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Toys for Tots 2008

Last Sunday was the annual Independent Bikers of Queens NYC, Toys for Tots Toy Run to benefit the Childrens Hospital in Howard Beach Queens…a super good kid-related cause. This is an annual rite for NYC riders, an end o’ season run and meet for me and my crew, right in the center of our old Hometown turf…Queens NYC, (yeah, thats right, got a problem with that?). Normally they get a turnout of a few thousand bikes, cops close the streets to cars, so it is pretty cool…and dangerous with all the riding yahoos stampeding down the streets like a herd – but it is the only time i do this kind of thing all year, and what the hell, ya only live once. Chalk it up to tradition.

We’ve been doing this for 18 years I reckon , by the collection of patches I got in the drawer….  Zeb, Jeb, Sonia, Steve (and even Marko on that rare occasion) – all show up, so it a good raccous affair and an end of season reunion, with a meal always thrown in for good measure – before we brace ourselves for the mean ride home in the afternoon. Traditionally this run is held the first Sunday of December and is a freeze your ass off adventure (ambient temps in the 30’s). I’ve seen the same faces attend every year.

This temperature based challenge is especially true for me, Pupkin and Freddy – all Queens NYC transplants now living in New England. We got some time to do on the great slab (with a 70mph wind chill) before we get there…and its even worse for the Greek, that miserable bastard who comes in from the hinterlands, has major time to do. Honestly now, I’ve done this ride and it has damn near brought me to tears in the past, it can hurt that much.  The actual ride itself once your in NYC isn’t bad – only about 5-miles to and from the launch point – Forest Park to the Hospital in Howard Beach..its the getting to and fro for us Norte denizens, that takes the smile off our faces.

So anyway, I am feeling all smarmy about this years adventure, due to the fact I got an electric jacket that can protect my sorry ass from mean old man winter and his loyal bitch, the cold. I got a new, reliable bike with a strong charging system to boot, a change from years past. I am feeling rather prepared. Well..now hear this… Surprise! Pupkin clues me in last week, that the run is going to be THIS  Sunday (6 weeks earlier!!!) and can I make it? Huh? Avoid the fearsome twosome, winter and cold? Shit yeah, sign me up (after I cleared it with the Commander in Chief, who i petitioned with the “sense of it all” – yeah)

To sweeten the pot even more, the meet-up in Forest park is at 2pm.  This allows us to meet our crew and grab a bite beforehand, super cool! Now you must understand that this roll call used to be a 9am, front and center ride for all those cold, miserable, snowing and shitty years. This 2pm stuff is a friggin revelation, if you ask me. So Cat proclaims that this must be because this whole 5,000 strong old school NYC rider community is aging –  and is getting soft in its old age. I argue that its not that at all, its simply sensible. To make this whole scenario even better  – we had a beautiful outstanding day for this run. Far out! UNREAL!!!

Now the bummer – NONE of the local losers who live on Long Island or NYC showed up, not a SINGLE one of them, not Zeb, not Jeb, not Sonia, not SteveD – NONE! I consider this aberrant behavior and left a rather unpleasant message on Zeb’s mobile, (I still love ya pal  ;-)   and experssed my displeasure and severe disappointment. Honestly, attendance overall was 1/3rd of what it normally is, shocking given the weather.  Hmmm – i fear that the word didn’t get out far and wide enough – and there are going to be folks showing up in December…mark my words…I should go that day with a camera to document it.

Anyway, we travelers walked the block from the Children’s Hospital to New Park Pizza (people have died to get a slice there, i shit you not) to bad mouth and plot some unkindnesses on our friends,  the losers who didn’t show up and had a few slices of what is arguably the very best pizza in all of Queens. This made up for it and we soon we were simply enjoying the very nicest, sunniest day we’ve had in a few weeks and marveled at the brilliance of the Run organizers for moving the date to a more reasonable time of the year and toasted our good fortune. We got home in the afternoon after enjoying a great ride home on the slab, motoring as a tight formation, a locked unit of 4 bikes.

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