Disaster Relief Trials – Vancouver

A disaster drill in the form of a cargo bike race
simulating a Day-4 relief supplies run.
Your neighbours need help – do you have a bike?

Date: Saturday August 26, 2023

Location: 125 Victory Ship Way (near Reckless Cycles)
at The Shipyards, Lower Lonsdale, North Vancouver, BC

Schedule:

9:00 am Participant check-in
10:00 am Race start
12:00 pm Race finish (estimated)
12:30 pm Awards & prizes, media

Click here to Register To Race

Click here to Register As A Volunteer

Email us at drt.vancouver@gmail.com for more information

Congratulations!

The inaugural DRT Vancouver race was a big success. Here are some photos from the event.

The Scenario

It’s four days after The Big One, a magnitude-9 earthquake. You and your neighbours are running low on food, fresh water, fuel and medicine. Emergency services are swamped, major bridges are closed, and minor bridges may not be safe for vehicles to pass over. But it is safe for citizens on bikes to pass over those bridges and they can also route their way around closed roads and past debris.

The DRT Vancouver race is a timed event over several hours with a series of checkpoints across the North Shore to pick up and deliver relief supplies – food, water, fuel, fragile medicines, building supplies, etc. Competitors are given a map and a manifest an hour before the race, and they have only this map to plan a route (batteries are too precious to waste on handheld devices, and the cell networks are overloaded and unreliable). Obstacles will be integrated into the route such as barriers, rough terrain, and a water crossing, and by the end of the race competitors will be delivering up to 50 kg of supplies to the finish line.

All human-powered vehicles are eligible to compete including ebikes – if it has pedals and can carry cargo, you can race in the DRT Vancouver. Different categories will be used to group participants depending on the capability of their bikes and level of competitiveness. Teams and families are welcome in addition to individuals!

DRT Vancouver will be run in partnership with provincial and local emergency management services. The focus of the event is equally on showcasing the cargo capability of bikes and building community resiliency and disaster relief capability.

More Information

Please email drt.vancouver@gmail.com if you are interested in participating in the DRT Vancouver as a competitor or as a volunteer.

We are also interested in hearing from any businesses and community organizations who would like to partner with us. Please email drt.vancouver@gmail.com if you would like to learn more.

Sponsor & Host Organization

Partners

TERN BICYCLES presents Disaster Relief Trials Portland

REGISTRATION INVITATION

Experienced cargo cyclists are invited to test and display their load-hauling and messaging equipment, skills, and mettle under broken infrastructure and shelter-in-place conditions. Let’s give emergency managers compelling evidence of the cargo bike’s relevance to disaster relief. You can help.

Cully Park, Portland, Oregon ➖ June 11 9am-5pm

About

It’s a disaster relief drill in the form of a cargo bike competition, simulating a day 4 supply run for neighbors in need.

What will your neighbors need? Do you have a cargo bike? If you find out and you do, you may be able to complete an urgently-needed supply and message run, outlined by your local Neighborhood Emergency Team. You, along with a cadre of local disaster-resilient supply runners, have the potential to meaningfully contribute to a vital patchwork of citizen-provided disaster relief services.

Prediction-Driven

95% of major disaster victims are rescued and assisted by neighborhood volunteers, according to FEMA. The ratio of paid-for stand-by response professionals to citizens, in any locality, is always small when measured against the forecasted needs of large-scale disaster relief. Outside help is slow to accumulate and unpredictable in schedule and scale when disaster conditions transform cities into virtual islands, with the flow of outside assistance constricted during the first 2 weeks of rescue and recovery.

Portland’s ≈14,418 professional emergency responders will provide disaster relief services for ≈652,500 Portlanders if the 322 years of ascending Cascadia Subduction Zone tension is relieved on June 7, 2022. That’s a 1:45 ratio.

4 days later, on June 11, rapidly evolving material and communication needs will start to be understood. Satisfying those needs will be a large-scale all-hands-on-deck affair. The utility of private automobiles will be somewhat to completely diminished, depending on local conditions.

Sound the trumpets. Deploy the cargo bikes.

Required Equipment

cargo bike or bike and trailer
- tuned and safety-inspected
- 200lb(91kg) payload-rated
- e-bikers must not use throttle mechanism, greater than 1000w motor output, or motor assist above 20mph(32.2kmh), per Oregon Bicycle Racing Association regulations
many straps + other cargo management accoutrement
- plan for fragile/awkward/large/heavy relief cargo
- 2-16’(0.6-4.9m) strap lengths
- cam buckle rafting-style straps and rubbery Voile-style straps recommended
- padding – anti-fatigue mats, sleeping pads, or yoga mats recommended for cargo security and suspension
helmet
- certified by Consumer Product Safety Commision for bike use
- properly-fitted
- in excellent condition and within manufacturer’s recommended service life
roadside repair kit
lock
first aid kit
work gloves – earthquake rubble compatible
safety glasses
whistle – quickly accessible for short to medium distance communications
compass – quickly accessible for efficient navigation to Checkpoints
grease pencil – quickly accessible for all-weather all-surface written communications
cell phone – quickly accessible for urgent and emergency communications
snacks and water

Required Capabilities

proficiency in safely securing and hauling Category-prescribed payload, composed of fragile and/or heavy and/or unwieldy objects, for Category-prescribed duration
proficiency in safe, legal, and courteous navigation through urban and Rough Terrain environments, given a detailed map and exact addresses (cargo bikes become hand carts when terrain is unridable)
proficiency in fixing flat tires

