San Antonio Hams

2009 ALAMO RIDE to the RIVER
MY PERSONAL THANKS

The first BikeMS: Ride to the River is over and it was quite the event.  As you all know, Saturday started with rain and it continued all day.  The weather deteriorated all day forcing a multitude of changes such as the closure of the River Road Century Extension, the move of the Lunch location, the move of Breakpoint 4, and the re-routing of the course into New Braunfels. 

All of these major changes were forced after the start of the ride and all of them were made very smoothly.  These changes went smoothly in no small part to you, the Amateur Radio operators.  You reported to your locations on-time and prepared to provide communications. 

 The flexibility of the Amateur Radio community is it’s hallmark and you proved that again this weekend.  My thanks to the Breakpoint Operators, the Shadows for the officials, the medical team and safety team.  By providing essential communications under adverse conditions you helped to make this ride both successful and safe.

 As Saturday’s weather continued to worsen with extreme rain, fog and ground lighting strikes, the ride was cut short.  The SAG and Motor Marshal Teams were fantastic, getting hundreds of riders off the course in these extreme conditions. 

Saturday was not a pleasure ride for the members of these teams.  They started the morning in dangerous driving conditions and it went downhill from there. 

Every time a SAG driver picked up a rider it meant getting wet and of course the Motor Marshals had even less opportunity for shelter.  When not getting wet they had to drive a new course on narrow winding roads.  Much of the time they were forced to drive while integrated with the riders because on roads of barely two lanes with on-coming traffic there was no other choice.  While the Motor Marshals routinely do this, it was a newer experience for the SAG Team driving their very large vans but they did so both calmly and safely. 

Since I have always been a SAG driver on this event I understand the difficulties of their position, their hours are long, conditions can be difficult and they often have to deal with riders when the riders are not at their most courteous.  My thanks to this year’s SAG and Motor Marshal Teams, you worked well under difficult circumstances.

And of course, none of these communications could have happened without the work of Shane O’Neal-NS5D and his Net Control Team.  Shane put in a lot of hours prior the event and not only with the Amateur Radio communications.  You may not be aware that Shane is involved many aspects of Public Safety radio communications, and he put some of that involvement to use in this event.  On the Amateur Radio side Shane and his team tested repeater coverage and secured permission from the various trustees to use their repeaters.  When a backup repeater failed just days prior to the event Shane secured a replacement.  My thanks to the Net Control Team.

On Sunday morning I received a 5:00 am phone call to attend a meeting regarding the weather.  I drove to meeting through thunder, lighting and torrential rains. 

The news from the National Weather Service was not favorable, we were under a flash flood warning, rain of up to five inches per hour for hours, continued lighting and conditions being labeled as unsafe.  The lunch breakpoint was without electricity and parts of the route were already flooded. 

The decision to cancel the second day of the ride became easy to make and at 5:47 am it was cancelled.  Shane put the word out for SAGs to please report to Schlitterbahn, but the other Amateur Radio operators could return home.  Many of the breakpoint operators were already on the road driving through the poor weather to their positions.  This is the kind of dependability the Amateur Radio community is known for.

All the SAGs, except one, reported to Schlitterbahn.  The SAGs were not, and should not of been, the first means to move 1,300 riders, their luggage and their bikes back to San Antonio.  The SAGs were used for special circumstances, riders requiring expedited rides, and as a back-up in case the primary transportation (buses and trucks) failed. 

By about 9:30 am all the remaining SAGs were released except for Alfred Horn-KG5QW, Charlie Land-KC5NKK and myself.  The last bus left at 10:30 am and we stayed until 11:30 am in case the last stray rider showed up.  Again my thanks to the SAGs for driving through difficult circumstances to provide the back-up required for an event such as this.

 In closing all I can say is thank you for your support for this event and your work this weekend.

Thanks,

Milton – N5HMJ

P.S.:  By 11:30am, the Guadalupe River at Schlitterbahn had risen 6-8 feet completely covering the pool, floating away many picnic tables and the beach they were on.  It was still rising when we left.