STP Monday Buses -Portland Bicycling Club

STP Monday Buses

A little respect here please. I was the team leader, I’ll have you know, for the Monday buses for Seattle to Portland. Hmmm, I don’t think I’m sensing the respect!

Yes, I was in charge of myself, a challenge of its own, and my lovely granddaughter, Magdelana, who should have been the team leader but, at 13, is too smart to accept the role.

There were about 175 STP finishers who wisely chose to stay in Portland on Sunday night after their ride. This makes for happy and clean passengers to load on a Monday morning. They are rested, caffeinated and showered. They have had time to regroup and find bus tickets, a bottle of water, and a book to read. Also, their bikes, or at least 98% of them, were loaded on a truck the night before, so that piece of their travel is already complete. It’s a fun gig.

I like to bring along a granddaughter to count heads at Monday buses. Then we know when a bus is full. That is exactly what Magdelana (full name is Magdelana Mae Morrow or M3) did for me. There is actually a counting app that she used to count all those riders. She was not shy about getting on the bus to count and doublecheck her numbers!

We ended up loading the four buses on 9th Avenue alongside the DoubleTree. We started loading at about 8:30 AM, just loaded them up and sent them off to the University of Washington. We held the last bus until 10:00 for stragglers. It only had about ten people on it because we had filled the first three pretty well.

Additionally, once I get a bus loaded and the driver is doing his prep to get on the road, I step onto each bus, introduce myself, thank riders for participating, and congratulate them for finishing. I told them about our name change, that we work with Seattle’s Cascade Bicycle Club to host the finish line in Portland, and I told them our club has a ride every day and to come down with their bikes and we’ll take them for a ride and show off what Portland has to offer. Thanks and applause came back to me which is meant for all of you as well.

After our work shift, Magdelana and I headed to Powell’s Book Store. There, while browsing around, we encountered approximately six people, some alone, some couples, wearing STP merch. Finishers of the ride! We were still adorned with our lovely STP volunteer T-shirts. We spoke briefly to all of them. They were from up north, enjoying a little time in Portland before heading home. I think every one of them said thank you for volunteering. I say that because those Thank You’s are for ALL of you Portland Bicycling Club volunteers who helped in one way or another over the STP weekend.

I just wanted to share my pleasant experiences to hopefully bring back for each of you the feeling of joy and accomplishment that comes from helping others. Your efforts did not go unnoticed. You were appreciated.

 

Ann Morrow, 2019 STP Monday Bus Team Leader