Rock N’ Road Cyclery hosted a Poker Ride on September 16, 2012. The ride started and ended at the Mission Viejo location at 8 am on a bright and warm morning.
Riders were happy for a slight reprieve in late summer weather, but still completed the ride in temperatures ranging from a near-perfect 75F to just under 90F throughout the day.
The Poker Ride benefitted two charities, with entry fees donated to both Bikes for Boobs and A Loving Legacy. Nearly $2,000 was raised and distributed.
Participants each got a raffle ticket and selected from a deck their first playing card at Mission Viejo before starting the ride. With the first card of their hand selected, riders set off just after 8 am to stop at each of the remaining three Rock N’ Road locations (Anaheim Hills, Irvine, and Laguna Niguel) to pick another card, before returning to Mission Viejo for their fifth and final card to finish their poker hand.
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Riders filtered out from Mission Viejo in various groups, with most riders determining the logical shop visit order of the day to be straight to Anaheim Hills, back over Cannon Street and south to Irvine, west to Laguna Niguel, then back up to Mission Viejo.
Once at Anaheim Hills, just before 9 am, riders enjoyed a bit of shade, picked their next poker card, refilled some water, and set out for the Irvine shop.
Once at the Irvine store riders refueled with water, various drink mixes, health bars and other snacks from Panera Bread or Starbucks for some of the riders, before the downhill jaunt toward the coast to Laguna Niguel!
At that point, poker riders were getting ready to select that final card to finish their hand! It was a rolling ride up to Mission Viejo, but riders were ready for the challenge.
Back at Mission Viejo the groups streamed in, participants selected their fifth and final card from the deck, which was spread across the grand prize, a custom Rock N’ Road poker table that had been donated by A Loving Legacy.
Best hand of the day went to Juan Diaz, with three Aces!
Once the riders had all streamed in, finishing their 60-or-so mile ride (depending on exact route), Shimano provided a Mexican food lunch and the raffle prizes were handed out. The poker table was the raffle grand prize and went to James Metcalfe.
Rock N’ Road’s Poker Ride wasn’t a race; the win was the riders enjoying a gorgeous southern California day with friends and helping to raise money for two great charities.
For more information on Rock N’ Road Cyclery, A Loving Legacy, and Bikes for Boobs, please visit their websites.
By Allison Mann
