During the winter months, the shop usually sees about 20 bikers ride up from cities all over Hampton Roads for the Tuesday night Chilly Dog Social.

On summer nights, when the weather is just right for a nice ride through the country, the spacious lot on Godwin Boulevard is filled with between 100 to 200 bikes and riders.

Cindy Clark, 47, of Whaleyville and an auctioneer, has been cooking up the hot dogs at these socials since the shop opened in 2003.

"It's a big meet-and-greet," said Clark.

Conversations range from family to motorcycle charity rides. Attendees bring along pets, friends, children and grandchildren.

Best of all, says, Clark, "We've got each other's backs.

Grey Hawk, 64, of Portsmouth, nods in agreement. Hawk, with a ponytail that extends just past his shoulders, munches a hot dog across the table from Clark.

"Everybody gets along well," he said. "We have a swell time."

Hawk has been attending these weekly socials for the past two years.

Kate Goulet and April Bell, both 23 and from Yorktown, sit beside Hawk. This is their second time at the social.

"I'm not use to being around a lot of bikers," said Bell.

"You see lots of people in chaps and leathers, and you think they're big and intimidating."

But, she said, the appearances are deceiving.

"They're like big old teddy bears," she said. She and Goulet plan to make the social a weekly event.

Brewer and her husband, Bill Brewer, are long-time motorcycle enthusiasts and 16-year residents of Suffolk.

Prior to opening the shop, Bill Brewer retired from the Navy where he was a warrant officer and Pat Brewer worked as service writer at a Ford dealership in Norfolk.

As the couple saw how popular biking in Suffolk was becoming, they decided to get in on the action.

The year after Pat Brewer opened the shop, Bill Brewer started a chapter of American Cruiser Alliance, Chapter 144, a motorcycle enthusiast club.

The Suffolk club boasts 183 members and has continually held the largest club title since opening, Pat Brewer said.

Other large chapters include Chapter 151 in Virginia Beach and Chapter 145 in Newport News.

With her long blond hair and wide smile, Brewer is at home behind the counter at Tidewater Motorcycles.

She plucks a Merit from a pack, lights it and blows smoke into the small shop that specializes in motorcycles, accessories and repairs.

"Motorcycling is growing every day, especially with gas prices fluctuating," she said.

And, as motorcycling becomes more popular, the demographics of motorcycle riders are beginning to change, according to Brewer.

She said the days of the stereotypical rough-and-tough rebel riders roaming the roads are gone.

Instead, the majority of riders who come into her store are professionals - lawyers, doctors and even a pastor.

Keith Lindgren, motorcycle courses instructor at Tidewater Community College in Chesapeake, sees the same trend Brewer does in the classes he teaches.

Students who attend his Basic Rider Course, a $90, one-weekend class designed to teach motorcycle riding techniques as well as safety, range in age from early 20s to upper 60s, he said.

About 30 percent of his students are women, said Lindgren.

"They are no longer content to sit behind their significant other (on a bike). They want to drive their own."

Lindgren has been teaching basic and advanced motorcycle courses at the college since 1987.

"When I first started teaching, we had 12 students and were teaching (the basic course) every other weekend."

Now, the college has increased class capacity to 24 students and the class is held weekly.

Lindgren said when enrollment was opened for classes from March through May 2006, the classes filled within 24 hours.

The class is so popular that the college is opening another instruction site in Portsmouth, at the recently opened Bayside Harley-Davidson store at the intersection of Interstate 264 and Frederick Boulevard, he said.

Lindgren hopes that site will cater to students who have to travel a substantial distance now to make it to the Chesapeake campus.

A lot of those students are from Suffolk.

"I know we have a lot of folks coming in from Suffolk, and we're expecting more when we open up the site in Portsmouth," he said.

Motorcycle enthusiasts in Suffolk also are becoming more and more community-minded.

Last month, Tidewater Motorcycles and American Cruiser Alliance, Chapter 114 hosted a Polar Bear Ride to raise money for the Western Tidewater Community Services Board.

Approximately 100 bikers participated in the 50-mile ride from the board office on Godwin Boulevard, to out along Shoulders Hill Road, stretches of Route 17 and into Isle of Wight County. Riders raised more than $2,000.

April Knight, services board director, said 100 percent of the money will be used to provide medicine, food, and money for gas and electric bills to residents in the region with mental disabilities.

"We consider our motorcyclists as angels on wheels," she said.

The ride was touched by tragedy, however.

During the ride, Ken Royce, 50, vice president of the American Cruisers Chapter 144, and a longtime resident of downtown Suffolk, hit the soft shoulder of the road along Longview Road in Isle of Wight County, and ran into a culvert, overturning his motorcycle.

He died on March 1 of injuries sustained from the accident.

In a show of solidarity, many club members attended Royce's funeral.

Cindy Clark has some of Royce's ashes and is having them put into a locket.

That's so "When I ride, Kenny rides," she said.

One of the best-known rides in Suffolk that draws motorcyclists from all over, is the annual Swamp Roar, a 100-mile motorcycle ride around the Great Dismal Swamp, held in conjunction with fall's Peanut Fest.

Brewer and city officials hope interest and participation will be high for the April 8 ride that will benefit the Suffolk Police Department's Crime Line.

Crime Line offers reward money to citizens whose information about a crime leads to an arrest, recovery of stolen property or confiscation of illegal narcotics.

Bikers participating in the 50-mile, police-escorted ride, called Suffolk Crime Line's Bikers Against Crime, say they are riding to show their commitment to making Suffolk a crime-free city. It will mark the first time the city has hosted such a ride.

"The Crime Line receives no federal or state support," said Lt. Debbie George of the Suffolk Police Department.

"Rewards paid out are garnered directly from donations from citizens to Crime Line. This is really our only means of raising money for the awards."

George said the department is excited about working on the ride with local motorcycle groups.

The department was prompted to do the fundraiser because of "the great heart that most of the bikers have, and how willing they are to get behind projects and lend their support," she said.

More than 100 motorcyclists are expected to participate. The ride will start at the Wal-Mart on College Drive and weave throughout Suffolk's back roads.

By JULIE HAGY, The Virginian-Pilot
Original Article can be found here.