It's a few days out from the
STORM the Eastern Shore Adventure Race and the air is filled with anticipation. If I could only find a way to bottle this energy up and save it for some of those "slower" weeks where my time is concentrated on more mundane things . . .
Many have asked what my week leading up to a race like this consists of, so let me give you a snapshot:
- -Double, triple, and quadruple checking the race booklet instructions and maps
- -Many trips to Kinkos to print copies of everything from waivers (many people still don't print these out in advance and bring them with them), checkpoint sheets, race rosters, support crew driving directions, spectator guides, and additional maps
- -Package up the start packets for teams
- -Annoying the heck out of safety staff, confirming they're all comfortable with the weekend plan
- -Tracking the weather forecast
- -We rally a bunch of volunteers together and stuff racer bags with a lot of stuff nobody pays much attention to. It's a shame, though, because there is some interesting stuff in our bags like advertisements for other races in the mid-Atlantic (the Gold Nugget and The Edge) and product samples from Hammer and Tecnu. There's also stickers in the bags and propaganda from other sponsors like Blue Ridge Outdoors and Blue Ridge Mountain Sports.
- -We make a few big trips to the grocery store for car loads of fluids (gatorade, water, coke); after a race like this nobody wants to run out of beverages. Don't worry, Team BikeBeat, the beer is handled by the Cape Charles Hotel.
- -We pick up the race t-shirts (we order them as last minute as possible to allow for every participant to get a shirt). I think the "Texas Orange" long sleeve shirts will look very sharp!
- -We inventory our volunteer staff and determine who will be assigned where; for the critical spots of the race, this has already been determined but it's been our experience that we need to do some of this stuff "last minute" because volunteers are frequently disappearing and reappearing on us -- I'm not complaining (they are, after all, volunteers) but it's why we hold off on some of these logistics until race week.
- -We inventory our prizes and decide how to distribute them. We've taken the very low maintenance approach the last few races and awarded the overall premiere division winners something nice (or somethings nice) and doing a prize drawing for everything else. I feel it supports the fun atmosphere and reinforces that everybody who participates is worthy of recognition.
This race is the most challenging one we put on because the Eastern Shore of Virginia is a
long way across the Bay. It's both physically a far distance, and mentally a far distance because crossing the Bay is like a trip back in time. For example, getting UHauls big enough for what we need is a
huge challenge on the Eastern Shore: the demand is so low for moving trucks over there that they don't seem to stock more than 14' trucks.
Its all coming together, however, and the race is shaping up to be a great deal of
adventure with a bit of
race thrown in for good measure.