Beer Bike parade changes proposed

By Jocelyn Wright     1/14/10 6:00pm

As the Beer Bike coordinators prepare for the 50-day countdown to Beer Bike on Jan. 29, they are also proposing significant changes to the parade and security system and have reached a final decision about accommodating Duncan College and McMurtry College in the races this year. New track will wait

Due to time constraints, Beer Bike Coordinator Brian Henderson said improvements could not be made to the bike track to allow Duncan and McMurtry to compete in the March 20 races. Instead, an exhibition race between the two colleges will be held between the alumni and women's races. For next year, Henderson said Facilities, Engineering and Planning will resurface and widen the entire track to make it large enough to accommodate all

11 colleges, as well as the Graduate Student Association.

---

---

"Overall, it's going to be a longer-lasting track, which is going to be great for Beer Bike next year and hopefully something that will actually save money in the long run because we actually have a good track," Henderson said.

Martel College senior Kristin Anderson, who has competed in one Beer Bike and one Beer Run, said she agrees with the decision to wait until next year to include Duncan and McMurtry on the newly resurfaced and resized track.

"It's probably good that Rice isn't including Duncan and McMurtry in the competition races this year," she said. "They most likely wouldn't be able to field a full team of bikers and chuggers."

However, Anderson said she thought the best idea for this year would be to allow the two colleges to join their sister colleges, Will Rice College and Baker College, in the competition races.

"Sort of like what they did for powderpuff, it would be great to let the new colleges experience [Beer Bike] in the atmosphere of the established programs at Will Rice and Baker," she said.

The total cost of the project is estimated to be between $100,000 and $150,000. Henderson said Beer Bike will be responsible for 15 percent of the cost if the capital budget request they submitted is approved.

"If we get that funding, which we're expecting, we can definitely cover the cost from our capital reserves," Henderson said. "We hope that the cost will go down a little bit because there's a lot of contingency factored into that plan, which is based on FE&P planning for potential problems in terms of money."

Henderson said he, fellow Beer Bike Coordinator Nazish Malik and Assistant Dean of Students Boyd Beck with are also partnering with athletics to acquire more bleachers. He said they currently borrow the bleachers from Reckling Park, but that they are hoping to acquire their own bleachers so that they do not have to schedule Beer Bike around the baseball team's schedule.

Caretaker system

This year, a caretaker system similar to the one at Night of Decadence will be implemented for Beer Bike. The caregivers will have training and receive all the benefits of security volunteers, including free breakfast and a t-shirt. Henderson said the idea for an improved caretaker system came about last semester in campus-wide committee discussions.

"[Rice Emergency Medical Services] expressed concern that in previous years they've been distracted from handling more serious cases because there's nobody to handle less serious cases," Henderson said.

Proposed parade

The proposal for the parade this year, which Henderson stressed is not final, is to move the water balloon fight to the football practice field. Henderson said this field is significantly larger than the football field in the stadium. Colleges would have stations to which water balloons could be ferried from larger trucks parked near the entrance to the field. In order to prevent one college from gaining a competitive advantage, the stations would be rotated so that different colleges are furthest away from the entrance each year.

Two to three flatbed trucks could park near the entrance to hold balloons. Henderson said colleges could also deliver balloons to the field the night before, to be guarded by Rice University Police. Henderson said there would be a schedule for balloon delivery and trucks could be paired between colleges to get all of the balloons to the site.

Additionally, since there are only two entrances to the field, Henderson said RUPD and REMS would be better able to monitor the site and keep it secure.

Although the water balloon fight may seem like it has been around for decades, Henderson said the tradition is only about a decade old.

"It used to be an actual parade, a procession of the riders and the chug teams where the colleges would make floats and people would come from off campus to watch it," Henderson said.

The balloon fight started when Wiess College, which was previously located along the inner loop by Hanszen College's master's house, started spraying water at the parade.

"Old Wiess started it, and then it became, 'Let's load trucks with water balloons,'" Henderson said. "It used to be that colleges would have both floats and water balloon trucks, but for the last 3-4 years, no college has opted to make a float."

If there is sufficient student interest, Henderson said he would like to bring the old parade back.

The cost of a water balloon fight on the football field would be the same as the cost of the parade, Henderson said.

Although he understands why students may be skeptical, Henderson said he hopes they consider this new type of parade.

"For years there has been a lot of pressure to eliminate the truck system due to safety concerns, and this year we believe we have one of the most legitimate alternative plans ever and we have the team and time to get it in place," he said.

Beefing up security

Henderson stressed that the current fine and security system for Beer Bike is ineffective at ensuring student safety.

"We will be looking at completely overhauling the way security is done," Henderson said.

Some ideas include bringing in an outside agency, such as a fraternity from the University of Houston, that serves as a neutral force.

"We must make sure security's doing their thing and not staying 50 feet away and writing ridiculous fines," Henderson said. "That's not a deterrent to dangerous behavior."

Henderson pointed out that, as it stands, these proposals are still just that: proposals. Nothing substantial has changed from last year's parade, which means that this year's events are still slated to be the same.

"If the alternative plan is outright rejected, we've still got a parade to run, and we've told the colleges to prepare for that," Henderson said.

This year, Henderson said the Beer Bike Coordinators are working to make Beer Bike more unified with the rest of the Willy Week events.

"We've been looking at introducing a voice of Willy Week, where the person would serve as a moderator of the Beer Debates, an MC on the tower at Beer Bike and ... as the spokesperson for Willy Week/Beer Bike," Henderson said.

Henderson said the group is also working to have better concessions and beverages at the races this year.

Although the proposal was initially met with skepticism from students, Henderson said they warmed up to the idea after he explained it.

"A lot of initial reaction is, 'Oh no, we don't want to do that!' but the more you talk about it, the more you talk about how it would increase safety and really maintain the essential elements of a water balloon fight, once they hear the reasons they're more likely to see where we're coming from," Henderson said.

Henderson encouraged students to send e-mails to beerbike@rice.edu with their opinions and suggestions about the proposal.

"This is new territory for us and everybody and we want to make sure there's plenty of input," Henderson said. "We want this to be something that everybody knows is coming and knows why it's coming and supports."

---