Medal of Honor Ride
I had no idea. I've lived here for over 24 years and this was the first time I'd become aware of this. The City of Gainesville has been doing this for almost twenty years and this is just one of the activities over several days, every year.: "Since its inception in 2001, our Medal of Honor Host City Program has hosted 56 of the 74 living Medal of Honor Recipients who have inspired our community with their message of patriotism, sacrifice, courage and life values. From the youngest citizen to the oldest, this has been a labor of love. Our rallying cry has been, and continues to be, “It’s What We Do!”"
Few months back, I saw where Dutch mentioned a "Medal of Honor" Bike Ride, so on FB I clicked "interested" as a reminder to myself. Middle of the week, but if weather was nice and I wasn't too busy at work, thought I could sneak off for a few hours. But, the ride was in Dallas and in my mind that was going to 'suck.'. Still.... it was loosely on my calendar.
As we got closer, weather was looking awesome. My job's workload was in check. Our CVMA chapter had emails flying around as to whom was going. I gathered a lil' more info on the ride and it didn't sound as bad as I was initially thinking (Police Escort minimized downtown traffic). So, with less than a week to go, I was mentally 'in'. Two days ago I decided to ride my 'Gray Horse', so I rode it down to get it inspected, tagged and cleaned it up yesterday morning. No jacket or rain gear needed, so figured this bike would work out fine (no bags or windshield on it). Soon, I'm mounted up and headed to meet Dutch. It's game time.
We're connected up and headed to Rockwall to pick up Maestro, then on to Garland HD to pick up Half Sack whom was having some last minute bike work done. I quickly realized I might have made a bad choice in bikes to ride. The wind is kicking up and it's wearing me down within 20 miles. I've got a 3/4 helmet with me that the wind keeps finding ways to try and take it off my head, with my skull still attached. My choice of googles, for most part, worked out well. But until we hit our first stop, I'm just having trouble keeping the bike vertical and the helmet on, in the crazy wind! Once we grab Half Sack, I cinch it down tight and I'm good to go, but .. that wind! I feel like it's just me fighting it, but at our destination everyone else is telling stories of getting knocked all around on the Interstate. Damned!
Well, we hit the staging area on the early side sometime after 1PM, so we headed south to find some food and fuel, not realizing the CMA was serving some BBQ sandwiches at the staging area. Anyways, down some fast food and fueled up, back to the huge open area folks are lining up at. Soon as we roll in, we directed to get in columns of 2. There are already two sets of twos, so we're in the third. My quick math tells me there are over 300 bikes here, with a few hours to go. Damned! We soon realize a tactical mistake in planning that we can correct next year. There are dozens of other CVMA folks here, but we can't all ride together. Once you are directed to your 'spot' in line,
that's it. So the lesson learned here is have a primary meet point close-by, then roll in as a large group and you will then all be together. Only way to do it. CVMA Chapter 10-4 was trying get their folks all together on the grounds, bumped heads with one of the clowns volunteering and soon found 1/2 dozen of them leaving. They said it wasn't their fault, but I wasn't there witnessing it all. That had to suck, as they headed back to Oklahoma. In the meantime we ended up having two hours to kill waiting for the start of the ride. Dutch had brought a cooler of sodas and waters, thank god. CMA was distributing food and water Line up of bikes continued to grow. Slingshots off the side were in full force ; they'd bring up the rear. Wind was kicking up and temps were hitting 90 degrees. We've got an awesome event brewing.
Finally, they get the safety brief done (brutal, but some good info in there for newbies) and we're off. Now, I'd been told a few things before this. We'd be rolling down the Interstate. Law Enforcement would be blocking traffic. There would be a long line of bikes. But that was about it. What I was about to see first hand was not only impressive from a Law Enforcement perspective, but the visual of bikes for as far as the eye could see with bikes rolling in front of you and behind you for miles, was over the top impressive. But what I would experience next has me knowing I'll be back next year. The outflow of Patriotism by folks stopped in traffic. By folks on overpasses. By folks setup on the road side in small and large groups. A few times it brought tears to my eyes. Folks standing and saluting as you rolled by. Thousands and thousands displaying the American Flag, military branch flags and the State Flag. This went on for miles .. and miles; over SIXTY miles. I've never seen or been in anything like it before. I've seen News footage of the Chris Kyle service and annual ride that reminded me of this, but never experienced it first hand. Wow! Here's a video on FB of it: MOH RIDE
I guess I hadn't done the math, because I heard '70 miles' in the safety brief and I thought he was just throwing that number out there. No, I'd heard that right. For the next 60-70 miles, law enforcement had the highways and Interstate lanes we traveled on, completely SHUT DOWN. It was just us. This was during rush hour in Dallas. Wow! Now that in itself was impressive. Being in the middle of it all; impressive. Feeling the Patriotism flowing from everyone in the ride and those watching from the sides and overpasses; overwhelming. Upon arrival into Gainesville, they quickly had the hundreds of bikes ( I heard one person say '503' another said over 700) parked and we quickly headed into to grab some memorabilia and some grub (BBQ!!). The Medal of Honor recipients attending were there as well if you wanted to meet them personally. They have a full weekend of activities ahead of them; this was just the warmup!
