Ronald McDonald joins High Trestle poker run

The ride takes place on the High Trestle Trail on Sunday, Sept. 8, from 1-6 p.m. Registration will be held at Flat Tire Lounge in Madrid.

Though the temperature seems to continue to rise, summer is nearly over. Pools have started to close, and shorts are beginning to be packed up. But this is no excuse to stay inside. It may already be September, but it’s the perfect time to get a ride in.

With the heat and humidity as high as they are, many might be tempted to get inside to the comfort of air conditioning. Instead feel the wind in your hair as you take a ride on the High Trestle Trail. This year marks the second Pedal for the House Poker Ride benefitting Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Iowa Inc.

“For a dozen years, we had a 5K and 10K run/walk that had increasingly faced competition with the numerous other runs out there,” said Jack Reed, development director at Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Iowa Inc. “So last year, we decided to change it up a bit and host a bike ride instead.”

There are many great things about this ride. First, it’s a ride not a race, so it doesn’t matter how fast people go. What’s more, riders can customize exactly how far they want to ride. Starting at Flat Tire Lounge, a cyclists’ bar located along the rec trail in Madrid, riders can choose to head west toward Woodward or east toward Slater. Folks have four hours to complete their ride and stop at as many of the six stops — including Flat Tire Lounge — as they can (along with a photo op with the clown prince of fast food himself) before returning to Flat Tire Lounge for prizes, drawings, an auction and a performance by Too Cool.

This event is called a “poker ride,” because along the route are five card stops where riders will pick up a playing card with the hope of making the best poker hand. There will be prizes given out for the best poker hands. Even if riders are unable to make it to all five stops, they will still be able to pick up their remaining cards at the Flat Tire Lounge.

“The full route — all five card stops — is 25 miles. You could go to the first card stop heading west and back at only about six miles,” Reed said.

Last year the Pedal for the House had 93 participants, nearly half of which registered the day of the event. As of Aug. 28, 91 have already registered. At this rate, Reed is hoping to have around 150 participants. CV               

David Rowley is an Iowa native with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Iowa and a master’s in film journalism from the University of Glasgow in Scotland.