Inside The Maverick Criterium: Changes for 2026

We share how Maverick Criterium grew from a lunch idea to a true city race weekend, with campus corners under the lights, a revamped downtown sprint, and a bigger prize purse. We break down last year’s wins and messes, the new categories, neutral support, and why community buy-in matters.

• year-one highlights and hard lessons
• permits, signatures, and city partnerships
• campus course design and OU collaboration
• downtown crowd energy and safety choices
• weather delays and real-time fixes
• Porsche pace cars and protocols
• 2026 updates: new categories, night racing
• revised downtown course for growth
• Fondo, 10-mile ride, beer mile
• host homes for teams and how to help
• volunteers, weeknight tune-up crits
• neutral support details and free-lap basics
• prize purse increase to 15,000 dollars
• why Maverick is the perfect Tulsa Tough tune-up

Come race Maverick. It’s before Tulsa. There’s gonna be people here that I know you want to beat. 

https://www.mavcrit.com/

Host Home/Volunteer - https://www.mavcrit.com/volunteer

Register - https://www.bikereg.com/maverick-criterium

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:03

Thank you so much for tuning in for this episode. The audio is likely not perfect. We're here. The episode's ready to roll. I just want to say thank you so much for listening. This one's really fun. The round table. Again, sorry, the audio is not perfect. With all that being said, it is fantastic. There's going to be a lot of really great information here about the Maverick Reds which are coming at the end of May. It's super exciting. All the information information that you need is in the show notes. I think you're going to love this episode. We have a lot of fun. There is very important information here about Reds in Oklahoma City. We don't have a lot of credit racing happening in Oklahoma this year leading out to the Maverick Red and all the time. There are potentially probably two races happening. So make sure you listen to this episode if you want the details on that. And all the details on Maverick Red, all the amazing things and craziness that happened last year in their first year, which was wildly successful. Uh all the way to new horses this year. They're having all kinds of prize money that's going out of this year. Again, sorry, the audio is not perfect, but uh you know, sometimes things just don't work out the way that we hope that they do. With that being said, you get the advertising cloud at the end of this episode because Mr. Aaron I or Mr. Moore Overhead door is part of this episode. Thank you so much, Mr. Moore Overhead door. So this episode is right to you like the racing series. Okay. There's gonna be something we can use to when it comes to the rating. We have an event in the category that's gonna be really written all over, and I hope you enjoy it and get all your information. Okay, I can see everything you'll find all the details and everything you'll find out of the way. If you like everything and writing writing like a really, really enjoying it. My fermented banana coffee?

SPEAKER_05 3:03

Yeah. Is this the one that Who makes that? Um I don't know. It was a Columbia um Kindio. That's my best at that point. I like fermented. I mean I don't have any clues, so sure. Yeah. So I actually technically have a fermented drink too. Oh that's cute. Okay.

Meet The Team Behind Maverick

SPEAKER_03 3:23

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So um, since you're talking about your cute little coffee, would you like to lead us off and tell us who you are and why you're here, and then we'll make round robin and get into all the good stuff.

SPEAKER_05 3:34

Yeah. Um, my name's Aaron Dyer, and um, I'm from Norman, Oklahoma, and um we're here to talk about Maverick Criterion. I'm the race director, and um we were privileged to get to uh put year one on last year, and year two is coming up. So we're here to talk about all things Maverick and racing, and um hopefully we get to all of the things you've been wondering about, and maybe even more things.

SPEAKER_03 4:00

Well, most importantly, you're Mr. More Overhead Door. So thank you. I am one of the more overhead doors. I'm one of them, yeah. So thank you.

SPEAKER_05 4:10

Hey, I'm we're I'm glad to be um supporting uh you know podcast and cycling. Yeah, I love it. And and hey, I gotta say my thing. Please try not to break anything. But if you do, please call us. Mr. 4579-9214.

