When Marjorie White and Lisa Niner first met in the early 1970s, the two bonded almost immediately over their mutual love of dirt bikes and motocross, and often rode and raced together.

More than 40 years later, the pair of friends are making preparations for crossing the country on two wheels as they participate in the Sisters' Centennial Motorcycle Ride, a commemorative and charitable ride that will take place July 3-23.

The ride will include more than 100 motorcyclists traveling from New York to San Francisco. It honors the 100th anniversary of a similar ride taken by Augusta and Adeline Van Buren — sisters from New York City who set out to prove that women could serve in the military as dispatch riders, as well as to support women's suffrage.

The two became the first women to cross the continental United States each on her own motorcycle. In 2002 they were inducted into the American Motorcyclists Association Hall of Fame.

The centennial ride mimics the Van Burens' 1916 path, taking participants along the Lincoln Highway from coast to coast.

The ride is also a charitable effort, raising money for nonprofits Final Salute, a women's veterans organization providing housing for homeless veterans, and the Women's Coalition of Motorcyclists, which supports trainer scholarships for female instructors and coaches.

This ride is the second time White, of Finksburg in Carroll County, will cross the U.S. on motorcycle, though she faced the journey alone on the past trip. In 2013, her son, Tommy, was killed while riding a motorcycle in California. In his memory, she decided to cross the country on her own — her first real experience with a road bike — in a journey that lasted five weeks.

“I just woke up one morning and said to myself, ‘I have to go, and I have to go now,'?” said White, 60. “Some people thought I was crazy, but I had to do it.”

Niner, a resident of Fallston in Harford County, has been a rider for her whole life. She said she won her first motocross race and was instantly hooked as a 13-year-old. Today, she continues to race motocross at the age of 54.

When she was young, Niner dated White's brother, a fellow motocross racer, and the two young women became fast friends. They lost touch until the death of White's son.

“She called me and told me Tommy's dead,” Niner said. “I immediately told her, ‘You've got to get out there.' I had three tickets to California, and we flew out there together and we rebonded after 25 years.”

Upon returning, the two made a pact that they would ride across the U.S. on motorcycles in Tommy's memory in 2017, but soon after White decided she couldn't wait. She set off on her own.

“When I was riding by myself, it really renews your faith in human beings,” White said.

Earlier this year, White read about the Centennial Ride in a magazine and decided it would be a perfect opportunity for she and Nine to ride together.

When Niner began to research the ride, she was inspired by Final Salute, one of the charities supported by entry fees in the ride. The group works with female veterans, and as an Army vet herself who had done three tours of duty, Niner couldn't turn down the opportunity to help.

“We have to do it,” Niner said. “We both have our own stories, and we both love to share it. Mine's different from Marjorie's, but we both have these reasons to go on this journey.”

The two have been prepping their bikes for the long journey. White said she learned about maintenance and proper procedure from her last journey, but it's going to be different in a circumstance where she and Niner have to keep up with her fellow riders. Niner is anxious for the new experience as well.

“To be nervous and to be excited or unsure is a little different for me,” Niner said. “I've found myself getting a little hyper.”

jacob.denobel@carrollcountytimes.com