Gerey Parker felt let down when her son and daughter, Sara, told her they were going to fulfill her dream of riding a Harley for her 65th birthday.
“I thought she was going to tell me she was pregnant,” Parker said.
But the woman who has lived with rheumatoid arthritis since she was a teenager, underwent chemotherapy last year, had a mastectomy and saw her breast reconstruction surgery fail, says in the end she was “beyond thrilled” Sara went to such great lengths to arrange a ride with the Lords of Gastown.
“She just will do anything to make somebody else’s life better and happier,” Parker said of her daughter.
Sara searched long and hard for anyone willing to take her mother for a spin. But the scruffy Tyler Hazelwood and tattooed Nik Markovina, co-owners of the Lords of Gastown motorcycle apparel company, “jumped at the chance to take mom for a ride, told me they wouldn’t take money, gave the entire family shirts (no charge), waited for the weather to be good and took her out for an adventure she won’t soon forget,” Sara wrote the Courier.
“To say that they are a good group of people is an understatement,” she continued. “They made my year to give my mom something so special and taking something off her bucket list was a pretty big thrill for mom.”
Parker’s hankering to ride a Harley Davidson intensified after she separated from Sara’s father in 1999.
“I was looking for something to call my own,” she said. “Sara rode one of those really fast [bikes], they call them a crotch rocket… but I was only ever interested in a Harley. I just always liked the sound of them.”
Sara bought her mother motorcycle lessons in 2002 but Parker, who’s had joint replacements in both knees, had a hard time working the gears and brake. She tried dozens of the school’s bikes to no avail.
Cancer and her mother’s milestone birthday kicked Sara’s gift-giving efforts into high gear this year.
“I will often buy her Harley things, but it’s not quite the same,” Sara said.
Lords of Gastown includes a store, tattoo studio, barbershop and a whisky bar on Dunlevy Avenue.
The business owners not only jumped at the chance to take Parker for a ride, but also offered to give her a tattoo. Parker wants to transform her “winking wrinkly old man side” where she wears a prosthetic breast with a butterfly, but Sara and her brother, Troy, already gave their mother a gift certificate for a tattoo.
“I don’t really like this kind of exposure,” Parker said. “But… it’s really important that they’re recognized for doing good. There’s enough bad stuff in the news.”
Lords of Gastown started a group mid-summer to satiate the appetite of Harley riders hungry to ride with a group free from any whiff of criminal association. When Markovina told members about Parker’s ride, he was shocked to see up to 40 of them show up on a Sunday morning to accompany her.
Parker slid onto the saddle behind the 35-year-old Markovina, a former model, and gripped the edges of his jacket.
“There’s no way I was going to put my arms around his waist. I’m 65 and he’s, like, 30,” she said. “I’ve got a 31-year-old son. That would be creepy.”
Parker worried the jaunt from Railtown to Trev Deeley Motorcycles on Boundary Road would be “ho-hum,” but Markovina didn’t let her down.
“He didn’t just take me on a granny ride,” she said.
She was not only impressed by the roar of the bike’s engine but also to learn Lords of Gastown raises money for multiple charities. After they dropped her off Sept. 7, they completed the Vancouver Firefighters’ Bikers for Burns fundraising ride.
Markovina, who started competing in motocross races when he was four years old, says Parker gave him a gift, too.
“It brought me back to why we ride motorcycles and how you take things for granted,” he said. “Riding on a sunny day, just going on a short trip would seem like nothing. But for her, the short trip was something that she’ll never forget. We should feel good that we can ride a motorcycle every day… It’s the simple things in life that you should just appreciate.”
“I will often buy her Harley things, but it’s not quite the same,” Sara said.
Lords of Gastown includes a store, tattoo studio, barbershop and a whisky bar on Dunlevy Avenue.
The business owners not only jumped at the chance to take Parker for a ride, but also offered to give her a tattoo. Parker wants to transform her “winking wrinkly old man side” where she wears a prosthetic breast with a butterfly, but Sara and her brother, Troy, already gave their mother a gift certificate for a tattoo.
“I don’t really like this kind of exposure,” Parker said. “But… it’s really important that they’re recognized for doing good. There’s enough bad stuff in the news.”
Lords of Gastown started a group mid-summer to satiate the appetite of Harley riders hungry to ride with a group free from any whiff of criminal association. When Markovina told members about Parker’s ride, he was shocked to see up to 40 of them show up on a Sunday morning to accompany her.
Parker slid onto the saddle behind the 35-year-old Markovina, a former model, and gripped the edges of his jacket.
“There’s no way I was going to put my arms around his waist. I’m 65 and he’s, like, 30,” she said. “I’ve got a 31-year-old son. That would be creepy.”
Parker worried the jaunt from Railtown to Trev Deeley Motorcycles on Boundary Road would be “ho-hum,” but Markovina didn’t let her down.
“He didn’t just take me on a granny ride,” she said.
She was not only impressed by the roar of the bike’s engine but also to learn Lords of Gastown raises money for multiple charities. After they dropped her off Sept. 7, they completed the Vancouver Firefighters’ Bikers for Burns fundraising ride.
Markovina, who started competing in motocross races when he was four years old, says Parker gave him a gift, too.
“It brought me back to why we ride motorcycles and how you take things for granted,” he said. “Riding on a sunny day, just going on a short trip would seem like nothing. But for her, the short trip was something that she’ll never forget. We should feel good that we can ride a motorcycle every day… It’s the simple things in life that you should just appreciate.”
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