SPEAKER_03 4:24

There's the intro. I don't even have to do an intro app anymore. Thank you. I appreciate that. That's right. Perfect.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

Go ahead. Sure. I'm Trenton Brown. I am the director of the Norman Sports Commission. So how did you get roped into this? That's interesting. Uh that started, oh gosh, probably two plus years at this point uh when we originated. Um, I got introduced to Aaron Dyer through Chip Minty, who is with BLN. Okay. So Bicycle Leagues of Norman. And we got together, we wanted to do an event in Norman, and that's kind of how this thing started. It was gonna be a small bicycle event, turn cycling, and then turn into a two-day process.

unknown 5:10

Nope.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

It's a proverb. Hey, we're gonna put that'll be even better.

SPEAKER_03 5:16

That is our can we do uh you're right. Do we do okay? It's our social app. Search that on your laptop. You can't put a blue dot, so it'll be a bleep. Okay. Beautiful. I think we will just bleep it, so that may that way people always wonder what you said. Do one of your Benny Hill sound effects. There you go. I like it. Oh, that's beautiful. Would you like to keep going?

SPEAKER_02 5:38

I mean, uh well, you know, I think I'm gonna lay out the bleep.

SPEAKER_03 5:44

Um beautiful. All right, Vanessa, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

My name is Vanessa Drummond, and um I am the technical and events manager with USA Cycling. Um I don't know how I got connected with Maverick. I feel like Aaron reached out to me one day um asking me just to.

SPEAKER_05 6:05

Trying to think the day she had the misfortune of me getting her number.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

Me terrorizing her, okay. Yeah. Um, which kind of led into some other conversations, and um I quickly developed a great passion for this event. Um, Erin and Trent both, they you know, they want to do it the right way. Um, they have all the right things in play, so I uh quickly got connected with them and have enjoyed it. So I just stuck around.

SPEAKER_03 6:33

It's amazing what happens when a town or city wants something to happen.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

Yeah, it is.

Year One Wins And Hard Lessons

SPEAKER_03 6:39

Yeah. I went to Turkey and road yesterday with Saxby, and the whole time he's like, How is this here? I'm like, because the city wants it to be here. Like, what are we doing in Oklahoma City Metro? Like, so this is fantastic to see a like municipality getting behind something other than just like the same Wellborne junk that they always do. So, yeah, it's awesome. It is nice to see. Yeah, it's amazing how fast it can go and what they can develop, what can develop and come from it if a city really wants to make something happen. So it's pretty awesome. Christopher, I think everybody knows you, unfortunately. Yeah, Chris Drummond, co-host, co-host, that's right. Chris will bring the uh the beautiful banter of the cyclist inside the race. So we'll talk about that. Um, well, I think first off, I think it would be cool since last year was the first year. Let's talk about like the awesome things that happened last year and the like non-awesome things that happened last year. I think those are what we bleopers, bleepers, and blunders. Yeah. We got we got the bleeping going already. Thanks, Trent. You're welcome. So we'll uh but I think that's the I think that's some of the stuff that people want to hear and and want to understand of like what it goes on to put an event on. Like, I have no idea. I'm learning more and more as I'm around more people that do these kinds of things, uh, of how hard and it is to put on an event, uh, especially on the scale. Like, it's pretty wild being able to shut down a whole downtown area and all the barriers and setting up the the finish line. I mean, just the basic things that people never think about when they go to an event. Um, like doing a quick recap, not even quick, but a recap of last year. From the time you guys had this idea um until the time race day happened, how long was that? Do you guys remember the idea to race day? Uh-huh. This was a year and a half. Close to about a year and a half. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 8:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 8:31

And then once you guys were like, we're all in, let's make this happen. Yeah, getting the nuts and bolts together. What how long was that time frame of like, okay, we're past the city says go, now we gotta go. What did that look like?

