When I was younger, my family and I lived outside of Sturgis where there is a huge, popular motorcycle rally each year. Every year my brothers and I would go down to the main road and sit for hours as we watched the bikers streaming into our small town. As they passed through on their monstrous motorcycles, my brothers and I would do our best to memorize the group names emblazoned on the back of their tough leather jackets so that later, when we played motorcycle riders in our backyard, we would be able to pretend we were members in their biker clubs.

I remember seeing the long, thick braids whipping behind female bikers as they rode into town and cowering in fear when one particularly large biker found me peering between through the crack in the door of the local biker bar. I don’t know why I was so fascinated with anyone who rode into town on a motorcycle, but I certainly was.

I distinctly remember their custom biker patches as one of the main things that would always catch my attention. I would see them on jackets, saddlebags, purses and bandanas and I loved their sometimes simple, sometimes intricate designs and colors. From patches that represented their motorcycle club to custom biker patches that looked like they were individually designed, I used to love checking out the bikers’ patches and try to get close enough to read them.

Of course, now I have my own bike and my own set of custom biker patches that I am particularly fond of. I like to think that as I ride into Sturgis each year there is some young kid trying to get close enough to read what my patches say.