The Serve Our Willing Warriors bike ride used ham radio for its communications. The ham radio part was organized by Andy, KJ4MPT and included both OVH and Woodbridge Wireless members. This was actually a 3 in 1 bike ride — there were courses for 58 miles, 30 miles and 13 miles. The OVH members helping included Andy, KM4MPT; John, KG4NXT; Ron, K3FR; Byron, AK4XR; Jay, NQ4T; David, KG4GIY; Greg, KM4CCG; Ray, KM4EKR; and Sandy, KM4JUS.
The rest stops were manned by fire department EMTs from several jurisdictions while the water and snacks were provided by a Fairfax church.
Ron, K3FR described his experience as follows:
“I was on the course as the ham radio operator at checkpoint ROMEO-11 (St Louis Rd and Foxcroft Rd) in southern Loudoun County, so all of my shots are of metric century riders. This was a beautiful country location despite the road signs and overhead utilities. This was good background for the photography. I have uploaded one shot of each rider or group (51 images) to my Flickr Pro account https://www.flickr.com/photos/3_rail_fence/. I organized them into an Album called SOWW 2020 Bike Ride https://www.flickr.com/photos/3_rail_fence/albums/72157716155022052/with/50391136756/. Everyone can see these images. I had a great time supporting the riders. One couple in particular was absolutely great. As they approached the check point, the gentleman saw that I was photographing riders. I heard him urge his partner to come alongside him and he dropped back slightly. As they rode past me, her smile just grew and grew into the most beautiful and genuine smile. There was pure happiness written all over her face. SOWW Cycle Ride 2020 This alone made my day!”
