MINOOKA, HERE WE COME!
Hello Driftless Families!
We hope you had an excellent Labor Day weekend, whether you were at the season opener race in Telemark, or relaxing with your family/friends before the school year really gets under way! Here’s our NEWS UPDATE OVERVIEW for this week:
RACING: Race recap AND upcoming logistics for Race #2 at Minooka!
FALL PRACTICE REMINDERS: Thanks to all who noted the shift in practice times this week! Plus…lights!
POTLUCK: Sign up to bring some food next TUESDAY!
VOLUNTEERING: We need YOUR help to run a successful home race!
GRiT RIDE: Register for our Friday Night GRiT ride next week!
TRAIL WORK DAYS: Upcoming stewardship projects with the teams
ADVENTURE RIDE REGISTRATION: Join us at the John Muir Trails
Coach Christa, Coach Andrea, and Kiera work on some tie-dye creations with other riders and coaches at the GRiT tent in Cable.
RACE #1 @Cable - Recap & Thanks!
We are so proud of our Driftless MTB athletes and the hard work and determination they put forth at our first race of the season! Our weekend was packed full of smiles, laughs, snacks, strong effort, grit - and - some really fast times out on the course!
We want to thank the families and volunteer coaches who came to our first race weekend and helped supply snacks, lead pre-rides and warm ups, and made it a great experience for our kids/families. Race weekends require a LOT of work and we can’t do it without you - THANK YOU!
For a race recap, take a look at the WI League site results and photos! Our team's photo album from the weekend is also quickly filling up. If you took pictures this weekend, please add them! The league is also asking for any videos that spectators are willing to share. Lastly, we are in the process of pulling the league’s images of our team athletes into our album for easy access as well.
Race #2 @Minooka
These first few weekends of the race season are busy for our teams. We have three weekends of racing in a row, which means our second race is coming up in just a few days! Here’s what you need to know to be prepared to attend Race #2 in Minooka/Waukesha:
Read the league race information. You should have received an email yesterday with updates for Minooka; please take the time to read through it so you are prepared. Each venue is different, so there is new/updated information here. Click here to access the email and click here to access the League’s race flyer.
Purchase a park permit. Minooka is a Waukesha County Park; they have changed their daily park pass system; all passes must be purchased online in advance this year! Please do this ASAP to avoid congestion at the park entrance this weekend!
Make your camping reservation. If you are camping, remember that Minooka camping reservations can be completed through the Waukesha County Parks system. This is the only camping that cannot be reserved through our Driftless website. If you plan on camping at other races, please reserve your camping here.
Sign up to bring snacks and supplies: We will need more snacks! Please click here sign up to bring something to our race this weekend; if there’s one thing we discovered, it's that our racers were HUNGRY last weekend! If you would like to bring something that is not listed on our sheet, simply add it to a row at the bottom!
Keep an eye on the forecast: Right now, it is looking like Sunday will be a rainy race day! Unless there are thunderstorms or severe weather, the race will still be held! Conditions could be muddy/mucky/rainy. Please be sure to bring rain gear, any extra layers of clothing for riders/spectators, etc. - a few extra old towels and some wipes for post-race clean-up may be a good idea, too!
A couple of GENERAL REMINDERS for those attending race weekends:
LEAGUE RACE INFO: Again, please take the time to read through the WI league’s race flier. It contains a wealth of information!
RACING FAQs: If you still have questions about the schedule, logistics, and setup of a race weekend, PLEASE READ OUR RACE FAQS PAGE. If you find that your question is not answered there OR in the Wisconsin League Racing info, reach out to your team director or head coach.
WHAT TO BRING: We’ve put together a rider race checklist that includes most items you need for a successful race weekend. Download/print it here.
SCHEDULE: In addition to the league activities throughout the weekend, we have a TEAM SCHEDULE available for you! It outlines when we will be doing pre-rides and warm-up rides, and where riders need to be for their race wave/time, etc.
RACE PLATES: IF you raced last weekend and received a race plate, you need to bring it to every race for the remainder of the season. Do not lose it! If you lose your plate, you will need to purchase a replacement plate from the league at the venue. If this is your first race weekend, we will have a race plate for you at the team Pit Zone. Coaches/riders may not pre-ride the course without a race plate.
REGISTRATION: The last day to register online (in NICA’s online Pit Zone) for the race is 11:59 p.m. the Tuesday prior to any race. You can still register on-site, but athlete’s wave placement will be affected (they’ll start at the back of their category) and a $15 late registration fee applies.
