Editors Views
Saturday 29th May began with an overcast and ominous dawn to Bill’s great adventure. On my way to Box Hill and Ryka’s Café on that damp morning, I thought about how many others would be shrugging on their waterproofs and braving the drizzle to join us. Compared to Bill’s trans European journey to the borders of Iraq, a soggy ride down to Dover didn’t seem like much of a challenge and I was heartened to see around one hundred other bikers arrive at Box Hill to support his fund raising for the Army Benevolent Fund. Thank you to all who joined us for the ride to Dover – it turned into a very wet slog through slow traffic in the urban bits of Surrey and Kent. I would also like to thank Kent and Surrey police motorcyclists for their great organisational skills and guidance throughout the day.
We were helped immensely by Unity, a group of volunteer advanced riders who marked our route and assisted the police in marshalling our ride from Box Hill to Dover. Especial thanks must go to Debbie, who put a huge amount of time and effort into this event, making all the arrangements and raising over one thousand pounds on the day for the soldier’s charity.
Bill’s odyssey got me thinking; I had lots of time to think during that long ride while the rain drummed constantly on my visor… Why are we doing this? I could think of many other charity events organised by bikers for a great variety of good causes. Some were toy runs to local hospitals and care homes, others globe spanning mega events – but the message is the same. Ordinary bikers taking on sometimes great personal sacrifice to help others.
The non biking public, press and depressingly even Sussex police seem to regard us as anti social thugs who delight in scaring little old ladies and doing our best to commit suicide on public roads. The reality is somewhat different. Maybe it’s because we enjoy what we do so much that we’re keen to give something to others less fortunate. This is probably a subject for someone more qualified with lots of letters after their name, but I see a lot of good being done by the biking community and I don’t think we get adequate recognition for that. But then, who cares? We’ve got our bikes and still enough freedom on the roads to enjoy them. Some lunatic even mentioned a barbeque summer is on the cards. Life can’t be all that bad after all, whatever people think of us!