Over-the-hill gang

It is a familiar scenario. The children have grown up and moved out. The parents, now empty nesters, have a new life and time to spare. They may travel the world, downsize and move to a house in the country. Some take up a quiet hobby.

Carol Cabot, 50, decided to do something different. She's learning to ride a motorcycle.

"Long ago, I said I would do this, but I wanted to wait until my daughters were out of the house and on their own," she said. "My youngest just graduated from college, so I said to myself, 'This is my chance.' "

On a recent day almost hot enough to melt asphalt, Cabot wiped sweat from her forehead, gulped from a water bottle, and steadied herself as she climbed aboard a motorcycle during a rider training course offered by Ironstone Ventures, a company with classrooms in Acton and a training course in Ayer.

"It's harder than it looks, but I'm game," she said, straddling the bike she would maneuver around the track. "There's a lot more to this -- more to it than just sitting in the seat and holding on to the handlebars. I figure if I want to ride, I've got to learn. I really want to do this."

Cabot's motivation speaks to the increasing popularity of motorcycles in communities northwest of Boston. The trend is being fueled in part by people who rode motorcycles in their younger years and abandoned riding when they married and raised families. Others are first-timers who wouldn't know a clutch from a throttle but are nonetheless eager to give motorcycles a try.

"People who've never ridden a motorcycle in their lives see them on the road and wonder what it must be like to ride one," said Paul Cote, director of government relations for the Massachusetts Motorcycle Association. "They visualize themselves on a bike and come to see that the idea doesn't seem so far-fetched. Some people say, 'Why not?' "

Across Massachusetts, motorcycle registrations have increased from about 108,000 in 2000 to almost 160,000 in 2006, according to the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

New Hampshire has seen a similar upward trend among motorcycle enthusiasts. Registrations across the state increased from about 53,000 in 2000 to about 62,200 so far in 2007, according to Katy Daly, spokeswoman for the state's Division of Motor Vehicles.

In Massachusetts communities northwest of Boston, more than 4,000 additional bikes were registered in the six-year period.

To a large degree, motorcycling's newest fans are blurring, if not erasing, the stereotypical biker image from the '60s and '70s. The average rider today is 40 and lives in a household where the average income is more than $90,000, according to the American Motorcyclist Association.

"It's not 'Easy Rider,' " said Guy Corey, director of Merrimack Valley HOG, or Harley Owners Group , an organization of riders in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, in reference to the 1969 movie starring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper as drug-addled motorcycle nomads.

"You also see professionals, women, and plenty of middle-aged folk in their 60s. They're not just one particular type of people."

There are several reasons for motorcycling's popularity.

Its fans say few activities -- bungee jumping and skydiving among them -- give such an adrenaline rush.

"I like the wind hitting you in the face," said Elizabeth Conlon, 40, of Boxborough, who is also learning to ride at Ironstone Ventures.

"You're riding along, just you and your bike. You're free, in the open, not boxed in a car."

With gas prices hovering above $3 a gallon, motorcycles are also easier on the wallet, whether they are used for commuting or recreational trips.

"An average bike will get you 40 miles to the gallon, or better," said Corey.

"You get a whole group of people and plan a road trip. You're still traveling to a destination, but you're not doing it in a car. You end up saving a lot of money on gas. Plus, the trip is much more enjoyable."

Indeed, many ride because they get to enjoy a camaraderie through organized rider groups. Biker clubs run the gamut: coed, religious, all-women, even groups for families.

Membership in Corey's group has grown by about 200 riders in just a few years, to 700 today, he said.

"Women have been keeping our membership growing. Seeing a woman riding a bike, as opposed to riding on the back, used to be a rarity. It's not so rare anymore."

Cabot said her husband Don's love of motorcycles inspired her to want one.

"I'd just sit on the back, and he did the driving," she said. "I enjoyed it, but I felt I'd get more of a thrill if I was the one doing the driving."

A select group of motorcycling fans go overboard, though, say some people close to the sport.

Kevin Owens, who runs a motorcycle parts and service business in Billerica and has been around two-wheelers almost his entire life, frowns upon what he calls the trivialization of motorcycles through such television "reality" programs as the series "American Chopper."

"It's not a real depiction of why people get into motorcycles," Owens said of the show that airs on the The Learning Channel and focuses on an Orange County, N.Y., workshop that specializes in customizing motorcycles. Owens opened his shop, Cycleworks, 30 years ago.

"It's not all about glamour and spending thousands of dollars to have the biggest bike with the most bells and whistles," he said. "For the mainstream bikers, it's more down to earth than that."