s. We rode all over town without helmets, wearing cutoffs and sneakers. When I look back now, I am glad that I survived the experience. A new boyfriend, a little older and smarter, I once again rode on the back of his motorcycle this time with a helmet and all the proper safety gear. Loved the man and the bike so we got married. We spent a lot of time riding and started to take trips on the motorcycle with a club called the Blue Knights. Often wondering what it would be like to be the rider instead of the passenger. As fate would have it, God sent me a motorcycle. I won a 400cc Honda is a drawing by a local radio station. Upon learning of my great win my husband announced, “Great, now I can sell my motorcycle and your new motorcycle and buy a bigger one!” No way, I wanted to learn how to ride and so I did. With the help of my husband and friends I passed the MOST Test (motorcycle operator safety test) and got my license. It was a wonderful program that was a forerunner to the MSF course they have today. I firmly believe that anyone who wants to ride a motorcycle should take a motorcycle safety class. I have recently taken an advanced rider course to polish up my skills that I also highly advise. I am now on my fourth motorcycle that I absolutely love. It is a silver Suzuki Volusia 800. When I’m not riding I enjoy downhill skiing, bicycling and training my new puppy. Motorcycling has taken me to many beautiful places across our country and introduced me to wonderful people and friends.
Nancy Haug: (Secretary & WOW State Ambassador) I have been riding since 1977. My first bike was a candy apple red Honda Twin Star 125.I currently ride a bourdeau red V-Star Classic 650 Yamaha. My husband, Ed, just got his motorcycle license in August 2001 and he rides a black V-Star Classic 650 Yamaha. It's really nice to have matching bikes. I'm a secretary by trade. We have two children, 19 and 16 years old who live to ride with us. My goal this year is to reach my 10,000 mile mark and another bar.
Melissa Hofmann: I started riding in 1991 with a 250cc Honda Helix. I took the beginner's Motorcycle Safety Course in Denver, CO. A few months later I was in the Navy and stationed in Pensacola, FL. It was there that I met some wonderful WOW women and joined the group. One of the ladies sold me a Yamaha Virago and then I was off to my next duty station... Hawaii. In Hawaii, I met my husband who also loves motorcycles. After both of us had been discharged in 1996 we moved back to the Denver area and became active in the Colorado Gold WOW group. In 1998, I bought a new 600cc Honda Shadow VLX and took the experienced rider's course (love those courses). My daughter, Haley, was born in 2000 and we moved to a farm in Sennett, NY. My daughter, Macy, was born in Jan. of 2004. I have not been riding much lately but I'm hoping to escape for short rides this season (my husband is eager to get on the road again too).
Betty Hogan: Hi, Betty Boop here! I received my first bike, a 78 Honda 125cc as a gift from a former boyfriend – still friends. I started riding in 2000 at the young age of 58, never biked in my life. I took a 3 day bike course, and passed it by the skin of my teeth! I had met a couple of women at a bike show, they were from a women’s bike club called Good Vibrations - so now I needed a bigger bike. I found a bike for sale by the side of the road, a Kawasaki 350. I rode it all summer, but kept falling over. So in January 2001 I found my 2000 Suzuki Intruder 800 - fell in love with her. Put 3200 miles on in 2001, and 2500 in 2002. Love to ride every chance I get. My dream ride is to Myrtle Beach Bike Week. I’ve met a lot of interesting people. I love to go on bike runs. I especially love to ride Thursday nights to the Cobblestone on Mississippi St. in Buffalo, where about 200 bikers go to listen to music and look at everyone’s bikes. Can’t wait for riding season to get here. I hope to have a few more riding years to come.
Martha Howe: I started driving a 55cc Yamaha scooter at age 7, mainly because my parents sold motorcycles for over 50 years. I even taught my husband when we first met how to ride, making an unusual impression on my in-laws. The farthest I’ve traveled by bike is to Orlando, Florida, and back. I was once president of the UN Club, a Western New York motorcycle club, and have been a member of the Niagara Frontier Chapter of WOW since its inception. I’m also a lifetime member of the American Motorcycle Association. My current bike is a 1500cc Kawasaki, which my husband, Bill, bought for me brand new last year for our anniversary. We have been married for 28 years and have a 15-year old daughter, Michelle. My Maltese dog, Jake, also likes to ride the bike with me. The other bikes we own are an 850cc MotoGuzzi and an older Yamaha Virago. I am a legal secretary to Erie County Surrogate Judge Barbara Howe and have worked for her in the court system for 9 years. Before that I was a secretary at the State University of New York at Buffalo for 17 years.
Denise Larson:
Nancy Lydell: I took my first motorcycle ride on a friends 50cc Honda, I was scared but I loved it. In 1973, two years after I got married I bought my first motorcycle , a 90cc Honda. Herb decided he really liked riding but the bike was too small for two of us so about a month later we traded it for a 175 Honda. A couple years later I bought a 350 Honda so now we could both ride, we got a GM car seat and strapped it to the sissy bar of the 175 so our son Nick could ride too. A few years later I sold the 350, I was pregnant and it wasn’t comfortable riding. Four years later I joined the Air National Guard and decided I HAD to have another bike so I bought a 250 Yamaha. I had that for 2-3 years and then I bought a 500cc Honda Ascot. The following year I was going to Americade and decided I HAD to have the 700 Honda Magna I had tried out at the dealer. Then about the time Nick was ready to graduate from High School I was ready for a Gold Wing, so in 1988 I bought a BRAND NEW Interstate.
