The Baker to Vegas Problem Cup Relay pushes individuals to the sting; Verizon Frontline is there not simply with tech, however with belief
DEATH VALLEY—It was me, Dan Jones from Fierce Community, Eric Durie who’s the affiliate director of communications for Verizon Frontline, and Guadalupe Vicon, a senior supervisor of communications on the patron aspect of Verizon’s enterprise. We loaded into Eric’s rental SUV and left the Rio in Las Vegas for Loss of life Valley to try Verizon Frontline’s subject operation and deployables for the Baker to Vegas relay. Vicon—that’s what she goes by—fired up “A Horse With No Identify” by America, and we have been off. However let me again up just a little bit.
The Baker to Vegas Problem Cup Relay is a 20-stage footrace from Baker, Calif., to Las Vegas, Nev. Greater than 200 groups—every with 20 runners—grit it out over 120 miles of blistering desert highways and steep mountain passes. They do it for 3 causes: to win, to boost cash for the varsity in Baker, and to win. Behind them are lots of of volunteers, medical workers, race coordinators, and Verizon Frontline’s pop-up infrastructure—and the staff that sweats (or freezes) it into place.
The day earlier than we headed out into the sphere, I chatted with Paul Wooden, disaster response senior supervisor on Verizon’s Frontline Disaster Response Workforce. This isn’t his first relay and he’s well-versed within the complexities of delivering an obtainable, dependable community largely to help the potential medical wants of the racers. He recalled a Baker to Vegas a number of years again when he was establishing a manual-aim satellite tv for pc dish to feed capability to an eFemto-cell and create a bubble of connectivity the place none existed earlier than. That was at stage 9 of the race, a 7.5 mile stretch that begins about 15 miles south of Pahrump, Nev.
Wooden instructed me that, as he was establishing his bubble, a volunteer got here as much as him and stated he wanted to make a name, which Wooden facilitated. The volunteer made the decision, got here again and instructed Wooden his spouse had had a cardiac occasion. However he was capable of speak to her, speak to her docs, perceive the state of affairs, and stick with it together with his volunteer duties. “The subsequent 12 months, working on the similar stage, he comes as much as me and introduces his spouse to me,” Wooden stated.
“All this know-how, all these items we’ve got out right here, when it comes right down to it on the finish, there’s individuals in entrance of it, there’s individuals behind it, and it issues to them.”
“We discover that lots of the time, what we’re offering protection for, the reality of it’s it’s quite a bit much less concerning the public security comms and much more concerning the morale-boosting of speaking to somebody at dwelling…It’s a reasonably highly effective factor to offer those who peace of thoughts, that consolation.”
Consolation is tough to come back by out right here. You may discover a little bit of it on the Crowbar Café and Saloon in Shoshone, Calif.—inhabitants 20, give or take. However in contrast to most weekends, one factor you could find on this a part of Loss of life Valley throughout Baker to Vegas is tech. Loads of tech. We noticed loads of SPOTs—Satellite tv for pc Pico-cells on Trailers. There have been COLTs—Cells on Mild Vehicles. There have been COWs—Cells on Wheels. And there was not less than one STUD—Satellite tv for pc Trailer, Common Design. That one’s new.
A Verizon Frontline STUD–Satellite tv for pc Trailer, Common Design.
It has two satellite tv for pc dishes—an on and an off—that observe medium-Earth orbit (MEO) satellites, then beam sign by way of high-powered radios. The previous Marine setting it up took a minute to clarify onboard energy, the cooling system, and the 100 gallons of diesel gas it carries to remain operational. “They named it after me,” he stated, because the solar beat down and mud whipped round us.
Again on the Rio the day earlier than, I met with Race Coordinator Rick Santos of the Los Angeles Police Revolver and Athletic Membership. That is his fourth 12 months within the prime spot for Baker to Vegas. “It went to shit the primary 12 months,” he stated. “Coming again after COVID, it was extraordinarily sizzling and among the groups, I feel, forgot concerning the hydration half.” Ultimately, he needed to make the decision to pause the race—there simply weren’t sufficient medical sources.
