Hairy Biker

[skirtedbrit]

In the UK we have had until recently 2 TV chefs called ' The Hairy Bikers'. These 2 friends had entertained us for over 20 years with not just their love of food but their travels around Britain but also around the world, travelling on a wide collection of motorbikes. Simon King ( Si or Kingy ) is from the North east of England and Dave Myers was from my home town of Barrow-in-Furness in North west England close to the Lake District national park. I say ' was ' because Dave died from cancer earlier this year.
These two stood out because they were such down to earth people that everyone could relate to them. They engaged with everyone they met on a very warm and human level which has endeared them to the entire nation. Barrow is a smallish shipbuilding town considered to be fairly remote but set in a beautiful landscape of mountains, estuaries and the Irish sea. Dave loved his town and always said good things about it whilst recognizing that every place has its problems. The Hairy Bikers also did other work such as writing some 30 cookbooks and appearing on stage around the country giving cooking demonstrations. My wife and I went to one of these events at Barrows Forum theatre and was greatly encouraged to see Dave wearing a dress.
After Daves funeral his widow, Lili, and Si wanted to do something to commenerate and celebrate his life initially with a bike ride of a couple of hundred bikers. This became ' Dave Day ' a mass ride from London to Barrow with all sorts of events in Barrow. This idea exploded into one of the most extraordinary events of outpouring of love and affection for Dave. Initially it was thought that up to 10,000 bikers would do the journey but official police figures came to 45,000 bikers!!! Some rode hundreds of miles down to London just to be in this event whilst others come from many countries including as far afield as Malaysia. Tens of thousands lined motorway bridges, local and national TV and radio covered the event and on the road from the motorway to Barrow (the A590) everywhere you could stand there were people standing, waving and welcoming the bikers. My wife and I stood for over 2 hours watching and waving and they were still coming when we left. Many of the bikers were in tears because of the warm and loving welcome they received. Many, many locals threw open their homes and gardens for free accommodation after the bikers 270+ mile ride.

Dave and Si had touched everyone in the country with their friendly and peaceful attitudes and achieved more than the shouty bullying TV chefs, the vile macho toxicity which receives so much publicity in the media. There are more real men who lead by example, who are warm friendly loving men that are not frightened of their emotions then there are nasty men but the nasties get the attention and this is a rare event where real people can show the world real humanity.

[crfriend]

That''s a sad, but very touching story, SB. Thanks for posting it.

Yes, indeed, real men dominate the landscape but nobody notices them because of the active marginalisation of men in general which focuses very deliberately about bad and very unhealthy behaviours that most simply do not exhibit.

Sounds like those two lived life to the fullest and enjoyed every minute of it.

[FranTastic444]

Sad to hear of his passing. A number of our go-to recipes are taken from the Hairy Biker / Hairy Dieter books.