HARLINGEN – By miles of winding trails, tons of of bikers and hikers are trekking by way of the distant bushlands of Arroyo Colorado.

About 20 years after metropolis officers opened the primary stretch of the Arroyo Hike and Bike Path, an area mountain bike group started carving out roughly 10 miles of dust trails attracting tons of of runners.

Now, the Valley Off-Street Bicycling Affiliation is working with metropolis officers to roll out an internationally acclaimed emergency alert system, which member Tom Kimbriel helped develop whereas serving with the US Border Patrol.

“It’s vital,” stated David Hernandez, founder and president of the San Benito-based group.

Every day, town’s path techniques draw 50 to 100 hikers and cyclists, he stated.

“Fortuitously, there have been no severe accidents,” he stated.

Worldwide Emergency Alert System

In 2017, Kimbriel was working with the Border Patrol’s Lacking Migrant Program when she helped develop its Emergency Alert System that was getting used internationally.

“Since then, it is unfold all the way in which to the Pacific Ocean,” he stated. “There have been hundreds of rescues, so we all know it really works.”

Working within the distant bushlands of south Texas, he discovered that the usual 911 emergency system usually didn’t pinpoint the areas of victims precisely.

“I observed that EMS companies have been despatched to the improper location as a result of the telephone system just isn’t correct in rural areas,” Kimbriel, an adjunct teacher on the Prison Justice Institute at Texas Southmost Faculty, stated in an interview. “The issue we now have on the arroyo might be that the topography, or the form of it, will trigger the identical drawback. So what we’ll have is an individual goes to name 911 on their cellular phone and the system is not going to get an correct location for that.

How does it work

So Kimbriel and biking group members are working with metropolis officers to strategically submit 40 indicators on about 10 miles of trails alongside the Arroyo Colorado.

“So far as we all know, it is the one mountain bike path to have this method,” he stated.

As a part of the emergency warning system, every signal will carry serial numbers similar to its bodily location alongside the paths.

“Every signal is a person tackle on the 911 system,” Kimbriel stated.

Within the occasion of an harm alongside the arroyo, hikers and bikers might use their cell telephones to name the Cameron County 911 system.

In flip, dispatchers would align the sign codes to GPS coordinates, which first responders would use to find injured callers.

As a part of Kimbriel’s system, dispatchers would additionally overview computerized directions that alert first responders to the forms of rescue tools they would want to entry casualty areas.

“The system will embrace GPS coordinates and first responder directions akin to the place to park, the place to park and what tools is required,” he stated.

Earlier than launching the system, first responders beneficial by Kimbriel practice in simulated rescues within the space.

“We wish to get first responders on the market. We wish to convey EMS on the market. We wish firefighters to be on the market and truly coaching in every of the areas on this system that we’ll determine,” she stated. to outlive”.

Officers haven’t set a timetable for implementing the system, he stated.

Distant rescue

Hernandez is aware of the hazards of biking in distant areas.

In 2021, he was climbing a distant gravel path at Laguna Atascosa Nationwide Wildlife Refuge when he suffered warmth exhaustion.

So he known as 911.

“I spent a superb 90 minutes on the market earlier than they may discover me,” stated Hernandez, an Apple govt.

It took a recreation warden to trace him down, he stated.

Carving the Arroyo path system

With the rising variety of riders using Arroyo Colorado’s path techniques, Kimbriel has proposed that metropolis officers roll out the Emergency Alert System.

“I feel it is a phenomenal concept,” Mayor Norma Sepulveda informed him throughout a metropolis fee assembly final month. “You appear to be enthusiastic about this.”

In 2000, metropolis officers opened the primary leg of the Arroyo Colorado Hike and Bike Path, its paved ribbon now winding roughly 5 miles from McKelvey to Dixieland Parks.

Then, in 2017, Henry Roberts, the late founding father of Bicycle World, launched a undertaking to construct town’s mountain bike trails alongside the Arroyo Colorado.

