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Motorcyclists get motors running to aid therapeutic horseback-riding

By Alison O'Leary Murray, Globe Correspondent | July 23, 2006

With his scruffy beard and black leather vest emblazoned with Harley-Davidson patches, Bill Suarez looked out of place among the parents and children eating cupcakes at Breezy Hill Farm's open house in Holliston last month.

You'd never know he was a welcome guest.

Suarez's sister owns the farm. He's also a member of a posse of bikers who will mount their Harley-Davidsons for a charity ride today to support the therapeutic horseback -riding lessons that Breezy Hill provides to the disabled.

Donna Kramer, the owner, couldn't be happier that her brother and a group of bikers with nicknames like ``Highway Tom," ``Money Paul ," and ``Blackstone Bill" are supporting her program.

``Metrowest HOG is the big time for us," she said of the 110-member Metrowest Harley Owner's Group, which voted to designate the farm as the beneficiary of their charity ride.

The charity ride gathers as many motorcyclists as possible from the area, sometimes nearly 100, a horde that can make buildings shudder when they pass.

The riders are mostly expressionless behind sunglasses, a blur of black leather and blue jeans.

Aware of the awe they inspire, the Harley owners insist they're tamer than they appear.

They may look like a motorcycle gang, but the 3-year-old group is mostly a bunch of average suburban folks out having a good time, members say.

``It's an adult Halloween for bikers like us," said Paul ``Chicago Paul" Weibel of Marlborough, sporting a leather vest studded with pins and patches at a recent meeting of the organization.

Nationally, HOG chapters raised more than $2.5 million last year for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, according to the motorcycle manufacturer's web site.

Last year, 350 Metrowest HOG riders raised $3,500 for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation in a charity ride. This year, several other charities were nominated, but Breezy Hill won in voting by secret ballot.

``We didn't want to get locked into one charity, so we review charities uniquely" to determine who will benefit, said chapter president Doc D'Errico. ``We want to make an impact on the local community."

D'Errico said that one member's child rides at Breezy Hill, and another member is a nurse who volunteers there.

He said the stories the group has heard about the program are ``very touching."

Given good weather, riders will pay $15 each, then mount up in groups, leaving from Framingham's Paramount Harley-Davidson store between 10 a.m. and noon.

They will ride a looping, two-hour course through back roads of Sherborn, Holliston, Southboro ugh and five other towns, wrapping up the day's events with a barbecue, raffles , and other fund - raising events at the Boggestowe Fish and Game club in Millis.

Suarez and another biker were handing out fliers for the event at the farm's open house.

The program at Breezy Hill, which serves 31 mentally and physically challenged people between the ages of 2 and 45, has matched disabled riders with therapists and horses since September 2004, Kramer said.

Supporters say horseback-riding therapy can provide much-needed physical and mental stimulation for the disabled.

Because therapeutic riding is not covered by insurance, the funds from the HOG ride will enable some families to bring their children more regularly, Kramer said.