{"id":6519,"date":"2013-05-14T13:13:24","date_gmt":"2013-05-14T19:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sanantoniohams.org\/blog\/?p=6519"},"modified":"2016-04-11T07:14:47","modified_gmt":"2016-04-11T12:14:47","slug":"2013-tour-de-cure-bicycle-ride-may-11-thank-you-volunteers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sanantoniohams.org\/blog\/?p=6519","title":{"rendered":"2013 Tour de Cure Bicycle Ride May 11 – Thank You Volunteers!"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"2013-05-11<\/a>Even though I always somehow seem to end up \u201cin charge\u201d of these types of events, I could NOT do this without all the help I get from other Ham Radio operators<\/b> who \u201cappear out of the woodwork\u201d when I most need them.<\/p>\n

Some of you volunteered, changed your personal plans, and showed up to help, even though you were hurting, such as Earlene Harris K5DEH<\/strong> who had just broken a rib a couple days before the event.\u00a0 Some of you practically \u201cdemanded\u201d that I allow you to participate!\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

GVAR\u2019s 147.000 repeater cooperated with us all day,<\/b> with no major glitches noticed.\u00a0 GVARC had a couple of hams standing by monitoring the repeater, and the event, to be sure it stayed up and running.\u00a0 We never needed to switch over to either backup repeater frequency.<\/p>\n

The weather cooperated with us<\/strong> and we didn\u2019t have many areas of the route with water on them. I know of at least one road that was reported as \u201cwet, but just puddle, not running across the road.\u201d\u00a0 I promised Paul Yura<\/strong> & his crew that I\u2019d try to get some even t-shirts if they \u201cmade the bad weather go away,\u201d so I guess I need to keep that promise. J<\/p>\n

I\u2019m currently accepting \u201cafter action debriefing reports\u201d from any hams who worked the event.\u00a0 <\/b>Please email those reports to me at tdc@sanantoniohams.org<\/a> when you get the time.\u00a0 There should be a volunteer party in a few months. If that happens, I\u2019ll put the word out and collect your RSVP\u2019s at that time.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Bryce and Ann Weathersby<\/b> agreed amicably to \u201csplit up for the day\u201d, and Bryce KE5KFD<\/b> drove SAG #5 with his son, Jake<\/b>, while Ann KE5TEZ<\/b> and her daughter, Bryanne<\/b>, worked Rest Stop #1 and then relocated over to Rest Stop #8 to help Dave Espinoza W5QS<\/strong> who was there from the start.<\/p>\n

George Griesenbach<\/b> W5GRG<\/b> came over from Comfort, TX, and worked Rest Stop #2 for us. This is where the 50 split off from the 70\/100 mile routes.<\/p>\n

Lew Archer WV0YVY<\/b> worked as Rest Stop #3 Ham up in Sattler, and then jumped in his car and followed the last of the 70 mile riders down the course as \u201ctemporary turtle\u201d until they reached the next to the last rest stop (#7) on the 70 mile route.<\/p>\n

Bart Pearl N5BLP<\/b> did everything but demand I give him an assignment!\u00a0 LOL He ended up as the Rest Stop #7 Ham, and entertained us with his Yaesu radio generating that WIRES ID CW all day long.\u00a0\u00a0 Rest Stop 7 saw everybody except the 15 or the 100 mile riders.<\/p>\n

Ray Mueller AE5HN,<\/b> who always seems to do things way above what the minimum requirement was, was over at Rest Stop #4, where the 70 & 100 split off at the south end of River Road.\u00a0 Instead of sitting in the shade and just working the radio, he was standing (not sitting) on the side of the road, out in the sun with his hat on, verbally directing riders into the Rest Stop that was around the side of the River Road Ice House.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Davenport KE5ELI<\/b> used the event as an excuse to \u201cget away\u201d from his newborn baby, and worked Rest Stop #5 for the afternoon, after learning it was within a mile of his house.\u00a0 Rest stop #5 was on the 100 mile route only.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad we were able to provide him with a feasible excuse to \u201ctake a break\u201d for a few hours.<\/p>\n

Lothar and Earlene Harris (K5LEH \/ K5DEH) <\/b>volunteered to work Rest Stop #6 on the 100 mile route, even though Earlene had just recovered from some serious medical treatments and had broken a rib just days before the event.\u00a0 Lothar sent me a photo of Earlene standing in the sun holding bicycles for the riders while they refilled their water bottles and grabbed a snack or two.<\/p>\n

David Espinoza W5QS<\/b> served double duty at Rest Stop #8, as the Rest Stop Ham and helping medical with his EMT training.\u00a0 David is consistently the early bird ham at all of our events, first to arrive, and last to leave his position, ensuring that the last rider \/ runner has passed thru before he leaves.<\/p>\n

Scott Reeve KT5SR<\/b> came all the way from Houston to help out. He served as \u201cTurtle\u201d on the 100 mile route, and picked up signs along the way.\u00a0 Despite not being familiar with the route, Scott drove the entire 100 mile route and ended up with his pickup truck bed full of TdC signage.\u00a0 Amazingly enough, he was still smiling at the end of the day!<\/p>\n

