Dutch cycling is not possible for the time being without the volunteers of the motor guidance team Assen. Under the leadership of helmsman Rieks Poelman, motorcycle drivers guide various cycling races that came to hang on a thread. Starting next weekend, when there are two Drenthe one -day races on the calendar.
Organizers find this cycling year in large numbers their way to Poelman, who has a caravan of motorcyclists. They all have the necessary experience in guiding events, including cycling races.
The difference is that they take over the work of the police this year. This year, with a few exceptions – the corps leadership does not use agents for cycling races because commitment is given more priority at the NATO top in The Hague.
On Saturday, dozens of voluntary motorcycle drivers guide the Dorpenomloop across Drenthe, from Assen to Gieten. A day later, the Exloo cobblestone is on the program. Yesterday it was announced that a NK can also be held thanks to the motorcycle guidance team. That happens on a closed course around Ede.
Does Poelman get enough manpower to meet the demand? “I can’t complain about interest,” he reassures cycling enthusiasts. It has a file of 130 motorcyclists available.
Their driving skills are kept up to date to be used at events. “There are special training days for that. With skills how to stop a motorcycle on a slope or cobblestone strip and also leaves again. Or taking turns and the stay of riders who descend a hill much harder.”
The preparation for next weekend is largely over. Poelman knows that more than four hundred points are occupied on the course, mainly by traffic controllers. They carry the race together with Burgermotards and, among other things, a sound and command car. A proven recipe that was already successful last year when the motorcycle guidance team led the Elfstedenrace in Friesland in the right direction.
That baptism is therefore sufficiently followed, now that the Burgermotards keep the cycling races in their legs. And other events are added. Poelman: “Last year there were a hundred, and when I view our site, I see eighty again.”