Lori Manning: (Web Master) When I was 14, my older sister's boyfriend (now husband) took me for a ride on his 1969 Triumph Bonneville. I was in love. Not with him, but with riding. Not sure why it took me so long, but in 2000 I finally got my license by taking the MSF course along with my husband. I am currently riding a 2001 Sportster and have my eye on a H-D Low Rider or Fat Boy. I am a Mary Kay Senior Sales Director (www.marykay.com/lmanning) living in East Aurora with husband Rick, and three cats, Ashley, Emma and Annie.
Pat Maren: (Chapter Director) Pat bought her first Sportster in 1989 without even knowing how to ride. She got a friend to ride it home from the dealer and to teach her the basics. After blowing a tire on the NY Thruway in 1991, she wears scars on her leg and arm, which she displays proudly when asked. The same bike was then sold for a down payment on a house. Her second bike was a 1976 Honda CB550 in pristine condition. It is a dependable bike that will always be in her collection. Just recently, Pat found a used 1994 Hugger which gets most of the action. It is a comfortable, good-looking ride, but will probably be traded in a few years for her next desire, a Low Rider. She also has a 1976 Suzuki rotary that needs work, and a Triumph chopper in pieces in the basement. Pat's motto is ride with an attitude and keep the shiny side up. She lives in the Southtowns with her pets: a dog, a cat, and a snake.
Lynn Miller:
Trish Miller:
Kathy Mitchell:
Pamela Morris: I started riding around 1978. My first bike was a Honda 125cc Street & Trail bike that I bought from my cousin. I learned to ride on this bike and eventually took my road test and passed. A few years after that I moved up to a Honda 400. Most of my driving was back and forth to work. Before my daughter was born in 1987 I sold that bike and didn't get the chance to ride. In 1998 I bought a Yamaha Virago 1100 which I rode back and forth to work and too an occassional ride for an hour or two on the weekends. I'm now riding my dream bike which is a 2001 H-D Low Rider. My husband got his license last year and also bought a bike. We have several friends and neighbors who also ride and we get together on the weekends to go cruising. In addition to being a member of WOW I am also a member of the Niagara Falls Chapter H.O.G.
Sharon Novino:
Nancy Penoyer:
Cheri Roehner:
Mary Schmitt:
Darlene Schultz:
Cindy Striegel:
Linda Walter: I started out riding on a motor scooter, with my boyfriend, in my teens & became a rider on various bikes since then. Being married and divorced twice and raising my kids I just started to ride my own bike at age 53. I took the Street Riders course and the night before my road test bought myself a 2000 Suzuki Intruder 800. Being 5'3" I wanted a larger bike that fit me so I have space between my butt & bike seat when standing and not have pipes against my legs. I do a lot of thruway driving and have ridden in all kinds of weather (not intentionally). I traveled the old Route 66 (fantastic trip) to California and back my second year sharing the ride on a 1400. I went with the WOW girls to the Canaan Valley, West Virginia Ride In this year and will hopefully get my 20,000 mile pin this year.
My children are adults now with the philosophy of, 'if mom is happy, we are happy'. Janine (31) and Chris made me a grandmother to Samantha last year. My 25 year old son, Kirk, is still single and both are happy I am finally realizing my dream. I LOVE my bike & never ride without a HUGE smile or my "flag scarf" trailing along from my helmet. I enjoy the ride, friends I have made, and the peaceful feeling I get whenever on my bike. I just took the advanced riders course & was on TV so you have a celebrity in your midst - haha! I am in middle management & just bungie my briefcase on the back & ride to work. I also became a MANYS Instructor this summer and teach motorcycle classes at Street Riders in Hamburg....hope to see you there!!
Mary Warner: I started riding as a passenger in the spring of 1968. By the summer of that year I had my own Honda 120cc. By the start of the 1969 riding season, I had moved up to a Honda CB350. I loved it. I rode over 5000 miles that summer. Unfortunately, that bike was stolen. By the time the next summer had rolled around again I was separated from my husband, had an infant daughter and very little money, so a new bike was out of the question. I had later remarried and started a second family. By the summer of 1987, I had three children of my own and a grandson that we later adopted. My husband and I talked of getting bikes after the kids were grown, unfortunately he died before that dream could be realized. Every spring as the motorcycles would begin to hit the highways I would get the urge, but there was no money for such frivolous items. In 2002 I couldn't stand it anymore and bought a new Honda Shadow 600cc. It had been 33 years since I last rode and my confidence was gone, so I took the experienced rider course. Three out of four of my children think the motorcycle mamma is a good thing. Only my 19 year old daughter has a problem with it. I told her to deal with it, 'cause momma's gonna ride'! I have 4 children: Mike is 21, Patty is 20, Robert is 16, and Laura is 33 and has a son, Justin, 12. I am a school bus driver, so the summers are mine to ride, swim and travel. May God bless you all and keep you safe.
Patricia (Dakota) Wolf: Most of my biker friends call me Dakota. Being a pilot was my first love, but after a few years it just got too darn expensive. I would fly down to Ohio, land, have a cup of coffee and come back. $175 dollar is too much for a cup of coffee. After walking away from the plane around 12 years ago, I picked up a used Honda 400. I would take it out at 2AM when the streets were empty and deserted to teach myself how to ride. Three months later I had my license. The Honda and I were together for two seasons before I got the bigger Kawasaki. Friends and family had to pick me up to shake the bike out from under me; I just hated getting off that thing. It's not quite certain just when I stopped calling riding cold, wet and long, fun, but now that I'm older, I relish my creature comforts. I won't ride in a typhoon, unless I am caught unexpectedly in it. This attitude reflects on my recent seasonal mileage of course. It's down from 7,000 to barely making 4,000 around town miles this year. I don't need to go into what biking means in my life…because you all know that yourselves.
Sheri White:
Elaine Zielin: