Member story: Isabel Marble
When Isabel Marble from Ball Ground, Georgia, saw her dad’s new Harley-Davidson® Fat Boy®, it was love at first sight
Everyone remembers the day you completely fall in love with something or someone. For me, it was the day my dad brought home the motorcycle he purchased. It was a 1997 seafoam green and white Harley-Davidson Fat Boy. I immediately knew I had to learn to ride it!
After several months of trying to persuade my parents, they finally agreed. I received a Honda Rebel for my 17th birthday so I could learn to ride. I got my motorcycle permit and spent many, many hours with my dad as he taught me the riding basics. Riding bikes together quickly became our thing. After I mastered riding the Rebel and took an advanced rider course at Southern Devil Harley-Davidson®, I “graduated” to riding the Fat Boy. My dad and I rode our two Harleys (he had an H-D® Street Glide®) all over the North Georgia mountains.
I was scheduled to go on a trip to Germany the summer after COVID-19 hit, but it was postponed until the summer of 2021. After the trip was postponed again, I canceled it. In its place, my parents and I took a motorcycle trip to the western U.S.: We rented an RV toy hauler and drove to Colorado Springs, Yellowstone, and Sturgis and rode the motorcycles there. My dad said riding up Pikes Peak with me was one of the best days of his life. It was my senior trip and the trip of a lifetime (route here: https://maps.harley-davidson.com/share/rides/4NPskmny2)!
On June 15, 2021, I was involved in a car accident that cost me the lower half of my right leg. After months of recovery, I received my prosthetic leg. One of the first things I did was sit on the motorcycle to see if I was still able to hold it up. Less than a week later, I was riding around the neighborhood. And a little over a year after the accident, I was back riding with my dad.
It’s still our thing we do together, and it makes me whole again after a bad day. I ride as avidly as I did before. Off the bike, I’m a student at Mississippi State University studying toward a pre-med degree, while also working on earning my pilot’s license.
Riding my Harley® is what I truly enjoy. There’s nothing better than being on the open road with the wind blowing in your face!
First published in Vol. 106 Issue 03 of The Enthusiast®.
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