By Dave Abrahams
Cape Town – No fewer than 88 riders on an astonishing assortment of classic, retro and café-racer motorcycles turned out on Sunday for the third annual Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride.
Not all were gentlemen – there were also a handful of ladies - but all were distinguished by their dapper outfits and the camaraderie that comes from having fun for a good cause.
It was one of 220 such rides being held in 56 countries around the world on 28 September to raise money for prostate cancer research – and the results have been impressive.
The organisers of the 2013 Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride set themselves the target of raising $500 000 (R5.6 million) for research projects on four continents, and reached it two days after the ride as the pledges poured in from around the world.
This year they set the bar at $1 million (R11.2 million), which was reached two days before the ride, so they moved the goalposts to $1.5 million.
On the day of the ride the total was almost $1.4 million (R15.7 million) and the organisers were optimistic that the target would be reached.
The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride is sponsored worldwide by Triumph, and the Cape Town ride was convened -and led - by Los Muertos motorcycle workshop. The route took the riders from the workshop on a meandering route that included some of the Cape Peninsula’s favourite biking roads, to a restaurant in Camps Bay.
What the local thought of nearly 90 riders – almost all dressed in formal clothing – on weird and unusual-looking motorcycles, wasn’t recorded, but the overriding impression among the Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen who took part was that the semi-formality, and the feeling of being part of a world-wide event, made it so much more than just another Sunday ride.