All the way across the USA

No one is entirely what they seem to be, don’t you think? You meet some-one, get to know them a bit and you think you’ve got them pegged, and then you learn something new about them that puts them in a new light.

I’ve always thought of Bobby Scott as an amiable, easy-going kind of bloke, a good drummer and a nice fella, too, but I had no idea that he’d done something a bit heroic and entirely admirable.

Apparently, in 2001 he rode his bike just about the length and breadth of America in a fund-raising effort on behalf of research into Autism. You’d never think it to look at him! 7,200 miles going through 44 cities in 28 states, now that takes a bit of doing. From New York to California via Philadelphia, Washington, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee (just stopped for a beer, no doubt), Louisville, Memphis, New Orleans, Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles and San Diego, taking 84 days – three months in the saddle – to achieve his goal. That’s a lot of Savlon to spread on!

He said at the time (Daily Post July 2001); “Some days you’d get back to the hotel absolutely shattered and think, ‘I don’t want to get on the bike in the morning’ – but I was amazed how my body recovered.” The whole process, involving Canadian and American cyclists, too, raised over £600,000 for a variety of charities. It’s typical of the Merseycats’ spirit to go out and work quietly and without fuss on behalf of others who are less fortunate than ourselves.

So, next time you see Bobby behind his drum kit or getting a round in (not very likely, Billy reckons), try to picture him with a helmet strapped on his head, perched on a bike, pedalling along the broad roads of the USA, and just maybe you too will see him in a different light.

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