Daily Mirror man criticises colleague over Wootton Bassett poke

A DAILY MIRROR columnist has stepped in to defend his fellow bikers after one of his colleagues panned last weekend's Afghan Heroes charity motorcycle ride through Wootton Bassett.

Following the hugely successful motorcycle fund-raising event, which saw over 15,000 people attend the Mother's Day rally, Mirror current affairs correspondent Chris Hughes raised tempers after criticising the ride in his Monday-morning rant:

'NOW we've seen it all - hundreds of bikers showing their "solidarity with frontline troops," by trundling their petrol guzzling and fume spewing steeds through Wootton Bassett.' blurted Hughes.

'But I wonder if someone - just for a change - could set a trend by doing something they hate doing to raise money for good causes. And something that isn't so public and... well.... so annoying?'

Hughes continues:

'It's amusing that the good people of WB can't possibly object to having their high street clogged up by hairy biker types because it's all in a good cause. Mainly because I don't have to live there and put up with the inconvenience.'

Cheeky bastard.

Following Hughes' derogatory comments, fellow Mirror man and motorcyclist Graham Brough has leapt into the breach to fire a shot back at his colleague. In his piece, Brough responds:

'I had to put him right on a few things.

I told him I could see his logic in spotting that fund-raising often follows the lines of people's hobbies like running or cycling for charity. But he was missing the point.

To his credit, he listened and immediately started writing a response to his biker critics.

Chris risks his life to follow our troops into battle and it took a bit of bottle on his part today to admit he had perhaps misunderstood the motivations of the bikers in Wiltshire yesterday.

Here are the points I made - fairly robustly - to him today which I hope represent fellow bikers' thinking:

1. Bikers don't belong to a single tribe with one way of thinking and anyone who can't see past a few beards and a bit of chrome or bright plastic will never appreciate the fact that the same variety of opinions exist in biking as anywhere else.

2. Just because you have a two-wheeled vehicle instead of a car shouldn't devalue your desire to show gratitude and solidarity with the brave soldiers who have risked and even forfeited their lives on our behalf.

3. It's no joy ride to cover hundreds of miles across Britain on a cold March day to pay your respects and raise money for our heroes. It makes your wrists and bum ache and back, your fingers go numb from the vibrations and cold and your feet might not respond when you put them on the floor after a slog across wintry England.

4. You used the greenest form of transport available to get there, far less fuel than any car driver. But it still cost you to get there, not only for a few tankfuls at £15 to £20 a throw but also the bacon sarnies and tea you need to keep refuelling with to keep away the cold and the fatigue as you sit hunched and trying to concentrate on the four wheeled assassins trying to knock you off. A lot of aching bones would have had to slip into tubs of hot water or beer that night.

5. Bikers don't share identikit thoughts, feelings and views on things like wars and patriotism but we do tend to have an esprit de corps and vague feeling of fellowship which means a fund-raising group of bikers is a fairly easy and effective thing to organise, compared to trying to convince a load of car drivers to leave the car park at IKEA and drive in convoy to Wiltshire...which is frankly never going to happen.

6. Bikers - like lorry drivers - share a courtesy and concern for each other on the road which car drivers can barely comprehend. Motorist rev alongside each other at the lights whereas we often pull up a few inches short of the junction as a way of saying to the biker who got there first 'you go first mate'. This tendency to be more decent to other road users means we are less selfish than some drivers of four wheels and a metal box. And that sense of decency, reciprocated by other bikers over years of riding can, in itself, lead to wanting to support folk we might never meet - like our own armed forces in their toughest moments.

7. Chris might have had a poke for which he is now apologising but here's another Mirror journalist who would have been proud to help show bikers' gratitude for sacrifice we can barely comprehend.

Well said, Mr Brough. Superior in every respect.