Flagger Training

A few weekends ago, a few of us from the Trinity Bikes Cycling Team decided to make the voyage from Redmond over those little Cascade mountains to the Willamette Valley for some Flagger Training. As always, when you are part of a team like this one, these ordinary trips have a way of turning into fantastic fun filled weekends. So...let's take it from the top shall we?

In the early wee bits of Saturday morning, Shane Johnson, Bob Gilbert, I (Austin Line) piled into the little Subie, and were off to Salem for that Flagger "Training". Of course we had to stop by for some deliciousness from Sister's Bakery because well...we're cyclists, so we can afford to eat this kind of stuff on an occasion, right? Well at least that's what we tell ourselves. The bakery is lined with all sorts of sweet things that will make your mouth water. From doughnuts, apple fritters, to coffee cake, if it's sweet and delicious they probably have it. After that sugar filled binge, we were off to continue our voyage to Salem. Well...I would love to fill you in on the details from the trip over, but I was sleep deprived, along with Bob.

So we mainly slept the entire time, but the good news is Shane did make sure we made it there in one piece, and on time. Let me stress the "on time" part a little bit more, because with Shane Johnson you can never be certain if you're going to be on time, or 30 minutes late. There is an inside joke on the team about this..if you want Shane to be somewhere on time...simply tell him it starts an hour earlier before it really does. Heck his mom used this trick on him to make sure he would catch the bus on time as a wee little lad, but enough of that, let's move on.

The Flagger Training took place at a building called Salem KROC Center. Let me tell you something about this place, it's simply amazing. For 25 bucks a month, a membership gets you access to some sweet pools, a rock climbing wall, all the fitness equipment you would need, some water slides, and a whole bunch of other stuff I'm sure to be missing out on. We were there for this Flagger Training...serious business ya know.


We got into a nice room with a giant projector, and sat down at a table that sat about three, because well, there was only 3 of us. Well that was a slight miscalculation on someone's part because we had forgotten that another teammate (Brian Buskirk) was going to be there as well. 

We didn't realize this until the class had already started of course, and Buskirk didn't show up on time, which is when we realized something else as well. Someone who will go unnamed..cough cough Shane cough cough... told the team through e-mail that it started at 10:30 AM, when in reality it started at 10:00 AM on the dot. So needless to say Buskirk wandered in like a lost dog about 30 minutes late, but we made room for our dear pal, and snagged another chair to have the 4 of us crunched together on one table. Now about the Flagger Training...


We learned what not to do when flagging, and of course the general rules that you need to follow when setting up your signs for the flagger, cones, etc...I'm not going to lie, I think the moves we learned from flagging will most definitely help out our team if there's ever a Team Robot Dance at any of the races we go to this year. We'll have that event on lockdown that's for sure. There was also some copying by a few of the others ahummm Buskirk.

Even though it was a lax test, in which everyone was supposed to help out everyone anyways, we of course had to give them a hard time about it. Heck we didn't even turn in the test either, and while we are technically certified flaggers now, so we can go work for a company flagging construction zones, the instructor did say if we wanted to do that, we should definitely take the 3 day flagger course at Chemeketa. But for what we're doing with it, which is helping out with some minor road closures for bike races, what we learned was more than enough. After that, it was time for an unofficial team ride.

We all piled into the Subaru again, and were immediately met by Mother Nature with rain coming down hard, and relentlessly, but we were determined to find a dryish area to ride so we drove around until we found one, which ended up being in the Keizer area. We did encounter one minor problem, we didn't really take into account we had to change out of our street clothes, and into our cycling kits. So there we were with towels trying to get dressed, while also trying not to flash drivers who had passed us (we parked near a road). Thankfully we were all able to get changed without getting a ticket for indecent exposure, so that was a plus. With that accomplished, we were off on an adventure on some roads that took us through some farmland.


Of course we had heard about the major flooding going on in the valley, and when a road closed sign presented itself we preceded to keep on going to see why it was closed, and well it turned out there was a very good reason it was closed. All of a sudden it went from road to a lake.

You couldn't even see the fencing that was alongside of the road as it went on, because it was completely submerged in water. Bob and I were the only ones who brought mountain bikes, so we tested the waters to see how deep it got, and well it's not every day you get to play in water is it? Let's just say it got pretty deep, but it did make for some interesting pictures though. Deterred by the flooded road, we decided to turn around and head the other direction to explore some more of what valley riding is all about.

Valley riding is way different than it is back here in Central Oregon. It smells different, and it's gasp...so green! It truly has it's own allure to it, and we look forward for some more trips over there to see more of what the roads have to offer. When all was said and done, it was time to head off to Albany where we were planning on taking in a play while we were over there.

Yes, that's right, the diverse interest of the Trinity Bikes Cycling Team led us to watching a play in Albany. One of the cast members in the play was Shane's mom. Of course Bob Gilbert and I had to have something to drink for the play, so we grabbed two cartons of chocolate milk, and well let's just say they weren't the smallest ones either, but more on that later. The play was called "Over the River and Through the Woods", to sum it up it in the easiest way possible, it's a play about the importance of family, and it was quite funny as well. There was a little 15 minute break in the middle of the play, and since Bob and I didn't exactly feel comfortable taking the gargantuan chocolate milks we had purchased into the theater, we decided it was best that we go outside during the intermission and precede to chug the entire cartons of chocolate milk. It was quite filling, but I still wouldn't recommend drinking that much so quickly to anyone. After that it was off to finish watching the play.

When it ended, we were off to the car to head to Shane's Mom's to get some must needed rest for the night. We spotted an elderly man and his wife, who had seemingly gotten a flat tire on their car. Of course being the nice guys we are, we decided we should help them, and of course it didn't hurt that he did have the Oregon Cyclist license plates either. Upon arriving, we noticed his front right tire was completely shredded, so that one had to be changed out for sure. It was a true team effort as Shane manned the car jack, Bob changed the wheel, and I was left with the task of filling up a spare car tire to 60 psi with nothing more than the Lezyne floor pump we had brought along for the bicycles. While I was pumping away, we learned that this fellow was a cyclist himself as well! In fact, he had ridden across the US on his bike, something I think we all have on our bucket lists being cyclists. Unfortunately, Shane found that the left front tire also had some damage while inspecting the rest of the tires, and we were unsure if it would make it. So the decision was made we would follow them home to ensure they made it there safely. When we made it to their house, they offered us 20 dollars for our troubles, but of course we wanted no part of that. We just wanted to help out someone when they needed help, but we did make a counter-offer, for just a picture taken with them instead.

After that, we said our goodbyes, and were off to find those cozy beds that were awaiting our arrival. That brings an end to this blog post, because unless you want to hear more about sleeping, and driving in the car. That's about all we have for you guys right now.

And of course until next time,

Have Nice Day


-Austin Line