Nice post!! Now I have a way a you guys can reach out to the roadies.... I have attached a copy of the email that I sent to a group that I had already asked feel free to message me if you are willing to help. Thanks for your time!
Hello,
In case there is anyone in this email group that does not know...My name is Manny Martinez and I am the Service Manager at the Trek Bike Store in Davenport. I have just recently been asked by Donnie Miller to head up the Wheel Pit committee. I of course was honored to be asked such a question and said "Yes!"
The pit of a race is an interesting place. The fact that I am a bicycle mechanic has put me in a few different pits for bicycle races. Most people would expect a very high stress area with so much going on that you cannot keep track. My experiences have been actually quite the opposite and of course it all depends on whose bike you are working and how excited that person is. The Quad Cities Criterium wheel pit should be right on pace with my other race experiences, especially since criteriums allow a free lap for mishaps. Of course there should still be a sense of urgency to get the persons bike going, but in that situation you can make sure your job is done right.
The wheel pit is precisely that. A pit for wheels. That means the job of the people in the wheel pit is to change wheels and that is it. No adjustments of any kind should be done in a wheel pit. The person comes in you change a wheel and they are gone...that easy. Most people that are familiar with cycling know how to change a wheel in a timely manner and if it can't be done quickly and efficiently the person can normally learn fairly quickly how to do this.
I am contacting all of you because you have either worked in the wheel pit before, or I feel you would do a great job in the wheel pit (if you are not interested in helping this year, let me know I can delete your name from the email list). I know this race isn't until Monday May 30th and we have plenty of time to figure out who exactly will be helping, but I was hoping to get an early commitment from some people. I would imagine that finding volunteers for Memorial Day could be quite challenging and this is also a reason I am looking for early commitments.
It looks like in the previous years people would come work for a few hours at a time and after asking Donnie what my day would be like as the head of the Wheel Pit Committee it sounds like I will be there from about 6am until 6pm. It would be nice to have a 6 until noon shift and a noon until 6 shift, but I'm willing to take any volunteer at any time. Please keep in mind volunteering doesn't mean you have to change wheels. If you are not comfortable changing wheels we could still use you for setup and tear down. Whatever you would decide to do would be greatly appreciated!
There are a few incentives for volunteering! The Quad Cities Criterium will be providing T-shirts for all that volunteer, a free drink coupon, a free sandwich coupon, a volunteer party, and secure and monitored bicycle parking so you could leave your car home for the day if you like. I myself will be supplying all of the Dunn Bros. Coffee you could want during the day and maybe I can buy you a drink after the race.
Please let me know if you could volunteer. I would like to get this figured out ASAP. After I figure out what volunteers we have, I will be coming up with a sign up sheet so we can decide what time everyone will be showing up and leaving. I am really honored to be in this position and would like to do whatever we can to have the best wheel pit the Quad Cities Criterium has seen! I hope to see all of you on Monday May 30th!
Thanks so much for your time!
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Manuel Martinez
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