Giving woman gets in return
It’s never too late to set out on a new adventure.
Just ask Tina Norgaard of Calgary.
Last year, at the age of 74, she decided to give back to the community and participate in a motorcycle charity ride. Little did she know how much the motorcycle community would give back to her.
Born and raised in Holland, Norgaard’s father bought her a Sachs moped when she was 14. Since then, she’s not been without some form of motorized two-wheel transportation, be it moped, motorcycle or scooter.
She selected the Fresh Start Recovery Centre’s 12 Stop Ride for Recovery, and aboard her 1984 Honda Elite 250cc scooter she joined the group as they headed out on Aug. 31, 2013.
More than just a motorcycle ride, the event is also a scavenger hunt. Clues are given to guide riders to the 12 stops, and last year the route took them over city and country roads.
“I’d managed the whole day’s ride, but coming back into Calgary the front tire blew out on my scooter,” Norgaard says.
Rider and machine suffered some scrapes and bruises. Norgaard spent time in hospital, while her scooter went to the police impound lot. It wasn’t until a few weeks after the incident that Norgaard thought she’d better track down her scooter, but by that time, the storage charges on the Honda were excessive. The police were understanding of the situation, however, and the fees were dropped.
Fresh Start’s director of communications, Lisa Simone, and director of operations, Bruce Holstead, picked up the scooter from the impound lot.
“We’re all motorcycle enthusiasts here,” Holstead explains. “After we picked up the scooter, we wanted to see if we could fix it up a bit,” she adds.
One of the first things Fresh Start did was remove the ripped seat, delivering it to Action Upholstery. Because Norgaard wears a lot of pink (she says it’s her favourite colour) a hot pink seat cover was stitched and installed.
Then, realizing it was going to take a bit more than a recovered seat to revive Norgaard’s Honda, they talked to Kevin Clarkson at Lucid Kustoms/Lucid Community Garage — a shop in northeast Calgary that builds and repairs motorcycles, and also offers a Urent wrench and bench program.
“Fresh Start asked if we could donate some time to get the scooter back on the road,” Clarkson recalls.
Still mechanically sound, Nor- gaard’s Honda was stripped of its body panels. Employees from Lucid Kustoms and some of the Community Garage members helped repair the cracked plastic and prepare the bodywork.
Motorcycle painter Doug Veness, also of Calgary, volunteered his time and material, spraying the panels black with an orange pearl.
With the body panels back on the scooter, Lucid Kustoms replaced a few parts and pieces such as the handgrips and mirrors, and then added two new tires to Norgaard’s Elite.
“This was just about giving back to Tina,” Clarkson says.
Late this spring when Norgaard decided it was time to pick up what she thought was her still-damaged scooter from Fresh Start, Lisa Simone asked her to wait just a little bit longer.
“She said they were having a front tire put on it,” Norgaard says. “When I arrived to pick it up — I was just speechless — it’s so beautiful, and I’m so grateful, what a very thoughtful thing to do.”