Hey all, it is time to start planning again for the Bike Tour. It will be July 25-26 this year.

We are still discussing the route, but for now the departure will be at AC on the East Campus just like last year. We are trying to see if there is a way not to use the detour route and still come up with the same mileage, by exiting AC on to US 60. That only affects the first rest stop. More on that later.

This year, according to MS National HQ, each rest stop will have to have someone trained in CPR. We could possibly kill two birds with one stone if some or all of the guys working a rest stop wanted to get certified. This certification would be free.

The Medical Director for the ride this year is Jason Dennis, KD8IAH, Dumas EMS Director. Jason tells me he was very active in ARES/RACES in Michigan before coming to Dumas. We will be putting together two roving medical units, suburbans or vans, fully equipped as ambulances, backboard, meds, bandages, etc.. If Jason elects to man one of those, then we will need a communicator for the other unit, although there was a husband and wife team last year that provided bike repair, who are Registered Nurses and who have expressed an interest in providing medical aid for this year's ride.

I didn't know this until last week, but the MS Society always has trouble getting support and gear drivers. Historically, on Day 1 April has had to beg, borrow and steal to get 7 SAGs and Day 2 - 2 SAGs. April would like to have 9-10 SAGs the first day and 3-4 on Day 2. If there are Hams who would want to be a SAG, we would put you in the first three rest stops so you could act as SAGs for the rest of the day, then of course, if we had enough participation, you could SAG all day and not even be at a rest stop. One of our goals has been to put communicators with the SAG drivers...this way we kill two birds with one stone.

We also need to plan to put communicators with the Bike Repair teams. One thing I thought about was school aged Hams who wanted to participate could serve as operators in SAGs, Bike Repair. Ice truck, etc.

The meal again this year will be surf and turf; steak, shrimp and chicken. In past years, only a handful of Ham's have made the dinner. It would sure be neat if we had a lot more participation this year. One nice thing about this year vs. years past is that the dinner will be inside the same Elementary School that feeds us breakfast on Day 2, i.e. Air Conditioning...

I still have some bike tour shirts from last year. I did not keep book on those that paid me for the shirts last year and those that didn't. I left it up to the honor system. I ended up not getting a donation to pay for them and had to pay for them out of my own pocket, so if you got a shirt and didn't pay me for it, I would appreciate some money.

I look forward to working with all of you again this year. David W5ABR