Tech Topics - Fall 2007 - (Page 22)

TheHill No Easy Ride By Kimberly Link-Wills Police chief travels coast to coast to rev up Special Olympics coffers The “of thefirst two days trip were just intense. There’s no other road in the U.S. for 400 miles that could compare to that. motorcycle broke down 18 miles from the end of Dalton Highway. “Our first day was 16 hours on the bike on that dirt road. It was total concentration the whole way. Your focus was on that road because the surfaces changed. You never knew what was coming. It could be dips in the road that caused you to bottom out or dodging holes. Calcium chloride is put on the dirt to settle the dust. They call it whale snot. It makes the road as slick as anything you’ve ever been on,” Crocker said. “The first two days of the trip were just intense. There’s no other road in the U.S. for 400 miles that could compare to that.” Crocker has been a Blue Knight since shortly after becoming Georgia Tech’s police chief in January 2003. She has been riding motorcycles since she was a teenager. “When I was 16 and my brother was 17 my grandmother gave us $800 to buy transportation. For my $800, I got a ’68 Ford Torino and he bought a motorcycle. When he wanted to date, he would take my car and leave the motorcycle for me,” said Crocker, who G Georgia Tech Police Chief Teresa Crocker began the longest fundraising motorcycle ride for Special Olympics in Alaska, where she photographed the spectacular scenery below. miles of gravel road. It was all kinds of gravel, from stone-size gravel, to golf ball-size gravel to cantaloupe-size rock,” Crocker said. “We had gone 58 miles and the bike behind me caught on fire. Each bike had to haul two and a half to five gallons of gasoline because there was no service for 240 miles. In that particular case, some of the gas seeped out and evidently a spark from a backfire or something caused a fire,” she said. “As soon as the fire was out and everybody had their wits about them again, we started right back. About 50 miles after that we lost a rider. He crashed and broke his arm.” The next day another rider was injured in a wreck that also took him out of the Iron Torch Ride. One physically and mentally exhausted man called it quits after his 22 TECHTOPICS | FALL 2007 “ eorgia Tech Police Chief Teresa Crocker blazed new trails as she rode her Harley-Davidson Street Glide from Alaska to Florida this summer to raise money for Special Olympics. Crocker is only the second woman to complete the Iron Butt Association’s 6,788-mile Ultimate Coast to Coast. She’s the first woman to do it on a Harley. Georgia VII of the Blue Knights International Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club, of which Crocker is a member, teamed up with the Ultimate Coast to Coast to host what was billed as the Iron Torch Ride. “It turned into a fantastic event for everybody, not just for the people who participated but for the athletes we met along the way,” Crocker said. As it turns out, the Blue Knights’ fundraiser set another record: the world’s longest Torch Run. Now in its 26th year, the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics is typically a local event or regional passing of the flame. Crocker was one of 41 motorcyclists who took turns carrying the torch in the cross-country journey that generated $150,000 for Special Olympics Georgia. The motorcycles were shipped to Fairbanks, Alaska, followed by the riders, who arrived by plane to kickstart the trip June 19. But not all of the motorcyclists who started out crossed the finish line in Key West on July 7. “We had to ride the bikes from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay, which was the official starting point. What most people may not realize is that the only way to get to Prudhoe Bay is on the Dalton Highway, which is over 400

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Tech Topics - Fall 2007

Contents Mail Call Alumni House Historic Renovation 007 Buzz Bash Dazzling Daylilies Living History Cover Story: Key to the City The Hill Tapping Technology Robotics Rivalry No Easy Ride Giving Back Balancing Act Student Life Burdell & Friends Epic Story of Heroism Yellow Jackets Very Good Team Passport to Retirement Real World

Tech Topics - Fall 2007

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