ALR Post 106 Support Run

This past Saturday we held our first annual Support Post 106 fundraising run.  The response we'd been getting (both on FB, as well as from other groups) had us quite excited.  Turnout would be huge!  We had food covered, the bar was stocked, the pre-run had yielded positive results, and LEO's from the various towns we were riding through were all on board and would offer blocking assistance.  We were good to go!

And then Saturday arrived...along with a very dark sky, which spit briefly upon us as we were doing our setup in the morning.  We'd look at each other, cast a wary eye toward the skies, then cast more knowing looks at each other before lowering our heads back to the tasks at hand.  Cones and caution tape were set out in the parking lot, canopies were set up and tables were laid out.  Waiver forms and wrist bands were readied, raffle prizes were displayed...and still the clouds refused to relent.

Registration was from 10 - 12:30, and most of that time was spent milling about, keeping an eye on the sky, and wondering how much of the many "yes" responses we'd received would wind up being nothing more than chaff, to be separated from the wheat by the ominous looking sky.

Now and then, we had a rider or two come rolling in and set their stands.  I'd love to say we were running short on space, but such was not the case.  There was ample bike parking - pretty much anywhere.  We kept checking the time, assuring each other that as 12:30 neared, certainly we'd have a bunch of bikes come pouring in.

Alas, such was not the case, and when the start time mercifully arrived, we rolled out with a measley 21 bikes.  Ugh.  Not a good showing at all.  The one good thing about such a small column is that it moved quite quickly.  (Too quickly, according to some folks who didn't care for the pace that Ed and I set, but oh well.  Keep up, or catch up.)

After cruising some great side roads and making short work of the route, we arrived back at the Post a little over an hour later.  We all found parking quite easily again, and were soon gathered 'round the food tables, exchanging comments about the run, and washing down the little bit of road dust we'd accumulated.

The sun had come out at this point and it was turning into quite a nice day, weather-wise.  I ambled out to the parking lot to snap a pic of the disappointing turnout...

(There were a few bikes off to the left, out of the picture.  But you get the idea.  Low turnout!)

We made the best of things and as it turned out, we'd managed to accumulate quite a number of quality raffle prizes.  The tickets were selling like hot cakes (I'm sure it had nothing to do with our large-chested raffle girl), and by the time the raffles were called, there had been hundreds of tickets sold.

The day wore long into the afternoon and the till behind the bar was ringing a merry tune.  There was lots of laughter and, since we'd prepared for a much larger turnout, the food never ran out.  It was a great day, and folks were reluctant to make their exits.

Before all was said and done, we tallied the day's take and were humbly surprised by what we found.  Despite only having had 21 bikes, we'd still managed to raise $1,200 for the Post!  That works out to about $60 per person - and that doesnt count what the bar took in!  That's pretty impressive, especially considering that we hold other charity runs here which raise over $10,000, but the per-person amount on those works out to less then $40, each.  So while our attendance had been down, we'd actually seen a 50% increase in per-person contributions.  Sometimes good things do come in small packages.  Or something like that.

Suffice to say the decent day's take helped ease our disappoinment that so many folks had been scared away by a dark sky in the morning (pussies).

Anyway, we congratulated ourselves on salvaging things as well as we'd managed to, and counted the day a success.  It was time for (another) beer.

Ride Hard, Take Chances