Categories

E-bike

1 rider
1 electric motor-assisted cargo bike
- DRT PDX ‘22 is an Oregon Bicycle Racing Association-sanctioned event; accordingly, e-Bike participants must use equipment which complies with OBRA e-bike restrictions.
- Throttle mechanisms which control electric motor assistance are not permitted.
- Motor output must not exceed 1,000 watts.
- Only electric motors which exclusively assist pedaling at speeds up to and including 20 miles per hour permitted.
1 e-bike battery charging system, off-grid
- Photo and explanation of off-grid battery-charging system may be e-mailed to disasterrelieftrials@gmail.com prior to Eventbrite registration closure, 11:59pm Monday June 6 for a two minute time bonus. See Registration Process below.
Electronic navigation devices permitted only w/proof of off-grid device charging system.
- If intending to use electronic navigation, photo and explanation of off-grid electronic navigation device-charging system must be e-mailed to disasterrelieftrials@gmail.com prior to Eventbrite registration closure, 11:59pm Monday June 6. See Registration Process below.
7 Checkpoint circuit
full 50kg (110lb) payload accumulation
2.5-5 hour mission
eligible for DRT Cargobike Supply Runner endorsement

Mixed Vehicle Pairs

2 riders
1 non-motorized cargo bike
1 non-motorized regular bike
7 Checkpoint Circuit
Full 50kg (110lb) payload accumulation
3-5 hour mission
eligible for DRT Cargobike Supply Runner endorsement

Open

1 rider
1 non-motorized cargo bike
7 Checkpoint circuit
full 50kg (110lb) payload accumulation
3-5 hour mission
eligible for DRT Cargobike Supply Runner endorsement

Citizen

1 rider
1 non-motorized cargo bike
5 Checkpoint circuit
<30kg (66lb) payload accumulation
1-2 hour mission

Family

1-4 family-related riders. Your definition of family is our definition of family.
1+ passengers
1+ cargo bikes, non-motorized or electric motor-assisted
e-bikes must conform to E-bike Category motor assist restrictions
4 Checkpoint circuit
<30kg (66lb) payload accumulation
2-3 hour mission

Registration Process

If you’re a professional bike courier, skip to 4 and indicate Courier + Category at the top of your Letter of Intent. Also list current employer and cumulative professional bike courier experience. Cargo fee waived.
If you identify as female, BIPOC, or LGBTQIA, skip to 4 and indicate Representation + Category at the top of your Letter of Intent. Cargo fee waived courtesy of Berkshire Ginsberg Attorneys at Law.
Register and pay $30 cargo fee at Eventbrite registration page.
Send e-Mail, titled DRT Letter of Intent, to disasterrelieftrials@gmail.com:
- All Categories
  - List your name.
  - List your emergency contact.
  - List your neighborhood.
  - List the date you or you and your teammates started cargo biking.
  - List the make/model of your DRT vehicle(s).
  - Feel free to share formative experiences and all else relevant from your cargo bike life/lives.
  - Attach photo(s) of you or your team and your DRT vehicle(s).
- Family and Mixed Vehicle Pairs
  - List your captain, teammates, and team name.
- Family and E-bike Categories
  - If your DRT vehicle is electric motor-assisted, you may attach a photo of your off-grid e-bike battery charging kit for a 2 minute time bonus.
  - If you will be riding an e-bike and intend to use an electronic navigation device, you must attach a photo of your off-grid electronic navigation device charging system.
- We’ll post your DRT Supply Runner stats and photos on social media unless you’d rather be stealth.

Practice at Cully Park Coffee Klatch, 6:45-10:15am every Tuesday before the event.

Tern Bicycles Presents Disaster Relief Trials Portland 2022 SCHEDULE

THURSDAY JUNE 9

4-6pm Pre-event Social, 407 SE Ivon St

SATURDAY JUNE 11

9:00am 5810 NE 72nd Ave, Cully Park DRT Base (Start/Finish/Resilience Fair)

Registered Cargo Bike Supply Runners arrive, sign waivers, register with Neighborhood Emergency Team as “Spontaneous Untrained Volunteer”, receive and attach (2) number placards, spoke card and handlebar spring clamp. Submit cargo vehicle to on-site River City Bicycles mechanic for safety inspection. Park cargo vehicle in Disaster Relief Bike Corral.

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10am DRT Base, Cully Park, 5810 NE 72nd Ave (Start/Finish/Resilience Fair)

Registered Cargo Bike Supply Runners receive Map/Manifest. Your Checkpoints, the only places you must visit, will be revealed on a detailed map with exact addresses. Checkpoint tasks will be noted. Plan your routing! Get dressed for weather and effort. Hydrate!

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11:00am DRT Base, Cully Park, 5810 NE 72nd Ave (Start/Finish/Resilience Fair)

Registered Cargo Bike Riders LEMANS START. Portage 1 METER BARRIER. Head for CHECKPOINT 1, maintaining 5mph until outside of Cully Park.

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5:00pm DRT Base, Cully Park, 5810 NE 72nd Ave (Start/Finish/Resilience Fair)

FINISH CLOSES

DRT Memphis, October 15, 2016

Registration for DRT Memphis is now open! Register here

Mid-South Greenways Alliance has teamed up with Bike Walk Memphis and the Shelby County Office of Preparedness to highlight the connectivity of our bicycle infrastructure, showcase the usability of bicycles, and generate a list of able volunteers ready to assist in a time of need.

We would like to thank our partners:

Shelby County Office of Preparedness

Bike Walk Memphis / Bike Walk TN

Shelby Farms Park

Agricenter International.

We would also like to thank our generous sponsors:

Titanium: