Forty cyclists, each loaded down with heavy bottles of water and two fragile eggs, rode around Victoria Saturday in an exercise that aimed to show the value of two-wheeled transportation in the event of a disaster.
The inaugural event, dubbed Tour de Disaster, had members of the Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition and others searching for lost people, moving supplies and information and doing damage assessments.
“Victoria has a one-in-three probability of an earthquake in our lifetime so it’s a serious risk,” said organizer Rob Johns.
The event was presented by the City of Victoria and the cycling coalition.
The challenges put before the cyclists will show if there’s a place for them in Victoria’s emergency planning, Johns said.
The event is also a way to engage cyclists in emergency planning and capture their imaginations on ways they can help, Johns said.
John Biollo, a tourist from Edmonton, heard about the exercise “and thought it would be a fun thing to do.”
He teamed up with his nephew, Foster Anderson, to lift their loaded bicycles over a concrete median — carefully, so as not to break two raw eggs each cyclist was required to carry.
Aside from the eggs, Biollo had 12 litres of water and first-aid supplies. In a real disaster, the water and medical items could save lives.
Having cyclists on the front lines of disaster relief “is quite a viable solution,” Anderson said.
“In a disaster, the roads would be somewhat obscured and cyclists would have an easier time getting around.”
Tony Hoar, a Mill Bay senior who in his youth rode in the Tour de France, had his two small dogs on his specially made bicycle that has the capacity of a wheelbarrow.
“They go everywhere with me,” said Hoar of the dogs.
Bill Lane, 67, added a two-tonne jack, shovel, blankets and sleeping bags to his load in the hope of gaining extra points.
He was taking part in the exercise “just to prove I can do it. It felt like a fun thing to do. I wanted to learn to do it but hope I never have to.”
Lane said cyclists could be a big help if there’s a major earthquake or other disaster.
Cyclists earned points by helping each other out, keeping their eggs intact and packing a variety of large and bulky items. The cyclist with the most points won a first aid kit.
The event was co-ordinated by the Victoria Emergency Management Agency, an organization made up of 100 volunteers in five teams. Members used radios to stay in touch and were overseen by volunteers in a simulated command post at Topaz Park.
