Weather Stops 2-Wheelers Run Cold

Oh, the weather outside is frightful,
And these toys are so delightful.
Hey, we’ve go some place to go,
Damn the snow, damn the snow, damn the snow!

Even ol’ Bing Crosby would have cussed the weather on November 30th. Old man winter hung around after Thanksgiving just long enough to put the ki-bosh on the annual 2-Wheelers Motorcycle Shop Toy Run in Denver. Snow and freezing temperatures all day made sure there were only a few bikes, and we mean three, that showed up for the run the morning of the 30th.

“Well, the snow really did it to us this year,” said Arlin Fatland. “Nobody’s coming out in this stuff, and I don’t blame ‘em. I guess we better go get the party started.”

While the run was short on participation, it was heavy on enthusiasm.

“If there’s nobody else coming, I guess we better get started,” said one of the riders. “It’s a little slippery, but not too bad. We’ll be fine.”

With that, they fired ‘em up and headed out.

No one is sure how long this toy run has been going on. Arlin & Donna from 2-wheelers and Stan from Stan’s Signs put the run on just to help, and haven’t been keeping a score card, or tallies for the IRS write-off. The sole purpose of this run is to collect toys for the Colorado Easter Seals Society.

The Easter Seals offers a variety of services to help people with disabilities challenging their lives. It helps them to achieve their personal goals and manage needs for themselves and their families. The Colorado branch is headquartered on West Alameda, in Lakewood and operates a summer camp village in Empire, along with many other programs.

There is no cost to participate in the ride--no one with their hand out begging for the almighty biker dollar--it’s just an event to help disabled kids.

“During the holiday/toy run season, people seem to only focus on one particular children’s benefit,” Said Donna Maupin. “There are so many more out there that can use the help. The Easter Seals is an amazing resource for disabled children and adults…it’s an organization this is commonly overlooked. It’s an organization always grateful of any donation we give, no matter how large or small.”

That’s why this event will continue.

“It seems that every year when the Toy Run is planned, it’s always perfect riding weather right before,” Maupin said. “Then, on the day of our Toy Run, it turns to cold, wet, snowy crap. We get good weather about every third year it seems, but then it is at the end of November. But the kids still need the toys, so the bad weather has never stopped us.”

This year about50 people made it to the party. The riders who had so boldly ventured out went home, parked the bikes and took a cage to the party at Hiccups II, where there was much merriment to be had, as well as the force-feeding of beers to stuffed animals. It was just that kind of party.

Just as things were looking pretty grim, right before things started– Joe Haska from Greybeard Productions, who had his own event going on across town, showed up with three huge boxes filled with toys.

“It brought tears to my eyes, Maupin said. “That’s really the spirit of this ride.”