I did not realize the amount of work involved to put on a mountain bike race. Our club, the Rock Cut Trail Crew, holds an annual mountain bike race at Rock Cut State Park here in northern Illinois. It’s next weekend, Sunday, April 30.

Since before Christmas we’ve been making plans and getting things organized for the race. We have a committee of about 10 volunteers who have done most of the coordination and we have about 30 ready to go on race day. The jobs include deciding on a theme. This year it’s, “Do The Rock.” Rock Cut State Park is named for the big rock outcroppings left behind when railroad workers cut the rail beds through in the early 1800’s. So the theme is fitting.

With the theme in place and the date set it’s time for promotion. I designed fliers, posters and t-shirts, developed a mailing list and cut vinyl for directional signs we’ll use on race day. There were trophies and medals to make. Cool polished rocks with gear cogs embedded in them. That was Andy’s idea and they look sweet. We wrote letters asking for swag for the raffle from bike shops, vendors and manufacturers. Other committee members are coordinating the army of volunteers that will be course marshalls, timers and help with registration.

The hours of planning for a mountain bike race is something I’m certain goes unnoticed to the racers. Although, if we do our job well and everything goes smoothly it should.

Here is the race course from my Garmin Edge 205.