Me, My VFR, & Cycling ( My VFR @ work )

[tinyminds]

Webster Roubaix Race ( A really really dirty VFR @ the end of the day

Note: I will not be using my VFR for this next year, bad bike choice :P )

As some of you know I"m an avid cyclist / racer ( hence the avatar picture ). Over the past year I somehow found myself heavily involved with the cycling racing world in and whole new way.

Several years ago I kind of lost my interest in riding my motorcycle, mainly in part to my move to Florida from Kentucky, and the drastic change of riding terrain. That lack of interest is also what has made my presence here on this forum more random than before. At the end of the cycling race season last year someone found out that I had/have a history with motorcycles and recommended me check out the USA Cycling Moto Officials Program, so I talked with some of the local people over Florida Cycling and was convinced to go with several others up to Chicago for the weekend to do a motorcycle / cycling training class that is required before you are allowed to have a motorcycle along side the cyclist in any sanctioned race.

Then the season began. The first couple of races were kind of scary. You can sit in a class for days and them talk about what to do, what not to do, etc, but when you get out with a race, adrenaline is going, racers are at there max and going at 100% of their capability as their heart rates hover 160-200bpm for 2-4 hours. The responsibility is beyond imaginable. Nearly all of these races take place on open roads where 5-10 police officers are involved, usually none of which have any experience working with cyclist or an open road race situation, so it's my responsibility to coordinate with them via radio comm's doing rolling enclosures, basically pulling over vehicles, clearing the entire road as 150+ cyclist come barreling along at 40+ mph. Its simple when the pack is all together, but once the fields start breaking up and you have 3-5 groups of cyclist spread out across a 5 mile span, it takes 10+ additional people to keep these random cars stopped until the last rider is clear. Sounds crazy huh? At first its stressful but it takes a certain type of person to handle it I suppose. Besides controlling traffic we to keep the cyclist under thumb as well, there are a lot of rules that have to be followed, enough to fill a couple hundred page book, everything from coordinating riders dropping back to cars or going through feed zones to get water/food, to in races arguments, crashes, and flat tires. It takes trust on both sides, it takes a person that has a history in cycling and in motorcycles to do it honestly. to understand the riders lines, and assume what riders are going to do before they do it. I've found myself beside a field riding along then next thing I know I'm boxed in on all sides with cyclist going 30+ mph. I hold my line, they hold theirs, and everyone will be ok. I know most of the riders here in Florida so their is a certain level of trust there. It's different when I'm out of state working races and don't know the riders, you just hope for the best!

The days usually start out early, first race goes off at 7-8am, and we need to be there at least an hour early, which wakes us up anywhere from 3:30-5:30am depending on the location of the race. 200-300 mile days at 20-40mph can make for a long day, so we have to be prepared and coordinate amongst the other Moto-Officials to find time to eat, drink, take restroom breaks, etc, because you can't just stop a race when your tired or its hot out, which its Florida, most of our season is 90+ temps. It doesn't sound like as much fun as it is, but once your out there it usually seems go to smooth, and when things don't go as they should thats what we are there for. Our primary purpose is safety. Safety for ourselves, the cyclist, cars that are on the road, spectators, everyone. We are the mediator for everyone.

Our road season has came to an end for 2010, and I look forward to next year, but also looking forward to having a few weekends back to relax as well during the winter break. My first race of next year will be my first race out of the country as I get to head up the Tour of Bahamas with another local official. How often do you get paid while on vacation!

Here's a couple pics from the year of my Viffer @ work:

2010 Florida State Road Race Championship - Pro 1/2 Race!

Pro1/2 Race State Championship (5 laps to go)

Sugarloaf Race Weekend - Masters 35/45 Race

[BonusVFR]

Good report. Maybe I should look into that ...gotta a link for more info.

I remember the Tour de France a few years ago where one of MC cadre ran over a drunk fan (stupid too). Very dangerous work. Has to be a picture somewhere.

