My final thoughts for 2010...

545 miles of bike riding, 63 hours in the saddle, 36,000 feet of climbing later… (and a loss of 40,000 calories)…

117 riders and 14 support people, from 17 states and two countries…

Here we are, back in Austin, TX. This was our team’s fourth year of doing the ride but my third. Our first ride was in 2007. In October 2006, Eric C. Hanson, a fellow classmate from paramedic school, was killed in a head on collision involving a pick up truck while coming back from an early morning call. He was dead before any responders arrived. His partner that day, Kyla Wilson, was a friend I went to paramedic school and also knew while at The University of Texas. Kyla and Eric worked for Marble Falls EMS, a service southwest of Austin. Kyla was so badly injured, she has never been able to return to work as a medic; she had just graduated paramedic school that May. Eric and I had graduated the previous May. The driver of the pick up truck died shortly after arrival at the ER. The accident occurred within the city limits of Austin, I was just coming off of shift when we heard about the accident our service (Austin/Travis County EMS) was responding to. I will never forget the morning when we received an all page informing Austin/Travis County EMS that the fatality accident involving an ambulance was not from our service. On the news, we heard it was from Marble Falls EMS. I knew many people that worked there was many of my fellow classmates and friends worked there. On the drive home, I called Kyla and many others. I left Kyla a voicemail. I finally had a call returned telling me it was Eric that had died and Kyla was badly injured. I quickly crossed three lanes of traffic diverting my usual course home to the trauma hospital Kyla was being transported to. She had a suffered a broken femur and head bleed and would later be diagnosed with a torn ligament in her knee. It was the week of Eric’s funeral that I was reading an issue of JEMS. In it, I read an article by cartoonist Steve Berry about the National EMS Memorial Bike Ride. I was not even done reading the article when I put out an email looking for others to do the bike ride. There were five of us from our department to participate in the 2007 ride. Four years later, I can still say with confidence that is by far the most fun any of us can have for a week being utterly exhausted. (Though we actually use three weeks of vacation including the drive to and from Texas). Steve Berry put it well that you never come home from a cruise thinking, “I have really grown as a person.” This “vacation” you do.

Shortly after coming back from the 2008 ride, there was a med evac crash in East Texas in the city of Bryan. All three crew members and the patient died and it took authorities hours to find the crash. The flight medic was Stephanie Waters. She was a friend and co-worker’s spouse. She and her mother also worked for Marble Falls EMS. We honor her, as well.

In the four years of our participation in the ride, we have seen the ride more than double in participation. This year, we had riders from Canada, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada, and Washington (State). I know I am missing some….

We had three different routes this year. We had teams start in Maine, Vermont, and Kentucky. The Maine and Vermont route met up the first night in New Hampshire. Vermont had a LODD so it was very important we rode through that state. There was only one rider in the Kentucky route but his mission was that of an army. He dedicated himself to ride for two LODDs, one hundred miles for each of them. The rider was Dr. Ken Turner. He is the medical director for VA Med Flite and Wellmont One Air Transport. He is also an emergency physician for Holston Valley Medical Center. He rode through two inches of rain that fell within 30 minutes. He also rode through five inches of rain over a course of two days. He completed all 200 miles by himself and two support members. They had to close the course due to such extreme weather but he still completed all the miles while the support team met us in Pennsylvania.

For the first time, Mark and I were apart of the support team. Mark was the full time mechanic and I tried my best to make the most incredible pb&j’s. It was difficult for both of us not to be on our bikes but we smiled each day knowing we were helping those complete the course. Susan was the bravest and got into the saddle day after day. Watching the riders climb hill after hill was more than inspiring. At times, there was more walking than riding up those hills. It is hard as a rider to get off a hill and walk. You realize your pain is not nearly as much as what those who we ride for had suffered. You may think of yourself as less than a hero. But, I can tell you honestly from the sidelines, that that is the last thing that ever crossed my mind while I watched many of the riders walk. Everyone is a hero and not one person more so than other, no matter how many hills you might walk.

