I am putting together a poker run for this spring. I am a LEO and doing the run through my PBA and proceeds will benefit St. Jude's. We (our PBA) has never organized a ride before so I am looking for different ideas to make it more interesting. What are some of your likes and dislikes of rides you have been on? What would you like to see? Any ideas at all would be helpful...Thanks guys

 

+'s; stop at the grave site for the two girls its for, on our charity ride,
-'s; on our big ride its cagers trying to cut in, in the 5 town we go through the PD and FD block crossings, but in the country going to other city's, its a problem for 500 riders,,,, and then some riders drink more than they should...

 

Are you sure you want it to be a "poker run" and not just a charity run? I personally don't attend many poker runs because there are just too many stops for my liking, but I attend a couple of charity runs each year, and from wherever the starting point is, they ride 50-60 miles and stop for lunch, then they ride another 50-60 miles to the finishing point. One of the ones I do is out of a suburb of Chicago, and it's for autism. They sometimes get over 11,000 people attending it, and I think it's partially due to people not wanting to stop five times on a poker run.

 

OK Jeff, with these charity runs, are they ride at your own pace or are the escorted? I want to keep the overall cost down on our end so that there is more $$ at the end to donate to the cause. If I end up doing an escorted run, there are numerous permits that must be purchased/applied for. I am looking for ideas that may make the run stand out more to the average rider...ie. Best Bike contest, things of that nature....What would make you say...I really want to do that ride?

 

I'm not sure if this really would concern you in NJ, but if your going out into the countryside, AVOID CATTLE OR HOG FEEDLOTS AT ALL COSTS!!! ha,ha. This can ruin a perfectly good ride. I know ,Some of you will say that's the smell of money. But usually another route can be found. That being being said,getting out of the city is for me ,the most positive thing for a run imho. If, possible maybe have some of people your trying to help at begining,or end of run for the particapants to meet is great. Seeing someone face to face can be quite an experience. Plus, people tend to open their wallets easier. Also, if possible in town police escorts or great in keeping a pack together. Sounds like you may have some pull there. I have to agree w/ Jeff, some of the larger runs around here are longer,with fewer stops.

 

The ones I was referring to are both escorted, many cops and volunteers to block the traffic etc...etc... So that may not work for you since you're trying to keep spending to a minimum. But if you pick a nice country route you may not need blockers. Have you thought about getting Harley dealerships or others to help sponsor the event? I did my first one last year for vets, it was the first one I'd ever done, but between one of the bike clubs that I ride with and a relatively popular cause I was still able to get about 150 people to go so I was pretty happy with that since it was the first year of it. I'm not sure how many people you are looking to have attend so I'm not sure which way to try steering you. Give me a day or two and I'll try coming up with something to help you. I know what a pain in the *** it is putting one of these together and every bit of help you can get is appreciated.

 

I just wrote a REALLY long response and got hosed by the HD Forum bug.
Ain't doing it again.

 

I just hit "submit" again, and it will usually go ahead and post what I typed

 

I think poker run format is better. It seems that anytime you get that many folks on bikes in a line at the same time , someone is going to be stupid.
What I like to see in a poker run, is good food at the end, and entertainment at the last stop. That will always draw more folks to your poker run. Go to the local Indies, and submit for donations to be raffled off. Hooter, places like that will sometimes give you $25 gift certificates for a cause. I'd say if you want to make money for the cause, then get a lot of help , and have door prizes at the last stop, and hold a raffel, with people selling raffle tickets at each stop.

 

I ride in a lot of Poker Runs. I like that format because you can ride in small groups and take your time. Make sure you pick a route with good scenery and the most important thing for me is make it fun.