Getting Lei'd, Running Sheriffs blockades and Slapping a Cop

It was an eventful weekend.  And I emerged relatively unscathed without an arrest record or moving violation.  I was pursued.  But it was a low speed chase and they didn't have a chance of catching me.  Couldn't catch me even on the downhills.

I am surprised their cheers didn't wake the neighbors.  And that is taking into account that the neighbors were not big party people.  They were generally very quite, laid back people.  Tough as granite and quiet as the grave.

 

Neighbors can be seen in the background on the left.

My third time through I stopped and told them how much their cheers and enthusiasm were appreciated.  They draped my bike with leis.  They may have been plastic, but the spirit with which they were given were sincere.  They were here to help and motivate and took their jobs seriously.  There wouldn't be anyone else like them.

 One time, while waiting for a red light to turn green and allow me on my way, a sheriff coming from my left turned left to travel in the direction I was headed, only to turn on his lights, make a u-turn and sit across the intersection from me.  The traffic light finally turned green and I started on my way.  You may not believe it is possible, but we made eye-contact through two pairs of sunglasses.  The connection between us was unbreakable as he pointed two fingers at me.  Then flipped his hand over and folded his fingers in a "come here" motion that could not be denied.  Mr. Oilburner will find it incredible that someone could summon me in this manner.  But I actually did obey.  I promptly executed my own u-turn and stopped next to this bastion of enforcement.

I pulled up to another intersection where another sheriff's car was parked.  He was out of it and walking towards me when he saw me approach.  I pulled up next to him and started to talk.  You know how difficult communication can be through a full face helmet, so he was having a little difficulty understanding me and I was having to talk loudly.  Then we had a Zsa Zsa Gabor episode where my hand just kinda reached out and slapped him.  He was quite gracious during the episode and didn't even reach for his sidearm.  Whew!  Then he let me just ride away, where I stopped across the intersection and just watched him.

Elsewhere throughout the day I blatantly blew through police blockades.  Sometimes I made eye contact.  Sometimes I didn't.  But they never turned their backs to me.

It was a grand weekend of law breaking, helping and heat exhaustion.  The damn weather was so helpful by giving us a grueling weekend of 92+F degree temps (33C) when people were out killing themselves either pedaling bicycles 80 or 100 miles, depending on the route.  The marshals were fully clothed in black armor on shiny steeds to save the day when we could.  (The sheriffs pointed out that they were in Kevlar vests and polyester...)  Our steeds shined and we would have glistened if your eyes could have penetrated the shaded lenses of our helmets.  If you looked closely you could see the rivers of sweat flowing down our necks before it disappeared under the collar of our jackets.  I expect it might have appeared like sun sparkling on the wavelets in a lake.

The FedEx volunteers manning checkpoint two would have been better at checkpoint five.  At checkpoint two cyclists were still fresh and it was early.  These enthusiastic volunteers were needed at the end of the day when people were questioning their sanity in attempting to ride a bicycle between Atlanta and Athens in the Georgia Foothills.  Especially the damn hill that the riders were calling "The Widow Maker."

I had to agree with one cyclists observation that whenever there was a sign on the course notifying them that the next break point was a mere mile away, there was invariably a ball buster climb in between the sign and destination.  It's only noticeable on the motorbike when you see the cyclist walking up the hill or stading on the pedals and still only crawling along at 1 mph.  Three cyclists that I spoke with over the course of the weekend were also motorbike pilots.  And they all posited that next year they might volunteer to be a motorcycle marshal instead.  Yes, we marshals were volunteering to be under these brutal conditions.  But these cyclists had to raise money for the privilege of abusing themselves on this course.  My deepest admiration to them.  There was a time in my life when I would have cycled that course with them.  But that time has passed.

---

In all it was a great weekend. 188 cyclists, the pedal-powered kind, showed up to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis.  We averaged 16 motorcycle marshals.  Some working all weekend, others coming for Saturday or Sunday work.  No marshals were hurt.  There was a moderate accident among the cyclists when some no-account resident switched route signs and sent quite a few cyclists down a route that turned to gravel.  Accounts differ, but even if the worst account was true the situation only resulted in a broken collarbone.

