This morning I turned out for The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride, an annual motorcycle event. This year Distinguished Gentleman’s Rides were held in 401 cities and towns in 79 countries. The rides are organized to help raise awareness of and fund research on prostate cancer. Individual riders or groups of riders raise funds or donate directly, and on the day of the ride–the fourth Sunday in September–they wheel their classic rides to designated locations, dressed as gentlemen.
I signed up to raise funds and donated some of my own as well. I also took a stab at dappertude, if putting on a necktie counts as such. I did think the hat was a nice touch, though of course I couldn’t wear it on the ride itself (by the way, click on any of the photos below to see the full sized originals on Flickr):
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Other riders got into the spirit of the thing as well, especially the guy with the long-tailed tux! I’ll try to do better next year, although I admit I was very pleased a few riders noticed and commented on my McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle tie. One of the riders who noticed it is organizing an October 2016 air show at Marana Airfield north of Tucson, and I was able to give him some names of some air museum high rollers who might like to participate and help out.
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Some of the bikes were pretty sweet. That BMW K100, by the way, is a first year model from 1982: it was the first motorcycle to have anti-lock brakes, and was wildly modernistic for its day. We started the ride with 20 motorcycles and riders, a respectable group.
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There were two pit/bar/regroup stops along the 70-mile route. The first was at Hot Rods in Vail, and since we got there ten minutes before opening, everyone occupied themselves in the parking lot by checking in on social media (I was no exception). The second stop was a taco bar at La Encantada, the upscale mall at Sunrise & Campbell, where we took over the designated motorcycle parking area.
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I split off after the second regroup. The final destination was a bar on South 4th Avenue, and we had already made two bar stops. Since I quit drinking bar stops have lost some of their luster–in fact I no longer go on motorcycle poker runs or toy runs because too many of the participants ride drunk. This event, however, was different: yes, a few riders ordered beers at Hot Rods and the taco bar at La Encantada, but most of us just asked for water. It was a riding group, not a drinking group, and I’ll definitely be back for next year’s ride.
Now where can I find me one of them Groucho Marx suits?