BURN 24 – Mission Accomplished
Another edition of the BURN 24 Hour is now in the books…mostly. Most of the feedback has been positive, though I know some improvements are needed.
I was on site Thursday morning to start setting up, but had so many distractions that not much was accomplished. On Friday I set to work on erecting four 12′ x 20′ tents and then setting all of the fence stakes for the start/finish area. Next thing I know it’s time to start registration. Luckily I had some help for that part. Many thanks to volunteers who made this event possible. In past year’s my brother and family has come up to help me out, but they had other plans this time. They were missed as I felt like I was one step behind most of the weekend. Anyway, registration was a little rough at first but went smoothly soon enough.
Nam was racing solo, so after reg we went out to dinner and then took her back to the hotel. Then I was back on site to set up the PA system in the light of my truck’s headlights. The crowd was really starting gather at this point. I think I checked in about 15 or so groups to camp on Friday, but by 11:00 PM there was probably double that.
Saturday morning I was up early and what do I see on TV in the hotel lobby? Mark Heckman giving an interview about his Athens Twilight win. It’s great to see all of the attention him and the A&F team are getting for their success in the Southeast Crit Series. I suspect they’ll be a register pro team next year.
Back on site at 7:00 AM to open reg again. I was really feeling the time crunch with out the extra hands needed to get everything set up. I left reg in the hands of the volunteers and went about putting the finishing touches on the PA, music, hanging sponsor banners, sorting out some last minute timing decisions, course markings, and the port-o-johns were already filling up at 9:00 AM. I was a little short on what I thought we’d need. There was a big turn out for camping on Friday, so next year we’ll have more port-o-johns and I’ll look into one of those portable shower deals. Next thing I knew it was 11:30 AM and it was show time.
I gave the pre-race meeting and then got everyone set up for the start. 10, 9, 8…..3, 2, 1…..breathe. Now I can finally relax a little. Once the race starts my stress level drops a few notches. We did have one guy start the race without a helmet, which was a little irritating. It turned out he had forgotten his and could find one to start with…he was racing solo. I pulled him off the course, got on the PA and had a helmet for him within a few minutes. He went on to do many laps. 2 hours in and most everything is set and I just have to keep is moving along. I even went for a ride at 5:30 with Joe from MtbCast.com. The course looked great except being dusty. The team riders were flying and the solo guys had settled into their pace.
The Light & Motion rep had the charging station under control, so I could relax a bit more or so thought. Lisa, Namrita’s pit crew, let me know her fork was not working right. Nam was in the lead at this point and looking strong, but after talking to her I knew the fork was going to be were she focused some negative energy. Suspension devices are not my forte’, so I swung by the Hendershot camp and asked Mark’s mechanic to have a look at the fork when Nam came by. She came by, he tweaked the pressure a bit and she was off. The verdict? “If had some lighter wieght oil I could fix it.”
I came up with some shock oil thanks to a very generous racer. Back to the Hendershot pit to see if they can fit the rebuild in. I’m forgetting the mechanic’s name, but he works at Paceline Cycles in Winston Salem. I wouldn’t trust just anyone with rebuilding her fork mid race since we have no back plan, but this guy instilled a lot of confidence. Mark came and went on his typical 20 second pit stop. Nam came by and we stopped her. Roberta, Mark’s wife, treated her like Mark….do want this to eat, how about this, here is a towel, can I get you anything? I had brought a pizza over, Roberta had Pirogies, and of course BURN. I helped pull the fork off and then got out of the way. 25 minutes later the fork was back on the bike and she was on her way….still in first place.
Some time near midnight the Aliens landed. It was a small crew, but it was good to see the appearance. They say there will be more of them next year.
I took brief break from directorship and left the race in good hands. It only took 30 minutes to get to the hotel, shower, and return with some warm clothes. It was getting cool, but more importantly I really wanted a shower after standing in that field all day, then riding. I made sure the SAG stop was well stocked, the water was topped off, the BURN supply was good and then settled in over at the Light & Motion booth to catch the tail end of the movie Dodge Ball. Hilarious. Some time around 3:30 I finally retired to my truck for some much needed sleep.
