November 2003
By Brian Ward
Neither rain, nor hail
nor June bugs as big as your fist could stop industry riders from completing
their cross-country rounds.
Who are these people, anyway? They remind you of folks you know, business
people. Their voices sound familiar. They have cell phones, which they
sometimes check at gas stops. Once in awhile their conversations even turn to
foodservice. But really, what’s up with the sunburned lips and the leather
chaps?
Do I Look ‘Brooding’ To You?
“What’s up” was “The Road To New Orleans,” the 2003 edition of the
industry’s fundraising motorcycle rides to the biennial North American
Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers’ show.
Ask any one of the sweaty, sunburned volunteers why they mount up every two
years to raise money on their way to The NAFEM Show, and they’ll give you all
kinds of answers. Some mention the charity part first. Others mention the
motorcycle part first. But sooner or later they all mention the sensory
experience—the wind, the pulsing engine sounds, the tilting horizon as they
bank through a turn—and the shared enjoyment of something a little out of the
ordinary. For a few days every couple years, it’s a common bond that lets
industry people enjoy each other in a whole new light. And in the process, a
lot of needy people benefit.
Whatever their individual priorities, the Freewheeling, Fundraising Friends of
Foodservice, as they loosely call themselves, in recent years have raised a lot
of money to help feed the hungry. In the inaugural run, “The Road To Dallas” in
1999 raised roughly $45,000 for what was then known as Foodchain, a national
network of food-rescue operations specializing in prepared and perishable
foods. By 2001, Foodchain had merged into America’s Second Harvest, the
country’s largest network of food banks and food-rescue operations, with more
than 200 affiliates across the country. Second Harvest became the event’s new
beneficiary, and “The Road To Orlando” that year raised $55,000.
This year, when the brake dust had settled, and the me-chanical racket had died
down, “The Road To New Orleans” had raised more than $60,000 for Second
Harvest.
It was a new record tally, eked out in a tough economy that had been hard on
much of the industry for the past two years. Event coordinator Alexa Kinney, of
R.W. Smith & Co., worked hard to keep fundraising riders motivated in the
face of an uphill battle. Only a late rally pushed the numbers above the ’01
take. In fact, the new record haul didn’t come from any broad increase in
support, but mainly from new or increased matching-funds pledges by ITW Corp.,
McDonald’s Corp. and R.W. Smith & Co.
That Rainsuit’s In Here Somewhere
The event itself went off almost without a hitch. Unlike two years ago,
when a handful of major mechanical failures played havoc with scheduling, this
year’s event was as smooth as a well-lubed conveyor oven. Riders fired up and
started pretty much on time (sometimes under penalty of peer floggings), made
their rendezvous assignments on time and stayed right-side up throughout.
Modern gizmos (GPS systems) and not-so-modern gizmos (Citizens’ Band radios)
helped, and nobody was ever off course for more than a few minutes. The only
variable that remained uncontrolled was the weather—which beat the charity
riders every few hundred miles with snorkel-filling downpours, lightning and
sometimes even hail.
Most riders launched from home garages at around dawn on Saturday, Aug. 30. Three
riders, attending Harley Davidson’s 100th anniversary shindigs in Wisconsin,
headed out a day later and trailed the main group the whole way.
Riders came from as far away as California and New England, the southeast and
Midwest. Individual riders moved to rendezvous points where they’d join larger
groups, which in turn would later join other groups. Like tributaries flowing
into rivers, routes from across the country funneled toward New Orleans. Routes
originating in Chicago and Detroit met late afternoon Saturday in Louisville,
Ky., as other groups began closing in from the East and West Coasts.
By nightfall Sunday, all but the Harley Davidson Centennial partygoers had
converged on a Holiday Inn Express in Birmingham, Ala. The next day, a detour
to the Barber Motorsports Complex outside Birmingham and a half-day sprint put
the group in New Orleans by shortly after 4 p.m.
In all, more participants signed on than ever before—34 people on 31
motorcycles, plus one spouse who chose to pilot a Mustang GT convertible rather
than ride shotgun on a two-wheeler. Only two failed to make the starting grid,
victims of monsoon-style rains that kept them holed up in their Kansas City,
Mo., garages until time ran out.
With some riders no doubt still walking a little funny, plans are already
underway for the ride to The NAFEM Show in 2005. “The Road To Anaheim” will
likely be a doozy.