Along with working the race, Santos additionally runs within the race; even on race day he’s taking over an early stage. Speaking by way of the connection with Verizon Frontline, he stated, “They’ve jumped up massive time. Our main line of communications throughout the whole race course is with Verizon…Working with Verizon Frontline has ensured that we’re positively one of many most secure races…This kind of footprint, with docs at each stage, with Verizon Frontline on the market, there’s protection in spots the place we thought we’d by no means have protection.”
Verizon Frontline staff members prep a SPOT, and different tools, at a staging space in Pahrump, Nev.
We met up with Curtis Mentz, affiliate director of Verizon Frontline Disaster Response Workforce for the West area, on the Vacation Inn Categorical in Pahrump. He’s been with Verizon for 37 years—since earlier than it was Verizon. He’s a licensed emergency medical technician and volunteers doing search and rescue in San Mateo County, Calif. He hopped into his white Suburban and instructed us to comply with him out to the medical base. We pulled off the freeway a number of occasions to speak with among the Frontline crew. He knew everybody’s identify, he saved issues gentle, and he saved issues going.
Following Curtis Mentz alongside the race route–he knew precisely the place he was going.
Considered one of our stops was close to Chicago Valley, stage 8 of the race, a 6.6 mile stretch. “This could be my stage,” he stated, encouraging me to go stand out within the highway and take all of it in. Operating that will induce a “catatonic” state in him, immediate him to speak to a better energy, Mentz stated. I’m not a non secular individual but when something would do it, it’d in all probability be working down that stretch of Freeway 372.
Like Wooden, Mentz additionally had a narrative of a Baker to Vegas previous. He was out pre-flighting the route when he encountered a disabled motorist with a flat tire. Mentz helped them change the tire, however the spare was additionally low on air. With a SPOT in tow, he adopted them to a nearby-ish Chevron station to verify issues have been all sorted. “We like layers of redundancy…PACE,” he referred to as it. “Major, alternate, contingency, emergency.”
Baker to Vegas is objectively fascinating—and within the narrower context of what Verizon Frontline does, it’s much more so. They clearly ship a huge effect by offering end-to-end comms, however it’s additionally a chance for them to check out new tools and architectures, prepare up new crew members, and in any other case do one thing that’s good for individuals. That’s the kind of factor you are able to do on bluesky days. However they’re not all bluesky days; there are lots of darksky days too.
Speaking concerning the relay, Wooden stated, “We don’t view it as an incident. It’s a coaching train/expertise. However it additionally has actual life and loss of life prospects on race days.” Verizon Frontline responded to round 1,500 incidents final 12 months. In 2023, Mentz’s staff mobilized for the devastating Hawaii wildfires that killed greater than 100 individuals, and leveled the city of Lahaina on Maui.
A part of the restoration effort there concerned utilizing drone-based cells to ascertain connectivity whereas terrestrial infrastructure was introduced again on-line. That course of was repeated down the coast till communications have been restored. Mentz recounted how his colleagues needed to constitution a cargo airplane out of LAX, load it up with the varieties of belongings we noticed in Loss of life Valley, get it to Honolulu—the runway on the Maui airport isn’t lengthy sufficient to accommodate the plane—then get it on a barge over to Maui.
The power to shift mindset, to reply a name at midnight and roll out, type of explains why so lots of the Verizon Frontline staff are former navy and former regulation enforcement. That put issues into perspective for me—what was taking place within the desert was actually severe, however most of Verizon Frontline’s day-to-day is far, rather more severe.
The entire Baker to Vegas Problem Cup Relay embodies that bluesky/darksky distinction. “This entire weekend,” Santos stated, “what it supplies for coppers is simply an outlet…360-something days out of the 12 months, lots of these guys are pushing a black-and-white, and answering the calls, and coping with peoples’ worst days of their lives…These cops carry that. They’re human beings and so they carry that weight of every little thing all year long.”
