Special Forces Brotherhood Braves Cold
It was cold on April 28th.…especially in Colorado Springs. There were lots of places to be that were warmer than being on a motorcycle in 36-degree weather.
But if you were in one of those warmer places, you weren’t out for one of the more memorable rides of 2012 so far.
The First Annual Special Forces Brotherhood MC Poker Run was memorable—for riding in the cold, if nothing else.
About 25 riders toughed it out and turned out for the ride, which started at Bombardiers Hanger in Fountain.
“The weather really affected the number of riders we had,” said Chris Ryan, President of the Fort Carson Charter of SFBMC. “It was pretty cold no doubt about it. It was a nice day, just a little cool. We had fun though.”
Nearly all the ride participants were independent riders--or at least not members of SFBMC, something that made Ryan happy.
“We’re a small club,” he explained. Most of our members were at the different stops and doing things to make the run go smoothly. Pretty much every one who came out to ride was not in the club. It made us pretty happy that many people came out to ride with us, especially since it was so cold. I’m sure we’d have had more riders if it’d been warmer.”
Proceeds from the event are being donated to the Green Beret Foundation, an organization that assists Special Forces soldiers and their families if a soldier is killed or wounded in action.
Despite the chill, the ride was a good one. After girding themselves against the cold at Bombardiers, riders stopped at Pikes Peak Harley on the North end of Colorado Springs before heading up to Spur Of The Moment in Larkspur. From there, it was off to the Wing Nut in Elizabethtown out east. Then, there was the choice of going to the secret stop—the South 40 in Elbert—before heading to the final stop and after party at the Pop A Top Saloon in Falcon. The whole route was about 100 bone-chilling miles.
But no one complained. Everyone who turned out at the start finished the ride, joining a group of too-cold-to ride wussies for a pretty good party at the Pop A Top.
There, a pile of door prizes was handed out, and awards for the best and worst poker hands were announced. Then came the big moment: the drawing for the 9mm Springfield XD pistol. See, tickets for the drawing had been sold for a while before the run, but to win, you had to be present.
And wouldn’t you know it, the winner was present. So he went home with a new semi-auto. Everyone else went home with a door prize and memories of what will go down as the coldest spring ride in Colorado Springs.
“I’m pleased, we all are,” Ryan said. “Considering the weather, it went really great. We did everything we could, but there’s not much we can do about the weather. This was our first event as a club, and we’ll try to do more. We held this one early trying not to step on anyone’s toes, so maybe our next one we’ll have better weather.”
Ryan said the club wants to host three or four events a year, but doesn’t know how soon that will happen.
“It’s hard for us to get things set too far in advance,” he explained. “Between training and guys rotating in and out, it’s kinda tough to put something together. But we’re definitely going to try and do one more event this year, we just can’t say when yet.”
A nation-wide motorcycle club, Special Forces Brotherhood MC is made up of current and previously serving Special Forces soldiers. Criteria to become a member of the club is that you be a fully qualified special forces soldier, be a member of the Special Forces Association, and ride an American-made motorcycle.
When you consider that these guys are still active, and the nature of their duties can be unpredictable and demanding, that they take it upon themselves to host an event at all is pretty impressive. This event brought out the tough riders—somehow fitting for the first event from this group.
“We like to ride and have fun,” Ryan said. “We’ll take the opportunity to do that whenever we can. We’re just glad there are other people who like to do the same, and they did it with us for a day.”