Bellies are full, re-hydrated and we've got 85 miles between us and home, with a pit stop for adult refreshments of course. So, we pick up Trish on her trike to travel back with us and we're off. I'm quickly reminded of my poor choice of bikes for this ride and as the sun sets, I remember the benefits of a bag or two on a bike to hold eye protection for riding at night as well as additional clothing as the temps drop. My 'quick ride' turned into almost a full 12 hours. But hey .. it's all about the memories, right?
Next year, we make some more!
Few months back, I saw where Dutch mentioned a "Medal of Honor" Bike Ride, so on FB I clicked "interested" as a reminder to myself. Middle of the week, but if weather was nice and I wasn't too busy at work, thought I could sneak off for a few hours. But, the ride was in Dallas and in my mind that was going to 'suck.'. Still.... it was loosely on my calendar.
As we got closer, weather was looking awesome. My job's workload was in check. Our CVMA chapter had emails flying around as to whom was going. I gathered a lil' more info on the ride and it didn't sound as bad as I was initially thinking (Police Escort minimized downtown traffic). So, with less than a week to go, I was mentally 'in'. Two days ago I decided to ride my 'Gray Horse', so I rode it down to get it inspected, tagged and cleaned it up yesterday morning. No jacket or rain gear needed, so figured this bike would work out fine (no bags or windshield on it). Soon, I'm mounted up and headed to meet Dutch. It's game time.
We're connected up and headed to Rockwall to pick up Maestro, then on to Garland HD to pick up Half Sack whom was having some last minute bike work done. I quickly realized I might have made a bad choice in bikes to ride. The wind is kicking up and it's wearing me down within 20 miles. I've got a 3/4 helmet with me that the wind keeps finding ways to try and take it off my head, with my skull still attached. My choice of googles, for most part, worked out well. But until we hit our first stop, I'm just having trouble keeping the bike vertical and the helmet on, in the crazy wind! Once we grab Half Sack, I cinch it down tight and I'm good to go, but .. that wind! I feel like it's just me fighting it, but at our destination everyone else is telling stories of getting knocked all around on the Interstate. Damned!
Well, we hit the staging area on the early side sometime after 1PM, so we headed south to find some food and fuel, not realizing the CMA was serving some BBQ sandwiches at the staging area. Anyways, down some fast food and fueled up, back to the huge open area folks are lining up at. Soon as we roll in, we directed to get in columns of 2. There are already two sets of twos, so we're in the third. My quick math tells me there are over 300 bikes here, with a few hours to go. Damned! We soon realize a tactical mistake in planning that we can correct next year. There are dozens of other CVMA folks here, but we can't all ride together. Once you are directed to your 'spot' in line,
that's it. So the lesson learned here is have a primary meet point close-by, then roll in as a large group and you will then all be together. Only way to do it. CVMA Chapter 10-4 was trying get their folks all together on the grounds, bumped heads with one of the clowns volunteering and soon found 1/2 dozen of them leaving. They said it wasn't their fault, but I wasn't there witnessing it all. That had to suck, as they headed back to Oklahoma. In the meantime we ended up having two hours to kill waiting for the start of the ride. Dutch had brought a cooler of sodas and waters, thank god. CMA was distributing food and water Line up of bikes continued to grow. Slingshots off the side were in full force ; they'd bring up the rear. Wind was kicking up and temps were hitting 90 degrees. We've got an awesome event brewing.
Finally, they get the safety brief done (brutal, but some good info in there for newbies) and we're off. Now, I'd been told a few things before this. We'd be rolling down the Interstate. Law Enforcement would be blocking traffic. There would be a long line of bikes. But that was about it. What I was about to see first hand was not only impressive from a Law Enforcement perspective, but the visual of bikes for as far as the eye could see with bikes rolling in front of you and behind you for miles, was over the top impressive. But what I would experience next has me knowing I'll be back next year. The outflow of Patriotism by folks stopped in traffic. By folks on overpasses. By folks setup on the road side in small and large groups. A few times it brought tears to my eyes. Folks standing and saluting as you rolled by. Thousands and thousands displaying the American Flag, military branch flags and the State Flag. This went on for miles .. and miles; over SIXTY miles. I've never seen or been in anything like it before. I've seen News footage of the Chris Kyle service and annual ride that reminded me of this, but never experienced it first hand. Wow! Here's a video on FB of it: MOH RIDE
I guess I hadn't done the math, because I heard '70 miles' in the safety brief and I thought he was just throwing that number out there. No, I'd heard that right. For the next 60-70 miles, law enforcement had the highways and Interstate lanes we traveled on, completely SHUT DOWN. It was just us. This was during rush hour in Dallas. Wow! Now that in itself was impressive. Being in the middle of it all; impressive. Feeling the Patriotism flowing from everyone in the ride and those watching from the sides and overpasses; overwhelming. Upon arrival into Gainesville, they quickly had the hundreds of bikes ( I heard one person say '503' another said over 700) parked and we quickly headed into to grab some memorabilia and some grub (BBQ!!). The Medal of Honor recipients attending were there as well if you wanted to meet them personally. They have a full weekend of activities ahead of them; this was just the warmup!
Bellies are full, re-hydrated and we've got 85 miles between us and home, with a pit stop for adult refreshments of course. So, we pick up Trish on her trike to travel back with us and we're off. I'm quickly reminded of my poor choice of bikes for this ride and as the sun sets, I remember the benefits of a bag or two on a bike to hold eye protection for riding at night as well as additional clothing as the temps drop. My 'quick ride' turned into almost a full 12 hours. But hey .. it's all about the memories, right?
Next year, we make some more!
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