A letter to the Rice community about Beer Bike
Every year, Beer Bike has served as an opportunity to celebrate the unique strengths of Rice University. Willy Week events at each college emphasize their time-honored traditions and strengthen our bonds with the residential college system, and thousands of alumni from around the globe return to Rice to reconnect with their college and classmates. This plethora of activities and spirit-building builds with each college’s much anticipated Beer Bike morning festivities, but we believe the fun of Willy Week and Beer Bike should not end prematurely. The RPC Beer Bike Committee, with assistance from college Beer Bike coordinator teams, has worked hard this year to implement changes which ensure the experience at campus-wide events builds off the excitement at each college. We hope that y’all will continue through the balloon-fight with the Parade to the track to cheer on your college’s bike teams, eat a variety of great food, and enjoy time with students from all colleges.
One of our most exciting changes to the event is the reintroduction of college parade floats after the water balloon fight. Throughout Rice’s history, dedicated undergraduates showed their creativity through vehicles such as Baker’s Hellcar or Wiess’ WarPig, some of which end up being foundations of a college’s traditions. As such, we have encouraged each college to design and construct their own float which embodies their college’s culture and theme. We have instituted a competition for this event with cash prizes for the top three floats. None of this would be possible without the work of Massey Branscomb (Duncan ‘17) and Rahul Kothari (Lovett ‘17), our Parade and Security Coordinators, who have worked together to ensure the viability and safety of this parade. Although Rice is infamous for the ingenuity its students show during Willy Week Jacks, our goal is to supplement Jacks with the Beer Bike Parade and encourage a positive celebration of each college through the floats. We know that the creativity of the Rice population is second to none, and we hope that this event will continue and expand for years to come.
Perhaps the biggest draw for people to come to the Beer Bike track is the free food waiting for them at the end of their sojourn to Greenbriar Lot. This year, our Concessions Coordinator, Drew Petty (Duncan ‘17), has been critical in brainstorming and securing food options based on student feedback, which has primarily been that there should be greater amounts and variety of food. In addition to the Beer Bike staples of Papa John’s pizzas and Chick-fil-A sandwiches, Petty has worked to include gluten free and vegan tacos from Tacos-A-Go-Go and thousands of donuts from Shipley’s Donuts, ensuring that no one will go hungry at the races. We have also been working to decrease the lines for food and water at the track by hiring more concessions staff and distributing water bottles at each college tent, so that no one has to wait long for food.
All of this effort culminates with the Beer Bike race itself, where we have worked on enhancing the spectator experience as well as ensuring rider safety. With the addition of bleachers in front of the college row of tents, we hope that students will have a better opportunity to cheer for their bike teams and embrace the races as a critical part of each student’s Beer Bike experience. We will also be using the same automatic timing system from last year thanks to our Timing Coordinators: Nathan Bucki, Daniel Williams, and Ethan Frederic (all Lovett ‘17). This system ensures the integrity of race results, ensuring that the correct college (or GSA) gets bragging rights. Finally, the safety and evaluation of riders and pit crews has been marshalled by Eric Staats (McMurtry ‘15), ensuring that anyone who steps onto the track will be well-prepared for the race.
With all these changes in mind, we strongly encourage every student to participate throughout Willy Week and the relay race in whatever form they can in a responsible, respectful, and reasonable manner. Beer Bike is a campus-wide institution that we believe is uniquely Rice, unmatched by any other event in terms of creativity, grandeur and spirited competition. Though each college has their own Willy Week traditions, we are all bound together by the spirit of Beer Bike. This is our Christmas, and we are just as excited as you are to wake up on Saturday morning and experience the rare mix of joy and adrenaline that only Beer Bike can bring.
- Christian Neal and Eric Baeuerle
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