MANSFIELD – Lucille Boebel never forgets a thing.
It’s how she remembers the exact date she met her husband, Gil – Dec. 4, 1984. And how she remembers not only that they got married on Valentine’s Day 12 years after meeting, but that it was a Tuesday morning at 11:30 a.m. in a little white church on a hill in Pavonia.
“He was begging me to get married,” Lucille teases as her husband scoffs. “He was a bodybuilder, can’t you tell?”
“I’m almost 60, give me a break!” Gil protests.
It’s also how Lucille remembers the exact moment she knew she wanted to buy a motorcycle, a far cry from her usual mode of transportation as a school bus driver. Three years ago, the same year Gil retired, she was bitten by the Harley-Davidson bug.
“My friend had a motorcycle, and on the last day of school we had a carry-in dinner and she comes in on this big, white Harley,” Lucille said. “And I thought oh my gosh, she looks so cool.”
Within a week she took her test for her motorcycle permit, because that’s the other thing about Lucille – her tenacity. After three months with her first bike, a 250 Yamaha, she upgraded to a Harley. Not long after that, Gil had his own motorcycle.
“I bought my bike to get away from him, and then a couple weeks later he had a bike too,” Lucille joked.
“I couldn’t let her ride by herself,” Gil said sheepishly.
Riding soon became a hobby the two Mansfield Senior High graduates enjoyed together, to the point where their two teenage sons would scold their parents for being out on their Harleys too late. However, they soon ran out of local destinations. Then two years ago, Lucille discovered the “Ride N’ Roll” Summer-Long Dice Run.
The challenge, created eight years ago by “Ridin’ On” motorcycle magazine, gives bike owners a chance to get out riding as much and as often as they care to. Thousands of riders participate by visiting 194 stops across Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and West Virginia. At each stop, riders roll a dice to earn points – the more stops you visit, the more chances you have to earn points.
The “Ride N’ Roll” challenge begins May 1 and goes through Oct. 1. Some riders take the challenge to ride around town, earning a few stops here and there. Others dedicate their entire summer plotting out every single stop, riding close to 7,000 miles crisscrossing the region on both weekends and weekdays.
It’s not hard to guess which category Lucille and Gil fell into.
“So many times we would want to go for a ride but wouldn’t know where to go,” Lucille said. “With this, I would sit on the couch with my computer and maps and plan out our routes. It gives you a purpose and a destination.”
Last year, nearly 8,000 riders began the challenge on May 1. Only 33 riders completed the challenge and made it to the official Winner Dinner & Participant Party hosted by “Ridin’ On” magazine on Dec. 13, 2015. Two of those 33 were Lucille and Gil, who both finished in the top five riders – Lucille in third, and Gil in fourth.
“We made it to every single stop,” Lucille said. “It’s all we did last summer. I’m very competitive.”
Completing the challenge is truly a testament to the Boebels’ determination. Sometimes locations were particularly difficult to find, other times Lucille and Gil were riding in sweltering heat or wind and rain.
While traveling to a restaurant called the Wounded Goose in Bidwell, they experienced tornado-like weather with downed trees and flooding. Lucille found the owner of the restaurant in her home nearby just as the electricity went out, rolled the dice to earn their points, then were on their way.
“Getting wet is the worst, and it’s just not safe,” Gil said. “People don’t see you anyhow, and when you’re riding on top of water it’s just not safe. And once you’re wet, you’re cold.”
Overall though, the experience was mostly positive, with many more memories to add to Lucille’s bank. Mike’s Place Restaurant near Kent State University was named as a favorite location, as well as Geneva-on-the-Lake, where the couple met riders from the infamous Hells Angels motorcycle club. One Angel even helped Lucille’s friend to her feet after a minor crash.
“I mean a real Hells Angel is asking her if she’s OK,” Lucille marveled. “She told him she just hurt her ego, and we all laughed until we cried.”
Arguably better than visiting a variety of different places has been the people the Boebels have met, both on the “Ride N’ Roll” challenge and in the years since owning their Harleys. For Lucille in particular, she has since met a close group of women in the Mid Ohio Harley Owners Group.
“Every single day we are together, if we don’t call each other we’re texting, we’re talking on Facebook,” she said. “There has not been a day since I met them four years ago in September that we have not been in contact.”
Another aspect of riding Lucille has literally embraced: Harley people are huggers.
“Every time she has a chance to hug somebody she’s hugging them,” Gil teased.
This year, Lucille has already begun mapping routes for the 2016 “Ride N’ Roll” challenge, ready to make more memories with her husband. This reporter asked Gil what his favorite part of the “Ride N’ Roll” challenge was.
“Probably just being with me,” Lucille interjected playfully, not skipping a beat.
“Oh man, you threw my thought right out the window,” Gil said. “But I couldn’t have done it without her. She is a trip.”
