By H. Milton Johnson – N5HMJ
It was hot and windy!
Well the 2008 Bike to the Beach has been come and gone. On the weekend of October 3rd and 4th, over three thousand bicycle riders left the start line at the AT&T Center in San Antonio and started an approximately 160-mile, two day trip to Whataburger Field in Corpus Christi.
Shepherding the riders like guardian angels, was a cadre of volunteers that included sixty-seven of your fellow amateur radio operators. An operation on this scale requires providing the riders with medical teams, safety teams, mechanical repair teams, the pre-positioning of large amounts of food and water, marking 160 miles of course, an army of support and gear vans and a communications system that can function efficiently over the 160 miles.
This is one giant logistical operation and at the heart of logistics is communications. In order to deploy your resources you have to know where your resources are, where they are needed and be able to direct them to the point of need. It is the amateur radio community that provides the communications infrastructure, equipment and man power to make this happen. We have every right to be proud of the service we provide to our community during this and other events.
The ride started at 7:30 am Saturday morning with the riders leaving the AT&T Center in groups. Their progress was immediately monitored by Safety, Medical, SAG and Motorcycle Marshall Teams, all with ham radio operators. Down the course break points were ready to receive the riders, break points that were also manned with radio operators. Efficiently coordinating the communications was the Net Control team, ensuring that the traffic was directed to the appropriate parties.
As I left the AT&T Center, starting my patrol to Breakpoint 1, I saw two riders up ahead on the side of the road. Then I noticed one rider take off on a tandem bike leaving the second rider. I stopped and asked the rider if he lost his bike, and he answered, “Yes, my room-mate and I had a fight and he left me. He said I wasn’t pedaling hard enough.” I guess this is one of the hazards of tandem bikes. I transported him to the break point where he called someone to come and get him.
As the ride progressed it quickly became apparent that the riders would be bucking a headwind and the weather report said that would continue all day. We also had fog to contend with which required the positioning of Safety Units with emergency lights to control traffic at some especially nasty locations.
The morning continued with the operations being typical for a Bike to the Beach Saturday (a few accidents, some supplies needed here and there). Then the temperature started to rise. The continued wind caused the riders to exert greater effort, and sweat more.
However the wind also meant that the riders did not feel hot even with the increased temperatures. Riders were not aware of their loss of fluids and electrolytes. By 11 am, I was working between Breakpoint 8 and the end on the 94 mile day 1 course in Beeville. I was picking up riders within smelling distance of Beeville who were cramping up, dehydrated and not able to pedal any farther. On the radio I could hear that the SAGs were getting busy all over the course.
By early afternoon Safety made their decision, we would essentially close the rear of the course. This means that a team of designated SAGs swarmed to the Turtle (who is always behind the last rider) and then started moving forward. When they came upon a rider they pulled over, informed the rider that the end of the course is being closed and that they will be sagged forward two breakpoints where they can resume the ride. After dropping off a full load the SAGs returned to the rear and repeated the process.
Now as you head towards the rear, you start to triage the riders on the course looking for ones that may be in trouble. Hmm, this one looks strong and has plenty of water so he stays, that one looks fatigued so I’ll stop and offer a ride, this redhead is my cute wife so I’ll definitely stop and offer her a ride.
The SAG Team continued this and was able to get riders to the safety of a breakpoint where they could rest, rehydrate and then resume their ride. A side effect of this was that large numbers of riders quickly accumulated at the breakpoints which increased the need for supplies. Breakpoint operators passed the traffic for more supplies. We even started transporting riders by buses and again radio communications were required to dispatch the buses.
When the official course closure time of 6 pm arrived, most of the riders still on the course were cooked and grateful to be sagged into Beeville. By 6:45 pm all the breakpoints were closed, and the hard worked Safety, Medical, Motor Marshall and SAG teams were looking for something cold to drink and some hot food. I was lucky enough to be invited to dine with the AT&T Spinners who were catered by Rudy’s.
Sunday morning came all too early, but all the volunteers were out on the course. There was a serious accident before Breakpoint 1 resulting in a rider being taken to Beeville and then air lifted. The next big event was construction leaving Skidmore. It became necessary detour southbound traffic leaving Skidmore off of 181 onto 359 and then into Sinton. A few of the SAGs also had to take this detour, which prompted some good natured traffic comparing the back roads of Texas with those in Oklahoma.
Unfortunately, the head winds and heat from Saturday continued on Sunday. We started having a lot of riders between Breakpoints 1 and Lunch, requiring SAG assistance to get to Lunch. We also found a large number of the riders who did make it to Lunch were running out of gas trying to go from Lunch to Breakpoint 3. This was further compounded by an equally large number of riders who found they could not make it from Breakpoint 3 to Breakpoint 4. The end result was that the SAG team was very, very busy. All of the SAGs were busy until around 2:30PM.
Well, all but one of the SAGs were busy. He was at the Finish Line in Corpus Christi when the last rider exiting his SAG locked the doors! Yes, ALL the doors were locked. Yes, ALL the windows were up! Yes, the SAG was causing a minor traffic problem. I was noting the lack of progress in solving the problem and eventually was able to get to the Finish Line to check up on the situation. The SAG operator had a good idea on how to get in, but had no tools. Fortunately I had brought a bag of tools, so using a flat blade screw driver, a pair of pliers and a spoke from an umbrella we were able to gain entry.
