AICC Recyclers To Ride (CONT’D FROM PAGE 1)
Some of the most enjoyable rides offer an outdoor experience that awes and inspires with beautiful landscapes and attractions. “There’s no better way to see something than on a bike,” Ockerlund said. “Walking is too slow to take in enough scenery, a car is too fast, but a bike is the perfect speed to take in a lot of terrain and different things to look at. I think it’s one of the reasons that these rides have been so successful.” Plus, cyclists enjoy the mystique. “It’s a stealth sport among AICC members. Not everybody talks about their cycling,” Young said.
Young said that several companies, eProductivity Software, Viking Paper, Dicar, Ox Box, Arden Software, and Cascades among them, have supported them in the past, providing water and snacks along their routes which has been greatly appreciated. Ockerlund enjoys watching the newcomers in the group experience something different. “If you take somebody who doesn’t ride a lot and we do one of these rides, it can be challenging for them, but at the end when you get togeth- er and have some social time afterward, it really brings people to life,” he said. The “coming to life part” happens on the van ride back to the hotel when they pop open a celebratory bottle of Prosecco while everyone’s endorphins are still pumping. “Everybody’s all excited and super chatty and that kind of illustrates what happens to people after they get some exercise and they challenge themselves a little bit,” Ockerlund said. “This is just a different way to connect with people.” Those connections sometimes lead to business opportunities as was the case when Ockerlund met Jim Silianoff, President of Arden Software, on one of the rides. “We got to chatting and I didn’t really know what he did, and he didn’t really know what our shop did, and it gave us a chance to chat, and one thing led to another. We just bought their whole system, and we just in- stalled it last month,” Ockerlund said. On the road: AiCC’s Recyclers tackle a grade in Joshua Tree National Park, in April 2022.
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