SPEAKER_05 8:46

It was a journey because each there was like a molecule of the city that would say go, and then we visit another molecule of the city. Like it was a lot of a tour of selling to um just the community, helping them understand what it is we wanted to do, um, that we can survive a two-day urban criterion bike race. It'll be okay. And once you know, it took a minute, but I think they everyone started warming up to the idea, and you know, and um we had uh I mean we tried to do our due diligence and have you know large, you know, uh post-oversize of the courses and and lots of meetings with uh emergency staff, police fire, MSTAT, and everybody. Um and they just kind of slowly started waking up to it, you know, and then helping us actually.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

So and the unique part about Norman is this happened 18 years ago. I don't know what iteration those uh courses look like, but I know what one of them was on campus corner. I think there was one downtown. So it's it was more about educating them that hey, we've done this before, we can do this again.

SPEAKER_05 9:51

It was the 89er stage race, and the last one was I think it was 18 years ago. Okay. It was 17 last year, and I think 18 this year.

Permits, Signatures, And City Buy-In

SPEAKER_03 10:00

Well, let's get into the the nuts and bolts of like I mean, we can fast forward to like maybe a week or two before the event. Oh gosh. Like at that point, you kind of think, like, we we know what's happening, we we know what what time setup time is, we we got everybody scheduled for the most part, all the vendors are there. Like, most of the things are kind of like now we just gotta like do it. Like, first off, what was that like being the first year race director? And this is your first event to ever do like this. Yeah. Like do you remember?

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Do you remember those days?

SPEAKER_03 10:32

How much more was it than you ever expected it to be?

SPEAKER_05 10:35

Well, it's kind of like this. I signed up knowing it would be more, and then when I got in there, it was more than that. So I knew um, I knew that it would be, but um, but yeah, there was lots of learnins that that definitely happened. I think, you know, I I I I was privileged to be kind of to ask to do it, and in my mind I could think of I don't know, I've thought of a million other people that might be better at it, and I was like, there's just nobody else. Um, and I feel like I was grateful to have the work schedule to um apply the kind of endurance and stupidity it takes to try, you know, um, do something like this and not give up. And I mean, obviously we had a lot of great support. This isn't just me, I mean, uh, at all.

SPEAKER_03 11:23

And so, how many people on the counting your volunteers and your staff and all that stuff? Do you have an idea of how many people you had to pull this off?

SPEAKER_02 11:33

I believe it was between 150 and 200 people.

SPEAKER_05 11:36

If you include the volunteers, but that I mean, frankly, that's not enough.

SPEAKER_03 11:40

Like, I mean that's a lot. Like and then this year, do you think that you need more than that?

SPEAKER_02 11:46

Yeah, we probably need two 250, I would say, in order to run as smoothly as we want, right? Ideally, right? So, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

I would I would also like to point though, like this group is Aaron and Trent's group leading up to before race weekend is probably four to eight individuals.

SPEAKER_06 12:03

Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

And then race weekend kicks off, and that's where all of the other 140 come into play.

SPEAKER_05 12:10

Yeah, yes, that's a great point. Like that's what it looks like is a war room with you know four to eight people throughout the year. Um, activity ramps up as you get closer, and then all the all the troops from around the globe start parachuting in behind the scenes that you've been zooming with and different things, you know.

SPEAKER_03 12:29

Well, let's talk about so race week um and setting up. I mean, you guys set up you have ambitious courses, like when you think about it and where you set them up. Um it's not something like, oh, we just set them up. I mean, I mean, looking at like a a weekly crit that it happens here in Oklahoma City and the weekly crit that happens in Tulsa, you know, those kinds of things. Like they just set up on kind of the same thing every week, and it's pretty smooth sailing, it's it's kind of low friction situation, you know. But setting up in a major university is one thing. Setting up in a downtown of a one of the biggest cities in Oklahoma isn't is an undertaking. Um, what were some of the things that happened those few days beforehand that you're just like, man, we didn't was there anything that popped up that you're like, we did not think about this? This was like oh crap. Oh gosh. Now how do we fix it?

SPEAKER_05 13:21

Um now I'm really trying to think of how many bleeps I would possibly need because I'm like, yeah, oh I mean, uh, you know.

