A woman who always dreamed of being a biker decided to finally get behind the handlebars at 50 – and she’s never looked back.
Adela Mei’s journey to her dream biking life was far from a smooth one, and she had to overcome many obstacles on her quest to get her licence.
As an older woman she faced sexism, ageism, and a lack of confidence when trying to enter the field.
She said: “The confidence and focus you develop as you ride is just the most amazing thing for your mental health.
“It’s been life-changing.
“I’ve realised I’m able to overcome a lot more than I thought I could.”
Adela explained that from the get-go, she struggled on her journey to become a biker, which began after a friend asked her to look after his bike while he attended Glastonbury music festival near her home in England, UK.
She couldn’t resist the temptation to sit on the vehicle, and it was at this point that she vowed to finally give learning how to ride a go, admitting that she’d had the desire in the back of her mind her entire life.
However, she initially found it difficult to find an instructor as most places were booked up in the wake of the pandemic but eventually achieved her CBT (Compulsory Basic Training).
Adela, a life coach, said: “I was really nervous the first time I got on a bike. I’d never ridden one before, although I had driven a car – but it’s a completely different experience.
“I had no confidence at all, and I’m not sure if my first instructor had much confidence in me either!
“But he spent about eight hours with me and was very, very patient.
“I eventually managed to go out on the road and do a little circuit.”
She added: “Biking is a very male-dominated environment.
“I heard things from the other bikers like, ‘A woman your age is going to take a lot longer to learn’ and someone even said that women often get their left and right muddled up!
“It was quite sexist stuff that really undermined my confidence.
“Then I bumped into an older lady who rides motorbikes and I told her what had happened.
“She literally gave me this massive pep talk.
“She said, ‘If you want to be a biker, just do it.’”
Adela explained: “So I bought a small motorbike, but I was getting on it every day and thinking, ‘What the heck am I doing?’
“I was holding on so tight to the handlebars – it was ridiculous.
“I actually came off it in my village and ended up in a ditch.
“It was a eureka moment. I was like, ‘I’ve got to get some more training.
“It’s actually quite dangerous. But I’m not going to bloody give up because I really want to do this now.”
Adela eventually found the right instructor for her, a previous sports coach, and learnt to ride over a few months.
She said: “He brought a lot of humour into it because he could see how nervous I was.
“He’d crack a joke whenever I got in my head and it helped me to snap out of it.
“He made sure I was safe and slowly pushed me out of my comfort zone.
“One day, I realised, ‘I can actually do this,’ and I was riding a BMW at 70 miles an hour on the dual carriageway.
“While I did have a moment where I thought, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to die!’ It got easier after that.”
Despite her passion and eagerness to get on the road, it took Adela a year to get her licence.
She added: “My tests kept getting cancelled and it was like the universe was out to get me – so many things kept going wrong.
“But I was like, ‘No, I’m not giving up.’
“I’ve realised I’m capable of so much more than I thought I was.”
She added: “That’s now my message with my coaching clients.
“If they ever say something like, ‘I can’t do this – there’s too many obstacles.’ “I say to them, ‘If I can learn how to ride a motorbike at 50, you can do whatever you want to do as well!’
“Why do we think we’re too old to do certain things?
“I think society pressures us into being a certain way, and women ‘of a certain age’ aren’t expected to be riding motorbikes, when the reality is that we can do anything we want once we put our mind to it!”