Once Joanna Barthorpe discovered the joys of two wheels, nothing could hold her back – not even a crash and a broken pelvis
When Joanna Barthorpe announced to her family, at the age of 60, that she was learning to ride a motorcycle, it was her grown-up sons who were the most shocked: “But Mum, you never let us ride motorbikes!” Her husband wasn’t keen either. “He hates bikes,” she says. “He thinks they’re too powerful, noisy and dangerous.”
The element of danger was part of the appeal, Barthorpe concedes – but most of all, it was about doing something for herself after bringing up three children. “You put your life on the back burner,” she says. “Being a good role model, doing things for your kids. Now it was my time.”