Our youngest rider this year was the son of another rider. He is only 13 years old and rode 50 miles of the last day on a mountain bike!

“Mark, don’t worry about fixing my brakes. You don’t need brakes when you’re only climbing UP hill.”

Greg Castillo of NH rode in 2008. Every day he had the biggest smile on his face. He toughed out the ride on a heavy mountain bike. I remember our conversations every morning about the Red Sox game from the previous night. Greg was the type of person that would hardly complain and give you the shirt off his own back. Unfortunately, Greg took his own life shortly before the 2009 ride. Before he died, he recruited a father and daughter team he worked with at Rockingham NH Ambulance. They have honored him by doing the 2009 and 2010 ride.

Team Florida rode for someone specific, as well. When they originally decided to do the ride, they were not riding for anyone specific. Unfortunately, that changed. David Deland, District Chief, came back to the station as the ambulance crew went out for an emergency call. Sometime between the crew going out and coming back, David put himself on the cardiac monitor. When the crew came back, they found him in cardiac arrest. There was 45 minutes of asystole. Team Florida honored him.

A special salute to Sarah Fox, one of Portsmouth NH's finest, suffering from metastatic cancer.

We rode through a town in Pennsylvania called Bensalem. Bensalem just lost one of their own this past March. His name was Daniel McIntosh, “Danny Mac.” He died in March in 2009 while on duty. Fortunately, we were able to stop at his station and have a small ceremony on his behalf. We were able to give his dog tags two of the riders were carrying in his honor (each rider wore at least one pair of dog tags with the name of one of the 26 National EMS Memorial inductees who died in the line of duty). The ceremony had everyone in tears though none of the riders personally knew Danny. This is part of the essence of the ride – we are here to support each other. Most of us, unfortunately, know the pain to lose a friend or partner to this profession. To have someone in your life die doing what they love best – serving others and their community.

A huge thanks to everyone that came out to support the ride in person (or via email and text!). The ride would not have been as successful without the help of all the rescue squads along the route – thank you for welcoming us into your house, for feeding us and offering up your restroom facilities!

Many thanks to those that met us in Alexandria VA and Washington DC. Members of Boston EMS and FDNY were there at the hotel to welcome us as we concluded the ride – complete with bagpipes and drums! Even though the National EMS Memorial is being held next month in Colorado for the first time, we still had a huge welcome into the city. You would hardly have known that the National EMS Memorial was not being held this past weekend by the huge reception that met us. Thank you for the beautiful ceremony and memorial service the following night. We had the honor of Richard Serino, FEMA Deputy Administrator and former Boston EMS Director, speak that evening.

A special thanks from Team Texas to Bianca Roman-Stumpff. Bianca Roman-Stumpff is the daughter of John Edward Stumpff who was a flight nurse with Alaska Lifeguard in Anchorage. He was killed in the line of duty in a medical aviation accident on December 3, 2007. Bianca, an artist living in Orlando, FL, was at the Hotel Roanoke to attend the National EMS Memorial Service in 2008 honoring the memory of her father among many others. She was present the preceding afternoon when the EMS Memorial Bike Ride arrived at the Hotel Roanoke after our 600 mile trip from New York City. She learned the riders refer to themselves as "Muddy Angels" and was inspired to draw the angel pictured on the back of our fundraising t-shirt for 2009. She also drew the artwork on the back of our 2010 t-shirt.

This ride is one of the most physically and emotionally demanding events. The physical challenge of the ride is an opportunity to work through part of the healing process of dealing with the death of a fellow provider. It is also healing to be the shoulder for someone else, as they are also your shoulder to cry on. Some riders and teams ride for someone specific. But, we all ride for EMS and those that made the ultimate sacrifice for a stranger. A profession full of individuals that put themselves out there physically and emotionally every day they go to work – some not to go home at the end of a shift.

Keep each other safe... Until next year...