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Tafadzwa Zimoyo : Lifestyle Writer
Their bikes slice through the air like earthbound rockets. Ear-piercing wild roars from the bikes’ exhaust pipes rend the air, demanding the attention of fellow road users – pedestrians and drivers. Other people rush from the shops to catch sight of the source of the loud deep-throated sounds while fellow road users brake for a moment to witness these “zany” bikers.The titles of movies like “Rough Riders” or “Ghost Riders” quickly come to mind, because on the surface that is exactly what they look like — characters taken from one of those Hollywood movies!
Except there are no tattoos of skulls and crossed bones, nude girls, snakes and a heart with an arrow piercing through it in sight.
Not a single one.
Neither do they ride with cheroots or even plain ordinary cigarettes dangling from the corners of their mouths.
While to some people the word “daredevil” — meaning a person who enjoys doing dangerous or reckless things — might apply to them — the fact is that these riders are doing it for fun, passion and desire to promote biking in Zimbabwe.
Known as the Zimbabwe Free Riders, the group founded last year has a membership of 21 riders and a fan group of 143 registered members.
“We are not outlaws, and while the term ‘rough riders’ has stuck on us like glue, we are on the other hand the opposite of what some people would like to think.
“We are law-abiding citizens who are into this game and sport of biking just for the fun of it. This is one way in which we enjoy passing time far away from the demands of our professions.
“In fact, if you look at the composition of our members, you will find that we are respectable. For instance, the president of our group, Mr Herbert Mutasa, is a lawyer. We also have medical doctors and accountants, among other professionals,”said Zim Free Riders chairman Ngoni Chimbalu who transforms into General Nato, once he is astride his steel steed.
Far from being hell-bent on destruction and striking fear into the hearts of timid citizens to fit the perception of biker gangs,
The Free Riders have taken biking to another level by lending a humanitarian face to it.
“We are involved in various outreach programmes that have seen us reaching out to the rural communities and extending a charitable hand. For instance, recently we were in Bhora where we donated stationery.
“We are also occasionally contracted to perform, rather, ride at weddings and parties and this is also one way of taking biking to the people and increase an interest in it,” General Nato said.
He added: “We want to inspire various communities in Zimbabwe that they too can do it, and just like in other sport disciplines like soccer, tennis, cricket, rugby and netball, biking can have its own talents which are unfortunately unidentified and hidden in some of the youths who need to be identified, promoted and exposed to the world of biking.
“We are also out to break the myth that biking is an elite or exclusive sport which belongs only to a certain class. It is for everyone — it is for the people.”
The bikers hold fortnightly rides as a group. Daring members of the fan club also come along for a ride as passengers who cling on for dear life during the exciting laps.
“We are Class 3 licence holders and no mandatory weight is required for a biker unless he or she is racing for a professional sporting competition,” added General Nato’s fellow rider, Timothy Maphosa, aka Zola.
Zola said although female riders are fewer, they are on equal footing with their male counterparts.
“We have three ladies who are members of the bikers’ group, and they own their own bikes.
“This is part of our drive to promote gender parity in all sectors,” said Zola, a professional biker who has taken part in various biking competitions such as the All Bikers Stunt Competition held in Durban, South Africa.
Zola is renowned for his unique stunts and these include his favourite 100-metre act on wheel, tyre burning as well as the breath-taking heady jumps and spins.
“The longest ride that we have held in Zimbabwe is from Harare to Bulawayo enroute to Beitbridge and this took us a day. We dubbed this ‘Cape to Cairo’.
“This has inspired us to moot plans of starting our League of Bikers in future. This is the reason why we are currently lobbying for arrangements with the manufacturers of the models of the bikes we use to have some of the latest bikes sold in Zimbabwe. They should also make spare parts available.
“This is so because we have realised that biking is a highly respected profession,” said General Nato, whose role model is Valentino Ross, the current title holder of Moto GP.
General Nato — who has been riding for the past seven years before becoming the chairman of the Zimbabwe Free Riders expressed the group’s disgust with the road hog tendencies of some motorists on Zimbabwe’s roads.
“One of the biggest challenges that we face is that of motorists who sideline us to the outer lane of the road while the fact is that we too have the right to use the road,” he said.
The bikers can take a little solace in the realisation that this is nothing personal. Many Zimbabwean motorists are just terrible road citizens.
But at speeds that can exceed 300 kilometres per hour, the bikers can soon zoom past all the ill feelings, as long as no traffic cop is in sight, of course.
Online Reporter