This I had not done before: assisting during a cycling sports event.
The event, in this case, being the World University Cycling Championship 2008 in Nijmegen. It was almost three o'clock as we parked our Honda XL600 bikes at the Sports Centre of the university.

First we got Instructions, of course. Because we were not going to be traffic controllers, those instructions didn't need to be given by the police. Our role was to ride ahead of the riders to see if the road was free, and if not, make it so.
We were told that the intention was to ride approximately 100 meters ahead of the cyclist. And they explained what else we'd have to keep in mind, for example when overtaking other cyclists.
In any event, the cyclist should never have any direct advantage or disadvantage because of our presence. You had to ensure that the outcome of the race and the chances of the participants would not be influenced. Makes sense.

Then we went to ride the route as a group, so we'd all have seen it at least once. It was about 35 kilometers, all nice little roads in the Ooijpolder and in Germany, and through Berg en Dal.

Then we had some time to eat our lunch: we'd each gotten a lunch box with sandwiches, a muesli bar and an apple, to eat while awaiting the start of the race. That took some time, because it was postponed because of conditions on the course. But that did not matter, we could sit comfortably in the grass and it was nice weather.

Eventually there was a message that the race had begun, and the first motorcyclists made sure they were ready. There were always two of us standing at the ready, with the engine running, and one of them had to ride off on a flag signal, every minute another because the racers started with a one minute interval.

I already had seen a couple motorcyclists allowing their cyclist to get too close, because they didn't take off immediately, but waited to see whether the cyclist was actually coming. I decided in any case not to make that mistake.
First, I'd ride off under the Waalbrug and then into the Ooijpolder, and whether the rider followed I'd be able to see by then.
I also had to see what colors he wore (it was a man, the women had already started), so I would know which participant I'd have to keep an eye on.
He appeared in a blue suit and wearing a red helmet. The bikes and equipment of the riders looked like this: