So I realised a couple of days ago that this coming Sunday was the Distinguished Gentleman's ride, when, worldwide, bikers wheel out their classic bikes, put on their best period clothing and ride through the streets in aid of prostate cancer. Keen to take part I registered for the London ride, only to find out that my Tiger wasn't deemed a suitable steed. No problem, I could solve that by hiring a suitable bike for the weekend; in no time I'd found and collected a Triumph Bonneville from my local friendly hire shop (Superbike rental Brentwood-highly recommended), although the first bump in the road came when Mark the friendly owner asked what I was going to wear for the ride. Well, I do have an open-face helmet with multi-colour Union flag painted on that I've never worn so that's headgear sorted; as for the rest, well I threw away all my old clothes so would have to buy something suitable immediately.
The second bump in the road came when I rode the bike home - Bonnevilles are quite small bikes and I'm quite a big chap, I felt like an Elephant riding a moped! Got home with aching knees, hips and back and started to realise I wasn't going to enjoy spending all day on that bike. Then popped down the Triumph dealer to see what suitable clothing they might have; found a great Barbour jacket, but hang on it's £350! Some soul searching later and I came up with plan B - don't buy a jacket I'll never wear again, don't ride a bike that will cause me pain for days afterwards, just donate the money to charity and spend the day riding the Tiger instead.
So yet again a failure, although when I took the bonneville back they were quite understanding, and I did ride home the long way so had a nice couple of hours on the Tiger. Got home and made the donation; at least I've got the photo I took with the bike to remind me never to think about getting a classsic bike!
