Dubai-based Indian homemaker turns biker at 41

Dubai-based biker Richa, who requested that only her first name be used for this article, says: “Being yourself isn’t always a popular choice. So it’s up to you. Do you want to be good, or you want to do what you want to do?”

The biker is five-foot something with long black hair that’s shaved on one side and dipping down her shoulders on the other. She has streaks of pink in her locks — the same vivid hue that paints her nails. A tattoo shimmers down her left arm, stopping past a knuckle on a finger. A leather cuff is wrapped around her wrist, complete with steel spikes. Her look, at 46, screams biker even as her eyes softly crinkle , hinting at a more homely demeanour. She’s been straddling both worlds, that of a little ol’ homemaker and a daredevil biker for a few years, so it’s no wonder she’s got the look down pat.

Now, she’ll be seen at Arabian Bike Week, which takes place from November 8-10, in Ras Al Khaimah. The largest motorcycle festival in the Middle East will gather enthusiasts from around the world for three days of thrilling rides, stunt shows, live music, and beach parties.

Looking at Richa now, you’d never guess the rider is new to her craft; she only took her helmet on a test run five years ago.

Richa grew up in middle-class India with dreams she couldn’t speak about. “This was 30-40 years ago — imagine, if a middle-class girl had said she wanted to ride a Harley Davidson motorcycle, what do you think people would have said? They would have laughed,” she shrugs, adding, “but today look at me, I ride my own Harley.”

The Harley Davidson brand was founded in 1903 in Milwaukee and has been a firm favourite with bikers across the world — unfortunately, as its legacy has grown, so has its price tag. Today, one of its powerful steel rides would cost at least $25,633 (Dh94,150).

As a young girl, Richa quashed her dreams to go down the conventional route — studying, getting married, having kids. But when she hit 40, she began to feel the itch in her fingers and the twitch in her toes, which wanted to put the pedal to the metal, and she started to want the feel of the wind in her hair. “I began to have these thoughts, ‘I'm settled now, got a family. I'm doing everything for them. But what about myself?’”

Dreaming of the Harley, she decided to do some research on it. A year on, she was resolute. “I thought about it. I didn’t discuss with anyone. I didn’t ask anyone, as I crossed 41, I said, ‘I have to do it’.”

She took her husband to the showroom. “He was a bit nervous, because it is a big bike. But he came along with me. We didn't buy the bike. But after a week I knew I needed it. He kept quiet. He thought, ‘It's just a phase’. So he came with me. We went to the showroom again. I said, ‘Yeah, I'm taking it’.”

Her husband was a bit perplexed, because, “I didn’t even have a licence yet”, but Richa was determined. She stashed the bike in the showroom (having paid for it, they agreed to keep it until she had learned the ropes of driving).

At this point, recalls Richa, the family lived in Sharjah, and so she needed to get a special licence — not for a bike but for a motorcycle. “I was the only lady in the class; the others were all guys. I had never ridden a bike before, a scooter, yes, but I didn't know how to work the clutch, the gear, the brake,and riding a motorcycle, it has to be a beautiful dance between these three things. It was a difficult phase, but I did it. Got my licence, then, I got my bike.”

Except a number of speed brakers would follow the delivery — first came a nasty bout of pneumonia, then came the Covid restrictions, and finally a few months of being stuck in India. “By the time I came back, I had lost touch with riding. But I was determined to ride, so I started slow, with little rides around the house. But I realised that when I rode alone, I wouldn’t go very far. That's how I ended up joining a group.”

The initial days meant muscle work. “When you start riding, your hand becomes numb; your fingers because of holding clutch and the gear and the brakes feel stiff. Once you get used to it, then you don't feel it. In fact, you come back after a ride and you feel so good. And the thing with a Harley bike is the seats are comfortable, and you can upgrade to more comfortable seats,” she says.

Today, the mum of two rides twice a week — on Wednesdays and Sundays — for hours with her riding group, the Harley Owners Group Dubai. “My husband is very supportive — he looks after the kids so I can go and have fun,” she says.

Looking back, she concedes, it’s probably unusual that she didn’t get her family (parents or in-laws’) inputs before taking on the hobby. “When my father-in-law came to know, he just wanted me to be careful. My mum, on the other hand, was scared. She said, ‘You already have a kid, why you want to get into this?’, ‘You're going to burn up petrol’.”

But there were members who were in awe of her decision. “All the young people were very, very excited,” she laughs. “When my friends and family got to know that I was riding, it came as a shock. But it was also kind of inspirational, because I was 40 plus, a homemaker… most of my friends were like, ‘Oh, if you can do this, we can also do whatever we like.’

“I started discovering a lot of things about myself too. I began to love myself more. I got my tattoo. I shaved my hair,” she says. “I became more myself.”

And that’s rubbed off on the kids too. “They are fearless,” she smiles. “They are not scared of people, because when I talk to them about my experience riding, I show them pictures, and they know that I get up early in the morning and I go on my own ride with the big crew. I’m enjoying myself. The focus is me, my safety, my happiness. That is something that has gone to them, organically,” she says.

As for the question of money, she recalls: “I’ve seen people shocked for spending this money on a motorcycle rather than things like gold. My response is simple, This Dh20,000 or Dh30,000 piece of gold is worn by you when you are depressed. And what does it do? But this bike, I take it out and when I come back, I’m so happy. I’m so refreshed. This is an investment. I’m getting returns every time I ride.”

One of these returns is a deep sense of peace. “I discovered after I started riding that I began loving myself more. I make sure that my body is not injured, because I know I have to be in good condition, mentally and physically, to ride. I tell others too, love yourself, give yourself a chance to do so. Do something that you love and the rest will follow.”