TheBanyanTree: Bikes, Toys and Rain

[Barb Edlen]

I've never been inclined to do a bike run before, Russ, because I was unsure whether or not if there were concerns I needed to be aware of as a lone female rider. (I hope that made sense.) Occasionally, I receive attention that exceeds my comfort level. 

We usually do an Angel Tree child instead. 

You helped me realize that it could be a lot of fun in a safe atmosphere. This was an interesting and informative story. Thanks for sharing it! 

✿*ﾟ‘ﾟ･.｡.:*

> On Dec 14, 2015, at 1:38 PM, Theta Brentnall <tybrent at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> It is fun to see all those bikers in full regalia hauling toys.  Our church is the distribution point for the community Christmas basket program.  We all pitched in last week to collect all the donations, sort them and box everything.  There were 330 families who got a month's worth of groceries and books and toys for their children. Good times.
> 
> Theta
> 
>> On 12/14/2015 9:39 AM, Russ Doden wrote:
>> This past Sunday the local ABATE group had scheduled their annual Toys For
>> Tots ride to benefit the Marines Toys for Tots program.  Motorcycle groups
>> of all kinds tend to participate in this event every year.  The ride isn't
>> long, only about a 15 minute ride from the Tulsa county fairgrounds to
>> downtown Tulsa.  It isn't the length of the ride that draws people to
>> participate though, it is the reason behind the ride.
>> 
>> When the weather is good, we have had close to 10,000 bikes show up!  Yeah,
>> that's a lot.  This year though the weather pulled a very nasty trick on us
>> all.  All week long the weather had been beautiful with highs in the upper
>> 60's to low 70's.  Awesome motorcycle riding weather - and a lot of people
>> were taking advantage of it.  The forecast for the weekend though . . . to
>> put it politely, sucked.  The closer to Sunday we got the uglier the
>> forecast got too.  By Wednesday I had decided to wimp out and took my Toys
>> for Tots toys to the nearest fire station to drop off as they are part of
>> the program too.
>> 
>> By Sunday I was so glad I did.  The rain had moved in late Saturday
>> afternoon.  By Sunday morning, some local areas were having flooding issues
>> (again).  Does that mean I stayed home?  Not at all.  One of the local ham
>> radio clubs volunteers to help with getting all the bikes lined up so when
>> it is time for Kick Stands Up, everyone call pull out in an orderly
>> fashion.  As a Ham Radio operator, this is one of the things I help with.
>> So, I had my hand held equipment all charged and ready to go.
>> 
>> We gathered at the fairgrounds about 9:30 to go over any last minute stuff,
>> and started to wait for people to show up.  There are several groups that
>> help support this effort, so all the groups were ready - and waiting, and
>> waiting.  It was raining, and it wasn't some nice warm rain either.  The
>> temps were in the upper 40's to low 50's with wind.  Ick.  I was so glad
>> that like so many others I had my motorcycle rain gear to dig out and use!
>> Only I made one mistake.  I forgot to grab gloves.  Damn.  After not too
>> long I told our coordinator I was going to take off for a bit to run over
>> to a nearby Target and get some gloves.  My hands were aching at that
>> point!
>> 
>> A short time later I was back with nice warm fingers.  I didn't have many
>> options for gloves, but did find some that fit that weren't all bulky.  I
>> hated to spend that kind of money, but I'll get a lot of use out of them so
>> it wasn't wasted money.
>> 
>> By noon we only had maybe 300 bikes there!  That is NOTHING.  We had a lot
>> of cars pulling up to hand the Marines in the back of the big truck they
>> had brought their toys.  I wasn't the only rider that wimped out for the
>> ride.
>> 
>> Finally about 1 the rain stopped!  YEA!  The wind was still blowing and it
>> was chill, but at least we weren't getting rain!  People started to come
>> show up in bunches after that and by 1:30 we were having people coming in
>> from all directions!  It got really fast and frantic for a while and by
>> 2:00 when it was time for Kick Stands Up to start the run, we guesstimated
>> that there were close to 1500 riders - all with toys on the back of the
>> motorcycle.  One big full dress Harley had a pink little girls bicycle on
>> back of the bike!
>> 
>> When one sees all the motorcycles of all brands all joining together, you
>> can't help but smile.  You see everything from scooters, to go fast "crotch
>> rockets", to custom machines to rat bikes to full dress touring bikes (like
>> I ride) all together to do something for kids we will never see.  You can't
>> help but get a lump in your throat when you think about it.
>> 
>> Within 20 minutes the whole parking lot was empty and it was time to head
>> home, get warmed up and reflect on the day.  I'm already looking forward to
>> next year - and maybe it will actually be dry.
>> 
>> Russ
>