I came the closest I have come yet to dropping my bike as I tried to coast backward into a sloped driveway.  I was trying to get safely off the roadway and course and out of cyclists way before calling a support van for someone too hot to continue.  I am particularly grateful to the powers that be that helped me keep the strength in my big toe that allowed me to save the bike (and myself) from a spill that would have turned the bike not just on its side, but absolutely upside down, and tumbled me into a large patch of poison ivy.

This year the course was very long.  This year we had the responsibility of patrolling the entire course, both days.  Last year our group was only responsible for half.  I can say that I saw neighborhoods in downtown Atlanta that I never knew existed.  Some of that is good and some is bad.  I can't believe the route really went through such down and out neighborhoods and other savagely congested streets.  I sincerely thank the cops that stopped traffic for all the cyclists and generally allowed me to scoot behind the bicycles and get through some intersections that I would otherwise still be sitting at.

This year seemed to have better prepared riders on the whole.  Last year I gave out tons of bananas and liters of water.  This year no one wanted anything but a lift in the support van, and that was also rare.

I feel grateful to have offered a bit of support for people working for a good cause.

And by-the-way, the sheriff that summoned me asked me to contact control since he couldn't get through.  A cyclist needed a support vehicle back along the route.  And the sheriff that I slapped?  He had a large spider crawling on his shoulder.  He was grateful that I had spotted and removed it.

Remember, cops are our friends.  :)

This weekend occurred May 21 and 22, 2011.  I am late in posting, and decided to go ahead without the video.  More images can be seen at Flickr for the Multiple Sclerosis weekend.

Motorcycle Marshaling for Multiple Sclerosis... part 2

I know better and yet I still do it. I post and then relax.  Now I have lost my rhythm and train of thought.  Hopefully I haven't forgotten much of the day.  :-)  I do appreciate your patience for bearing with me as I try and get back into the feel.

Sunday dawned slightly cooler than Saturday.  But the humidity was still pretty high, made that much worse with the slightly cooler temps.  We were still on our 6 AM track for breakfast and discussed our roles for the day.  Sunday sees a reprieve for the riders (moto and free wheel) with only two routes to choose from: the 35 mile and the 65 mile.  We don't need the three separate marshaling groups, so two groups have been combined to cover the 65 mile route.

Again, we line up in front of the bicycle riders in preparation of the starting countdown.

The crowds are gathering...

My position in our posse

We're ready to go

The hiccup today comes with the double countdown for the bicyclists to start.  It seems the marshal at the front of the pack couldn't quite hear the countdown and didn't take off at the appropriate time.  So the countdown had to begin again...  The rest of us marshals, in our enthusiasm, repeatedly laid into our horns trying to spur the front motorbikes on.  It eventually worked and we were all under way.

Our group was again assigned to the 65 mile route.  So the two groups rode to the second break point together.  It seemed like an incredibly long distance even though the speedometer was showing 20 miles.  The slightly chilly temperatures promoted ground fog along sections of the route that created this illusion of moving without going anywhere.

The route was quiet and I hoped the church going crowd wouldn't give our riders too much of a problem.  While most of the roads were wide there wasn't much space beyond that white line.  I guess I needn't have worried too much considering how the pedalers took up the lanes yesterday.  :-)

Waiting for the train

 The rest of the group

We reached the break point in good order, trying to figure out how to corral two teams into one well oiled surveillance machine.  I guess we needn't have worried about that.  Our leaders were informed that 90%  of the riders were taking the short route.  One of our groups needed to be reallocated to the 35 mile route.  That was us!  Ready for the challenge...no maps, no clue, but point us in the right direction!!  :-)

Come on, that is one good looking motorbike.  
(And that GQ looking guy in the background too...)

We hit the road following the actual route to reach the location where it spilled back into the shorter route.  I was amazed to see so many cyclists when we reached the merge location!  And it again turned into a "wait 5 minutes before the next person leaves" situation.  So our little posse sat at the intersection and slowly moved onto the roads to haunt the bicyclists.  

