Any of you folks signed up to one of the Distinguished Gentlemen’s Ride events this weekend.?
There’s a couple near to me, the one in Lincs shows as full, but there’s another across the river in Hull with spaces.
Anyone taken part in the past.?
Any experiences.?
I’ve done a couple - not at either of those locations though. It can be a right laugh, and a fine thing to do, provided that it is a) well organised, and b) everyone enters into the spirit of the day.
Spirit of the day: dress as a gentleman. Or a lady, if you prefer. I acquired some of that ‘under armour’ - Knox brand, in my case. And was then able to wear a shirt and tie, and a waistcoat over that - so ‘protected’ but looking otherwise. Smart trousers, polished shoes. Looking good, feeling good. And the majority of the other folk were similarly “dressed dapper”. But a contingent turned up on sports bikes, full leather riding gear, and… well, you know, it wasn’t the occasion for that really.
Well organised: the (global) organisers are at great pains to insist that all local rides follow the letter of the law - red lights obeyed, rights of way preserved, etc. etc. On one occasion I rode, a local crew ‘marshaled’ and held junctions, kept the column together through traffic lights and roundabouts, etc. Not strictly legit, but (my view here) the column then passed by relatively quickly (minimal disruption), cars were not crossing through the column or trapped amidst the bikes, and everyone stayed together - it seemed, to me, that this way the column was ‘safer’, no rushing to catch up and so on. On a later occasion, we had none of that ‘marshaling; and within minutes, the column that set off together was broken up into small groups, all riding at different paces, trying to guess where the rest had got to, and all sorts of shenanigans with people trying to catch up and so forth.
Just a couple of observations from my experience. But it was a hoot. Do it. It is also for a jolly good cause.
Cheers Barry.
I rode with a Hells Angels group attending the funeral of one of their leaders here in Grimsby.
They ‘held’ the traffic back at each junction and it worked really well, though with something like 1000 bikes, most ridden by Angels and many helmetless, nobody was going to complain overly 
This will be my fourth year and did it in 2023 on the Le Mans with a mate on his (mine is the red one). 2022 and 2024 on a 1950 Sunbeam and this year is on a Rickman Metisse cafe racer.
Always dome the Bristol run and always had good weather and a good time, well organised and great variety of bikes.
I’m doing it this year in york, no spaces left in Newcastle
