A great final day for the Ride. More sunny weather, but temperatures soared into the low 90's. The wind can sometimes be a problem on the last day, but this year it was fine. I was joined by Mo Foster of KOOL 105.5 again, and Stan Kilbas the owner of Wheels of Wellington. He donates the bike that we auction off on the last day.
We left CityPlace at 1pm. A first on the Ride; Mo got a flat tire in Lake Worth, almost in front of the Lake Worth Bike Shop. We walked in and they repaired it in 5 minutes. The total distance is about 30 miles to Boca, and it took about 21/2 hours.
A good crowd greeted us at Mizner Park, and our main sponsor, Ansca Homes, made a $5000. donation in the 5pm newscast. Eric Scherr, the GM of Ansca Homes made the donation and thanked the Red Cross. We started the bike bidding at $500., and we eventually got a $2000. bid.
At 5:30pm Steve Bayer, a disaster specialist with the Red Cross, came on to talk about hurricane preparedness. Stan gave a detailed description of the bike, and we promoted the annual hurricane guide.
At 6pm Joe Hansen showed off the new pet shelter, and we got the bike bid up to $2750. The bid was from Mark Ryska of Vero Beach. At the last minute we got an additional bid of $7250., making the final donation total of $10000. We have a secret bidder who calls in at the last minute each year. I know who they are but I'm sworn to secrecy.
Thanks to everyone who helped with the Ride this year. Bernedette O'Grady and Mo Foster deserve a special thanks for the organization and promotion of the Ride. And Bob Leak for racing up and down the coast shooting all the video you see during the day. And the returning secret bike bidder. Let's hope he returns next year...
