Tour De Cure: June 2009

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They are coming up the hill.  This is taken from Forge Raod.

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Here they come.  It is 04:03 PM and they are finishing the 100.  It is seven hours since the start.  They have been riding most of the time. 

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Here is dad up close.

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And the two girls.

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Dick is happy.  Everything went well.  But they do when he plans it.  I am sure Dick has help.  Look at the next picture.

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And here is Sandy, Richard’s XYL, the ham radio term for wife no matter if she is 18 or 81.  Sandy was one of the SAG drivers.  Note the radio.  Most of the hams that work these have a rig (radio) in the car that will burn a hole through a hill (lots of power) and a smaller one they can carry.  Forty years ago when I first was licensed a female ham operator was a rarity.  Today they are a significant number, it is unusual on these events for them to not comprise one third or more of the operators.  We had at least 14 operators on this event, there were at least two women but there were several checkpoints I never saw.  

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Let’s index to the next day and exit the rolling hills around Boiling Springs and enter the Pine Grove State Forest.  Here mountain trails were the scene of day two of the TDC.  Here is a picture of a dad and daughter team.  They rode the mountain trails that go up and down as much as 200 feet in less than a mile, are rugged and difficult for even the best riders. 

This gal is eleven.   She finished the sixteen miles with her dad.  I regret that I didn’t take pictures of many of the riders on the trail. 

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There is nothing special about this rider but he is special because he is one of the ones who rode.  He has finished and is getting ready to leave.

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He didn’t ride in the official ride but I bet he would have tried it if given the chance.  His mom and dad were there, his mom a coordinator of the ride and his dad an EMT on the course at checkpoint two, the middle of the course, the place that you could cut back to the start on an “easy” course.  It is four miles on dirt road that is nearly all up hill, gaining about three hundred feet of elevation.   Safety of the riders and anyone involved is paramount on these rides.  Emergency services, SAGs, coordination, radio communications are all part of this.  But this little guy just wants to ride.

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After the ride.  The picture I had of the average mountain biker was the tough guy.  This gal rode, she blows that one.  The gals are usually not the fastest but they generally have more common sense and have less minor scrapes.   I know the EMT with me treated one cut leg, and possibly a couple of others I missed but with about 80 riders and the difficulty of the trail that was a small amount.  The day before I know of only one injury, a little girl at the school fell and skinned her knee.  The report I had was it took a band aid to fix.  It’s not good when anyone gets hurt but if we can keep it at that level I am

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This was my EMT buddy for the ride and the dad of the up and coming rider.   I felt a lot better with him sitting there.  If something happened there was help.  Sure I know basic first aid, I have a kit I carry and know how to put on antiseptic and band aids.  But if it is beyond the large band aid I really want the backup and my primary focus will be getting more help or evacuation there.  He rode off on his ATV once to check something and I was very glad to hear the motor coming back. 

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Here our up and coming rider tries a ramp.  Well.  Mom didn’t see this. 

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Here is more of the packing up.  I didn’t get much of the start, I was busy.  But look at the people.  They are super people but not super men and women. 

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This is another of the safety items on the course, the motor riders who set up and mark the course before the ride, watch for problems and take down the signs after.  These guys ride a bike trail on a motor, difficult, hard work, but they are there.  Some time I am going to sponsor one of these for a ride, let him check the odometer.  On one 40 mile mountain bike race earlier this year in the same area one of these guys had to break out in the middle of the race and get gasoline.  They do lots of miles under difficult conditions and few see them.  One of the guys in this ride stalled his motor, flooded it and couldn’t get it restarted.  The other rider came past twice and asked if I had seen him and then went up the back trail where he was to have gone hunting for him.  I saw the other rider’s eyes when he told me he was going to hunt for him.  He was seriously concerned about his friend.  I didn’t like the situation.  I liked the concern he had.  There was joking about the rider with the stalled bike, his ability to ride, his choice of bike, etc. but not till they knew he was safe.

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There is a lot more of the TDC than I have shown, more than I photographed.