On May 16th, 2010,
Hip-EBikes Custom Shop, in partnership with community groups and organizations with similar missions (Mountain Equipment Coop, Retire Your Ride, Clean Nova Scotia & Nova Scotians Promoting Active Transportation on Community Trails), will host the first annual Annapolis Valley Bicycle Poker Run.
How a Poker Run works is, upon registration (10am at the Coldbrook Lions Hall) teams or individuals are given a map with checkpoints and GPS coordinates and are then dealt 3 playing cards face down. These are your river cards to build your best five-card hand. Traveling to the checkpoints rewards the riders with another card for their hand; the best five-card hand wins. In the event of a tie, the tiebreaker is the time needed to complete the route.
The route varies in difficulty and, in order to maximize rider safety and efficiency, participants will be encouraged to use all alternative trails marked on the map like the old recycled DAR railway line. Volunteers patrolling the routes on electric, pedal-assist bicycles will provide further safety measures.
We’ve selected destinations that are Valley favourites that people from outside of town may not know about. Eateries such as: Jonnys (which has just been voted best burger in all of Kings County located in Berwick), Pizzazz Bistro, GoodChild’s Tea Room & The Atlantic School of SkyDiving.
The overall goal of the Poker Run is to familiarize people in NS with the natural bicycle highways that do exist here for our recreational and functional use. It costs NS taxpayers $9.5 million annually to repair potholes, a portion of which could be spent elsewhere if people were able to see the convenience, cost-savings and health-benefits of taking their bikes more often.
Sign-up today! Pre-registration is requested and it’s only $5 per person or $15 a team. For more information please visit: www.hip-ebikes.com or contact Robb at: info@hip-ebikes.com / 692-2648. This event is in support of the Red Cross.
