Saturday, 12 October 2013

Wolfe Pack India

Bike riding is about sheer passion, but at times there are other objectives that might take precedence and dilute the real value of pure biking.  Wolfe Pack India aspires to congregate those bikers, in the country, who are truly passionate about biking, without any of its associated razzmatazz.  In short, the message is to ride and the rest isn’t important.

This motorcycle club was brought into existence in on 26/02/2011 by two individuals who shared the same plinth of biking obsession.  One of those two happens to be Jack Jigg a.k.a. Papa Wolfe.  We got in touch with him, and this article has been stitched with the help of his inputs and additional research.

ABOUT WOLFE PACK INDIA

The group started off with the aspiration of being the first Pan-India motorcycle club of India.  While it was a farfetched dream then, the two founders of the club were confident of achieving the feat.  They wanted to simply focus on biking, and believed that the rest shall meet them on the way.  They organized constant activities and regular rides were undertaken.  All of this culminated into higher visibility and positive attention from the people who mattered.  The trickle began and more people started to join.  However, the real accomplishment was when people from different regions of the country took notice, and approached the group to start chapters in their respective cities.  This was the beginning of something grand, and a small but solid step towards the achievement of the group’s dream had been taken. 

In Papa Wolfe’s words “We always wanted our club to be a young club.  Our current age group currently varies from the very young riders between 18 and 22 to the majority of them who are between 25 and 30 years of age.  The objective of keeping it young was because it is these budding riders who have the hunger and the enthusiasm to explore the world and learn with experience.  They aren’t rigid in their approach and are willing to evolve.”

WHEN THE MEMBERS MADE THE CLUB PROUD

Currently, there are about 10 chapters of Wolfe Pack India, and more are in the pipeline.  These groups bring together around 250 bikers who participate in the various events and rides that are organized by different chapters.  Generally, the different chapters of the club have diverse range of events that take place, but most of them hold regular 100-200km (one-way) rides.   The most active chapters, though, have also being organizing rides which are as long as 450 kms (one-way).

Apart from these activities, individuals also take up the onus of riding by themselves, and some of them have done the club proud.  Consider the case of one gentleman who did an 11,070 km long ride.  He started off at Koppal, Karnataka, went up to Ladakh and returned. 

Certain members from the Bangalore chapter rode all the way up till Kathmandu to participate in the 5th Annual Poker Run.  In 2012, 3 young wolves from Hubli completed a 7500 km ride in flat 12 days.  Above all of these is the certified record that was conferred by Iron Butt Association.  In February, 2012, a Mumbai Wolfe completed 1600+ kms in merely 24 hours.

ABOUT THE BIKING CULTURE IN INDIA

Papa Wolfe says that “the new found biking culture in India is highly encouraging.  It proves that there are many people who share this passion, and the future of the same looks bright.  However, what I will advise all individual bikers and motorcycling clubs is that they should not look at biking as a source of speed, recklessness and stunts.  It is about serious and safe riding which leads to the discovery of this beautiful earth in its most unadulterated form.”

LEARNING ON THE WAY

Jack Jigg (Papa Wolfe) says that the club and its associated bikers have learnt extensively on the way.  There was an instance where the Hyderabad Chapter was riding and a journalist caught up with them.  He requested the bikers to give them an interview and a few photographs.  While the group was keen on providing such details, it was shocked to see the next day’s news paper.  It mentioned that the riders were taking a drive for the cause of Telangana.  That is where the group learnt two important things:

One should strive to never get involved in anything that is even remotely political in nature.
While press is good, one should avoid entertaining manipulative press.

RIDING SAFETY

As a motorcycle club, Wolfe Pack India does not involve itself with any outright social propaganda.  The reason for this is that it believes that such social causes are majorly undertaken by various entities to drive publicity.  However, the group does endorse the message of ‘Driving Safety’.  It believes that one has to respect the roads and the co-riders while driving.  For the same, the club gives away stickers with messages about riding safety.  While this is a small initiative at this point of time, it is expected to pick up pace in the near future.

LOOKING FORWARD

We also asked Papa Wolfe about the future that he saw for the club.  This is what we received from him “We have established a very strong identity in the southern part of India.  Our objective has to now be to mark our presence on the northern, eastern and north eastern part of the country.  We also hope that our efforts would someday give us the privilege of hosting the Annual BOBMC Rider Mania. Amen!”


Posted by :Ooutdoor Hunt