Volunteer

HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Volunteering is a great way to get involved with the race, support Seby B Jones Cancer Center, and enjoy more insight to the sport. There are several ways to volunteer for the High Country Tour Du Life:

MARSHALS:A marshal is a traffic director of sorts. Many people are needed to direct the riders and regular road traffic at specific corners during the race.

PARKING AND REGISTRATION:
Volunteers help before the race to control the parking area so that cars can get in and out easily, and help get racers signed up and in the right place, and then help get racers lined up for the start of the race.

SUPPORT DRIVERS & MECHANICS
Want to get an up-close view of the racers for more than a few minutes at a time? Support drivers and mechanics are right there with the racers all the way from start to finish, and their experience of the race itself is second only to the racers’. Support drivers are needed to supply riders with spare wheels in case they have a flat, and to provide for certain other needs during the race as well. Mechanics are the people who actually exchange wheels with the riders and may occasionally assist them with a wheel change. Depending upon how many mechanics are available, support drivers may handle both jobs. Several vehicles are required for each different category of racers so the need for drivers & mechanics is quite substantial. While experience is helpful, it is not required. After all, you’ve gotta start somewhere, right?

GETTING STARTED
If you’d like to drive a support vehicle or ride along as a mechanic, please contact Andrew Stackhouse at volunteer@pirateraceproductions.com. (ARHS employees – please contact Megan Lynch Ellis, Foundation Director of Special Events). Also, if you’d rather not drive but have an appropriate, reliable vehicle that you’d be willing to allow someone else to drive, we’re looking for those as well. Again, contact Andrew. Andrew will notify you, usually by phone, of your specific assignment, and will notify you if there are any changes in assignment. The type of vehicle you drive does matter. Small pickups with an open bed are great. Small, low profile sedans with sunroofs and convertibles are also good. Full-size pickups, Jeeps and SUVs and convertibles are O.K., too.

LEARNING THE ROPES (SPOKES?)
Drivers meet for one evening a few days before the race for instructions. For being such a vital function, driving support and being a mechanic are both actually relatively simple. Drivers will be issued color coded “credentials” which identify your vehicle as an official race vehicle for a particular category of racers, and you’ll be taught how to handle a wheel exchange properly in order to ensure that each racer gets his or her own wheels back when the race is over. Besides learning how to tell a 9-speed from a 10-speed rear wheel, it involves some very simple but important record-keeping.

You’ll be expected at the starting area prior to the start of your category’s race. You’ll be issued a “BIKE RACE AHEAD” sign for the rear of your vehicle, and a radio for communication with the other support drivers in your group. Bring a pad or clipboard and pencil to keep track of racers you may have to leave behind, and an envelope for keeping track of wheel tags doesn’t hurt. It also helps to carry an old, clean blanket to protect your vehicle’s seats should you need to transport a mildly injured rider (This is relatively unlikely, but possible. Emergency vehicles are available and handle most such needs.) Bring snacks and soft drinks for the drive, which is a long, slow one, and it’s nice to have a few bottles of water with you in case a rider really needs one.

THE RACE ITSELF
There’s no way to effectively explain what the driving itself is like and what all it involves. Suffice it to say that you learn as you go, and there’s always someone there on the radio to ask if you have any questions once you’re rolling. You simply have to pay close attention, use your head, and do as COM 1 (the main support vehicle for each group) tells you to – and enjoy the race and the ride.

Thanks to the Tour of the Gila for providing their volunteer information