Cowboys

Dressing up as a cow and riding a bicycle is not as easy as it sounds. There’s the heat of the suit, the swinging tail and the udders. Riding an ice cream bicycle is a whole new ball game. 6 men attempt the 94.7 bicycle race raising money for the CHOC charity and doing something that has never been done before. Will they succeed?

Knowing that Albie (2nd cow on the left) and Richard (1st cow on the left) were both involved, I sensed trouble. Or was it danger?

Albie, my eldest brother, once begged me to stand in his stead as a male-stripper for a friend’s hen party because my brother’s wife didn’t think it appropriate that he perform the striptease in front of thirty slightly inebriated twenty somethings. At the time I knew it was a bad idea. But part of me sensed his predicament and his tendencies to become involved in impossible situations, and I capitulated.

Richard, one of my best friend’s from school who was the only guy ever to annihilate all and sundry when it came to the annual cross country, was the reason we were separated into different classes in standard 9. He is currently a snake handler. Knowing he was an accomplice meant that the venture would certainly not be boring.

Albie: Rob, you’re entered in the 94.7 Joburg bike ride – right?
Rob: What do you want?
Albie: Come to my house for dinner with the guys. We’re doing the race in cow suits!
Rob: Are you mad?
Albie: It’s for kids with cancer. Rich will be on his ice cream bicycle. That’s hard. Doing it in a cow suit will be a piece of cake!

It was at that dinner that I became aware that Cordi (1st cow on the right) was the general in this escapade, Albie and Richard his mere pawns. Steven (2nd cow on the right), Grant and I had been roped in as the minions, the glue to hold this band of brothers together. I became acutely aware that in this whole episode, when it came to the crunch, we would be the first sent out the trenches.

A plan was brewing and Cordi’s mind began working overtime. Everyone agreed that raising money for CHOC (Kids with Cancer) would be a noble endeavour. That was simple. The logistics of riding a bicycle a hundred metres could be troublesome, let alone a race of 94.7 kilometres.

As I write I have no clue how on earth we will find the suits, let alone tailor them to allow us to sit on the bike. We have things like horns and tails to think about which, to my knowledge, have never been considered in the classical bicycle design. And don’t even get me started on udders!

As for Richard, he’s got to lug an ice cream bicycle (with umbrella) which weighs around 150 kg’s. Impossible on uphills, suicidal on downhills.

The 6 moooers & Chocers are:
Cordi van Niekerk
Steven Proudfoot
Richard Laskey
Roberto Riccardi
Grant Greef
Alberto Riccardi

If you are able to sponsor, you’ll find details on http://www.backabuddy.co.za/Roberto

The 94.7 bike ride takes place on the 16th November 2008.

Thanks very much,
~RobbyRicc