Week 6: Upcoming practices, thinking ahead to race season!
Our coaches are awesome! Thanks, Coach Tyler, for your flat repair assistance! Blue Mound claimed another tire this week…
We hope you had a great weekend! We enjoyed our time at the Camrock adventure ride and some families even made it out to CORPfest over at Blue Mound for some MTB camaraderie, too!
Here’s what’s new for the week of August 14:
Upcoming practices: Sauk adventure, CX practice, and relay race!
GRiT Event
Race info: Resources & meeting
Camping reservations NOW AVAILABLE for all races
Miscellaneous announcements/reminders
PS - don’t forget to keep adding your TEAM PHOTOS to our shared album!
Summary of upcoming practices
Our coaching team has planned a ton of fun events to wrap up our summer of riding together before we head back to school and hit the races! Many of these practices have different logistics than our usual schedule (including availability deadlines) - please pay close attention to the details below.
Tuesday, 8/15 - Adventure Ride AT Sauk Prairie; meet at the VFW parking lot as we join our friends in Sauk for a tour of their home trails.
Thursday, 8/17 - Adventure Ride HOSTING Sauk Prairie; Park at Blackhawk east chalet and ride over to west chalet to meet before practice starts. This will reduce congestion in west chalet parking lot.
Tuesday, 8/22 - Introduction to Cyclocross with Isaac Neff at Badger Prairie; local legend and cyclocross expert Isaac Neff will lead riders through the basics of cyclocross, a cycling discipline that our athletes are welcome to try!
Thursday, 8/24 - Short Course fun race at the top of the hill at Blue Mound State Park! PARENTS: Come along and cheer for your rider! We invite families to join us for this event at the shelter on top of the Mound. We’re scheming up some sort of fun social activity (snack potluck? Ice cream?) for after the short course race, so stay tuned!
Tuesday, 8/29 - Trail work days with Capital Off-Road Pathfinders (each team at a different trail system - see TeamSnap for details!)
Thursday, 8/31 - Relay Race at Blackhawk Ski Club - this event requires a lot of organization. We are REQUIRING that riders sign up in TeamSnap for this event ONE WEEK IN ADVANCE. Those who have not indicated their availability by August 24 will not be able to participate in the race; they can attend/cheer, but will not be assigned a relay team. We are also seeking volunteers to help us with race setup and prep. Please stay tuned for an email/TeamSnap notification with a volunteer sign up for this awesome end-of-summer event!
GRiT GATHERING - NEXT SATURDAY!
Remember to sign up in TeamSnap for our weekend GRiT gathering with our friends at Madison West on Saturday from 1-4 PM at Blue Mound! We love being able to hang out with other female riders from our neighboring team. Join for a variety of ride options, activities, snacks, and socializing. Female coaches/riders welcome. If you’re a dude coach looking to support the ride, we’d love to have you join us as well!
Race season is (almost) here!
We are SO stoked for one of our favorite times of the year: race season! Even if an athlete isn’t sure about racing, we STRONGLY encourage everyone to come check out a race weekend to see what it is all about. These are awesome, fun, inclusive, and non-intimidating events! There is more than just “competitive” racing: riders can pre-ride the course in a non-competitive setting on Saturdays; join for games around the venue, and hang out with other riders from around the state.
This part of our season is filled with logistics, planning, and fun. We ask that all families (and especially our new riders) review our event weekend FAQs AND the league’s race info. Remember that we race FIVE of the seven total league races. Our race schedule is included on our racing page. MTB event weekends are different than most sports events, so it’s important to know what’s going on/be prepared. We will be announcing a virtual info meeting for families soon, so stay tuned and come prepared with questions.
If you’re planning to camp at any race weekends, camping reservations are now live and can be purchased up until the specified deadlines for each race. We have an awesome group of families that camp every year - please join them! Note that we need reservations about a week and a half before each race weekend in order to submit our team orders to the league. If reservations are not made before the deadline, we cannot guarantee a spot for you in the camping area. No exceptions. Review our league camping rules and make your reservations today!
If you are not planning to camp, we suggest looking for lodging ASAP if you have not done so already; race events draw a couple thousand people each weekend, so lodging can get tight.
Don’t forget to use the TeamSnap chat as a place to ask questions and connect with other families around these event weekends for logistics, carpooling, and planning questions! We will continue to share info about race weekends in the next few updates.
MISCELLANEOUS ODDS-AND-ENDS
LIGHTS: Remember that our practice time will shift a full half hour starting September 5th to accommodate waning daylight. Even with this shift, the trails get dark! As with previous years, we are requesting that ALL riders purchase a strong light that they can use during practice. This light should SECURELY mount to a rider’s handlebars or helmet. Lights will be mandatory for riding (akin to bringing water/a functional bike/helmet) beginning in mid-September. Please let us know what questions you have about lights. Remember to inquire about a NICA discount if you are purchasing locally. Not all shops will give a discount on lights (sometimes it is only for bikes, shoes, and helmets) but it is worth a polite ask. Local shops can also help you pick the right light for the job!
SAVE THE DATE: Trek Midwest Team and the Trek Madison stores are hosting a FREE cyclocross Clinic for NICA athletes at the Trek headquarters on Thursday, September 28. Save the date and stay tuned for registration info, as space will be limited! Riders can use their mountain bikes for cyclocross races…no special equipment required!
RAFFLE TICKETS: Don’t forget to connect with your team’s raffle coordinator for tickets! You can request a certain number of tickets to sell/give away, or purchase tickets yourself. Any un-purchased tickets should be returned to your team raffle coordinator by the beginning of October. Tickets are $10 each or 12 for $100. REMEMBER: We will provide FREE Driftless team registration next year for the athlete who sells the most raffle tickets this fall, and the top FIVE athletes will receive $20 to spend at the Trek Store AND a discount card for any one order at 100 Percent (helmets, glasses, gloves, and apparel!)
APPAREL: Mark-It has finished printing our clothing orders and they are available to pick up at practice on Thursday!
NAME STICKERS: If your rider hasn’t received a set of four stickers with your team logo, please let us know. These stickers can go on helments/handlebars/bike top tubes and are a HUGE help for remembering names, etc.! Coaches, you should have a set as well!
We're looking for someone rad!
〰️
We're looking for someone rad! 〰️
Special announcement for Waunakee families! It is time to pass the torch! We’re looking for someone (or multiple folks) to step in as our new TEAM DIRECTOR for Waunakee next year! What’s a team director do? Well, this kind of weekly update is one example! We’re looking for someone with rad organizational skills, excellent communication, and stoke for getting more kids on bikes in Waunakee!
Stay tuned for an email from Em regarding this awesome volunteer role.
