Middle Mountain Momma Pre Race Report

I often wonder how and who marks the courses that we race on. How many signs, staples, and time does it really take? I had a great opportunity to find out as I signed up for the new reality TV show "dirty jobs." Well there is already a show named that about but I want go there. So here was my time to give a little back to the racing community that I enjoy and Douthat Park. Dale Heath and I started out at the beginning of the race course with all material needed. Man, that stuff weighs a ton. 2 staple guns, 3 boxes staples, about 100 signs, 2 rolls of orange tape plus the needed nutrition to get us through the day. Notice the color coordination of Dale (very important) and that big suitcase under the saddle.After about 1 hr of making the list and checking it over and over, we were off, Time 10 am. Notice my prerace #78. Yeah I figured since I won't be able to do the race because it is on a SUNDAY, the one day a week i have to work, I would make this my race and see if I can crack Dale. Besides he is carrying the 20 lbs of material.

Off we go. I love the new Douthat Park Mtb shirts, on the back it says, "It ain't flat." Got to get me one of those. That might be a great logo for the race T. I won't bore you with all the details of aligning the arrows the perfect degree and height, but I will say a lot of thought does go into it. Dale demonstrating the proper technique.

ATTENTION ALL RACERS!

VERY IMPORTANT INTERSECTION.

XX RACERS BEAR LEFT

STAY ON MIDDLE MOUNTAIN TRAIL AND GO OUT OF THE PARK

ALL OTHERS TURN RIGHT ONTO SALT STUMP.

I THINK I CAN I THINK I CAN

Down off of salt stump across the road to Mountain top. I forgot how steep that is. Fortunately there was only 1 tree down on the down side of Mountain top. With the help of a little saw, the branches were cut away and it is now ridable but watch out it is on a fast descent. Notice the orange ribbon indicating the possible danger!

don't forget to take time and smell the flowers

what a blessed sight, no not me, the small structure marking the final descent to the finish.

It is now 6:30 pm. 7:30 hrs total time with 3:40 min of ride time at around 21.5 miles. 4k feet of climbing, 89 signs, 297 staples, 50 yrds of orange tape, 1 footlong subway club, 2 cliff bars, 100 oz of fluids, and 1 rice krispy treat, and we were done! Well, until after the race then it has to come down.

For those who help make racing possible, THANK YOU, its lot of hard work. Be sure to thank all the folks who help promote, put together, and volunteer to keep this sport alive! ps. for those that preroad the course last weekend and came across numerous trees down, most have been cut and removed by the park rangers, so give them a big hand too.