PIT ZONE: The team Pit Zone (staging area under our Driftless MTB tent) is open for all student athletes and coaches to come to prep for their race, gather before pre-rides/warm ups, and decompress after racing. We ask that families and those who aren’t racing use the area around the Pit Zone as “standing room only” (no extra bikes, lawn chairs, etc.) as it gets quite congested and crowded, especially with other teams nearby. Parents, we encourage you all to band together to create a Driftless-team parent zone elsewhere within the venue!
HELMETS: A reminder that ALL people who ride bikes at any Wisconsin League race venue are required to wear a helmet AT ALL TIMES (yep, even in a grass field, or a parking area). This goes for riders, siblings, parents, friends, etc. - failure to do so may result in a team points penalty, not to mention it simply reflects poorly on our teams.
FOOD: The race venue will have a bunch of awesome food truck options for spectators and riders on SUNDAY, but you are also welcome to bring your own food. Saturday there are no food vendors on-site.
SPECTATING: We recommend you bring anything you need to be comfortable for a day outside: good walking shoes, camp chairs, sunscreen/bug spray, a water bottle, cash (for merchandise or the food trucks!) and any necessary personal meds or athlete meds (epi pens, inhalers, etc.) Perhaps most importantly: bring noisemakers, face paint, costumes, posters, pom-poms, and your loudest cheering voice - these races are just as fun for spectators as they are for the racers! Note that not all race venues allow dogs! Please check the venue guide before bringing your four-legged friend.
FALL PRACTICE REMINDERS
We appreciate your attention to our updated practice times (5:30-7 p.m.) and want to remind families that riders should be bringing a helmet or handlebar-mounted light to practices for the remainder of the season. The light should be strong enough to illuminate the trail in front of their bike as they ride. Remember to inquire about a NICA discount if you need to purchase a light at a local shop!
TEAM POTLUCK
THANK YOU to all who signed up to bring amazing food to our potluck next Tuesday at the Blackhawk West Chalet! We still have plenty of options left to sign up for (or add your own option to the list!) We are excited to hang out and eat/socialize together!
VOLUNTEERING @ ENGLEWOOD
Each year, our team is a “host” team for one of the WI race weekends. This year, our “home race” is coming up NEXT weekend, (September 17 & 18) at Englewood Farms in Fall River. This means our teams are expected to take on the volunteering roles for the race weekend! Please sign up for a volunteer shift (or two or three!) below, as soon as you can. Roles include parking assistance, course marshalling, results/registration tallying, etc. - all training is provided! Teenage siblings can volunteer with parents, too!
Your help with these roles really makes a difference for the event/race staff. Remember that almost ALL of the work that goes into these race events is VOLUNTEER DRIVEN. It is a huge undertaking and we want to do our part! Thank you! (NOTE: The league is also still looking for volunteers for Minooka - you can sign up here!)
GRiT RIDE SERIES
Female coaches and athletes are invited to join other Madison-area teams to ride the private trail system at Trek Trails for our monthly Friday-night ride series. Our September GRiT Ride is coming up next Friday, September 16! Our August ride was AWESOME and featured some spicy, fast riding, some chill-paced exploring, and lots of SNACKS and s’mores around the bonfire thanks to the generous support of the Capitol Off-Road Pathfinders (CORP)! Click below to sign up for this awesome event on September 16. Pre-registration IS REQUIRED for both coaches and athletes. Please register now if you would like to attend - there are limited spots and we expect this ride will fill up within the next week!
TRAIL WORK DAYS
Part of our philosophy as a NICA team is to make sure we give back to the trail systems where we ride. On September 20, ALL teams will be participating in a trail project during our normal practice time; each team’s project location and details will be shared on our team calendar. We are excited to help our local MTB stewards and give our trails systems some love!
ADVENTURE RIDE AT JOHN MUIR TRAILS/KETTLES
Don’t forget to save the date for a fun adventure ride with the team at the awesome John Muir trails of Kettle Moraine State Forest on OCTOBER 8 (rain date Oct. 15)! This trail network is just over an hour east of Madison. We’ll all meet as a team at the trailhead at 8:45 a.m. and hit the trails by 9. We’ll ride in a few groups (rides will be mild, medium, or spicy in terms of speed/distance covered!) We’ll reconvene for a picnic lunch with families, then any riders who wish to continue can head back out for another round of fun on the singletrack. Parents: if you’re interested in trying mountain biking, we invite you to come and join us for this ride. We will have an intro-to-MTB group for any interested parents. Pre-registration for this event is REQUIRED so we know how many people to expect. COACHES - please sign up as well!
As always, thank you for your attention to our weekly updates. We appreciate ALL that you do to help our teams have a successful and fun season together! Cheers to riding bikes!