From the Tour de California a couple of years ago when it blasted thru San Diego. In general, the peloton moves so quickly you have to either take the shot or watch the race you can not do both.

[gll429]

speaking as an ex racer.. i know the refs and the tv crew get no respect.. some where this is pic of me taking a leak on a guys kawi during a liege-bastogne-liege in the early 90s..

hey..if your going to ride next to me during a 6 hour plus race.. your a fair target :goofy:

[BonusVFR]

Here is the shot from the 2005 Tour.

The spectator walked right in front of the bike....no chance. Everybody was lucky here.

What kind of radio are you using and who do you talk to?

[AvalonRacing]

As a bicycle racer (on sabbatical) I really appreciate the moto refs. Provided they are "good" moto refs.

We used to have one guy in the district who rode his VFR to ref and I always loved hearing that thing next to me up the climbs; although as I was hurting I knew that all he needed to do was twist the wrist to shoot up the road.

[BonusVFR]

As a bicycle racer (on sabbatical) I really appreciate the moto refs. Provided they are "good" moto refs.

We used to have one guy in the district who rode his VFR to ref and I always loved hearing that thing next to me up the climbs; although as I was hurting I knew that all he needed to do was twist the wrist to shoot up the road.

Yea for some reason I always feel stronger on the "other bike". I managed somehow to drop these guys.

[Dutchy]

As a bicycle racer (on sabbatical) I really appreciate the moto refs. Provided they are "good" moto refs.

We used to have one guy in the district who rode his VFR to ref and I always loved hearing that thing next to me up the climbs; although as I was hurting I knew that all he needed to do was twist the wrist to shoot up the road.

Yea for some reason I always feel stronger on the "other bike". I managed somehow to drop these guys.

Uphill yeah, but I'd think twice before following these guys.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kZSzB4kEE8&feature=related

[tinyminds]

What kind of radio are you using and who do you talk to?

We have HYT TC-610 UHF radios (one of the only models they make that are water-resistant. We have a pretty solid 3 mile range on them. We had custom headset made for Multimode PTT, meaning we have multiple PTT buttons for different channels on one radio, one for race radio between officials, stage, support cars, etc, and one for comm with the police officers.

Owe and in the defense of Motorefs, that guy driving the camera guy around that hit that spectator was a part of the media team, not an official :P

[BonusVFR]

What kind of radio are you using and who do you talk to?

We have HYT TC-610 UHF radios (one of the only models they make that are water-resistant. We have a pretty solid 3 mile range on them. We had custom headset made for Multimode PTT, meaning we have multiple PTT buttons for different channels on one radio, one for race radio between officials, stage, support cars, etc, and one for comm with the police officers.

Several years ago (decades actually) I used a headset with two or three external and internal circuits on it.............that can get confusing.

In you case who tells you what to do ..go etc? THe race director?

[BonusVFR]

As a bicycle racer (on sabbatical) I really appreciate the moto refs. Provided they are "good" moto refs.

We used to have one guy in the district who rode his VFR to ref and I always loved hearing that thing next to me up the climbs; although as I was hurting I knew that all he needed to do was twist the wrist to shoot up the road.

Yea for some reason I always feel stronger on the "other bike". I managed somehow to drop these guys.

Uphill yeah, but I'd think twice before following these guys.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kZSzB4kEE8&feature=related

Agreed on that....you have to have skill and big ones to do that!

[tinyminds]

In you case who tells you what to do ..go etc? The race director?

