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Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride Traverse City: Dapper Dudes Riding Vintage Motorcycles for Men’s Health

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Vintage motorcycles are soon to be taking over Traverse City for the annual Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride event on Sunday, September 29th. Men (and women) in 700 cities worldwide will parade their motorcycles and get dressed up to raise awareness and funds for men’s mental health and prostate cancer research. “It’s just a great awareness, get together, ride motorcycles, dress up, be silly and raise some money all at the same time,” says Jeff Simonis who rides every year.

Local organizer and host, Matthew Zerilli doesn’t just ride for the bow ties and his love of vintage/retro bikes. He’s doing it for the man who fueled this passion. “I ride every year for my Uncle George who died of suicide in 2003. He’s the guy that introduced me to motorcycles in the first place. The first ride I ever had was on the back of his motorcycle. He was a fun loving guy and it was one of those deals that so many times, nobody knew he was struggling and one day he was gone. It kind of left us all scratching our heads,” says Matt Zerilli.

According to the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride website, 1 million men die each year from suicide or prostate cancer. Their sole mission is to get rid of the stigma of men asking for help. “It’s just kind of that classic rub some dirt on it and it will go away– but mental health as we’re learning is a complicated issue. We want to make sure that people feel comfortable reaching out for help if they need it,” explains Matt Zerilli.

It’s not too late to sign up or catch them on their parade route on Old Mission Peninsula.

The route is around the Front and State Street one way loop.

The group will meet in the morning around 9 a.m. and the final laps will start around 12:30 p.m.

From more information, you can contact the local organizer Matt Zerilli for more information: triumphmatt77@gmail.com

 

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