Yesterday, September 11, was the Special Olympics cycling event held at Dover AFB. Last time it was held at that location was before 9-11-01 so it was pretty special to be able to hold it there again.
This was an excellent venue. The weather was picture perfect but like most locations below the canal, there was some wind. Since I did a couple of the TTs held there back in the late 80s, most likely I had been on the road where this event was being held.There were several volunteers from the cycling community: James Ambagis, Sen. Dave, Kristi Marinelli and her hubby and his son, Chris McCunney, and me. And of course, Amy Wise, Mark's better half! And lots of volunteers from the AFB. Since it was the anniversary of 9-11, security was pretty tight.
Several of us were assigned as escorts to the athletes out on the out and back course. Our job was to make sure everyone stayed on course, "enforce" the yellow line rule, and stick with those who needed a little more encouragement.
The athletes are amazing! They have a good time at it and are very competitive with each other.
I also had the opportunity to see the REAL Mark Wise. He's not the man we imagine from his e-mails. And I'll probably get in trouble for this, but he really has a softer side! He is truly dedicated and has a real passion for his job with SODE and the people he works with and supports. Unless you see it first hand, it's hard to describe.
Overall, a wonderful day!
More photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/waddelne/2010SpecialOlympicsDelawareCycling#
It was indeed a great day and I think this venue is the best yet (Chase parking lot, Blue Rocks Stadium, Lums Pond Campground, another spot on the AFB last year) and hopefully this will be the site we are able to use for all our future SODE cycling events.
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