Our MTB race is May 17th, and I recently contacted our potential volunteers. If
you're not planning to race it, please consider serving as a volunteer. Also,
I've shared below some dates/times that I'll be out at the Scratchgravels in the
next two weeks...if you want to pre-ride the course.
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Greetings!

As you're aware, the Big Sky Cyclery Race Team is putting on its very first
mountain bike race May 17th (Sunday) in the Scratchgravel Hills,
http://www.montanacycling.net/documents/flyers/2009/URTSGflyer.pdf. This is the
first race of this season's Montana Off-Road Race Series and we're very excited
about getting the opportunity to host this

Our team greatly appreciates that you have expressed interest in helping out as
a race-day volunteer. I'm sure the racers, many of whom will travel from out of
town to compete, will be grateful as well. I've spoken with some of you already
about this event & how you might be interested in contributing. However, as
we're just two weeks away from the race, I need to start confirming who can
still help out. As well, I would like to get specific volunteer duties assigned
at this time. Specifically, there are three areas of opportunity on race-day in
which you could help out.

Racer Registration & Check-in: From 9:00 to 10:30 on the day of the race,
individuals wanting to race need to register at our trailhead headquarters on
Echo Drive in the Scratchgravels. Volunteers here would help get folks signed
up, collect any fees, assign race numbers, hand out participant bags and help
get answers to general questions that might come up. I will be on-site during
registration and so will our race's USA Cycling Official, John Coulthard.
Presently, I have the following four individuals listed as willing to help with
registration: Melinda Barnes, Chris Dexter, Jill Hamilton & Claire Vandewalle.
We could use a couple more volunteers here, so if you've got any experience in
this area & are interested, please let me know. Also, if anyone has a laptop
computer with a portable printer that they'd be willing to bring, please let me
know. Automation would greatly help out in this process.

Race Timers: There are three separate races scheduled for the day. The juniors
(racer age 11 up to age 18) will race at 11:00. Our main and, presumably,
largest race will take place at noon with Category 1, 2 & 3 level competitors.
We could have upwards of 50+ racers. After that, at 2:00 there will be a kids
(under 10) fun race. The volunteers serving as race timers will be at the
finish line to record the laps & finishing times of each racer. Presently, I
have the following three individuals listed as willing to help out with the
timing: Melinda Barnes, Chris Dexter & Jill Hamilton. Another 2 or 3 folks to
help out here makes it a lot easier process, so if you're interesting in this
specific role, please let me know. Also, if you've got a stop watch, please
bring it.

Course Marshals: Basically, being a course marshal entails being at a specific
spot on the course during the race to point racers in the right direction and,
in the event of an accident requiring some medical attention, reporting this
back to the race headquarters. While I'm not anticipating any accidents (the
course is not extremely technical), there are several spots on the route where,
even with course markings, there's a chance racers could end up taking wrong
turns...happens at every race it seems. The more marshals we have on the 6-mile
course the better. If you have a bike (and helmet), four-wheeler/dirt bike
(with an even better helmet) or a good pair of walking shoes, this might be the
perfect job for you! There's also a couple of areas right on Echo Drive, close
to headquarters, that wouldn't require much distance getting to. Presently,
here are the folks that have previously agreed to marshal: Dan Prentice, Lonnie
Olson, Derek Bell & couple of relatives of one of our team members (Joe
Hamilton). We could use a lot more willing and able marshals.

A few other items I'd like to share at this time.

On race day, I would recommend that you bring with you a lunch or something to
snack on. Sorry, as this is our first mountain bike event, our budget is pretty
tight. In the future we hope to be better to our volunteers who are so good to
us. In addition, think about bringing a lawn chair, a coat (it gets windy up
there) and sunscreen (I'm being optimistic).

As this is a USA Cycling sanctioned event, I'm asked to have volunteers sign a
release form. This can be found on-line at
http://www.usacycling.org/forms/volunteer_release.pdf. Please print it off and
bring a signed one on the 17th. Don't worry if you forget…I'll have these forms
at the event as well.

Prior to the race on the 17th, if you're interested in checking out the race
site, I am planning to be out at the Echo Dr. Trailhead on the following dates &
times…

Friday, May 8th ~6:30 pm
Sunday, May 10th ~4:00 pm
Saturday, May 16th ~4:00 pm

Look for the silver Toyota Tacoma with the Kenda bumpersticker. Note: on the
16th I'll be setting up the course so if you're interested in pounding some
stakes bring a hammer!

That's it for now. Please get back to me if you're still able to volunteer, and
for what duty you'd like to have. As well, if you have any questions, please
ask. Feel free to share this email with any one else you know who might be
interested in being a part of this. I'll send another email update out next
weekend.

Thanks again for offering to volunteer. Cross your fingers for good weather!

Chad Dexter
chaddexter@...
H: 458-4726
W: 444-1846