Hello everyone, ready to say bye bye to February and hello to March. Don’t forget Daylight Saving Time is Sunday March 12th. Spring is just around the corner. With warmer weather coming more and more bikes are out and about. Poker Runs will be happening. If you see a large pack of bikes roaring down the road it is most likely they are riding for a cause.
What is a Poker Run? Poker runs usually require a fee to enter and some for each additional hand; in some events a small part of the fee may go to funding the event, including the prizes, while the rest goes to the event's charity recipient. A poker run is a platform for motorcyclists, amateur riders, and biking enthusiasts, allowing them to take unconventional routes and explore the roads while also raising funds for events, including charity, service, or a cause for welfare held by motorcyclists or vehicle-based organizations. It is patterned based on traditional poker where the dealer hands out the players five or seven cards, and the player with the best hand is declared as the winner. Similarly, instead of being handed out the playing cards, the participants must ride to predetermined locations and acquire the poker chip card. A poker run is an organized event in which participants, usually using motorcycles, must visit five to seven checkpoints, drawing a playing card at each one. The object is to have the best poker hand at the end of the run. Having the best hand and winning is purely a matter of chance. You can opt not to play cards and roll dice instead at each stop. A dice run is one variation, where instead of collecting cards, participants roll dice at each stop. The object is to have the highest score as determined by the sum of the dice rolls. The player with the highest number and the lowest number wins a prize at the end of the ride. Each checkpoint might offer food or entertainment, either covered by the entry fee or at additional cost. Each participant is responsible to maintain the integrity of their hand during the run. Hands are usually written down or marked with punched holes on a ticket, rather than assembled from actual cards given to the riders. The only requirement is that riders arrive at the final checkpoint by the time prizes are awarded, usually near the end of the day, typically at a party with food and refreshments. It might be required that participants collect all of the requisite number of cards, five or seven. Although most events are on motorcycles, off-road vehicles, boats, or horses, events involving small aircraft, ATVs, bicycles, golf carts, snowmobiles, skateboards, running, canoeing and kayaking, and geocaching have been held. Poker runs are a great way to get people together and have some fun, usually while raising money for a good cause. They have been organized for all sorts of transportation – kayaks, speedboats, ATVs, horses – and even travelled on foot. But most commonly they tend to appeal to the biker community, and it isn’t hard to see why. Poker runs are organized over a set route with five or seven different checkpoints. Riders are issued a map at the start and sent on their way. It isn’t a race, but rather an organized ride, often through great scenery and places you may not have been. There is usually a generous time limit, so everyone is finished by a reasonable hour. The organizers know how to make the ride enjoyable and will go out of their way to include some great roads and sights to enjoy, either riding solo or with your mates. Poker runs have been organized in cities and across open country. With rides publicized well in advance, it’s not unusual to find bikers travelling from all over the country to take part in a particular ride. After all, getting too the starting line is often part of the adventure. Bikers turn out in the hundreds for poker runs, so they’re also a great place to meet like-minded individuals and talk all things motorcycle. You’ll see all different kinds of bikes, from revamped classics to modern muscle, and get a chance to swap maintenance tips and share ideas. It’s the socializing before and after the ride that draws people in as much as the journey itself. In fact, large poker runs can almost have a festival atmosphere. And by adding in an extra element through poker, event organizers can make the ride even more exciting.
Useless Facts:
1. The reason the taste of artificial banana flavoring and artificial banana flavored products doesn’t taste like bananas is that it is based on a type of banana that was wiped out by a plague in the 1950s.
2. Australia has over 10,000 beaches. You could visit a new beach every day for over 27 years!
3. It was Nicholas Cage who first advised Johnny Depp to pursue a career in acting, during the mid-1980s.
4. The national animal of Scotland is the Unicorn.
5. The directors of the film Despicable Me actually wrote their own language for the Minions called Minionise.
6. Viagra, when dissolved in water, can make cut-flowers stay erect for up to a week longer than they usually would. Try it!
7. There is an uninhabited island in the Bahamas known as Pig Beach, which is populated entirely by swimming pigs.
8. Catnip is ten times more effective at repelling mosquitoes than DEET, the main substance used in insect repellents.
9. Hares are born with fur and can see whilst rabbits are born ‘naked’ and blind.
Local Events:
1. 1st Annual St. Patty’s Day Party at True Sons MC Club House March 18th 2pm
Rallies:
1. Daytona Bike Week March 3rd – March 12th
2. Cave Creek Bike Rally March 24th – April 2nd Cave Creek AZ
Rides:
1. Benefit Ride for Jill Cassandra Sly Funeral Expenses March 19th The Cave KSU 1pm
2. WesMen Ride For The Ramp April 22nd
3. Annual Spring Ride Combat Vets March 18th Lexington, SC
Bike Nights:
1. Quaker Steak & Lube Thursdays starting April 13th