DAY 4 - FOLLOW CHFD PARAMEDIC ON NATIONAL EMS MEMORIAL BIKE RIDE

Paramedic Milsted and the other riders prepare to start day #4

The riders are met in NYC by the FDNY EMS Pipe Band.

Once again, CHFD Paramedic Dave Milsted, the A-Group Medical Services Officer, is participating in the National EMS Memorial Bike Ride.  This year's route will take Dave and nearly 100 other riders approximately 500 miles as they pedal from Boston, MA to Alexandria, VA over the course of 7 days.  The CHFD will post updates from Dave as he sends them in.  Here's Dave's recap from Day #4:

"Day 4"

"The rain woke us up during the night. Not a good sign. We woke up to a lot of puddles. We started the ride at 8am. Overcast skies and a temperature in the 50's. Everyone debating whether to wear rain gear or not. I opted to wear it. I was overheating in 10 minutes. We were escorted by Nassau County Police to the border of NY City. There I took off the rain gear.

I was a ride marshal again today. If anyone broke down we had to send them to the sag wagon. They could try to fix their issue in a vehicle. We were on a strict time line. No exceptions today. A few people needed to be pushed up hills. There were about a dozen flat tires. No accidents or hospital trips today.

The NY City ride is always cool. We ride about 20 miles through different parts of the city. To get the NYPD to do this on a weekday doesn't happen for many organizations. We are very lucky. We even get to ride down Broadway and through Times Square. People taking pictures of us and clapping. Then we ride past Ground Zero. We end up at EMS Station 4 on the waterfront.

The boys from NYFD did it up this year. We had access to the 911 Memorial Park. It was a 35 minute walk from the fire station. The park is very nice. Security is tight. Its like going through airport security, empty all your pockets and walk through metal detectors. The pools are interesting.

Then it was back to the fire station for lunch. After lunch we were bused to the NYFD Marine Unit. We we give a ride on Marine Unit 1. One of the 2 new fire boats in the unit. They took us on a ride over to Staten Island. We went past the Statue of Liberty. Lots of pictures were taken by everyone. Back in 2008 we were treated to a ride on Marine Unit 6.

The rain held off today. We had some mist but we were all dry when the ride was done. Many believe it was Lori who was watching over us.

Then we were bused to Princeton. Dinner was in the hotel. I met up with my family and we went out for dinner. Adam has now joined us. He will be riding the next 3 days.

Today we rode 32 miles, 3 hours on the bike, climbed 1025 feet and burned 5200 calories. Fastest speed was 26 mph.

Tomorrow we travel to PA. Chance of thunder storms... Till tomorrow!!


Follow the ride on Facebook: Muddy Angels, Twitter: NEMSMBR or #2012NEMSMBR

- Dave Milsted