Race Weekend Overview

The main events of the race weekend are pretty straightforward.  There is always a pre-ride on the day before the race.  On pre-ride day we
  1. travel to the race venue
  2. do some preliminary pit zone setup
  3. pre-ride the course
  4. Go get dinner with friends (or do potluck on-site)
Overnight varies, everyone does what works for them.  See the Plan Your Weekend page for details.  Some will stay locally overnight in a hotel, some will camp, others will drive home.  Some won't make the pre-ride but will still come for the overnight.  Some will not come until the race day.  Some little piggies will say "weeweeweewee" all the way home, but that's not important now. 

Then comes race day!  On race day, we
  1. Get up too early
  2. Pre-ride the course (7:30-8:30am) if you didn't the day before.  You'll need to be off the course by 8:30.
  3. Spectate/cheer for team members (everyone who can arrive by 9:00 to cheer on the freshman race should do so)
  4. Race!
  5. Spectate/cheer for team members some more
  6. Attend the awards ceremony (5:30-ish)
  7. Pack up and drive home (6:30-ish)

See the Race Day Schedule page for a little more info on alternate ways to run your day, and Race Day Food page for how to plan your food.

Race Start Times

Your race start time depends on what your category is, as explained on our Racer Classification page.  Remember we are a division 2 (D2) team.  Here is a typical race day schedule.
Wave 1 - Freshman Boys
9:00am Frosh D1 Blue
9:03am Frosh D1 Gold
9:06am Frosh D2 Blue
9:09am Frosh D2 Gold

Wave 2 – Girls
10:30am Junior Varsity Girls
10:33am Soph Girls
10:36am Frosh Girls

Wave 3 - Sophomore Boys
11:45am Soph D1 Blue
11:48am Soph D1 Gold
11:51am Soph D2 Blue
11:54am Soph D2 Gold

Wave 4 - JV Boys
1:10pm JV D1 Blue
1:13pm JV D1 Gold
1:16pm JV D2 Blue
1:19pm JV D2 Gold

Wave 5 - Varsity 
2:45pm Varsity Boys
2:50pm Varsity Girls
The actual schedule for each race is posted in a race flyer on the NorCal website several weeks before the race.

Racer’s Schedule

For an individual racer, everything revolves around their start time.  Here is the basic pattern.
T-3:00 – make sure you’re well fed
T-2:00 – set up the bike, water and food for the race
T-1:00 – warm up for 30 minutes
T-0:20 – line up at the start
T-0:00 – pedal like mad!
After the race, you will cool down, eat everything you can find, check your results, tell your tales, etc.