Support for a 12 hour race?

[barrelgal]

My SO is competing in his first 12 hour mtb race this weekend (on a team), and I'm going with for moral support. Neither of us has ever done any MTB race before (he has raced track for a few years) so I was wondering if there is anything we need to be aware of or if anyone has any tips? He's wonderful in many areas but sometimes planning isn't one of them We are camping the night before the race and will be about 2 hours from home so running back for anything isn't really an option. We know we need to pack the workstand, tools, first aid etc. Anything else you guys think we shouldn't be without?

[Pedal Wench]

Lots of variety of foods - sweet, salty, crunchy, chewy. And layers - it gets so much colder when you're standing in the dark than in the same temperature during the day. Of course, the more lights the better.

[spokewench]

I've only done a 24 hour, but here are some tips. Take extra sets of clothes - is this a relay or is he doing it solo? ANyway, when he comes in, he will want to change sets of clothes, shorts and shirts; and of course, he will need lots of layers. Take good amount of socks. I used to package up my outfits in separate plastic bags so I didn't have to think too much, but just grab the next outfit and go. If he is solo, he may need another set of lights in the charging area or even if he is doing two night relay sets, he will need extra lights in the charging area. Take foods that you can eat easily and will not bother him, i.e. already baked potatoes, hot drinks, chicken, sweet potato, etc. and, of course, all the bars and things that he normally eats. All your tools for bike maintenance; extra tubes, etc. Lots of water and if it might be muddy, extra water and stuff to clean bikes, rags, buckets, etc.

[barrelgal]

I hadn't thought of extra sets of clothes, I wonder if he has. He's doing relay so he will have some time between laps and want to be out of the chamois and a clean set is always nice. I'm still struggling on the food a bit. He has camp stoves but they are somewhere in the depths of his parent's garage so we are trying to decide if we want to do without. I'm going to consult the Feedzoone book today to see if I can get any brilliant ideas from there.

[spokewench]

Warm food is good and comforting, but not absolutely important. If it were me, I would be looking for the camp stove. I don't know about you, but I need my coffee in the morning! But, lots of not too spicy, more bland food is good.

I thought of a few more things that I hadn't thought of before. It has been a long time since I did a 24 hour race. Bring a bike work stand if you have one - they come in really handy.

Don't know if you are allowed firewood, but it is nice to have a fire - most races I have gone to allow them, but I did my races in arizona desert and moab utah.

[barrelgal]

From the website it looks like there are no fires allowed. This race is outside of Bastrop, TX where we had very bad wildfires in 2011. The area is still recovering from that so it's understandable. Looking at the feedzone I think there are some things that I can make on friday before we leave. Now I really want a waffle ride sadwich with nutella

[barrelgal]

ok, apparently one of the team mates has camp stoves. Good idea on the coffee though, I've got a small 4 cup machine I think I can run off the outlet in the back of the SUV (with the car on of course so I don't kill the battery).

[barrelgal]

Thanks for all the advice ladies! My boyfriend had a blast and his team finished 8th out of 20. We are really happy with the result as 3 of the 4 ppl on his team (including him) had never raced on a mtb before. All your advice was invaluble and I was able to keep the team fed, watered and happy. I loved being there so much it renewed my resolve to get better at the mountainbike thing and devote more of my time to off-road activities.

Spokewrech - your extra kits idea was wonderful. He loved changing into a fresh kit.

We are also glad we 'overpacked' extra bike parts. He ended up breaking a cog on his cassette but was able to repair on trail to be stuck in one gear for the remainder of the lap then get back and tag out a team mate so that we could make the repair with the extra cassette he brought.