{"id":7040,"date":"2013-12-15T14:51:44","date_gmt":"2013-12-15T20:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sanantoniohams.org\/blog\/?p=7040"},"modified":"2019-10-17T07:04:49","modified_gmt":"2019-10-17T12:04:49","slug":"report-2013-tour-de-gruene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sanantoniohams.org\/blog\/?p=7040","title":{"rendered":"Report – 2013 Tour de Gruene"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0 Tour de Gruene is an\u00a0annual 2 day bicycling event with all radio communications being coordinated by the GVARC\u00a0 Ham Radio Club<\/a>.\u00a0 Hams are stationed at key \/ critical intersections or locations where rider safety may be at risk.\u00a0 They are also stationed at break points to report on supply or rider pickup requests.<\/p>\n

The 2013 event was held on Saturday, November 2nd, and Sunday, November 3rd.\u00a0 (Next year it will be on November 8&9th.) I only worked the event on Sunday morning, so the attached photos were\u00a0 from that date only.\u00a0\u00a0 I heard reports that what I experienced on Sunday was also repeated on Saturday, in terms of riders “jumping” off the bridge at River Crossing #4 to avoid “making a new friend” with an oncoming vehicle.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 At the time this article was posted, you could still view the 2013 course maps online at this link.\u00a0 The 2013 route was unusual, in that area road construction on the normal route force a major change in the route direction. In fact, they started up on River Road in Sattler, Texas, at the VFW Post (River Road & FM2673) instead of in downtown Gruene, Texas.
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Saturday morning’s event is termed a “Family Ride” and attracts the biggest crowd of riders.\u00a0 In the afternoon, they hold the individual time trials, where riders race against the clock, and against the traffic in come cases.\u00a0 This race can be very dangerous when riders attempt to pass slower moving vehicles with not much visibility around the curves.<\/p>\n

Sunday morning’s event was a team time trial event. about 250 pairs or riders start every 60 seconds at the start line, heading down the route.\u00a0 Initially, my son David KD5MTJ and I were assigned to River Crossing #3, but it became apparent that our help was needed more at RR\u00a0\u00a0Crossing\u00a0#4 after multiple close calls were reported due to fast moving\u00a0vehicles.\u00a0 Since my van is equipped with\u00a0multiple strobe lights and traffic direction arrow lights, I was reassigned to help slow down traffic by the mere presence of my vehicle\u00a0 being\u00a0parked on the side of the road where\u00a0other oncoming cars would see\u00a0the amber flashing lights or strobes and slow down to see what was happening.\u00a0 Also, both David and I were wearing\u00a0reflective\u00a0lime green\u00a0traffic style\u00a0vests or jackets, making it more obvious to motorists that something was\u00a0out of the ordinary up ahead.\u00a0 We did not “direct traffic” per se, but our\u00a0mere presence, plus a few\u00a0orange traffic cones that found their way out to the\u00a0center of the road approaching the curve of the bridge, seemed to help. We had\u00a0zero incidents after\u00a0being relocated to River Crossing #3.<\/p>\n

But.. before we got to RR\u00a0\u00a0Crossing\u00a0#4, we had fun at RR\u00a0\u00a0Crossing\u00a0#3.\u00a0\u00a0Joggers (non participants) were jogging down the middle of the\u00a0road on\u00a0a blind curve, side by side, when cars came around the curve behind them and almost ran them over.\u00a0\u00a0They weren’t\u00a0wearing anything reflective and they both had\u00a0ear buds in their ears.\u00a0 Only\u00a0the presence of some orange cones along the center line as the road approached the bridge from the south kept them from being hit.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0Siberian Husky puppy was following the joggers, but got bored and decided to\u00a0climb in the open passenger door of our van. David had been out taking photos and left his door open.\u00a0 The puppy\u00a0was very friendly and wore at tag with\u00a0her name and a phone number on it, so we called the\u00a0number and left a message.\u00a0 About\u00a02o minutes later, the owner\u00a0showed up to reclaim his dog and thank us for notifying him.<\/p>\n

So the photos with the dog were at RR\u00a0\u00a0Crossing\u00a0 #3, and the photos showing a curve with our\u00a0 van on the side of the road (towards the cliff) were at RR\u00a0\u00a0Crossing\u00a0 #4.\u00a0 I’ll try to identify which photos were from which River Road crossing.
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