SPEAKER_03 13:28

Let's just say what are a couple of the big things that happened that were optionals that popped up at the last minute that you're like, man, I did not see that company, or we didn't even think about it.

SPEAKER_05 13:36

I'd like to start with a saying that one of my old trim carpenters said, we do it right because we do it twice, is what he said. And it ended with the T. And I think I was telling Vanessa the other day, I was like, you know what? If you like doing one thing four times, then you can probably do this. Like the job for you. Because um, I mean, this year too, but like, yeah, last year there were just like you think you've done something and I call it like a zombie thing, you think you killed it dead, and it just comes right back up, and you're like, oh god, a couple of those things.

SPEAKER_02 14:04

Um what comes to mind for me is the signature process because you you have to go to these businesses. Uh campus corners are unique because there's a lot of uh residences there too. So in order for this to get signed off, you've got to sign 75% of the businesses, you have to get their their approval, and then you have to get 90% of the residences that are out in that area to get them all to sign off. And I and I remember obviously we we we would be in these businesses, we'd get their approval, we talk through what those two days would look like, but then when you get to race day, they forget it. Yeah. We had that conversation two months ago or two weeks ago about.

SPEAKER_05 14:41

And we should have known something about this, and you're like, uh we both of us were there twice. Like our faces were twice. Twice. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 14:53

Yeah, that for sure. Um did you have any businesses, and you don't have to name them unless we want to throw them under the box, which I would love to. Um is there any that were like a real pain come race day?

SPEAKER_04 15:05

Businesses. Um the businesses weren't or was there anything that came that popped up? The businesses weren't. I don't think that the businesses were a bad thing to do. Right.

SPEAKER_05 15:16

The businesses were were good. And and one of the things is honestly just building the infrastructure for learning how to communicate with all of these businesses on campus corner and on uh in downtown, and they do have two business associations, so um this flexed those muscles pretty hard of their organizations and just trying to help make sure we get disseminated the information that's gonna be helpful for them. And I, you know, I'm pumped that like I think we're even um working even more closely with them this year um so that they have uh you know a pay uh a say in that. And then um was it a struggle with the residents? Um I can see that being a way bigger problem. Yes, yeah, that would be way more difficult.

SPEAKER_02 16:00

Yeah, and again, it's it's really just educating the public. Like, what is a criterion? And you know, how does that, you know, how does that affect the city?

SPEAKER_05 16:07

Other towns do it and live, like exactly what happened.

SPEAKER_02 16:10

And then the other aspect to it is how do how do normally like we do parades in Norman, so it's like one street. This is quadrants that we're shutting down, like all of downtown, all of Main Street, along four other streets that that encapsulate the actual course itself. So it it's really a big undertaking, but it's more about educating them on that hey, this has been done before, they do it an hour and a half down the road in Tulsa Tuf every year. So that was one of the biggest things.

SPEAKER_05 16:39

Like the first thing I always go back to is this uh Charleston's lunch where we sat down and we've never met Trent before, and I was like, but he's buying Charleston's, so you got me here. I'm the good guy.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Aaron still asked for Charleston's.

SPEAKER_05 16:52

I do, it's my favorite restaurant on Charleston's. I don't mind. You're welcome.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

One of the things that really comes to mind with with that point is um last year and this upcoming year, but in the enclosed courses, um, there's a church. And there's uh four big ones, and so the like it actually works out to where the congregation comes in, parks, there's a small break, they do you know, church, and then we take a break and and they leave. And I don't think a lot of the racers notice that that happens.

SPEAKER_06 17:27

That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

Um but those small details that like no one sees, like, that's that's a pretty big task for Aaron and Trinity.

SPEAKER_05 17:36

Oh well, and then if you have to redo the schedule, um, I can change where all this where all the races go, and I can control the breaks between or even the lengths of those, but I don't get to control their worship. So that part is well, anyway, yeah, that's a good point. Like it was okay. That's a good one.

