ING Wheelchair Escorts

 

I had a roommate in college who raced bikes. Seeing the aftermath of his wrecks kept me from entering any races; there were other ways I could test myself without subjecting myself to the risks of bicycle racing. Although I never entered a race, I always thought it would be great fun to be able to ride a closed course. I jumped at the opportunity to escort the wheelchair racers for the ING Half Marathon that ran this morning.


We arrived at our meeting point before 6AM, checked-in and made last minute preparations. Five of us were recruited to sweep the front of the course with other fast riders assigned to the wheelers as they left the starting line. We fell in behind the police escort and within two blocks, the wheelers had caught us; the police escorts weren't moving fast enough. We got their attention and picked up the pace, well above 20MPH with the tail wind. When we got to the first turn at Piedmont and Decatur, things started to settle out and we found a comfortable space between the police escort in front of us and the wheelers behind us. It was within the first two miles that the lead wheeler had opened a significant gap on the rest of the field.

Our first challenging turn was from North onto Central Park. It was on this downhill into the turn we exceeded 30MPH. It turned out easy since we were able to swing wide on North and the intersection was well marked. This part of the course was easy to follow.

The first crowds were the volunteers handing out water at MLK's birthplace on Auburn. It was interesting to see a dozen people ready with a cup of water in each hand. The temps were cool and none of us needed water, but the cheering was something else.

The police escort got lost as we entered Inman Park. As soon as we managed to get them back on the course, they missed a turn and again fell off the course. After getting the police to pick up the pace early in the race, I was feeling like we were making a contribution, but we were getting more practice leading from the rear than I anticipated.

Our next sharp turn had standing water in the tightest part of the turn. Three wheelers had wrecked the previous year attempting the turn onto Freedom Parkway leading up to North. No issues for the leading wheeler.

Since this was my first time escorting wheelers, I really didn't know what to expect regarding pace. It made sense they could go fast on downhills; their wind resistance is less than a cyclist and it was work to stay in front of them. It was the wheeler's pace on the flats though that impressed me. We spent more time above 20MPH than I expected we would.

For our next challenge, the cone truck was still laying out the course as we entered Georgia Tech's Campus along 5th Street. Fortunately, there was plenty of room on either side and we passed with no problem.



The next to last mile was the roughest. This stretch was mostly uphill and now into the wind. Our race leader -- even though no challenger was in sight -- was still hammering. He was out to set a course record. It turns out he did.

We had more volunteer escorts than wheelers and it's easy to see why. Besides the thrill of riding along with world-class athletes, and being part of a big event, there aren't many volunteer positions that are so much fun as riding around Intown Atlanta without having to stop for anything.

Event Summary

Round Trip Distance: 27.6
Number of Cyclists seen: 40 escorts and lots of spectators on bikes
Number of times police escort went the wrong way: 2 (escorts corrected them both times)
Route: ING Half Marathon
Weather: 45 degrees with a low wind out of the west. Humid but roads were dry.