Distinguished Gentlemen’s Ride: “I remember the first time I came on a Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride in London. I was super excited about what to expect. I headed to the start with a great friend of mine, Roy, as it’s all about friends and like-minded people.
– Charlie Boorman, DGR Ambassador
I joined a group of bikers last year who were riding through Townsville on classic motorcycles raising money for men’s health. The ride was for the charity the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride. The event was a great experience, with huge range of classic motorbikes on display and lots of throaty well tuned engines to listne to.
The sound of a well-tuned classic motorcycle with its deep throaty sound and classic motorbike look riding together through town is a great sight to see. There’s a sense of nostalgia that classic motorcycles bring out in every mechanically savvy man or woman. Not to mention the eighty or so well dressed riders. I’m not sure I can put into words what that feeling was, although I suspect it’s not really a feeling, it’s more like a ‘Vibe’. This vibe has its beginnings in a simpler time, notably the heady days of the 50s, and 60s where it was accompanied by a rock and roll soundtrack.




The stats say it all
The statistic on men’s health say it all, one of the big killers of men is Prostate Cance. Prostate cancer kills one hundred and thirteen in every one hundred thousand men. It is the second biggest cause of cancer deaths in Australia just behind breast cancer. In some parts of the world it is a greater cause of death, but until very recently, it was not as well known in the general community and therefore had not received anywhere near the funding or public awareness that breast cancer research had. The DGR was one of a number of charities established to change public perceptions and bring awareness of men’s health issues to the wider community.





Men killing themselves
Men die for all sorts of reasons and cancer is not the only cause of premature death in men in Australia. Suicide contributes to the death of a little over twenty-four people in every one hundred thousand Australians. Of these almost nineteen in every one hundred thousand are men and almost six in one hundred thousand are women. In Australia, the highest rate of suicide is among men between the ages of forty and fifty-nine. The rate of suicide amongst this group is almost thirty men in every one hundred thousand. That’s a little over three times more men commit suicide than women.
There is a disproportional response to men’s health than women’s, which can be attributed to a number of factors. These include, but are not limited to womens’ ability to freely communicate their issues, and the lack of notoriety given to men’s health generally.
But men are also unwilling to talk about their issues or go to the doctor for check ups or talk to other men about their problems. We use phrases like “She’ll be right mate”. This is too easy to say and hides a feeling of vulnerability, something that us men don’t like to feel. This stubbornness and unwillingness to communicate our needs or fears is literally killing thousands of men.
Grow a Mo Bro let’s talk
Over the past 20 years charities have focused on men’s health, one of the early men’s health specific charities that contributed to this change in awareness was Movember. It started in 2003 in Sydney and is now recognised world wide with over six million participants annually. The three big challenges addressed by Movember include mental health, prostate and testicular cancers. The movement has funded over one thousand, three hundred and twenty programs to date in support men. What Movember did that was to rally men to the cause and engage them in a uniquely male way, by providing an activity where men could talk about and issue and seek support of other men. Growing a Mo and having conversations about men’s health issues enables a pathway to deeper conversations which leads to action. Through this approach it raised millions of dollars for alternative treatments and cancer research.





Bikers unite
Movember keyed into a specific trait that men have more than any other, competition. How big is your Mo, Bro. Let’s face it only men generally can grow a mostache. It’s a personal thing. At the same time challenging each other to raise more and more money to support Bro’s health.
One of the key successes of the Movember charity was to get men talking with other men about the mostaches which led to men talking about health which inturn, led to men making the issue more public and less stigmatised. In 2012 an enterprising man by the name of Mark Hawwa joined forces with Movember to create a new subsidery to the successful Movember movement, it known as a niche charity called the Distinguished Gentlemen’s Ride (DGR). The DGR is a premier event on the calendar of all classic bikers and would be cafe racers. Over the past 11 years the ride has raised over forty five million US dollars, engaged one hundred and sixty thousand riders in 107 countries.
Riding helps with mental health
In my book “Why is it called the outback” I talk about the importance of freedom of the mind and how experiences and places can change your mind set. Riding a motorcycle around the country is not always a positive experience, sometimes shit happens and you just need to deal with it. This builds resilience and confidence. I call these times “Moments” and “WoW” factors. I have heard these also referred to as “Shimmers” which is the opposite of emotional triggers. How you deal with mental illness like depression is difficult, and way beyond this blog. It’s enough to say triggers create negative emotions where as moments and WoW factors create positive emotions. A day of riding my cafe racer, dressed as a dapper gentleman is a moment, meeting like minded people with awesome motorcycles is a WoW factor. A win win for mental health.
Without going into the world of deep seated trauma and distructive childhood conditioning, there’s an idea that our mental health is like the scales of justice. Stress, relationship concerns, and money problems contribute to negativity that makes us feel bad, and often trigger deeper phychological trauma. They might even trigger feelings of hopelessness, drawing us into depression. While WoW factors like seeing a majestic animals in the wild, or a cascading water fall or moments such as a beautiful sunset, repairing your bike tyre on the side of the road for the first time, or a sign on the side of the road that makes you laugh. Such as one I saw in a small town west of Dalby that said ‘A1 Used Cars’, in the car yard was a collection old cars rusting away. These feelings add to our mental wellbeing and rebalance our mental health scale.



Why classic motorcycles and dressing up?
There are two aspects of the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride (DGR) that attract a particular type of man. The first is a love for mechanical things, motorcycles are objects that represent the best in mechanical engineering. At the same time the classic motorcycle harks back to a more simplistic time without the stress of modern life. The second is a love of nostalgia and culture, wearing ‘Dapper Clothing’ (see my blog post https://digitalswaggie.com.au/dapper-clothing-for-distinquished-gentlemen) and parading your classic motorcycle creates a sense of achievement, comradere and connectedness that takes us back (metaphorically) to another time, when men were gentlemen. The day starts with an assembly in the morning, a look at all the gleaming motorcycles and conversations that start with phrases such as “Is that a “Norton Commando 850?”. A connection is made.
What can you do to help?
There are three things that you can do to help with The Distinguished Gentlemen’s Ride, these include:
- Dust off your classic motorcycle and register as a rider. Check out the following post to see what is considered a classic bike for the ride: https://www.gentlemansride.com/about/style-guide Don’t forget turn up on the day dressed in your best dapper clothing. See my blog post “Dapper Clothing for the Distinguished Gentleman” Click the following link to learn more: https://digitalswaggie.com.au/dapper-clothing-for-the-distinguished-gentleman
- Sponsor or support a local rider. You can sponsor me by clicking on the following link:
- Come along and watch, bring you kids and family and have a look at the bikes. Maybe start a conversation or share your stories. You may also want to visit the DGR web site and buy some merchandise: https://www.gentlemansride.com
I need help
Sometimes it’s difficult to to see the silver lining in life if you’re so far down a hole of depression. It’s at times like this where you might need some help or at least a ladder to get yourself out of the hole. The DGR charity have some excellent resources to get you started. Check this site out, it might help: https://conversations.movember.com/en/therapy-for-men/#video1
Donate
Riding for men’s health in the Distinguished Gentlemen’s Ride has become a passion of mine, it aligns with the narrative in my soon to be released book. If you can’t come down for a ride on Sunday 19th May, would you like to donate some money to this really important cause. Click on the button below, it will take you to my fund raising page.