Location: Francis Parker School
Date: Sunday, August 18, 2013; 11:00 am-3:30 pm
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| Indeed! |
The Chicago ‘Air & Water Show’ was being held today and so the entire city
had descended on the waterfront. This
also meant that the traffic was being rerouted, and so it took me some time to
get to the location. I arrived to see
Wilson, the One Brick leader for the event, was already there and soon other
volunteers arrived – Michelle, Laura, John, Dana and Gary. This weekend was the ‘Ride to Recharge: Dunes to Downtown’ ride, which is a 62 or a 125
mile bike expedition, the proceeds from which were going towards ‘Climate Cycle’s’ commitment towards
sustainable living. According to the
description on the One Brick website, “Climate
Cycle's mission is to inspire students to green our world. We do this primarily through an annual bike
ride where people from all walks of life come together to raise money and ride
their bike so that schools can get solar panels and fund environmental
projects. For the past four years, 1,200
riders raised $500,000 for the cause. We
have awarded solar panels to 11 schools and funded over 20 innovative,
environmental projects.” The school stop
was the conclusion of the ride, and our job was to help with the event setup
and cleanup, as well as serving lunch and desserts to the riders. We were also going to be managing the gear
table, monitoring the waste station, and assisting riders with parking their
bikes and handing out “Thank You”
gifts. In short, we would be doing
everything.
The main staging area was the school
basketball court and so we proceeded there to see some tables being
arranged. The bikes would be brought
into the gymnasium and in order to protect the floor, they wanted us to lay
down some blankets against the far left wall, on top of which the bikes would
be parked. Laura and I took up that task
and we were being directed by one of the organizers, who was totally unsure on
how she wanted this to be done. This led
to us doing it four times, first with blankets completely open, then with
padded mats underneath, then with mats separate and blankets folded, then with
doorways free etc etc. Wilson came over and suggested something at which I sent him over to discuss with the organizer, and she overruled him
while second-guessing herself. I truly
feel sorry for whoever has to wait on her at a restaurant!
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| Final iteration of the blankets |
In any case, we got the mats and
blankets down and beat a hasty retreat - lest she were to change her mind
again. The riders would be coming in
through the back side, and since the gymnasium was at an elevated level, the
organizers wanted us to carry the bikes up the flight of stairs in order to
show support to the riders after their long trek. It sounded like a great gesture, but I
questioned the wisdom of having the check-in at this level when we could save
ourselves a lot of trouble by moving downstairs and avoiding this bike
carrying. Plus, this would render the
blankets layout a moot point and make everyone happy. But the organizers claimed that the bikes were
as much a part of the rider’s triumph of completing the course and thus should
be on display for all to see. Well, it
looked like we would be carrying the bikes up the stairs after all. Once the bikes were checked-in, there was a
ticketing system where one stub would be given to the rider while the other
would be taped to the bike. Then the
bike would be carried and placed on the blanket. With all of this information we were ready to
begin, though there was nobody to welcome yet.
Wilson, Dana and I went down to
the gates to hang a banner welcoming the riders. We were using tie-wraps and as is usually the
case, Wilson wanted to chime in with some trivia. He said that to control a mob of protesters,
police often use tie-wraps since handcuffs are at a premium. He then went on to say that if either of us
ever wanted to go on a protest, we should secretly carry nail clippers with us
so as to cut through the tie-wraps. Aah,
today’s lesson on how to escape when in police custody! The riders were running late – no doubt due
to the traffic diversions – and that gave us all an opportunity to have lunch. There were some rocks on the lawn and we all sat
on them in a circle, very much resembling something akin to ‘Stonehenge people’. After lunch we went upstairs where Laura and
I would be at the bike check-in table. I
noticed that there were a lot of banners hanging from the roof of the gymnasium
and mentioned that the school seemed to have a good sporting pedigree. Wilson said that this was in fact a private
school with fees running into five figures and so the kids here were probably
focusing more on studies than sports. Maybe the banners were due to the kids from this
school beating other nerds!
Some of the families of the
riders were already here and I saw a little girl running all over the gym floor
as she waited for her dad to get in. The
rest of our crew was in position, with Michelle at the food station, Gary doing
gear check, Dana greeting the riders and giving directions, while John had the
unenviable task of carrying the bikes up the flight of stairs. I would be responsible for handing the riders
their check-in ticket stub, taping the other part to the bike and then carrying
it to be parked on the blanket. Laura
would be handing the riders their t-shirts, though this was another head
scratching thing. We were told that the
riders would be wearing one of two types of bibs – either with 3 digits or with
4 digits. The 3-digit bib signified that
the rider had participated in the 62-mile ride whereas the 4 digits meant that
they were doing the full course of 125 miles.
This made sense to me, but what was strange was that the riders with 3
digits would be the only ones who were eligible for a t-shirt. In other words, if you did a shorter course,
you got a shirt. I am sure there was logic
to this, but both Laura and I failed to understand decided to just follow the instructions.
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| The Cup |
Also on our table were some
magnetic pins to put on the bikes and two cups that were going to be presented
to some special riders. The pins were
proving to be popular, especially with a girl who came in and started
collecting all different types for her shirt.
She was a chatterbox and we engaged in some banter as we waited. I also found a ball and challenged folks to
sink the ball into either of the two cups from the doorway and if they were to
do it, I would give them a pin. It was
all in good fun and kept us entertained.
Finally, the riders started arriving and I was busy with the ticketing
and carrying the bikes to be parked. Most
of the bikes did not have stands, meaning I was stacking two at a time with one
against the wall and the other leaning on it.
This did lead to an interesting situation when one guy came to collect
his bike and as I was extracting it, the other bike fell with a loud sound that
alerted everyone in the room. As I
sheepishly put it back, I thanked my stars that this had not created a domino
effect, which would have been extremely embarrassing for me.
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| The parked bikes |
Soon all the riders were checked
in and so the festivities could begin. Almost all of them knew each other and so there was a loud ruckus around
the lunch table. First up was a video
presentation on what this was all about, where we learned more about ‘Climate Cycle’ and what they do. Then the two cups were presented, including
one to a leading fundraiser, who it seems participates every year and has been
on the forefront of promoting the organization.
He gave a speech with a toddler in his hands and said that he was doing
this so that the little guy can someday inherit a world without pollution. On this rousing note the event was at an end
and while I was ready to check out the rider’s, it wasn’t required since all of
them just went over to their bikes and collected them - with or without the
stubs. To me it defeated the entire
exercise and I mentioned as much to Wilson.
He agreed with me as far as this event was concerned, but said that they
were putting a system in place when there would be 300 bikes instead of the 30
odd that we had today. He had a point,
though I doubt the organizers were thinking that far ahead. However, they are a good group of people and
while there were a few things that could have been done differently, their
hearts are in the right place. As I left
that day the one thing that struck me was that while all the riders were
promoting a world where everyone conserves fuel to restrict pollution, a few miles away invaluable jet fuel was being burnt in the name of
entertainment. Life, as usual, is not
without irony.
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