The Moto-Safety team was a group of motorcycle riders. One or two would set up shop at a major intersection and make sure the walkers were safe crossing major roads. Almost all of the motorcycles were decked out in some manor. A couple even had pink bras strung the front of them. One motorcycle had fuzzy pink tinsel all around the headlights, another had little pink socks taped along the back and they all had music blaring out of them.
The first Moto-Safety manned crosswalk we encountered had a big bald guy in a Black utilikilt and a black T-shirt that read "Keep talking about me Bitches... You are making me Famous". A couple of crosswalks later we encountered Gary for the first time. Wearing a bright safety orange colored t-shirt and kilt (yes, a real style kilt) and bright pink Crocs, Gary was dancing on his motorcycle as he either waved Walkers on or told them to hold up for a minute. Gary had a different colored kilt for each day...Friday Safety Orange, Saturday Gray colored tartan with pink in it and Sunday was rainbow colors against a white background. On Sunday our Bald friend in a utilikilt switched out for Pink Scrubs... On Sunday there was also an Indian Chief with pink feathers and pink details to his outfit. It was very cool to see these guys so devoted to the cause.
The really big thing they brought to the party was music. Every time you started approaching a moto-safey crosswalk you could hear the music blaring. Most of it was 80's get up and go music. Anyone who had to pause at the light to cross would start dancing in place -- it didn't matter if the Walkers were on mile one or mile 19 for the day. That little spark of music was enough to give you the energy to pick up your feet for a few more minutes and often--late in the day--it would really only be for a few more minutes. The good news was it would typically be enough to get to the next cross walk.
But even if you were slowing down and not making it to the next crosswalk you also had the Bike Safety team checking up on you. Occasionally, they would take over crosswalk duties but most of the time they rode back and forth through the route, giving riders encouragement and making sure anyone who was stopped didn't need help. If a Walker did need help they would call in a Sweep Van to pick the walker up and take them to the closest Pit Stop with a Medical tent.
Not to be outdone by the Moto-Safety team, the Bike-Safety team all wore Pink Tu-tus. I can't say how many more times than us they biked the route, but I'm sure it was a lot. 20 miles on a bike is nothing to sneeze at either.
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