This is one of the drone videos that we developed for the National MS Society in support of their Big Texas MS-150 Bicycle Ride. The ride in May 2021, was only a 1 day ride due to Covid-19, but in 2022, it reportedly will resume being a 2 day event with the overnight in La Grange.
In 2021, there were 4 starting locations with different course lengths:
1 – Rhodes Stadium in Katy, TX – 102 miles course length
2 – Fayette Fairgrounds in La Grange, TX – 80.6 miles (normally the Saturday overnight stop & Sunday start location)
3 – Waller ISD Stadium in Waller, TX – 77 miles course length
4 – Ren Fest location in Todd Mission, TX- 68 miles course length
All four routes were to merge on the Texas A&M Campus, near Easterwood Field Airport, and then finish as described in the video at Kyle Field Stadium.
Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with their plans, with multiple waves of severe thunderstorms and flash flooding over the course area on that morning and again in the afternoon. The organizers wisely decided to cancel the event that morning, before 5am, due to safety concerns. The riders and volunteers were disappointed, but the conditions were unsafe for the ride to continue.
For more information about the 2021 ride, here is the current website link…
https://secure.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/TXHBikeEvents?pg=entry&fr_id=31814
Since our initial plans were to fly at the La Grange start (didn’t happen), the lunch stop at Lake Sommerville (on the La Grange route, didn’t happen) and at Kyle Field Stadium, we drove up to Kyle Field and started flying around 11am. Due to the lack of riders and large numbers of pedestrians in and around the stadium, we were able to legally fly inside the stadium and get video angles that would not have been possible had the event been on-going as scheduled. This video obviously doesn’t show the riders approaching the stadium on Houston Street, nor entering the stadium from the south
Note regarding flying drones on Texas A&M Campus: Kyle Field Stadium and much of the campus is a 0 AGL restricted area and drones are not normally permitted to be flown on campus at all. The University does have an application process for certified Part 107 commercial drone pilots to get permission to fly, but they do not allow Hobbyist / Recreational pilots to fly drones on their campus. Advance authorization was received prior to the flights this date, from both the University and the nearby Easterwood Field Airport, which is actually on the campus, just a short distance away from the stadium. Coordination with both entities on the day of the event was performed as requested.