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Second Annual Tre’ Sawyers Benefit Ride
I went on this ride this past weekend. I’m sorry I didn’t post it up in the events, but I only found out about it last Wednesday when I stopped at the Norwood TA for gas and saw the flyer posted to the message board outside the bathrooms.
It was hosted by Bounce Back Ministries and the Restoration Church of Mansfield, and organized by Tre’s mother, Jolene. She lost Tre to a left-turner in Springfield back in 2023, who was ‘actively addicted’ at the time- I dont know if that meant that she was a user, or that she was actually high and driving in Springfield. That takes some guts, driving in Springfield is hard enough sober. Anyway, she failed to yield and crossed Tre’s path; he t-boned her with his Honda Shadow and didn’t make it.
The 8am breakfast (by donation, as was the ride itself, the fish fry lunch to come, and everything else) was a mini-pancake bar with lots of fixings, you could make just about anything you wanted. Plenty of coffee. Check-in was at 8:30, and planned kickstands up at 9.
As it was only their second annual ride, it was active, but a little disorganized. Jolene had some help, but as directing bikers is like herding cats anyway, some communication was lost. We got rallied and on the road reasonably on time and headed north on 5 Highway with Tre’s best friends and uncle in the lead. Weather was perfect- no clouds, no chemtrails, just sunny and in the 60s, great conditions for a ride.
Our first stop was a resale shop in Lebanon, which also served as a benefit host site for the area homeless. We helped them out with some things, taking care of people and praying over and with them. Another bike Ministry was there, Distributing bag lunches for anyone who was hungry. We spent about a half hour there, then headed out again on 32, aiming for Houston, our next stop. We never made it.
32 East between Lebanon and Houston is a gorgeous ride, and I highly recommend it to anyone who gets out this way. Unfortunately, in Roby, a rider hit a large dog, which sent him and his bike into the ditch. The rest of us made it another few miles before word was passed forward that we had a rider down. We turned around and went back to Lynchburg to wait for them and gas up.
Word came forward in bits and pieces. The rider was okay, scratched up, and with a possibly dislocated or broken shoulder. They were waiting on an ambulance. The dog unfortunately died at the scene. The riders who remained back with the fallen one tried connecting with neighbors to find who owned the dog, but whether it was this site of a large group of bikers, or the fact that one was injured, no one would claim ownership of the animal.
After almost an hour or so, the rider had been picked up by the ambulance, and the remaining Riders and our service truck and trailer came along with the wrecked bike. It was unfortunate, he had only had the Bike 2 weeks, and it was totaled. As we had lost so much time, the decision was made to Simply take 95 South to Mountain Grove, as that was our third stop anyway, and was right there at the gas station in Lynchburg. We headed out a little after 1:00 p.m.
95 South from Lynchburg to Mountain Grove is an absolutely gorgeous ride, full of twisties. The road quality is not the best, but is passable for a rider with sharp eyes to watch for gravel and potholes. I stuck with a young Rider toward the back, as he was new to his bike and this was his first group ride, he was a little slow and timid in the corners. We made it to the Mountain Grove Walmart at about a quarter to two.
At the Walmart, we formed a line going into the store to perform a blessing Blitz, each of us putting a donation into a basket for one of the cashiers whose circumstances were laid on the heart of one of the riders. I met a young girl named Lexi, who just happened to be in the area on a scooter she bought in Branson. Amazingly, the thing will do 85 mph, or so she claimed. She would have joined us on our ride back to mansfield, but she had to go to work.
As we headed out on 60 back to mansfield, we formed up tight coming into norwood, as one of Jolene’s friends was waiting on the overpass to video us going by. We made it back to the church, and lined up for the Car and Bike Show. In addition to the fried fish, they also had fried chicken, snow cones, and drinks.
I wasn’t able to stick around for the Car and Bike Show, or the worship service to follow, as it was getting on toward chore time. But I had a grand time, met a lot of new people, and saw some awesome scenery. Writing a dual sport on a twisty ride was probably not ideal, but it was fun all the same.
I hope, if they do this again next year, they get a little better at the organization. Jolene seemed to be wanting something a little more majestic, and instead of the 150 to 200 Riders who pre-registered, less than 100 showed up. She has the heart and the willingness to do a big event, I hope she can pull it off next year.
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2 Replies
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That should have said, “RIDING a dual-sport…” Serves me right for using speech-to-text and not proofreading.
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Another edit, as I’m rereading this much later (is it narcissistic to say I really like my own writing?): The rider went down west of Lynchburg. I was up that way yesterday for a meeting in Roby, and didn’t realize Roby was EAST of Lynchburg. Where we turned around at was actually the intersection of 32 and AH, through which I passed yesterday afternoon.
Incidentally, although we drove it, H east off 95 from Manes to AH north to 32 looks to be just about as fun a ride as 95 north from 5 was (in my other review), I’ll have to see if we get any decent weather between now and winter and go ride that.
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