“You are completely turned off,” Hernandez stated, describing the paths that run beneath a part of town. “It is an escape for many individuals to get out of the odd.”

Now, the mountain path system winds about 10 miles alongside the excessive banks of the arroyo.

“This path is exclusive,” stated Javier Mendez, town’s parks director. “There’s a lot elevation change.”

For about 5 years, members of the biking group have been carving out trails, with three-foot jumps coupled with a 30-foot drop, with elevations rising as much as 40 ft, Hernandez stated.

“The path is not flat in any respect,” he stated. “They run up and down and alongside the arroyo levee. It is a bit like rolling terrain.”

Vacation spot for mountain biking

Now, the biking group, which boasts round 70 members, is working with metropolis officers to make Harlingen a biking vacation spot.

At the moment, the mountain bike path system attracts riders from throughout Texas and components of Mexico.

“It is already a tie for northern Mexico and the complete valley,” Kimbriel stated. “I run into folks attempting it from Austin, Houston, Corpus. They’re all coming down simply to do that part we have already got.

Final yr, the biking group hosted the Texas Mountain Bike Racing Affiliation state championship race, drawing about 200 riders from Texas and components of Mexico, Hernandez stated.

This yr, the massive race is about for Oct. 13-15, Kimbriel stated.

“The phrase is getting out,” Hernandez stated. “They discover essentially the most difficult trails.”

Valley Off-Street Bicycling Affiliation President David Hernandez is pictured on a piece of the Harlingen Arroyo climbing and biking trails in Arroyo Park on Friday, March 24, 2023. The biking group is working with town of Harlingen to roll out an emergency alert system program to assist sick and injured hikers and bikers in want of emergency companies. (Denise Cathey/The Brownsville Herald)

Valley Off-Street Bicycling Affiliation President David Hernandez rides the Henry Roberts Loop on Friday, March 24, 2023, on a piece of the Harlingen Arroyo Hike and Bike Trails in Arroyo Park. The biking group is working with town of Harlingen to roll out an emergency alert system program to assist sick and injured hikers and bikers in want of emergency companies. (Denise Cathey/The Brownsville Herald)

Bicyclists and pedestrians break up path on Friday, March 24, 2023, on a piece of the Harlingen Arroyo climbing and biking trails in Arroyo Park. The Valley Off-Street Bicycling Affiliation is working with the Metropolis of Harlingen to launch an Emergency Alert System program to assist sick and injured hikers and bikers in want of emergency companies. (Denise Cathey/The Brownsville Herald)

Valley Off-Street Bicycling Affiliation President David Hernandez rides a path minimize by way of dense bush on Friday, March 24, 2023, on a piece of the Harlingen Arroyo Hike and Bike Trails in Arroyo Park. The biking group is working with town of Harlingen to roll out an emergency alert system program to assist sick and injured hikers and bikers in want of emergency companies. (Denise Cathey/The Brownsville Herald)

Tom Kimbriel reveals a photograph on his telephone of an indication used for the Worldwide Emergency Location System erected in El Paso on Thursday, March 30, 2023, on the ITEC Middle at Texas Southmost Faculty in Brownsville. The Valley Off-Street Bicycling Affiliation is partnering with the Metropolis of Harlingen to launch an Emergency Alert System program to assist sick and injured hikers and bikers in want of emergency companies. (Denise Cathey/The Brownsville Herald)

Tom Kimbriel, a former Border Patrol agent who helped design the worldwide system used to assist attain folks in emergencies in distant areas, is pictured Thursday, March 30, 2023 on the ITEC Middle at Texas Southmost Faculty in Brownsville . The Valley Off-Street Bicycling Associations is working with the Metropolis of Harlingen to launch an Emergency Alert System program to assist sick and injured hikers and bikers in want of emergency companies. (Denise Cathey/The Brownsville Herald)