Early morning, short ride, cooler temps and there weren't too many problems on the roads.  More broken pedals, no cell coverage and the like, but the work was shorter and easier today.  No one wanted water or bananas.  It was easy!  I learned my lesson from yesterday and sat at the finish line for a couple minutes and munched some trail mix.  Then hopped onto the road to continue my duties.  Did I mention that it was an easy day?

I ran into my favorite couple a few miles from the finish line.  I kick myself every time I think about it, wishing that I had ridden them in, in a blaze of power, horn honking and blinding lights to signify what they had accomplished.  But I also carried some ice for a gentleman that was going to partake of some beverages at the finish line. 

Everything was wrapping up by 1 PM.  And we were given the choice of eating lunch in the pavilion with the riders...or going back to the last break point and enjoying some freshly barbecued hamburgers.  Seems like someone has been showing his appreciation by grilling some hamburgers for the riders at this last spot.  And boy were they delicious!!  (No pictures...too good to stop eating and fetch the camera.)

Roadkill Armadillo counting...netted two over my left shoulder...

Nothing left for us but to strike out for home.  We had offered to ride another member back into metro Atlanta and we tried to take the back roads for a majority of the distance.  It was a great weekend that was drawing to a close...

I learned a few lessons along the way this time:

• bicyclists tend to want more water and bananas on Saturday  (and cold bananas are well received)
• keeping yourself hydrated and nourished is extremely important - either put an hydration bladder in the back of my jacket or mount my camel back on the pelican case for easy access
• definitely benefit from a modular helmet on this ride to communicate with bicyclists and to eat/drink  (I am not fond of modular helmets, so would only wear it on these occasions)
• the saddle bags are handy, but having a cooler of some type strapped to the passenger seat makes access much easier.  Need a balance of size vs. internal space.
• need my accessory pack of tape, sharpie, first aid kit put together before each ride
• pester the leaders before the ride weekend for the break down of routes and print on small cards to laminate and put on lanyards.  (Previously we had contact phone numbers, which was invaluable!  Now it is also a good idea to put the route here too.)
• CB or Ham radio (license) is beneficial for communicating directly with leaders or event organizers...especially when cell coverage is spotty!!
• keep cool (in the summer) with a watered down hanky or one of those silicon beaded neckerchiefs
• stop for 2 seconds and take more pictures!!  (if nothing else, keep the point and shoot in the tank bag to stop in the middle of the road)  (oh yeah...take tank bag!)

Overall route:

  - green Saturday ~170 miles

  - cyan Sunday ~103 miles

  - magenta route to/from home ~200 miles

Wondering what the lame teaser was from the last post?  

VIDEO!!!

In case you still aren't sure if this is something you would/wouldn't like to do...have a look!

Motorcycle Marshal at Callaway Gardens from Love Of A Motorbike on Vimeo.

Motorcycle Marshaling for Multiple Sclerosis... part 1

After our first experience being Motorcycle Marshals for the first annual Atlanta-Athens-Atlanta Multiple Sclerosis Bike Ride in April we knew we were in.  It is hard work and long hours but infinitely rewarding watching over people, helping when necessary, giving support to people who are working even harder then us by pedaling up all these darn hills in Georgia.  So we signed right up for both days when they were taking names for the 24th annual MS 150 ride at Callaway Gardens.

This time would be a little trickier since we would have to stay a couple nights down there.  The main concern was the pup and we finally broke down and found a pet sitter.  (Wonderful pet sitter by-the-way.  Wish we had found her years ago.)  So our problems were solved.

It was in our best interest to ride down on Friday night since the Saturday morning meet time was 6 AM.  I didn't want to think about what time we would have to get up to ride the 2 1/2 hours to the start time, and still put in a full day of work.  Logistics for leaving on Friday were terribly muddled with working half day, or all day if we couldn't finish work up.  I did make arrangements to work a half day, but stayed an hour later to finish explaining some issues.

We had settled on me just riding down and checking into the hotel and Mr. Oilburner would follow when he was able to escape.  But my leaving late and finishing putting the house in order for the sitter put me behind schedule.  If I left at 2:30 Mr. Oilburner expected he would only be 30 minutes behind me.  If I just relaxed at home for another few minutes I could ride downtown to Mr. Oilburner and pick him up.  So...I finally rode the streets of downtown Atlanta.

