From Farmington to Idaho to Bahrain and back to Maine, Blaine Rackliff has been trained to respond to emergencies. Now a Wilton police officer, he also directs the NorthStar Bike Medic Team, a mobile group of 16 medics who work community events, able to quickly wheel to emergency calls that are often tough for ambulances to reach through the crowds.

Last year, the medic team worked the Sugarloaf marathon, the Wilton Blueberry Festival road race and the Rail Trail Road Race in Farmington, among other things, and hosted a series of bike safety events. They also - as a team - participated in the EMS Memorial Bike Ride, a 600-mile trek from New York City to Roanoke, Va., in honor of emergency medical service workers who have been injured on the job.

This year, the team is riding in memory of Allan Parsons of Wilton, an EMT who was killed while on duty while working on a patient in a Med-Care Ambulance in Turner last summer. The ride is in May.

An Air Force veteran who served four months in the desert of Bahrain during his four-year tour, Rackliff was born in Farmington, graduated from Dirigo High School and returned home to raise his own family in his home town.

Name: Blaine Rackliff

Age: 31

Hometown: East Dixfield

Education: High school diploma; Louis F. Garland Fire Academy graduate; U.S. Air Force fire protection specialist/rescue technician certification; licensed wilderness emergency medical technician-intermediate; certified Maine reserve police officer; fire science courses through the Community College of the Air Force; criminal justice courses through the University of Maine at Augusta.

Occupation: Police officer/emergency medical technician

In a relationship? Happily married!

What is the NorthStar Bike Medic Team?: It's an organization of NorthStar EMTs and paramedics who provide basic and advanced life support services at community events via bicycle. The team was formed for the purpose of gaining quick and early access to patients in crowded areas. Bike team members also teach bicycle safety courses in schools throughout the NorthStar coverage area.

Why did you join? I was asked to direct the bike medic team.

What emergency equipment do you carry on your bike with you? Various bandages, oxygen, IV supplies, basic and advanced airway equipment, automated external defibrillators, and more.

What's the most common injury you see/treat at community events? I'd like to give a more heroic answer, but the truth is we apply more band-aids to children's cuts and scrapes than anything. Our most common medical call is typically for dehydration.

What was the most serious emergency call you've responded to? We were covering a local family event when there was a two-vehicle car accident. Four of us bike medics responded. We LifeFlighted one and transported three.

What's the strangest call? We were covering another local family event when fireworks shot into the crowd. That got everyone's attention in a hurry.

Do you get any two-wheeled grief from local ambulance crews? In this line of work...I think everyone gives it equally.

Do you compete in any of these community sporting events yourself? No. I prefer to take care of the injured, not become one.

How many bikes do you own? One.

What kind? TREK 4500 mountain bike.

Why ride? Ride to honor, ride for fun, ride for the view.

What's the longest bike ride you've ever taken? 600 miles.

Where? New York City to Roanoke, Va., (the EMS Memorial Bike Ride). Check it out at www.muddyangels.org

Are you a Lycra or baggy shorts guy? Definitely baggy! Our current bike team leader - Lycra.

If you could go anywhere by bike, where would it be? Hawaiian lava fields.

Who would you ride with? The riders of the EMS Memorial Bike Ride (especially the Austin, Texas, crew).

What's the worst motorist behavior you've seen while riding your bike? I see it all, but can I just take this time to say I am grateful to that trailer truck driver who swerved around me when I tipped over?

What's the worst cyclist behavior you've seen on the road? I once saw Lycra shorts that were too small for this guy I was riding behind. Kids...Don't do crack!

When you're not at work or on your bike, what are you doing? Sleeping (not often enough), praying, reading my Bible, playing with my kids, playing basketball or watching NASCAR.