Yesterday, I attended my first Toy Run ®.  For those of you who do not know what this is, it is an annual event organised by the biking community.  Bikers from all backgrounds, groups and “gangs” get together all over South Africa and take part in a mass ride, bringing with them toys for underprivileged children.  I attended the Pretoria run that ran from the Kolonade to the Carousel.  I was in the car with my son, so I drove from home directly to the Carousel and was not part of the mass ride.  I had been told that seeing so many bikes was quite spectacular so I wanted to photograph their arrival.

I was not disappointed.  What an amazing experience.  The diversity in the groups of people there was mind boggling.  What caught my attention were the “tough” gangs, who arrived looking very intimidating.  Many of them were highly tattooed, some carrying weapons quite openly.  They were really rough looking characters and in normal day to day life I’d probably make a point of avoiding them. These “tough” guys all arrived laden with soft toys either cable tied to their bikes or to themselves.  Some of them were almost hidden behind the soft toys, that you had to look very carefully to see if there was indeed a biker, or if the teddy bear was riding and being operated by remote control.  It was almost laughable looking at the contradiction – a tattooed tough guy, wearing a bandanna, with a cigarette and a beer in one hand and an enormous cuddly toy in the other.  The sheer number of bikes and people in attendance was almost overwhelming.  But what touched me the most, was the fact that all these people, from such diverse backgrounds and cultures, could put all those differences aside to come together in support of the underprivileged children in our country.

I am not a “biker chick” by any stretch of the imagination.  I did attend the Oyster Festival with some friends in the Harley Davidson Club in Cape Town a few years back.  I enjoyed riding on the bike and seeing the spectacular views around the coast.  I’ve done it, it was great, but I do not feel drawn to be on the back of a bike.  However, the thrill of standing on the side of the road and hearing the roar of those engines, and being in the midst of such camaraderie is indescribably awesome.  I literally had “goose bumps” when the bikes were coming in in their droves.  If you only look at my make up, hair style and what I was wearing, I should have been a total outcast among the biker community.  Yet I was made to feel so welcome.  I don’t think that I have ever been in such a large crowd and spoken to so many people that I’ve never met before and felt so “at home”.  These rough & tough biker guys were my knights in shining armour at one point, but I’ll tell you about that in another post.

My brother and his wife ride for the CMA, and since they started riding I have been gaining more tolerance and respect for the biking community.  Yesterday however, just blew me out of the water and I have a new found respect for ALL bikers.  Of course you have those that are inconsiderate on the roads and make us car drivers mad.  But there are people driving cars who make me just as angry.

I have always believed the old adage “do not judge a book by its cover” has merit.  At the Toy Run that message was made real to me in a whole new way.  Give people a chance, they might just surprise you.

Here are a few photographs taken on the day. The rest I will post to Flickr and my Facebook Fans page for you to view there.

Some (not all) of the bikes parked

The Queue to hand in toys

Biker with his beer and soft toy

Joshua with the toys he gave

Carrying arm loads of toys

A gorgeous "little" pink haired girl

Biker who lost his leg in an accident arrived on a bike with toys