In some ways, the most exciting moment of last Sunday's Distinguished Gentleman's Ride occurred before it had properly started. Making my way from south London, I spotted up ahead a man on a military-style green vintage machine with a sidecar. At the lights, I asked him if he was going on the ride.
"What do you think?" he answered good-naturedly. I asked if he knew the way and he said he did, more or less, so I decided to follow him. We wove our way northwards, crossed Tower Bridge and turned out east. As we neared the Olympic Park, we were joined by groups of riders, dapperly dressed on retro-style bikes, all heading for the gathering site. It was like a coming-together of a giant tweedy biker gang on the sparsely populated Sunday morning roads of the capital. The mood was polite, good-humoured and very "gentlemanly". Which is exactly what the organisers had in mind.
As a registered rider, I'd received an email explaining the rules. These included "Your gear must be dapper", "Your behaviour must be impeccable, on and off the road", and "This ride is a charity event, but it's also designed to show bikers at their best: quirky, individualistic, but also some of the best people you could ever know. If that's not your style or intention, please don't come. No revving, beeping, wheelies or ASBO behaviour." If this sounds bizarre, then you need to understand the point of this annual event.
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The Distinguished Gentleman's Ride was founded by Mark Hawwa in Sydney, Australia, after he saw a picture of a suited Don Draper from Mad Men sitting on a classic bike. Hawwa thought a sartorially themed ride would be a way to tackle negative stereotypes of bikers. The first ride, in 2012, attracted more than 2,500 riders in 64 cities. This success inspired the founder to think about how the event could be used to support a charity.
In 2013, more than 11,000 riders in 145 cities around the world raised upwards of $277,000 for prostate cancer research; in 2014, there were more than 20,000 bikers in 58 countries (257 cities) and the figure raised for the same charity was in excess of $1.5m; and in 2015, numbers hit 37,000 participants across 79 nations (410 cities) with more than $2.3m donated.
Sunday's ride was slightly different in that the fundraising was for both prostate cancer research and men's mental health programmes, but the format was the same. All over the world, men (and some women) donned their finest – often tweedy – outfits and took to the roads on retro-styled machines. Genuine vintage cafe racers, scramblers and choppers mingled with modern old-school models by the likes of Triumph, Ducati and Moto Guzzi. This year, registration topped 56,000 riders, with more than $3,350,000 raised so far, and more to come, as donations are accepted until 31 October.
Last year, I participated in the Milan ride, but this year it was London, where we congregated near the Olympic Stadium and then rode into town, past the Tower of London, to Westminster, Trafalgar Square and up to the finishing line at Regent's Park. Rumour had it we were 1,000 strong and it certainly felt like we were taking over the roads. As part of the Zenith watches team (the company is a sponsor, along with Triumph motorcycles), I sported a Zenith Pilot Ton-Up watch, a white shirt, red knitted tie, vintage-style brown leather jacket, blue woollen fitted trousers and zip-up boots. Don Draper would have been proud.
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