Merline Kyle smiles as she sits on a motorcycle for the first time in many years.

“I like to go fast.  It was exhilarating,” said Kyle, a La Sal resident who celebrated her 90th birthday with a motorcycle ride around Moab on January 8.  “There are not many things that old people haven’t done. It was fun, and everyone was very considerate.”

Kyle’s ride was organized by the La Sal Senior Center in conjunction with the Moab chapter of Bikers Against Child Abuse (BACA).  Maryanna Hutnick, director of the La Sal Center, said Kyle and her husband used to ride motorcycles and the nonagenarian had long wished to take at least one more trek on two wheels.  Leonard Cobb, a BACA member, said Kyle rode on the back of a Honda motorcycle with one of the group’s members at the helm.

“I thought it was great, she seemed to love it, and she was smiling from ear to ear,” Cobb said.

Photo courtesy Times Independent, taken by Beth Wilcox