[balug-talk] Searching for RFID technologies and volunteer heavy non-profits

[Dan Lyke]

Two questions, only peripherally related to BALUG and Linux:

I'm the volunteer coordinator for the Marin Century/Mount Tam Double  
bike ride. It's an annual event on the first weekend in August, a  
supported bicycle ride with six different routes (I think we're going  
to 7 next year) ranging from roughly 35 miles to over 200 miles (yes,  
in a single day). Last year we had roughly 2,200 riders.

First, anyone out there have experience with RFID technologies?  
Specifically what I'm looking for would be something we could put in a  
jersey number that could be read with gates such that we could funnel  
riders through a gate to help track them. Two purposes in this, the  
first is that the long-distance riders get credit towards a jersey if  
they finish some number of 200 miles in a day rides, the second is  
that we'd often like some good information on where the clumps and  
groups of cyclists are relative to rest stops.

Second, anyone have a non-profit with an excess of volunteers that  
wants some money and exposure? I know there are a number of clubs and  
non-profits out there with a lot of techies in 'em (We're already  
working closely with the Marin HAM Radio club), but we're pushing the  
limits of our ability to staff this thing from our own member base.  
It's an amazing amount of fun (I dragged my girlfriend out of bed at  
4:00AM last year, and she was still excited and having fun as we  
cheered home the last riders after 10:00PM, but we *don't* expect that  
sort of commitment from anyone else [grin]), it's a relatively  
painless fundraiser for your group, and it could be some great  
exposure to two thousand lycra clad cyclists who'll be extremely  
grateful for the water and food.

Discussion of the first question is probably reasonable for the list,  
the second should probably come straight to me, unless it's about some  
of the cool things the HAM folks are deploying (real time telemetry  
for the support cars and trucks...).

Dan