Ride for McBride

23 September 2014

Thank you, everyone, for supporting the Ride for McBride on Saturday.  We had a good turnout.  

The weather was perfect:  cool, sunny, and not much wind.  None of our J-arrows got blacked out.  If anyone got lost, I didn't hear about it.

The less said about the speed, the better.  I was hoping for an honest B and said as much at the beginning. I wasn't officially leading.  This wasn't an official FreeWheeler's ride.  Still, I got blamed for the A-game that everyone brought with them. At one point, I found myself sprinting up rollers to catch up to the lead group in order to slow them down.  I managed to pick off a few riders who waited for the rest of the group. Despite the pace, most of us managed to stay together.

Joe's son, Jared, waited for all of the 50-mile riders to return before he presented this year's scholarship recipient.  He also read an essay that Joe had written in high school, about wanting to be remembered for being more than a nobody.  That he did.

I only took a couple of pictures.  This is the post-ride presentation:

Although I am one of the charity's organizers, I wasn't in on the extra t-shirt plan.  The McBride family gave all of the volunteers this shirt:

After the presentation, I told Jared this story:

The year that Norm Batho died, a caricature of his face was the logo for the Princeton Event, and it was on the event t-shirt.  Before heading out for our century, we were gathered in the parking lot.  Joe took a look at the shirt and said, "I loved him like a brother, but I'm not wearing his face on my shirt."  Jared was amused, and said that it made the shirt even better.

As for me, I'll be carrying on Joe's tradition.