On The Mark

A dog is called a “pet” unless its purpose is to provide a service, whereupon it is called a “working dog.” Dogs who sniff out drugs or assist the military are other examples. Similarly, motos can serve vital purposes, including that of a “working motorcycle.” Far too often, particularly in the US, motorcycles are seen as “toys” – extravagances on which youths (or their midlife-crisis equivalents) strut their stuff on sunny days. Some even go so far as to classify motorcycling as a “sport,” even when it has nothing to do with a track or competition. Motorcycles are, of course, a perfectly-legitimate means of economical transportation and in the rest of the world, are treated accordingly. Most people in this country gloss over the ways in which motorcycles are used for work.

Law enforcement motos are the most widely understood: police motorcycles can operate in situations where traffic gridlock would otherwise cripple emergency response, like a crowded freeway or an accident on a bridge. In some cities, small motorcycles or scooters play a huge role in the food delivery business because they are much more easily parked, both at the restaurant and the customer’s location. I recently came back from Buenos Aires and motorcycles and scooters were ubiquitous, both as transportation and as “working bikes.” You can even get a moto Uber in B-A.

Food is not the only commodity that can be delivered by motorcycle: in many foreign cities, motorcycles carry all kinds of goods and it is sometimes entertaining to see the way packages are strapped onboard. Despite electronic signatures, some legal documents still require a “wet signature” and are carried by moto messengers. During the summer Olympics in Atlanta, my colleagues were pressed into service delivering video tapes taken at the many venues to a central editing/broadcast facility because their motos could cut through even the most gridlocked traffic.

For the last 25 years, I used my motos as part of the bicycle racing community. I started as a moto official, riding with cyclists to enforce rules, control traffic, and provide timing data. I provided marshal services at the Tours of California, Utah, and Colorado, working with police motos to keep drivers from putting the cyclists in danger. I carried other officials on the back, including at the World Championships in Richmond. I carry photographers, both video and still. The latter involves taking them to spots along the route so they can get “the shot” across that field of poppies or from high above a horseshoe curve, followed by threading our way through the peloton to do it again or to deliver my “shooter” to the finish so he can get the “money shot” of the winner crossing the line with arms raised. My bikes and I have worked almost all of the positions in the race…except one.

This year, I am trying a new job, carrying a mechanic on the back of the bike whose job is to leap off and change the wheel of a cyclist with a flat. The job is called “neutral support,” as help is rendered to anyone who needs it regardless of what team they represent or whether their team car is in the caravan. Sometimes, especially on a twisting mountain climb or descent, the team cars can’t get to the breakaway riders, so the neutral support is there to serve them. Once the mechanic replaces the wheel with the flat tire, he remounts and off we go to a rendezvous with the neutral support car, where the mechanic will trade the bad wheel for a good one – all without stopping. It requires some precise riding next to a moving car, keeping station while the two mechanics conduct their exchange.

In all, there are about a dozen “working motorcycle” positions in a race, some comprising multiple motorcycles, and it isn’t unusual for a big pro race to have 40 or more motos doing their thing. It may seem like a lot, but when you spread them out over a peloton and caravan that can be several miles long if there are multiple breakaways, sometimes it isn’t enough. Once at the Tour of California, four of us were left to marshal in a group of about fifty guys who were off the back, the non-climbers on a mountain stage. Three CHP cars and our four bikes were all they had to get them to the finish safely. We managed, even distributing water to riders whose team cars had left them behind. It’s all in a day’s work for the pilot of a working motorcycle.