Beer-Bike rescheduled for April 14
For the first time in its 51-year history, Beer-Bike was cancelled at about 9 a.m. Saturday for a reason other than weather. Each of the colleges withdrew from the race — beginning with Baker College — as Beer-Bike coordinators received news that Baker junior Parker Redman had died earlier that morning. The women’s and men’s bike races have since been rescheduled, but the alumni race will not be held.
Colleges stop parade
Baker Beer-Bike co-Coordinator Ariela Schacter said she and Baker’s other co-coordinators — sophomore Megan Hermance, sophomore Kevin Lin, sophomore Erin Felton and sophomore Kate Hildebrandt — decided to withdraw from the parade out of respect for Redman.
Schacter, a junior, said she and the other Baker coordinators made the decision to withdraw from Beer-Bike. She said they appreciated and were surprised by the other colleges’ decisions to pull out.
“We didn’t even know what happened,” Schacter said. “We thought Beer-Bike was cancelled because of the rain.”
Graduate Student Association Beer-Bike co-Coordinator Zach Keane said the GSA sent out an e-mail to graduate students to inform them about the cancellation.
Director of Alumni Programs and Services Ann Peterson said alumni were notified via the Beer-Bike Web site.
Food logistics
Beer-Bike Concessions co-Coordinators Grace Ng and Diana Lee said they began canceling food ordered for the event when they learned that the races were not occurring — a process that took about an hour.
Ng, a Will Rice College freshman, said she and Lee had ordered 500 pizzas for the race. 300 had already been made by the time they called to cancel, so they were distributed to the residential colleges, Ng said. Rice’s order of 350 Chipotle burritos was cancelled.
After Beer-Bike was officially cancelled, pizzas and other food began pouring in at Baker.
Lin, a sophomore, said Baker had ordered 70 pizzas after they heard the campus-wide concessions were cancelled. But about 200 pizzas, which had a ready been delivered, were given to Baker.
“There were more pizzas than there were people,” Felton said.
Schacter said they had so much pizza left over, they took it to a homeless shelter at a nearby church.
“It was quite a sight to see Campus-Wide [Beer-Bike Coordinators] and all the [residential college] presidents come in with arms full of pizza,” Hermance said.
News of Redman’s death and the cancellation of Beer-Bike led to a subdued atmosphere on campus. Will Rice Beer-Bike Coordinator Clark Smithson said his college tried to stay mindful of Baker’s situation.
“That was probably the largest group of quiet, completely silent people I had seen in a long time,” Smithson, a junior, said. “It was no longer about the weather or Beer-Bike. It was about this tragedy that we obviously didn’t have a lot of information about at the time. The most important thing was to be respectful.”
Wiess Beer-Bike co-Coordinator Bianca Caram said most people took naps, calmed down and bonded with each other.
“For the most part, people went back to their rooms,” Caram, a junior, said. “A lot of people really wanted to get off campus, too. It was a long day, and people had been up for a long time.”
Most residential colleges disposed of their water balloons Sunday at 4 p.m. in fights within their college or with neighboring colleges.
“It was something that was needed to release stress and end the weekend on a better note,” Hanszen Beer-Bike co-Coordinator Amanda Melchor, a sophomore, said.
Rescheduling races
The rescheduled women’s and men’s Beer-Bike races will take place Saturday, April 14. Women bikers will warm up at 9 a.m., and the women’s race, men’s warm up and men’s race will take place as soon as each preceding event is complete.
The schedule was determined to cooperate with prescheduled athletic events, Campus-Wide Beer-Bike co-Coordinator Teddy Bucher said at Monday’s Student Association meeting. Beginning races earlier would conflict with the Flying Owls 5K race, and beginning later would conflict with a spring football scrimmage.
Bucher there will be security on the track but no concessions nor alumni race.
Bucher, a Jones College junior, said all of the colleges showed support for the reschedules.
“It was unfortunate what happened on Saturday, but once the races were cancelled, everyone wanted to make it happen,” Bucher said. “It’s a major event.”
Baker Master Krista Comer said Baker will participate in the rescheduled races.
Schacter said Redman’s death put Beer-Bike into perspective.
“In some ways, it’s kind of not that important to us right now,” she said. “In the big picture, it’s just a race.”