[Bad] Luck would have it that some accident had the entire freeway through downtown backed up.  The carpool lane was actually one of the slower lanes, so jumping out of it made the travel a bit more bearable.  But the prime exit for reaching Mr. Oilburner is actually from the carpool lane, so I jumped back in when necessary.  :)

A girl on a loaded bike taking to the streets of downtown as the business day is wrapping up was obviously a sight as many people were looking at me pass and I was getting thumbs up from everyone.  Then I pulled into the public parking garage to see Mr. Oilburner suited and helmeted up and sitting astride his bike ready to go.  I pulled around him forcing the guy he was talking to out of the way.  Mean of me, I know, but the only other option was to sit in the middle of the exit ramp of a public parking garage.  Wasn't gonna do that.  We headed out, professionally navigating the one-way streets to jump back on the freeways past the traffic.

The ride down was mostly uneventful.  The usual confusion of trying to get gas, huge a$$ travel trailers blocking traffic lanes, choosing the wrong exits and a four-way stop in the middle of nowhere that had our direction backed up for half a mile.  But we reached our destination in good time and good order, settled into the hotel and then took a walk into downtown Pine Mountain, GA.  Lovely little place, just not much here.

 On our way back to the motel we stopped at a little BBQ joint that has the best online reviews.

The sign is also a smokestack.

I partook of the pulled pork sandwich that was so big I made it

into two meals.

So hot you can still see the steam.

We were up dark and early the next morning at 5 AM.  Breakfast was being served at 6 and we would be having a riders meeting with our team leads at 7:15.  So you start seeing everyone packing their bikes and heading to the start line in the dark.

It's dark, but don't think for a second that it is cool and low humidity.

Even though we were there and up early there were still plenty of other volunteers there way ahead of us to man the check in booths, set up and serve food and all manner of things.  My hats off to them.  Breakfast was easy and team meetings went quickly.  We just discussed routing, plan of attack, signs of heat stroke and heat exhaustion, how to help people, who to call in what situations, etc.  Before long it was time to mount up and get in line!!  The excitement is starting to settle in.

 Me!

Good omens abound with the lightening sky like this.

We line up just in front of the start line for the bicycles.  The intent is for us to leave just ahead of them and start running the route.  For this event there are three routes the cyclists can take: 35 miles, 65 miles and 100 miles.  Mr. Oilburner and I would be patrolling the 65 mile route today.  I would hope it would be obvious to everyone that we don't need to patrol the entire 65 mile route right off the bat.  There aren't going to be people at the end of it yet.  It is important to patrol the route where people are.  So our group heads to the first break point, sits for a few minutes, allowing cyclists to actually begin reaching the route and then we head back individually to start checking everything out.  I head out second and am amazed that the first group of cyclists are only a couple miles away from the break point.  

Our job: Stop and help people that may have mechanical issues, stop and help if someone has medical issues, corral loose dogs that may cause the cyclists problems, try to enforce some of the riding rules like no headphones and ride single file.  Generally, just try to protect the cyclists from others and themselves...  Small task.  :)

Since it is the beginning of the day and early into the course there aren't too many problems.  Mostly of the nature of flat tires, derailed chains and such.  It is more difficult trying to force people to ride single file when they want to chat with friends/teammates and are on small country roads.  They have a tendency to listen more when on larger roads with more vehicles on them.

Still, the start of the day/route is usually fairly quick and easy.  By the time I make it back to the break point half of our marshal group has started into the second half of our route towards the lunch break and the other portion remains looping back towards the start line.  I await instructions on where I am needed and am sent to patrol the second portion towards lunch.

It is still early and not many problems are occurring.  I do have some issues with groups of cyclists taking up the driving lane and prohibiting vehicles from passing.  This is where the fun is.  I zip around this line of cars and reach the cyclists and ask them to ride single file, at least on this busy road because the traffic back up is getting bad and the drivers are getting antsy.  They are all willing to comply and the vehicles start clearing out.

I make it to the lunch point and stop to grab my lunch for the saddle bag.  But here is where more fun kicks in.  I stop and chat with some of the cyclists that I recognized riding a triple seater.  There are quite a few tandem bikes, and apparently a couple triple seaters and one four seater!!  I've only seen the one triple seat and start chatting with the owners.  This bike has to be special made and imported.  Doesn't seem to be a large demand for them here.  But the third passenger is their 12 y/o nephew and this is his 5th MS Ride!!  Way to go!  Always fun to start talking with people and then start recognizing them along the road.

I begin taking a few nibbles from my sandwich and am approached by a gentleman I had met and had [sarcastic] words with the night before at the BBQ joint.  We were lucky enough to be on the same route and lucky enough that he recognized me.  Because I definitely wasn't going to be identifying him under his helmet.  We exchange experiences and names and joke and continue on about our business.  We even meet on the road a couple times and enjoy exchanging shouts.

I eat about half my sandwich and then head on out towards the next break point to patrol.  I'm rolling along, the riders are separating a bit now and stringing out farther.  I'm about 2 miles from the next break point when I see a hand pedal trike pulled over.  I pull into a nearby driveway and check if he needs anything.  First, water!! Second, a look at the map to find out where he is on the course.  That's another duty as the day wears on: provide water and snacks/bananas if necessary.  I grab a bottle of water and we check out the map.  The hill he is currently sitting at the bottom of looks daunting.  As a matter of fact, at the top of the hill another marshal is pulled over with someone that is sitting on the side of the road.  She is cramping and beginning to suffer from a little heat exhaustion.  Have I forgotten to mention that it is darn hot!!  (I never did envision jumping in the rivers we crossed...too difficult to climb down the hills to them.  But I did daydream of jumping into this crystal clear above ground pool on the route in all my gear.  The water was still sloshing around in those little waves that occur when someone has just gotten out and the water hasn't settled down.  The type of waves that refract and reflect the light all over, just begging you to jump in.  I might stop to take the helmet off, but I couldn't say for certain...)

I help my cyclist, he starts on his way and I get ready to continue on.  But my motorbike stalls.  Then stalls again.  Come on...this hill isn't that steep that I can't slip the clutch on.  I manage to keep it running but it just doesn't feel right and my engine light is blinking with that nasty yellow exclamation point.  I find a place to turn around at the top of the hill, restart the bike hoping it was some electronic gremlin and discover I have a problem; the engine is just running rough and feels near to stalling.  I make it down to the bottom of the hill and pull into a church parking lot and just stop in the shade of a tree.  

First I call one of my route leaders to let them know I am having a problem and will not be patrolling.  No, no need to come to me just yet, there really isn't anything that can be done yet.  I then try to call Mr. Oilburner, but he doesn't answer.  I leave a couple messages and tell him where I am.  I have a seat and help people as necessary.  It wasn't a bad location for people to take a break at.  They rounded a corner, saw this huge hill in front of them and just kinda sagged in the seat.  I gave away all my water and bananas and chatted with more marshals as they took breaks with me.

I look through my motorbike manual to discover the reason for the failure lights is that some sort of electronic fault was discovered in the engine and the engine is now running in "limp home" mode. Mr. Oilburner and I finally connect and he will come to me and see if there is anything he can do.  In the meantime I call my trusty dealership 200 miles away and have a chat.  Of course, they want me to bring it in, but I tell them it is going to be a bit difficult to do that right now.  They tell me to check the oil.  If that isn't it there is nothing to do but hook it up to the diagnostic machine.  And the nearest one is in their shop, or the other shop on the north side of Atlanta.

Have I failed to mention that my warranty expires tomorrow?? 

Mr. Oilburner arrives and even though we checked the oil in the morning and it was an appropriate level, the current level wasn't even visible in the sight glass.  The bike had been sitting about 45 minutes by this time and should have been good.  So we fill her up a little, but no dice.  Code and roughness still present.