Curtis Rabenalt N5QPN<\/b> was our SAFETY Officer<\/strong> out on the course. Unfortunately, due to some unknown\u00a0mix-up, Curtis ended up without any marked patrol cars or uniformed officers to assist him with any hot-spots, such as where the 100 mile route crossed under IH-35 in New Braunfels, of when the report came in about the dogs chasing the riders on the eastern portion of the 100 mile route.\u00a0 Curtis also assisted Susan Storrie<\/strong> who was the TdC Route Sign Chair in putting up signs on the day before the event.<\/p>\n

Ruth Lewis KE5MHJ<\/b> and Greg Lewis N5XO <\/b>brought out their wonderful Hamster comm van, and proceeded to make the Sound System contractor very angry, even before they got the van set up.\u00a0 Seems the contractor hadn\u2019t been at any of the planning meetings or the walk-thru on the Thursday before the event, so he just set up his speakers all over the place and strung wires across the paved drive areas (about 8\u2019 or less off the ground) without any reflectors, hanging signs or other safety measures.\u00a0 So when Greg arrived before dark, driving that slightly taller than normal vehicle (think of a Red Cross ERV van or large Ambulance) and followed the cones into the overhang area so he could turnaround and park where the event committee had decided to put the communications van, he accidently ripped down the cables strung across in the dark.\u00a0 Oops!\u00a0 But all ended well, with the contractor taking down some of the speakers that were setup too near the communications area, and my turning down (way, way down, like \u201coff\u201d) the 2nd speaker that was still too close to our van.<\/p>\n

Greg Lewis N5XO<\/strong> commented that he wasn\u2019t much help with\u00a0Net Control\u00a0due to some hearing problems,\u00a0so the primary\u00a0Net Control operator was usually his wife, Ruth Lewis KE5MHJ<\/strong>, with relief provided by Jeff Schmidt N5MYW<\/strong> as needed.\u00a0 With all the ambient noise inside, even with the doors shut, he had problems separating out the voices on the different radios. But he says his new hearing aids should arrive soon, so perhaps that won\u2019t be as much of a problem in the future.\u00a0 Having headsets available for use on the VHF\/UHF radios inside the Hamster would help greatly as well.\u00a0 Only the HF radios in the Hamster had readily available jacks for headsets. Ruth promised to get that fixed for next time.<\/p>\n

Our Dynamic Duo from Austin, the Austin APRS Crew, Jeff Schmidt N5MNW<\/b> and Paul Fenrich KA5FZU<\/b>, arrived around 6:15am with their equipment, but decided to be \u201canti-social\u201d and relocated down the sidewalk from the prime real estate I had staked out for them already.\u00a0 Jeff said something about that loud music interfering with their ability to hear themselves think, much less operate on the radios.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We had extremely good APRS coverage on the course, and minimal need to reset the trackers in the SAG vans.\u00a0 Being able to glance at the computer screen and see where the various units were located, was extremely helpful in getting the nearest van to a rider requesting pickup.\u00a0 They also came down Friday afternoon, taking off work early to be here on time, and installed the trackers in each of the 6 SAG vans before the drivers departed with them.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s amazing how much \u201cbehind the scenes\u201d work is needed for an event like these require.\u00a0 Sort of like watching that duck out on the pond, moving so gracefully, but not seeing those feet paddling like crazy to keep up\u2026.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The topic of \u201cWhere are our SAG Vans?\u201d was a bouncing ball for at least a week before the event<\/b>.\u00a0 First we were to pick them up over off IH-10 at the Colonnades Enterprise location near the National MS Office, then it was moved over to the 24 hour Enterprise Airport location on the south side of Loop 410 @ Airport Blvd.\u00a0 Oops, then it was moved over the older Enterprise location on Hwy 281 & Jones-Maltsberger, behind the Embassy Suites.\u00a0 After I visited there on Wednesday (May 8th<\/sup>) before the event to confirm everything was set up, I received a phone call early on Friday morning (May 10th<\/sup>) from the first location, saying they had our 6 vans ready for pickup. Oops!\u00a0 I called Brady (branch mgr at the Hwy 281 location) to verify what was up.\u00a0 Seems an intern (at Enterprise) hadn\u2019t properly canceled the original reservation (at the higher price, and IH-10 location), nor a temporary reservation that somehow ended up made in my personal name.\u00a0 So at one point, we had 18 vans ready to roll on Friday.\u00a0 But Brady was able to get it all cleared up, and we just picked up the 6 vans on time at the Hwy 281 location.\u00a0 The vans were\u00a0all returned back before 8pm on Saturday, May 11th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

