Saturday, June 22nd, 2024

Distance ridden 116 kilometres

The HOG Chapter of Prague is a considerable “mover”, in tandem with other parties, in a number of charitable causes. One charity where the chapter is a Prime Mover is BfV or Bikers for Veterans, where funds are raised for the welfare of ex-service personnel.

There is an annual ride for the benefit of this charity each year, where participants are expected to pay a small contribution in order to be able join in. This year the “fee” was three hundred Czech Crowns, but of course, most of those who contributed gave more than that. As a “reward” for their contributions, riders were given vouchers for a snack, drink and coffee at our destination.

The gathering point was in the substantial car park of the large shopping centre, Obchodní Centrum (OC) Letňany (Veselská 663, Praha 9) which lies to the north of the city, just outside its ring-road. As well as the Harley-Davidsons from HOG Prague, other chapters were represented as well as various groups of bikers riding machines of every make.

There was quite a crowd and I noticed not only apparently serving soldiers but also groups representing the military, both past and present, of other nations. Two TV stations were there to film the events.

As the time for the ride approached, the Director of HOG Praha, Kamil Bernard, presented Army General Lenka Šmerdová of BfV with a “cheque” for the donations collected previously. Sadly, this was done so quickly, that I did not catch it !

It was then hugs all round, including a huge one from HOG Prague’s Jiří Schön, known affectionately as “Hellboy” (and if you saw him you would know why that is). General Šmerdová also rides in a specially painted helmet which carries the HOG Prague logo.

Then, after a few speeches to the crowd and the media from General Šmerdová, another key BfV organising figure, Josef Mlejnek and Kamil Bernard, which amusingly used the loudspeaker system from one of the Police escort bikes, we were ready to go.

There was a quick consultation between the police outriders and the orange jacketed “vesťáci” and we were off.

Sadly, Lucie was unable to join me so there are no pictures of the ride itself. Our destination was the Vojenské technické muzeum (Military Technical Museum) (Lešany, 25744 Lešany) – it is in a small village, hence the somewhat non-specific address. Lešany is a small village about forty kilometres south of Prague.

With outriders from both the Military and Civilian Police and their associated blue-lights, we had a very sedate and law-abiding ride. It was quite fun, actually, because with all the “official” escorts, we did not get any psychos in cars trying to overtake at all. We circumnavigated the city on its western side, which meant a ride through a number of tunnels on the inner ring-road. All those V-Twins in a tunnel at once would have made a great soundtrack ! Then it was out into the very green countryside where the sun was shining brightly. The extensive column made its way down some lovely country roads and we all arrived at the military museum where the gates had been thrown open wide so that we were all able to park inside the grounds.

There was access to everything and, naturally, refreshment and souvenir stands had been set up. I am not really a T-Shirt person and so I bought a couple of cans of a special BfV beer, brewed by the Matuška brewery for the event, for when I got home. I am sure you understand.

Most of us riders had a quick look around and I was particularly interested by the tank, painted a bright pink, tank that stands just inside the gates of the museum. The pink part is the work of the Czech artist David Černý. The tank is (supposedly) the actual one (Tank 23) that was the first to enter Prague on the day of its “Liberation” by Russian forces in May 1945. It has a contentious history, which I need not repeat here as it is easily researched if you are interested. It is quite a sight !

Then, after a few more words of thanks from General Šmerdová, which again used a Police escort bike loudspeaker system, that was about it.

Riders were starting to leave in dribs and drabs, so I did too. Somehow, I managed to lose the route we had followed to get there, but I am familiar with the area and soon regained a road I did know and rode home, all by myself, in the sunshine.

A day out for a worthy cause.