Local/non-UCI races are more self organizing. The officials plan out our positions at the start of the day so no race director is needed. The radio's allow for us to communication to each other and make adjustments in positioning during the race if needed. USA Cycling requires everyone on a moto to have the same training, so everyone when in a race should be on the same page on what to and not to do before we ever start. Tthe front official ( moto2 ) keeps in touch with the rear official ( moto1 ) and the middle officials ( moto3-4-5-6, etc ) to do time splits so that the riders know how large or small of a gap they have between one another. (Example: when we made a right hand turn onto Highway225, I radio the following: " Moto2 to Pro 1/2 Field, leaders will be making the right turn onto Hwy225 in 3....2.....1..... Mark" When mark is said the stop watches start. Say there are 3 groups, The leaders, the chase group, then the field. When the chase group gets to the turn then moto 3 will repeat 3...2...1.... mark, to get the time split from the leaders to the chase, same thing with Moto1 with the field. Once times are confirmed, the time splits are relayed to each group by its designated moto. We repeat this every 10 ish minutes so they riders know their progress. That makes up the majority of the radio comm when things are going as planned, just keeping the riders informed of whats going on.

[huskysooner]

As some of you know I"m an avid cyclist / racer ( hence the avatar picture ). Over the past year I somehow found myself heavily involved with the cycling racing world in and whole new way.

Thanks for the great write-up!

Any particular reason you're riding with the side cases on? I'd think with road space at a premium you'd prefer to ride with them off.

[TheJay]

Good for you Jason. Personally, that'd drive me insane, but I'm glad there are people like you that can handle the job with professionalism. I'm sure the logistics for the races are difficult and I hope the racers appreciate you and your fellow refs. By the way, what bike are you gonna use next year? Thanks for the write up.

[VFRBulldawg]

Thanks for the write, Jason. This is interesting stuff. I had the same question as above about the hard bags. I would be afraid I'd be more likely to bump somebody with those on.

[tinyminds]

Any particular reason you're riding with the side cases on? I'd think with road space at a premium you'd prefer to ride with them off.

The first couple of races I did I took them off. Then I got stuck out 20 miles from the start in the rain without my rain gear. That sucked. But if you draw a line from your mirror to your saddlebags, they really don't stick out much farther than one another. Honestly my saddlebags give me my space. It forces the riders to keep a little more distance away from me. They bump each other all the time, they know how to handle themselves if they clip my bag at least its a nice smooth surface to bounce off of, as oppose to them clipping my saddlebag bracket or something else that could hook onto their bars. There is a nice scratch on my right bag from a guy getting a little to close and his left shifter scraping my bag. Luckily my bags are rattle canned matte black and I can repaint them easy enough.

But there are a few races where on major roads the riders are required to stay on the right side of the center line. Haha.... if you have ever done a bike race you know this can be the most challenging thing ever to control. So to help with bike control I go to the front of the field and put my saddlebag on the center line and slowly fall back through the field forcing them over. I would much rather have my bags that close to a rider than me. Primarily to answer that question it just gives me my space.

[wrestler]

Any particular reason you're riding with the side cases on? I'd think with road space at a premium you'd prefer to ride with them off.

The first couple of races I did I took them off. Then I got stuck out 20 miles from the start in the rain without my rain gear. That sucked. But if you draw a line from your mirror to your saddlebags, they really don't stick out much farther than one another. Honestly my saddlebags give me my space. It forces the riders to keep a little more distance away from me. They bump each other all the time, they know how to handle themselves if they clip my bag at least its a nice smooth surface to bounce off of, as oppose to them clipping my saddlebag bracket or something else that could hook onto their bars. There is a nice scratch on my right bag from a guy getting a little to close and his left shifter scraping my bag. Luckily my bags are rattle canned matte black and I can repaint them easy enough.

But there are a few races where on major roads the riders are required to stay on the right side of the center line. Haha.... if you have ever done a bike race you know this can be the most challenging thing ever to control. So to help with bike control I go to the front of the field and put my saddlebag on the center line and slowly fall back through the field forcing them over. I would much rather have my bags that close to a rider than me. Primarily to answer that question it just gives me my space.

Looking good Tinyminds. It is great to have a glimpse of your professional do.!!

[2thdr]

Nice job Jason...great to see you putting two riding talents together to help events be safe like that. Is it too hot for you to wear gloves?