Tap, tap tap….it’s 5:30 AM and Lisa is at my window. “Nam is not doing so well, can you come over?” Nam was having a rather dark moment and was losing sight of her goal to finish this race. Never mind that she was still leading by a good bit, she need a little tough love to get her riding again. After some prodding, she was racing again and I retired back to the truck for another 45 minutes.
The sun was up and so was I. I ran around attending to my duties. The port-o-potties had been underestimated and few where not in good shape. Unfortunately the emptying services are suspended until after church on Sunday mornings, so we’ll have to suffer through. Next year we’ll have to order more. I refreshed the BURN supply, dragged some more water out and sent supplies up to the SAG stop. Then, jacked up on BURN and no breakfast, I grabbed the mic and made sure everyone else was awake too. This is a race after all and the racers should…well…racing.
The closing hours of the race are just as stressful as the start. Timing has to be solid, the transition area gets hectic, prizes need to be sorted, the pizza needs to accounted for, the last of volunteers need to pointed in the right direction, people always want an extra t-shirt or lost a meal ticket, demo lights need to be returned, someone needs to drive into or out of the infield, there is always a dispute to settle, my dogs needed to be walked (Lisa was also taking care of Jackson & Porter), Nam needed some more encouragement, I need to eat and remember to put on some sun screen. All of this seems to happen at once. No complaints, it’s just crazy. Thank goodness for a steady supply of BURN.
12:00 PM came and the last laps begun. Namrita and Mark Hendershot won their respective categories and finished a little early. The teams and the rest of the solos were still duking it out, some within minutes of each other. The announcement of prizes for 10th & 15th places had some teams rethinking their strategies. I really liked that we could give those prizes this year and I hope to really expand that next year. The pizza was late, which caused a bit of panic for both me and the ensuing crowd.
1:00 PM, race over. Phew, only another couple of hours left for me. The pizza finally showed and the vultures came out of their circling pattern to devour the remains. What looked like about 50 pizzas were gone in minutes. Ron, a friend up from Florida to race solo, asks if there is any food left. Uh…oh shoot…they ate it all…that was a ton of pizza…I though I over estimated…I’m so sorry Ron…then I turn around and Bum (BMCC pres and a major help for this event) shows up with another 30 or so pizzas. Crisis averted.
I grab a single piece of pizza to add to my BK breakfast sandwich for a total of 500 non-BURN related calories. I suck down my 15th or so BURN in the last 24 hours and start the awards. There is nothing like the combination of sleep deprivation, minimal calories, too much sun, unhealthy amounts of caffeine, and a crowd of tired racers waiting to listen to me ramble my way through the awards. I felt a lot more comfortable on the mic this year, but at this point I’m speaking without too much thought. Stick to the script and you’ll be fine. I had some notes and the results to help me through. I think there was only one name I got hung up on. The raffle went much more smoothly than previous years and we had a ton of stuff to give out. I love that part. Everyone love the free stuff.
Soon after most everyone is gone. It’s me, some of the BMCC crew, the time guy, the photographer, the massage girl (working on Nam) and few stragglers out in the field. I’m supposed to be packing all the equipment up and breaking down tents, but I can barely think straight. I decided to just pack the equipment enough to get to back to the hotel and then come back for the tents on Monday. It still took about 3 hours.
When I got back I took a nice long shower, took Nam out for dinner, then went back out for some groceries and milkshake for Nam. While out I ran into the Hendershots having beer in front of their hotel room and joined then for a few minutes. They are great people and I was/am very greatful for their help during the race and for supporting the race as well.
While drinking one more beer back at the hotel room around 9 PM it hit me. I need to sleep right now! Fortunately, this time I could and did.
Eddie O