On
Saturday, June 2nd, the American Lung Association
successfully orchestrated its “Two Rock & Roll Bike Trek”
event in Petaluma, CA.
This event had three routes covering
62, 28 and 10 miles of great motorcycling roads around
and through the Tomales Bay scenery. Of all the events I’ve supported, this
Sonoma county area event was one of the most enjoyable to
support because of the riding, scenery and almost no
injuries.
Rider
turnout reached about 125 bicyclists and only one badly
skinned knee was reported.
Numerous flats kept my GoldWing’s compressor and
a lot of hand-pumps working over time. With all
the inflations that were needed, I was sure glad I didn’t
need to do them with a manual pump. All the riders
in this event asking me for a pump had their own tire
repair kits and were able to repair their own
leaks. This was a great change from previous events
where the rider
inexperience
or unprepared state would often cut into patrolling
duties. Quick support stops were especially good
for this event because there weren't enough of us on the
course.
Jenny
Bard was the lead ALA person on scene and she
did a wonderful job of supporting volunteers and riders. 
From the first time we
showed up to just before we left at the end, Jenny was
busy keeping everything and everybody pampered. If she managed
our other events we would never have anything to complain
about. Funds
raised during this event were estimated to be in excess
of 28K and some lucky person won a great looking bicycle.
Communications
were provided by a Sonoma county repeater group lead by Michael Knope, KD6LYU through
a Sonoma Mt repeater broadcasting on 146.91, PL 88.3. Coverage of this
event was unusually good given the hilly terrain this
event crosses.
Larry McDonald K6ACE and myself, W1RDR were the only two
motorcyclist in this event. Other mobile
support was spread thin with only two SAG wagons, one of
which was a part-time EMT vehicle, and one roving bike
mechanic keeping riders moving or helping them get back
to the event’s staging area. All three
routes overlapped where possible and four of the five
rest stops had ham radio support.
Motorcycles are especially
fitting for supporting a American Lung Association
event because of their ALA slogan,
"WHEN
YOU CAN’T BREATHE, NOTHING ELSE MATTERS". Our
motorcycles fit because they are considered low
pollution, or HOV. (High occupancy Vehicles) vehicles and
do their part for reducing the "yellow fog"
we've all become addicted to smelling.
For those not familiar with Petaluma,
it is located just north of San Francisco and just east
of Bodega & Tomales bays. Travel time for
the 106-mile distance from San Jose took about 1.5 hours.
