Life put a few bumps in the road for Colette Nichols of Overlea.

But riding a Harley has helped smooth them out.

"Motorcycling has changed my life," she said in an interview at the Harley-Davidson store on Pulaski Highway.

Nichols, a physical education teacher at Oakleigh Elementary School until 1999, was never interested in the sport until February, when she attended a conference of young cancer survivors like herself.

Now, nine months later, she has her motorcycle driver's license and a 1,000-mile ride behind her.

Nichols, 42, took part in a September drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco as one of 20 motorcycling survivors of breast cancer. The annual ride is called Amazon Heart Thunder, and Harley dealers provide free loans of the bikes.

The Pulaski Highway store served as a sponsor for Nichols.

"The sport tends to be male-dominated, so it was great for us to have Colette to inspire other women," said Jean Neal, coordinator of Rider's Edge, the store's training program for new riders.

For Nichols, joining the nine-day ride through the scenic state seemed impossible at first.

"But things just kept happening and falling into place," she said.

Nichols was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer in 2004 at the age of 38. She has received treatment at the Sandra & Malcolm Berman Cancer Institute at Greater Baltimore Medical Center.

Her interest in motorcycling was sparked by members of the Amazon group, who had a booth at the young survivors' conference.

"An AHT member just engaged me in conversation, and it sounded cool," Nichols said.

But at that time, Nichols was only about two months removed from a second series of chemotherapy treatments for a recurrence of cancer, this time in her lung.

And her finances were pinched, having stopped work because of the side effects of chemotherapy. Disability payments were her only income.

Nevertheless, Nichols e-mailed her local Harley store, as suggested by the Amazon member.

"There was this little voice in the back of my head saying, 'What are you waiting for?'" Nichols recalled.

Soon, Neal invited her to the store, where Nichols asked for a scholarship to cover the $350 cost of the course.

Neal said she was won over by Nichols' matter-of-fact telling of her story.

"She also has a sense of humor about it, and let's face it, life dealt her a horrible hand," Neal said.

The little things that fell into place for Nichols included a woman who dropped out of the course the same day Nichols was at the store, thus enabling her to train and log the hundreds of hours needed to prepare for the long-distance ride.

Invited to speak to the store's group of Harley owners, known as Harley Owners Group, or HOG, and later its women's branch, she walked out of the latter meeting with "a wad of about $500 in my hand," Nichols said.

Volunteers, many connected with the local Harley store, raised $7,000 to cover all Nichols' expenses for the California event, including equipment, travel and lodging.

Her first trip to California was wonderful, she said.

There was an instant bond among the women, which fulfilled the ride's purpose of peer support, she said.

They took side trips to the Sonoma wine country, into the mountains and through groves of redwoods.

"I felt a positive energy from the redwoods, which other people have noticed, too," she said.

Nichols' new friends, sights and accomplishments in cycling have given her a new outlook.

"Now, I have an expectancy that big things are going to happen and I can be open to them," she said.

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