The score of our “PTW” competition fills the lower right corner of our scheduling board. To customers, it looks like a confusing jumble of names and numbers. But staff members know what it means. It means serious business.
PTW stands for Pedal/Paddle to Work. The rules are simple. The person who uses human power to get to work the most wins. You get one point for each round trip (a half point means the person got a ride home). At this point, the distance doesn’t matter. What the winner wins, other than the title, is still up for discussion.
The contenders:
Danielle – 6
Danielle is the defending champion. She’s slacking off at Coastal Kayak this year because of her less important job as a mail carrier. Still, she’s not giving up on the competition.
Mitch – 33.5
At this point Mitch is in the lead. At 7.75 miles one-way, he’s got the longest ride of all the contenders. If Mitch wins, he says the 2019 PTW first place prize will be a trip to the Bahamas. If he doesn’t win, the 2019 PTW prize will be the same as last year – a pat on the back.
Big Bad John – 3
John works the closing shift and doesn’t want to fight our predominant south wind for his ride home to Ocean City (at least that’s his excuse!). But he’s announced that any day now he’s going to start riding. And then he’ll catch up.
Aerin – 24
Aerin is on Mitch’s wheel. At just under a mile, she has the shortest ride. And she does a lot of double shifts. Mitch has asked that she not be scheduled as much.
Todd – 9
With various plastic toys zip-tied to his basket and handlebars and stickers covering his tubes, even if he doesn’t win the 2019 PTW prize, Todd will win the prize for the most original bike.
Maddi – 3
Maddi also has a secondary, unimportant job with the Youth Conservation Corps so she only works a couple days a week at CK. She started strong. But picking up trash with the kids all week saps her energy for riding.
JT – 1
JT rode his bike in once, then loaned it to a neighbor kid who trashed it. At the present time he has no plans to replace or fix his $100 Walmart bike.
Bob – 1.5
“I’ll never do that again,” was Bob’s statement from his one bike ride in this season. He has the .5 because he paddled home after a tour. Since Bob would live in his kayak if his wife allowed him, his 6 mile one-way paddle to/from work is his best chance at getting into striking distance.
Jenifer – 1.5
No excuse for my paltry performance thus far. My 1.5 has been on water. The straightest route is about 3.25 miles. With a detour to check on the birds at Point of Cedars Island, it is 3.5. Right now I’m hovering at the bottom of the pack. But I feel like I’m going to have a late season surge. Maybe not first or second. But watch out Todd – I’m coming for you!
(Update: A sad day for Mitch yesterday. Aerin overtook him. The competition might be called off…)