Now this year’s Bike to the Beach had a different Finish Line. In past years the ride finished in the North Beach area, near the USS Lexington and the State Aquarium. Now the Finish Line is not just a finish line. It is a large logistical point where you have to feed, water and entertain 3,000 riders, and provide parking for the many hundreds of private and event vehicles.
Due to the increase in ridership we had to find a larger area for the Finish Line. So, for 2008, the route called for the riders to go over the Harbor Bridge and then to finish at Whataburger Field, a baseball complex. If you haven’t been over the Harbor Bridge, it is an imposing climb for your average bicyclist.
We decided to add a water stop (Breakpoint 5) right before the bridge so that the riders could buck-up their courage or request a SAG ride over the bridge. The big question was how many riders would want to be sagged over the bridge? 
Would it be ten, or a hundred, or a thousand? Well to our relief it turned out to be a lot closer to ten than a thousand. In fact the number of riders sagged over the bridge was greatly out-numbered by the riders being sagged to Breakpoint 5 where they then rode the remaining ~1.5 miles over the bridge and to the Finish Line.
The tradition is that the last rider into the Finish Line is escorted by “the Congo Line”. Now the Congo Line is formed by all the events support vehicles, the 25 SAG vans, the 30 Motorcycle Marshalls, the 8 police cars, the 6 medical units and last but not least the Turtle. The Congo Line formed up at Breakpoint 5 and escorted the last rider over the Harbor Bridge and into Whataburger Field. It was quite a sight, from the Finish Line you could see the Congo Line crossing the bridge with emergency lights on nd sirens blasting.
Well that was the story for the 2008 BikeMS: Valero Bike To The Beach event. If you were unable to oin us this year, I hope you join in the fun next year. I want to personally thank each of the following volunteers:
Byron Armstrong W8SYD, Don Bannon AB5XI, Zach Bannon KD5SJH, Brian Beaudine AE5CR, John Beiseigel KE5HLX, Liliane Bell KC5AQP, David Besing KD5MTJ, Lee Besing N5NTG, Glenn Boswell KE5AOV, Curtis Briley KE5HDL, Constable Jim Burgin KB5RXD, Swight Compton N5TCS, Christopher Davenport WI5KEY, Jeremy Davenport KE5ELI, Chris Dial KC5 KIT, Gordon Dial K5SUZ, Nancy Dial WB5TCX, Frances Draper KB5TMI, Josh Draper KD5IGA, Ed Driscoll NE5N, Chuck Ellis KD4UGE, David Espinosa W5QS, Denny Findley KD5YRR, Therese Frentz (-), Norm Fulkerson AD5EF, Jeff Gebhart KE5MSI, John Goates (-), Herm Haertel N5CNH, Keith Haertel KD5UYH, Melissa Hall KC5KIU, Darlana Harris K5DEH, Lothar Harris K5LEH, Lonnie Hebert KE5MSH, Alfred Horn KG5QW, Mary Ann Horn N5MYN, Claude Howard KD5YZX, Jerry Irwin WA0GLD, Milton Johnson N5MHJ, Chuck Kenworthy WB5FWI, Don Kirchner W5DK, Pat Knight AD5BR, Charlie Land KC5NKK, Michael Lay N5PTN, Dexter Lewis KB5JTJ, Greg Lewis N5XO, Ruth Lewis KE5NHJ, Charles Manley KD5EXS, Charlie Manley W5BRC, Louise Martin WB5LCT, Neil Martin WA5FSR, Gil Mathis AA5XH, Danny McCarty WA5KRP, Ray McLeaird KE5KHN, Bob McWha AD5NQ, Connie McWha KD5UXU, Charles Mielak K3VIC, Eric Olson WB5ZJQ, Sharon Olson KB5KZD, Shane O’Neal NS5D, Jorge Patino KC5RY, Michael Perez KE5UZP, John Perry KE5PRE, Curtis Pietsch KE5AOQ, Terry Platt K5ADF, Barbara Rabenaldt N5RZH, Curtis Rabenaldt N5QPN, Scott Renwick WB5ZJI, David Rice KE5LOU, Ed Ringgold N5LVQ, Dale Robinson KB5YSJ, Linda Robinson KC5QPQ, Bob Rodriguez K5AUW, Emily Rohm (-), Frank Rohm KE5IJS, Bill Sauerbrey KD5LOC, Randall Scharmen (-), Sterling Scharmen KE5KZE, Stan Stanukinos KA5IID, David Staten K5EFD, Gary Stock WF5Y, Gary Tangrady K5GST, Paul Tarter KE5TDO, Royce Taylor KA5OHJ, Dennis Thompson KE5MWN, Maggie Trigg KE5MHQ, John Trigg W5KXO, Patrick Trigg (-), Susan Trigg KE5MHF, Lyle Turner KB5BSU, Lorolie Wong KD5ZWX, Martha Wood (-), Rob Wood KE5ROB