Hoping maybe the computer just needs to be reset we stop a bicycle repair truck that just happens to be turning around in my parking lot and borrow a couple tools.  (The standard tool kit on the bike doesn't contain the appropriate tools to disconnect the battery.  But rest assured, I have ordered one of them expensive kits that I could put together for half the price if I knew exactly what I should be putting into it.)  That doesn't work either.

Now, I know you always need to check connectors.  But have you looked at the newer incarnation of R bikes lately?  There are connectors everywhere!!  And I did have it in my mind to check the one to the rear of the left head, but I was always on the right side and helping people.  I just kinda forgot.  So I had to slap my forehead and mentally kick myself when Mr. Oilburner sees that the Throttle Position Sensor is disconnected.  Somehow, somewhere, someway that little metal clip and pin that keeps that together has been lost and one of the plastic tabs is broken.  Now that had to have taken a pretty good hit or kick.  And I would have thought I would have remembered that.  But nothing in the ol' memory banks is sparking anything!

No harm, no foul.  We zip tie it back together and she starts running like a champ again.

Missing tab and clip for the Throttle Position Sensor

We all continue our work...these bikers aren't gonna save themselves.  LOL.  I finally reach the break point two miles down the road and promptly potty and tank bank up again.  I realize that I am quite dehydrated myself.  Then I grab a gallon jug of water to help the weary on the road.

I immediately stop for a couple and refill their water bottles with the ice cold stuff I have, and wet down a washcloth to cool themselves off.

The rest of the ride is uneventful for me.  The people I stop and help only need bananas or water.  No medical emergencies, no mechanical issues.  I am most of the way back to the lunch stop when I stop for gas, talk with other marshals and discover the lady we see on the road across from us is the absolute last rider.  No need to go back further.  Let's start helping the last of the riders in!

I make another circuit and head back.  I see my first couple taking a break on the side of the road.  They are just starting to head out when I pull up and we chat a few minutes.  They are good to go, are doing well and don't need anything.

You start collecting people on these rides.  You might have a one-time connection with some people that stays with you.  Other times you will have multiple connections that make you stand out for each other.  All the marshals have them.  And I hear that you start seeing each other each year if you are willing to go back and volunteer again.

I slowly start making my way back to the finish line. And remember that I can actually take a short break in the middle of the road to pull the point and shoot from my tank bag and grab a couple shots.  I just can't believe it takes me so long to remember these things sometimes.

Nice little steel bridge.  Nice paving instead of metal grating.

Quiet and clean little river.

One of many old buildings.

Sighting of more marshals.

I'm sitting at this little crossroad taking a picture of the old store above when a couple of the other marshals arrive.  We discuss how many are still out and how many are behind us.  One of the marshals happens to be a the leader from the century route and inquires if any of us have snacks.  I don't have any event sanctioned ones, but I do have my personal stash and offer it up.  He mentions that there is a riding couple up the road a few miles that needs something to eat.  I inquire as to the clothes the lady is wearing and surmise it is "my" couple.  And I am right!  I quickly put the bike into gear and break the speed limits to reach them.  They are only a couple miles from the finish line, but sometimes you need that little bit of carbohydrates to kick your body into doing the work.

I reach them in pretty good time and we set to munching on trail mix (with chocolate was her only question before "yes"!).  They finished up an apple someone gave them, and snatched the bananas a fellow marshal held out in passing.  Good to go!!

Turned out this was the longest ride the wife had been on and she was doing great.  We plotted out the route and I was able to detail how many hills between here and town.  And it was all downhill once you arrived to town.  Very happy indeed and they finished just before the 6 PM cutoff.  Yay!!

End of day and everyone is tired.  The time, distance and heat have taken there toll.  We discuss meeting at the hotel for dinner.  But Mr. Oilburner and I opt for the free food the event is giving out, catered from Johnny Carino's.  I can feel the headache coming on from the harsh sun all day. I vote for dinner here (free) and then go back to the hotel.

Dinner wasn't bad, but I started feeling exponentially worse when we started eating.  Looking back I believe it was because I still had my armored pants on and the lack of air flow (from actually riding and moving) was trapping my heat in.  Add to that my dehydration and I wasn't feeling well at all.  Finished my salad and laid down on the bench seat to wait for Mr. Oilburner.

