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As the clichés of the midlife crisis become increasingly common Motorcycle is often one of the most maligned.
However, one Dover woman who discovered a passion for biking at the age of 50 is showing how motorcycles can change lives, no matter the age of the rider, and is helping other mid-life women enjoy the thrill of being in the saddle through specialized motorcycle mindset training.
Claire Jones, 52, loved bouncing on her then-boyfriend’s back Motorcycle In her 20s. He had all the gear and found the thrill of riding a bike thrilling, but he never learned to ride a bike himself.
When she met her husband Rick in 2002 at the age of 29, she lost her biking gear while riding home, but thought she would never need it again.
Fast forward two decades and Claire, a certified life coach who had built a successful career in confidence and weight loss coaching, felt the urge to get back on the bike. When she turned 50, Claire started thinking about what else she wanted to do with her life, and “a big light bulb went on, like ‘Ooh, motorbikes’,” she said.
She envisioned the joy, freedom and adventure that can come from riding on two wheels and, having recently seen Rebecca Ferguson looking super-cool on a motorcycle in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, she wanted the same for herself.
However, little did he know that increasing the speed of the motorcycle would be a bigger challenge than he had anticipated.
On August 27, 2023, Claire took her first motorcycling lesson – and “it was a complete disaster”, she said.
“Realizing that this thing has an engine attached to two wheels, and if you open the throttle too much you’ll lose control and you’ll hurt yourself, as soon as I sat on this thing, I suddenly realized it,” she said.
“My menopausal brain just didn’t go ‘no’.”
According to the NHS, Worry and low self-esteem are common symptoms menopause and perimenopause. Hormonal fluctuations can also cause memory and concentration problems, including so-called “brain fog”, and physical symptoms such as heart palpitations and difficulty sleeping can have a profound impact on daily life.
Claire found that these menopause symptoms affected her ability to learn to ride a motorcycle – despite how much she wanted to learn, she found that her mind was getting in the way.
“As you age, you become more aware of your mortality,” she said.
“So I think your nervous system is more alert than it is when you’re young and you think you’re going to live forever.
“Having menopause, generally speaking, increases the anxiety levels. So I had all that going on. And also, as we get older, it takes longer to learn things.”
During her first hour on the motorcycle, Claire fell three times, and she became out of control and panicked.
He further added, “The first few months were very difficult, where I really had to struggle with myself.”
“Is this something I really want to do? Why did I think I could do something like this?”
However, this negative self-talk was something Claire had encountered before. A keen runner, she completed her first marathon, the London Marathon, in 2009, but considered the race a “disaster” because she was underprepared and had underestimated the mental strength required.
But, she said, “I collected myself, went back and did it again.”
“And as you can see, I got some medals,” she said, pointing to a display of about 250 sports medals on the wall behind her.
“That experience really proved to me that if you keep showing up, and if you want something enough, you will succeed.”
While completing the CBT course, which enables a rider to drive a moped or motorcycle up to 125 cc with L plates, usually only takes one day, Claire did not receive her CBT certificate until October 28, 2023, almost two months after her first training session.
It wasn’t until December 30, 2023 that she felt confident enough to go out on her motorcycle for the first time.
Everything changed when Claire lost her beloved dog April, a 15-year-old Hungarian Vizsla. April was Claire’s “shadow”, and losing her on January 26, 2024 was devastating.
“I couldn’t sleep that night, so I was just thinking, ‘I need to do something to take my mind off this’,” she said.
“I decided to map out a route in my mind where I had to go on my bike, just getting out of my property at 20 mph, because I had never gone out alone.
“I woke up that Saturday morning, I had to really go through a lot of mental preparation to work up the courage to do it, and then I did it the 10-mile route.
“The scene opens up and you see the port of Dover, you see France in the distance. (The fact that) I did it felt amazing. It was my way of dealing with losing her, throwing myself into my biking.”
April has since been honored through her biking, with Claire’s first full-powered bike, an orange Honda CB500F, named Spirit of April after her golden orange dog.
When she upgraded last December to a black Honda CBR650R sports bike that “looks identical to the bike that Rebecca Ferguson was riding in Mission: Impossible”, she named it Shadow of April, and has since developed the courage to “ride it all over the place”.
Now, Claire helps others who want to overcome their anxieties about motorcycling and discover the joy she feels on her bike.
In February 2025, he launched YourOneLife Motorcycle Mindset Coaching, an off-shoot of his weight loss coaching business to help other would-be riders overcome their mental barriers to motorcycling so they can safely enjoy the hobby without fear.
Although she is not a motorbike instructor, she can work with training providers and schools to help nervous riders get the most from their training and overcome mental barriers to learning.
The majority of their customers are women over the age of 40, which reflects how many mid-life women love to ride motorcycles, but feel too nervous, embarrassed or self-conscious to learn. She provides free resources on her Instagram page, @mindsetmasterywithclaire, as well as offering online workshops and one-to-one sessions for those wanting to embrace life through motorcycling.
Claire has discovered that ultimately, it’s not just about riding the motorcycle. Often, her clients’ nervousness and anxiety stem from other parts of life, and she has found that she can use biking as an outlet for these anxieties, as well as helping them deal with them in everyday life.
Claire’s perseverance and dedication to learning to ride a motorbike, building the confidence to feel the wind in her hair on the winding roads of Kent, not only proved the power of mindset, but gave her a new life at the age of 50.
“I go biking because I love it,” she said.
“It’s that excitement, that next level feeling of accomplishment and freedom, and I would have missed out on all this if I hadn’t done this.”
Find out more about Claire’s Motorcycle Mindset Coaching at www.motorcyclemindset.co.uk.