The Distinguished Gentleman's Ride

Hey folks,
In September I'm taking part in the London Distinguished Gentlemans Ride. Essentially, 1000 vintage, retro or classic bikes will be riding through central London with the riders wearing tweed, boating Blazers and the like to raise money for Prostate Cancer research.
It's like Movember but with bikes - I'll be on the Thruxton with my stupid moustache and with a 9 year old pillion.
If you could sponsor me for a few quid, I'd be very grateful...
https://www.gentlemansride.com/rider/lightweight

 

The 9 year old will also be sporting a moustache if that encourages anybody to chip in a few quid?

 

Happy to sponsor you, but I don't quite understand how to figure that page out. Can I just give you some money? I can meet you somewhere and I promise we don't have to go on a rideout

 

That'd be great Emma.
I'm not that anti- ride out!
Give me a shout when you're out and I'll try to meet you, preferably somewhere there's cake!
Kinda want to show off the Thruxton anyway...

 

Hi! Not attempting to hijack your thread here, Lightweight, but it seems sensible to keep all related posts under the one heading .


I too am signed up for this event and have put my name down for the London ride, but due to the strict limit of 1,000 riders, I may find myself bumped off that list.

I was wondering; is anyone else from this forum actually taking part in the East Sussex ride, as according to the website nobody has raised any funds for that one yet and there appear to be zero registered riders ?

https://www.gentlemansride.com/rides/england

My concern is that I will be the only person doing this if I change my proposed ride from London to East Sussex.

So, anyone else interested in joining up ? You just need to have a vaguely 'classic looking' motorcycle to ride (anything with a dash of chrome, I would guess) and be willing to turn up in some form of 'gentlemanly attire' (i.e. suit, blazer, tweed jacket, fox hunting outfit etc. ). All the requirements are on the website.

It's all for a good cause, too. Come one, you know that you want to dress up and parade around in public - it's part of the fun of being a biker .

 

That's a shame. I was thinking of sticking on a moustache and coming along but I find I'm at a rally that weekend, (plus I'm female and don't have a classic looking bike) so fate obviously didn't want me to join in. I'm sure you'll find others will sign up though so good luck and enjoy the day. I'm only sorry I can't afford to sponsor everyone but it's all going to the same cause.

 

Being a girl isn't a problem Emma, not having the right bike is unfortunately...

 

Snapper, I'm not sure that they can bump you off your chosen ride.
I'm aware that they've asked for people who live outside London to consider the other rides but they're not up to a full complement yet, and why would I want to ride round somewhere that's my local haunt anyway?
Seems to me that riding somewhere new would be better for me and more likely to draw sponsorship anyway, and raising money is the whole point surely?

 

Sorry, Lightweight, just seen your reply.

I wrote to the DGR admin lot twice, querying how ride allocation works, but they didn't reply. They also haven't published any of the routes yet (to stop 'uninvited' riders joining in for free) and won't do so until on the day, which doesn't give me any time to figure out which ride would be best for me or plan how I am going to get there (without a sat nav).

Also, the London ride currently has 1,042 riders subscribed to it and according to the DGR blurb that can't be allowed to actually happen!?

For now, I have swapped myself over the East Sussex ride (even though I have no idea where it will take place), but am not actually sure if I will go on the day now. There are only 24 riders on it, so it's hardly going to be much of an occasion and besides, my bike's off the road at the moment having a re-wire and new ignition system fitted (which may or may not be finished by 25th). The way I see it, they've got my sponsorship money now, which is the main point of all this. If I don't go, I'm not letting anyone down.

Shame that it can't all be better organised though, as it would have been nice to know whether or not I had a 'firm booking' and the chance to memorise the London route in case I had to stop and fiddle with the bike (as often happens).

 

I have an email confirming my place on the London ride, I'm assuming that can't be withdrawn, so I'm going to get myself to somewhere like the Excel early on the day and see what occurs from there. It apparently kicks off in East London near the river so the other side of the Blackwall Tunnel seems like a good area to aim for!
Shame, would have been good to have someone else from the area with me

 

Good that you are confirmed on the London ride, LW - that's the one to be on for sure .

Sadly, it looks like I won't be taking part on any of the rides now . My sodding Bonneville has developed an ignition problem that neither I nor my (more knowledgable) brother can solve, despite fitting a completely new ignition system and so I am left with one and a half days in which to find a solution, otherwise I've got nothing to ride .

Shame! Looks like I grew this awful, scratchy, grey beard for nothing .

On the plus side (or not) though, being involved with this event was enough to spur me on to see about getting a prostate examination (for the first time ever), so I will be having that done at 8.30am tomorrow . When I get back from that, I have to work on the bike, so I'll be going from one PITA to another .

 

Well, the ride is done and what an amazing day!
I don't think that anybody there had an exhaust baffle fitted - I thought the Thruxton was loud but when I finished at Regents Park I was pretty much deaf!
1000 bikes make a hell of a noise, especially when you thread them through Parliament Square...
At one stage we were sat at the lights on the embankment, 8 abreast and about 20 deep - utter lunacy!
There weren't a lot of vintage bikes but there were loads of custom bikes, bobbers, flat trackers, cafe racers and chops everywhere. I think my pillion and I nailed it on the riding gear, I thought we might look a bit odd but but apparently every nutter in London had turned out and we were pretty middle of the road.
Many, many thanks for the sponsorship, I had an awesome day and it went to a great cause. I wouldn't, incidentally, recommend anybody ride to London and back in nothing but tweed like I did (just in case you were thinking about giving it a go!)

 

Well done! The outfits look just right and it sounds like a really different experience.