I then did something I have never done before!  I striped off the armored pants down to my little bike shorts beneath and actually rode back to the hotel in shorts.  It was about one mile with very little traffic and I was willing to take the risk.  I rode slowly and took precautions when a car was around.  The migraine was starting to hit full force and I took to bed. The air conditioner didn't seem to help at all, the cold, wet washcloth wasn't enough, so I crawled my way into the bathtub and sat in cold water to cool my core temperature down.  That did the trick.

I promptly feel asleep for a couple hours and started feeling better.  I woke up for a little while and took one of those Emergen-C packets of vitamins.  I believe they kept me awake a little while, but it did wonders for my body.  I still slept through the night and luckily was feeling myself by morning.  Another marshal was suffering the same symptoms as I, but I couldn't get her the Emergen-C in the evening.  I caught her in the morning and gave her the last packet to help perk her up for the coming day.

Since I have rambled on enough, this is going to have to be a two-parter.  To give you an idea of route coverage you know my route was 65 miles (actually 63.5 since they had to remove the ride over the dam).  I managed to ride 160 miles on Saturday.  Even stopped for a 90 minute breakdown didn't take many miles from me as Mr. Oilburner's total mileage was 167.  We were at the event by 6 AM and stopped working at 6 PM.  It may be work, it is fun, it is difficult, but you do get to spend a lot of time on your bike and really practice your slow speed maneuvering (espcially u-turns).

Part two forthcoming.  The day was shorter and not as difficult.  But I do have a unique surprise if you are willing to come back for a read.

A Great Multiple Sclerosis Ride

CONGRATULATIONS!!

I had the great pleasure of working at the Multiple Sclerosis annual bicycle event at Callaway Gardens this weekend.  I met some wonderful fellow Motorcycle Marshals.  I was able to ride with many that I had ridden with in April on the Atlanta to Athens MS Ride.  But I met many wonderful people on the actual RIDE...as in...riding their bicycles!  Congratulations to all those who participated!  You did a wonderful job pedaling all those damn hills in that horrid heat and unrelenting sun!  It was brutally hot and you are GREAT!

Morning clouds on Saturday burned off to brutally hot temps of 95+ F.

 Everyone lining up for the Sunday start.  Over 1000 bicycles in that lineup back there.

More information and pictures to come...after two delayed ride reports.  But I just had to give a shout out for all of the bicyclists.  Utmost respect for the job they did in these conditions.

Serious Work Part II

You all know how sore and tired we were waking up at 5 AM on Sunday.  We hoped for a 6 o'clock departure time to get us to Athens by 7 AM.  Yes, we were going to miss a free breakfast, but I couldn't have waited 2 hours for that anyways.  As usual, it seems to take far longer to get the house in order for leaving then expected, so we were hopping on the bikes at 6:15 and preparing to "go the speed limit" down the highway and get to our destination safely.

The good news was that the morning did dawn 4 degrees warmer then yesterday and it was an hour earlier.  The bad news was that the temperature was only for in-town.  That urban heat island effect.  As soon as we escaped the "city" the temps hovered around 35F with a pocket or two of 32F and 33F with fog.  BUT...we left in the dark and headed East.  Affording us a beautiful sunrise to urge us along.  I don't currently have the best camera or mounting system figured out for the bike yet, so this is what you get.  And at our "speed limit" ride, my actual view wasn't much better...  We arrived just in time to join in the group shot of the marshals riding the first leg today and our briefing.

We maintained the same basic group of riders as yesterday, making life easy as we were familiar with each other and the bikes.  And we just divvied the route up like yesterday: the group that took the first leg yesterday took the first leg today.  Which actually proved to be exciting!  The bicyclists would be led out of town by motorcycle police stopping traffic.  We rode between the police and the bicyclists!!  I was able to speed through downtown Athens, follow a couple motorcycle cops, run red-lights willy-nilly and almost get run over by some very fast cyclists!!  All very exciting, but I felt bad for the cyclists.  I am afraid that at one point I might have gotten in their way a little with the confusion of leaving.  Another marshal from the second group was accidentally entangled in the departure and caused a little slow-down.

