Rubberchicken
Well-Known Member
https://www.batavierenrace.nl/english/g ... about.html
The blurb says it’s the world’s largest relay race. 8614 runners this year, a new record.
It’s an event run by and for students.
Or as the 150-odd bikers doing traffic control and related stuff like to think, a big motorcycle event with a lot of pedestrians getting in the way. And vans. Bloody hell, the vans.
You haven’t lived until you’ve seen 350 teams try to converge on a single muddy spot in the middle of nowhere, at night, in the rain. Every team has at least one van, driven by a student. By definition not the most experienced drivers in the world, certainly not used to driving vans, the sweaty athletes and general party atmosphere not helping their concentration any, not used to dense traffic, and a bit headstrong when it comes to following simple instructions like “get a move on, park over there, oh FFS don’t unload here in the middle of the intersection!” Ahem.
Anyway. My little cog in this mess is supplies, aka trying to keep the traffic control guys lubricated and fed throughout the night with copious quantities of coffee and pancakes, prepared and distributed en route. This means following the route the runners take, getting into all kinds of usually off-limits places such as pedestrian paths, forest trails and whatnot. With lots of heavy and unusual kit strapped to your bikes.
Did I mention it’s an allnighter? It’s an allnighter. The race starts at midnight saturday and runs until about 6-7 pm. But preparation starts a bit earlier, such as making the pancake mix, all 36 liters of it. Regular kitchen mixers need not apply, I’ve blown up a few already. Latest method is a bit unorthodox but very effective:
Anyway. 12l of pancake mix per team of four, lots of water (20-25l) to make coffee and tea, kettles, pans, stoves, thermoses, a few sacks of apples, some loaves of bread and other odds and ends for the afternoon, plus all the gear we ourselves need to survive the night, meaning we’re all loaded up like Vader.
The thing on the back of my GS is my little lamp post. 4 meters tall, LED spot on top, runs fine off the bike battery for a few hours and means no faffing around with head torches getting in each others eyes:
This is at 2 am, in Emmerich, Germany. We just find an awning somewhere and get to work. And then the bikes show up:
Us on the move later that night:
The process repeats itself a few times, in various guises:
People get daft when they’re tired. This guy complained about neck pain later, go figure...
Carnage at the van parking. Narrow rural street, parking on one side driving on the other, and the local oldtimer gang coming the other way. There was a sign that the road was blocked, but if they meant it they’d have put somebody there to stop them, right? What a mess. Lovely old Jawa though.
Anyway. After taking a shortcut through a field we got out of there, we had a schedule to keep after all.
One of the gadgets from another team. Petrol powered coffee machine.
And at the end of the day there was sleep. Blessed sleep. For 14 hours straight.
The blurb says it’s the world’s largest relay race. 8614 runners this year, a new record.
It’s an event run by and for students.
Or as the 150-odd bikers doing traffic control and related stuff like to think, a big motorcycle event with a lot of pedestrians getting in the way. And vans. Bloody hell, the vans.
You haven’t lived until you’ve seen 350 teams try to converge on a single muddy spot in the middle of nowhere, at night, in the rain. Every team has at least one van, driven by a student. By definition not the most experienced drivers in the world, certainly not used to driving vans, the sweaty athletes and general party atmosphere not helping their concentration any, not used to dense traffic, and a bit headstrong when it comes to following simple instructions like “get a move on, park over there, oh FFS don’t unload here in the middle of the intersection!” Ahem.
Anyway. My little cog in this mess is supplies, aka trying to keep the traffic control guys lubricated and fed throughout the night with copious quantities of coffee and pancakes, prepared and distributed en route. This means following the route the runners take, getting into all kinds of usually off-limits places such as pedestrian paths, forest trails and whatnot. With lots of heavy and unusual kit strapped to your bikes.
Did I mention it’s an allnighter? It’s an allnighter. The race starts at midnight saturday and runs until about 6-7 pm. But preparation starts a bit earlier, such as making the pancake mix, all 36 liters of it. Regular kitchen mixers need not apply, I’ve blown up a few already. Latest method is a bit unorthodox but very effective:
Anyway. 12l of pancake mix per team of four, lots of water (20-25l) to make coffee and tea, kettles, pans, stoves, thermoses, a few sacks of apples, some loaves of bread and other odds and ends for the afternoon, plus all the gear we ourselves need to survive the night, meaning we’re all loaded up like Vader.
The thing on the back of my GS is my little lamp post. 4 meters tall, LED spot on top, runs fine off the bike battery for a few hours and means no faffing around with head torches getting in each others eyes:
This is at 2 am, in Emmerich, Germany. We just find an awning somewhere and get to work. And then the bikes show up:
Us on the move later that night:
The process repeats itself a few times, in various guises:
People get daft when they’re tired. This guy complained about neck pain later, go figure...
Carnage at the van parking. Narrow rural street, parking on one side driving on the other, and the local oldtimer gang coming the other way. There was a sign that the road was blocked, but if they meant it they’d have put somebody there to stop them, right? What a mess. Lovely old Jawa though.
Anyway. After taking a shortcut through a field we got out of there, we had a schedule to keep after all.
One of the gadgets from another team. Petrol powered coffee machine.
And at the end of the day there was sleep. Blessed sleep. For 14 hours straight.
