Scoring a Winning Hand

© Ken Bingenheimer / RumBum.com

Poker Run.

Ride your motorcycle with your friends, maybe make some new friends, raise money for a good cause, and hey, maybe go home with some extra cash in your own pocket. What could be more enticing than a poker run?

Perhaps as part of a conscious effort to shed the outlaw image motorcycling acquired in the '50s, charity events have become a huge part of the biker community. It's hard to think ill of someone – beard, long hair, tattoos and all – when they're handing your non-profit organization a check for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Or delivering a load of several thousand toys for distribution to children who might otherwise have no Christmas.

Perhaps the most popular of these events is the poker run. While the details vary from event to event, the gist is simple: Pay your registration fee at the starting point and then ride to four stops, drawing a card for your poker hand at each location. Festivities usually are planned at the last stop and once all the riders have turned in the sheet showing their hand, the winning hands are determined. The difference between the registration fees and the costs goes to the beneficiary.

So it was this past weekend that I rode along on a poker run for the Rocky Mountain Deaf School (RMDS), which is raising money to build their own building. I was accompanying Jasmine Bluecreek-Clark, who specializes as a riding instructor for deaf motorcyclists. I was just an observer, and didn't pay the $30 ride fee, so I was playing Jasmine's hand vicariously. Jasmine's first card, drawn at the school, where the run began, was the 10 of hearts.

This run had originally been planned for mid-October, but snow had forced a rescheduling. Now it was a gorgeous November day in Colorado, with the high reaching into the 70s. A great day to ride, and for the festival planned at the destination, a municipal park outside the mountain town of Evergreen. But where were the riders?

Starting from the school, the route ran to a motorcycle service, parts, and accessories shop, to a Harley-Davidson dealership, to Red Rocks Park in the foothills west of Denver, and on to Evergreen. At Thunderbird Motorcycles, the stop after RMDS, nine boxes of doughnuts and a big urn of coffee awaited the riders, but as the morning progressed, waiting was all they did. Last year 200 riders participated in the run but this year the forced rescheduling seemed to have taken a major toll.

Single riders and pairs filtered in from time to time, chatted with the volunteers, drew the cards for their poker hands, and headed on to the next stop. Jasmine drew a 4 of clubs for her second card and the hand was not looking very good. Then a 4 of diamonds for her third card gave her a weak pair. It was still pretty iffy.

Acting spontaneously, the riders waited at Red Rocks, the last stop before the end, for any riders behind them to catch up. If there weren't going to be big numbers the very least they could do was show up en masse to be greeted by the school's families and other supporters who don't ride but who were known to be gathered at the end point. Jasmine's fourth card was an 8 of diamonds. No help.

Then on up the canyon we rode, and what a glorious day to ride! Many riders had children or grandchildren or the children of friends attending the school. Others worked at the school. Some of the riders themselves were deaf and came to support the school. One was a sign-language student whose signing teacher also teaches at RMDS. All were fired up and enjoyed what so many others were missing out on, a terrific group ride on a wonderful day.

We rolled into the destination where the festival was in progress, greeted by the families, the music of the band, and the smell of food on grills. After parking and unburdening ourselves of riding gear it was time to draw one last card. Jasmine pulled the 10 of diamonds to end up with two pair. That two pair ultimately won her the first place prize, which she immediately used to bid on several items in the silent auction, thereby returning some of the money to the school.

Then I turned the bike toward home and enjoyed some solo riding. There's nothing else I would rather have done with my day.