Ultimately everything was straightened out.  We left the cops and cyclists behind.  Half of our group stayed back and the other half raced towards the first break point to create an even coverage of the course as the cyclists started to come through.  I was chosen to ride to the first break point and turn back around. 

The duty was much different today.  Yesterday was the last half of a long ride.  Today was the first half after a good night's rest.  Yesterday the cyclists were strung out a ways.  Today they were running in a couple good sized packs.  I think it can be guessed that our job on the first leg was very short-lived as the cyclists sped through without needing much assistance.  Something that I did really enjoy was encountering cyclists that I recognized from yesterday and sharing a friendly wave.

Another one of my doofus moments occurred along this time too.  We had been instructed to maintain order and safety.  We were told to enforce single file riding and no headphones for cyclists.  So when I approached a rise and was confronted by a huge pack of cyclists taking up their lane I staunchly pointed my finger at them to stay right.  Only to finish cresting the rise and see the police cruiser blocking traffic at the stop light for the lead pack.  Oops...  I hope the riders can look kindly on me and forgive the attitude.  I sure felt stupid.  Live and learn.  :-)

I never made it back to the beginning of the route.  I had reached the outskirts of Athens thinking that I hadn't seen anyone for quite awhile.  And I was only a couple miles from the start line...  But I hadn't seen a support vehicle following the last rider...  I took matters into my own hands and turned around.  I soon ran into one of my leaders and she confirmed that the last cyclists had gone through.  She sent me back to the break point to await instructions. 

I took a worthy break with other marshals and enjoyed chatting.  Then I delivered some bananas to some cyclists and headed out towards the second break point to begin patroling the last section.  But these cyclists were ready for today!  Many had already made it through the second break point and lunch wasn't far up the road.  It was such a lovely section too, farmland and small twisties.

My rescuing services had not been needed yet today and I was beginning to wonder how quickly today's work would end.  I headed down the 4 miles to the lunch stop.  Churches were starting to empty, more cars on the road and more people not understanding why I am in their way and riding this motorcycle so SLOW.  So I was happy to turn off the main road towards the school for lunch.  But was stopped dead in my tracks as I saw the dog bounding across the road.  It is not a good thing to have loose dogs near bicyclists.  Another responsibility is to attempt to round up loose dogs if they might bother the cyclists.  I could now see two loose dogs and one definitely did not like my motorcycle.  He came charging at me where I had stopped in the road.  I revved the engine and managed to back him up a little.  But that just gave him room to skirt the bike and try to approach me from the left, rear quarter.  The German Shephard behind this vicious mutt wasn't barking, but I wasn't taking any chances.  I slowly let the clutch out, completely out of proportion with the amount of throttle I was giving and began to smell the wonderful aroma of burning clutch.  Blech!

I pulled off the road onto a little skirt of asphalt near a cemetery.  I dismounted, but remained completely clothed (helmet, gloves and all) figuring better protection if that mutt decided to try and bite.  I inquired of the guy working in the cemetery if he knew who owned the dogs.  Negative.  Luckily a support vehicle was close behind and helped me to try and figure out what to do with the dogs.  I approached a nearby house hidden behind some trees, but there wasn't any answer.  The people in the support vehicle had managed to scare the dogs off enough that they had entered the tree line behind the house and we waited for them to re-appear. 

We decided that I would stay here and keep an eye out if the dogs tried to creep back through the trees to the road, when they finally appeared behind the house.  Armed with treats and soothing tones and a 10 year old boy we coaxed the dogs into the fenced property next to the house.  Geez.  We sure hope the dogs lived there.  :-)  I can just imagine the owners coming home and trying to figure out where these two dogs came from.  Not really my concern though as I really, really didn't like the little one...

With the lunch stop about 300 meters up the road that concluded my day.  No one else had seen the dogs prior and hopefully no one had any problems with them afterwards.  I felt completely rewarded for performing my job to the best of my abilities.  Our group slowly converged on the spot and we stayed and chatted for a good long while about our day. 

Now the question:  are we going to do this all over again at the Callaway Gardens MS Ride in Septemeber? 

YOU BETCHA!!