Ride of a Lifetime : Dusty Switzer Grew Up Around Bikes--and She’s Not About to Shift Gears

After a month in the hospital, Dusty Switzer can hardly wait to get back on her 800-pound motorcycle.

But her jet-black Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail is still recovering from its own wounds. With a little help from her friends, Switzer hopes to complete the repairs and get back on the road before the end of the month.

“I’ve been in three real serious accidents in the past two years. One of the doctors said, ‘How many lives you got left?’ ” said Switzer, a 50-year-old Costa Mesa resident who’s been riding motorcycles since age 15.

“The doctor asked me, ‘Are you still going to ride?’ And I said, ‘Are you still going to breathe?’ When I quit riding is when I quit living. I would go nuts driving a car on the freeway, just sitting there in traffic, while the bike can just split lanes and go right on past.”

Her thigh-level tattoos cover some of the scars she’s earned from being thrown across the roadway over the years. She’s broken bones, torn muscles and ligaments, burned patches of her arms and legs and lost a few motorcycles in the process. But the grandmother says her motorcycle is an indispensable part of her being, a symbol of freedom and independence in a life that has often teetered on disaster.

“By the time I’m 80, I’ll be on a trike. I’ll have to have a three-wheeler because I ain’t gonna drive no car. But I’m slowing down. I used to cruise always about 96 mph. Now I do it about 74 mph. It’s more comfortable.”

Switzer has been a familiar figure at biker charity runs and parades throughout Southern California for more than 20 years. She’s never belonged to a motorcycle gang, but she’s lived the life.

“I was an alcoholic, drug-abusing biker. I am now a clean and sober biker. People used to tell me I would have to change everything about my life to become sober. They told me to change the way I look. But I had to prove my point. You do not have to change what’s on the outside, because it all comes from the heart.”

Switzer’s traffic-stopping appearance, accented by black leather shorts and a halter top, has landed her bit parts as a movie extra. She wears 18 rings on her fingers, turquoise on the left hand, coral on the right. Only one finger is without any rings. She broke the knuckle in a fight years ago and can’t move the finger with a ring on it.

“Any time they need a weird-looking biker chick, they call me. I’m definitely different. I’ve been told by people, ‘Oh, I saw this lady with all these rings and necklaces on, I think she’s a Dusty wannabe.’ I’ve heard that so many times.”

Her first long-distance trip came shortly after she learned to ride. At age 15 she stole her brother’s motorcycle and left her Colorado Springs home, taking Route 66 to Newport Beach to track down her boyfriend. Switzer says she grew up in a troubled home, tormented by alcoholism and abuse.

“I was 27 before I had my first drink, because I didn’t want to be like my mother. I loved her when she was sober and I hated her when she was drunk.

“When I was about 5 years old we lived in Oakland, about two doors down from [Hells Angels leader] Sonny Barger. My mom and dad were divorced, and the bikers got to where they would come and check on me to see if I was OK. They were taking care of me because my mom would go out and not come back for two days. I just loved them. They were very caring. That was my first introduction to motorcycles, and I think that’s why I’ve been hooked all my life.”

Next month, Switzer said she will celebrate being off drugs and alcohol for 12 years after going through an Alcoholics Anonymous 12-step program.

“It was no longer me doing drugs, it was the drugs doing me.”

Switzer, who spent part of her childhood on a Colorado Springs ranch, says bikers are a kind of misplaced generation who have a lot in common with cowboys.

“The way cowboys fight, stick up for themselves and stay loyal to each other--it’s the same with bikers. Spiritually, I don’t think there’s any difference. Yes, there are outlaw bikers and there’s a lot of them, but that does not mean that every person on two wheels is bad.

“Look at some of the people riding Harleys out there now. They’ve got their homes and their jobs and they’re doing everything so perfect you just can’t believe it. And here comes Sunday and they’re all dressed in leather and on a Harley. It’s freedom.”

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Profile: Dusty Switzer

Age: 50

Hometown: Colorado Springs, Colo.

Residence: Costa Mesa

Family: Three grown children; five grandchildren

Education: College studies in psychology and sociology

Background: Baited fishing lines at age 16 for the Dory fishing fleet in Newport Beach; horse trainer; bartender and bar manager; dancer; bodyguard; maintenance manager at Newport Dunes for two years; movie extra; speaker at Alcoholics Anonymous presentations

On the road: Members of the newly formed Hells Angels looked after her at age 5 when she lived in Oakland with her mother; first learned to ride her brother’s Triumph Bonneville motorcycle at age 15; rode from Colorado to Newport Beach on Route 66 at age 15; bought her first motorcycle, a Honda Scrambler dirt bike, at age 17; participated in hundreds of charity motorcycle runs and parades in Southern California for more than 20 years; currently rides an 800-pound, jet-black 1988 Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail, paid for with funds raised by biker clubs and a local Alcoholics Anonymous chapter after her previous bike was stolen three years ago

Defensive driver: “When I was 15, I asked my mom if I could learn to ride my brother’s motorcycle. And she said, ‘Yes, as long as you ride like everybody’s out to kill you.’ And that is still the way I ride. I don’t trust anybody, whether they turn their turn signal on or not.”

Source: Dusty Switzer; Researched by RUSS LOAR / For The Times