Boom! Just like that, here we are at week 11 and our second race of the season.
Last week on Thursday we got absolutely drenched while trying to do our interval training. Our practice got cut short, thanks for understanding and sorry about sending riders and bikes home muddy and soaked! It was definitely a different ride, and as it turned out a lot of the riders liked the change and actually had fun not being dry and dusty for once.
Things to know for Prescott: The race is at Pioneer Park. We usually camp in a paved parking lot at Pioneer park, and the race venue is actually across the road to the west about 1/3rd of a mile. The camping area is smaller than Flagstaff, so prepare to be a little more cozy with your neighbors. Friday is a school day, but the parking lot fills up pretty fast so getting there early in the day is pretty important if you're bringing an RV.
On Friday, have your riders there at 4pm as we'll be leaving for the pre-ride at 4:30pm. Please have your OV flow jersey or OVMTB tee shirt on for the pre ride. Remember to bring your Race number plate, otherwise you'll have to go and get a replacement for $25. OVMTB is providing Meatball subs as the main course for the team dinner (likely at 6pm again), but we have some side items needed on the Signup genius at:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0849A4AE2FA7FF2-57405381-ovmtb Please mark on Signup genius if you'll be camping in a tent or an RV so we can try and hold enough space for everyone, though we can't guarantee it. Again, bring your chairs and plan to eat/hang out for a while at the team dinner- there are lots of great people to talk with, and like last time, there will be a great display of my really questionable public speaking abilities. I'll try to keep it as painless as possible.
There is a large playground area at Pioneer park- if your riders or kids
go there to hang out, please remind them to be respectful to anyone
there, both local park-goers and other MTB teams. My one big 'ask' of our team....Please do not ride your/their bikes down the stairs around the playground. I get it,
stairs are a really fun obstacle that we don't get to ride very often and a video of it would surely make you go viral in Insta.... but it tends to make non-mountain bikers uneasy, so let's avoid the bad
press and inevitable pinch flat.
The schedule for race day is the same as Flagstaff, except on Saturday for this race:
For
every category- Plan to arrive to the pit zone 1 hour before your
race. This allows about 20 minutes to chat and make sure everything is
ready, a 15 minute warm up ride, then going to staging 20 minutes before
your race. There will be a printed sheet with all of the times for warm-up rides, staging and races at the PIt Zone in case you want to take a look at it. I'll send a pic of it later this week on TeamSnap too.
8:00 a.m. Middle School Boys Race (example, arrive to pit zone at 7am, coach led warmup ride at 7:25, leave to staging at 7:40)
8:45 a.m. Middle School Girls Race
9:30 a.m. First-Timers Race
10:30 a.m. High School Boys Varsity/JV1 Race
11:00 a.m. Middle School Awards
12:00 p.m. High School Girls Race
1:30 p.m. High School Boys JV2/Freshman Race
3:30 p.m. High School Awards
There is a great POV video of the course
here in case you'd like to check it out. There are a few changes from last year's course.
Some of our riders and families that were not able to join us for Flagstaff will be at this race, so again please help welcome them and help them out as it might be their first time racing with OVMTB. We had a great overall weekend in Flagstaff, I suspect it'll only get better with more riders and families!