Our Fantastic SAG Team consisted of:<\/b><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Royce Taylor KA5OHJ<\/b> driving SAG #1. Royce had the most prior experience as a SAG driver than any of the other SAG drivers, or even myself.<\/li>\n
  2. Joe Bruno W5AUQ<\/b> and his grandson (didn\u2019t get his name) drove SAG #2.\u00a0 Joe helped shuffle supplies from one rest stop to another, even when they changed their minds and wanted the supplies back at the original rest stop.<\/li>\n
  3. Kevin Wilson KF5JJQ<\/b> drove SAG #3 with his \u201cgoogolly eyes\u201d on the rear windows, and ended up as the turtle for the 50 mile route. Kevin also came out on for that Thursday night (May 8th<\/sup>) walk-thru planning meeting at the Retama to help us figure out the best place to situate communications, relatively near the medical, EMS ambulance, but away from the sound system (for all the good that did us on the morning of the event.)\u00a0 You\u00a0 will be seeing more of Kevin at future events, as he\u2019s agreed to be my new sidekick and help with the planning of future events as well.\u00a0 That help is well appreciated, and he showed good judgment when we needed to rearrange the TdC Staff\u2019s ideas of where we ought to be hidden away on the day of the event.<\/li>\n
  4. Jeffery Dillon<\/b> and Mary Ann Horn N5MYN<\/b> were in SAG #4, always in the right spot when I needed them to be there.<\/li>\n
  5. Bryce Weathersby KE5KFD<\/b> and his son, Jake<\/b>, were in SAG #5 as previously mentioned. Bryce was always willing to go that extra mile when help was needed.<\/li>\n
  6. Jim Haley K0GM<\/b> and his wife, Georgia<\/b>, were the SAG #6 driver team on the 50 mile route. They managed to find the only rider who was bleeding after he \u201ctook a tumble\u201d when his father\u2019s bicycle moved in front of him. Oops.\u00a0 Jim brought them both back to the finish where the two EMT\u2019s in the ambulance almost fought over the privilege of treating a patient.\u00a0 The EMT\u2019s were so bored all day, which is a good thing.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    We had 23 Motorcycle Marshals, coordinated by Mike Perez W5ZAP.<\/b>\u00a0 They \u201cearned their t-shirt\u201d on this event, as they always do.\u00a0 Without those extra eyes and ears (not counting the extra eyes on the back of SAG #3), we\u2019d be hard pressed to be as efficient as we were.<\/p>\n

    UPDATE – 05\/15\/2013 – Here is an updated\u00a0list of the Motorcycle Marshals who rode that day:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Michael Perez W5ZAP<\/li>\n
    2. Ray McLeaird N5RAM<\/li>\n
    3. John Perry KE5PRE<\/li>\n
    4. Claude Howard KD5YZX<\/li>\n
    5. Daryl Mai W5MAI<\/li>\n
    6. Shawn McAlpine KF5AVE<\/li>\n
    7. Paul Guido N5IUT<\/li>\n
    8. Bob Kelly KF5OSX<\/li>\n
    9. Daniel Garcia<\/li>\n
    10. Jean Williamson<\/li>\n
    11. Russell Minor<\/li>\n
    12. Jaime Panciera<\/li>\n
    13. Manual Tarin<\/li>\n
    14. Lance Tracy<\/li>\n
    15. Paul Tarter KE5TDO<\/li>\n
    16. Steve Evans KF5SCK<\/li>\n
    17. Andre Ebaben<\/li>\n
    18. Earl Gabbard<\/li>\n
    19. John Guerra<\/li>\n
    20. Carlos Ortiz<\/li>\n
    21. Gary Bentson KF5JYH<\/li>\n
    22. Jorge Patino KC5RY<\/li>\n
    23. Jacque Robertson<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      I\u2019ve already told the TDC staff, that next year, I want 10 SAG Vans to cover the route.<\/b>\u00a0 We had too many holes in our coverage areas, and the 15\/30 mile routes were experiencing delays of 30-45 minutes, or more, before a rider was actually picked up by the Safelite Auto Glass SAG cars.\u00a0 Our vans were spread way too thin on the multiple routes.<\/p>\n

      It wasn\u2019t the number of riders vs. number of SAG vans, it was the mileage vs. the number of SAG vans that hurt us this year.<\/strong> There weren\u2019t many short cuts to bounce from one route to the other, although we sure tried to do that.\u00a0 I appreciated the patience of the SAG drivers when we changed plans in mid stream and redirected them to another part of the course to get a different rider.\u00a0 I think our ridership levels were down, but the mileage per van was way up.<\/p>\n

      I want to thank my son,<\/strong> David Besing KD5MTJ,<\/b> who covered a work assignment for me on Friday, so that I could run around picking up t-shirts from the ADA offices, picking up extra radios and supplies from my storage unit, buying 6 cases of bottled water for the SAG Vans, and get them all delivered to the Enterprise location.\u00a0 Then he stayed with me the rest of the day, helping apply the vinyl numbers to each van and distribute the water and other signs, while the APRS crew installed the trackers.\u00a0 Then he went with me to meet up with the Motorcycle Marshals who were having a pre-event dinner at Grady\u2019s BBQ on San Pedro.\u00a0 We showed them the large signs (thanks to Frank Kreusel at Art-Trig Corp in Leon Valley) and talked about the route, weather contingency plans, and distributed t-shirts to those present.<\/p>\n

      Speaking of T-Shirts\u2026\u00a0 If anyone didn\u2019t get their event t-shirt, please contact me direct via email.<\/b>\u00a0 I\u2019ve got extras, but only in the following sizes:<\/p>\n