SPEAKER_03 17:52

Yeah, that's a really good point. It's pretty wild.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

Yeah, and then also like keeping, you know, he has to get approval through the police, the city. Then once the course is built, then like the officials with USA cycling come and nitpick it. Like, there's several angles.

SPEAKER_05 18:09

And then on campus, there's three good-sized churches, and so you're like, hey, can y'all not please don't have a wedding? You're that's so like you know, there's a big ask from the whole community. Um, and and so yeah, it's it's everything touches everything else, you know, and so nothing, almost nothing, doesn't have a ripple effect on everything else, whether schedule or or the logistics of the of the courses. I'm glad you brought courses because yeah, that's it, that's a huge that was that's what really the biggest thing is shutting this stuff down.

SPEAKER_03 18:39

Well, at least you notified the residents and let them know, like, hey, this is kind of running and all that kind of stuff. Because I live like in kind of closer to downtown Oklahoma City. And we have so whenever the marathon happens, like I'm blocked, I'm locked in. Like I can't, I'm done until like early afternoon. So, like, say maybe like one or two o'clock. So I just know it. I mean, they don't notify us or anything, but I just know like where I live, I can't go anywhere, um, which is a real problem. Like, whenever we have like a mountain bike race that day or something like that, I can't I can't get out of my neighborhood. So you have to plan ahead of parking car somewhere else or doing something like that. But there's always 5K's or always something going on in the neighborhood. And when it happens, you're just like, okay, well, I guess I'm just gonna sit here until that street opens up or whatever, which so it's nice that there's notification.

SPEAKER_00 19:29

So you're saying that they don't get your signature?

SPEAKER_03 19:31

They do not get my signature. Holy smokes. I get uh go outside and like campaign for that. I guess I'm gonna just go walk the dog instead of leaf. So that's what happens, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 19:40

Well, and like camping out to catch someone to get their signature. Oh man. Like if I show up to do that, it's not like I didn't have other things to do.

SPEAKER_03 19:48

Sounds like to me you need to be back to the door-to-door salesman and selling some garage doors. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Now that you've been getting some experience going door to door. Oh, for sure. Maybe that's what you can do. I get to see a lot of garage doors that way, yes. Oh, you can camp out. Hey, you can sign here that we're having a race. By the way, I know all your garage door tea. I noticed that you have a dent over there that I'm more than happy to fix. That's right. You live with that every day.

SPEAKER_05 20:12

Just kidding. Exactly. We do not judge your garages. I'm kidding. You don't have to judge, you can just my garage looks like your garage.

Campus Course Design And Fixes

SPEAKER_03 20:18

It has stuff in it, so everyone's like, I'm really sorry. Just kidding. What were some things that happened on was there well, I came down and watched both days, and let's talk about the campus course first day. The the first time through you know, through that campus corner and around the campus stuff. What were uh some surprises that came up that day?

SPEAKER_02 20:39

Anything that comes to mind? I well, before we talk about what popped up maybe on game day, um, was the fact that we couldn't have done it without the partnership with OU because they allowed us to use utilize that North Oval, um, which was uh I think amazing for our racers. I think the uh you know the first iteration of 89er stage race. I don't think they were able to utilize the North Oval at that time. So I think that that was an aspect that I think it's cool that you go through campus.

SPEAKER_03 21:05

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 21:06

Yeah. I'm glad yeah, you said that because that's that brings up a complication um or a convolution that guy Norman stops at Boyd Street. So when we race onto the oval, you're now in OU land. So now you're with OU police, you're with OU's uh stuff they fixed on the oval for us. I mean, like that's another thing. Like um the city of Norman and OU were really awesome to um fix a lot of uh road conditions that I was like I felt like we tried to set up like world-class courses that would race really well, not just race fast, but um also have some technicality to them. But you know, every road has crud, you know, whole potholes and things like that. They were busting up major things on the back side of the oval where the two turns are, there's like a piece of infrastructure or something, like a pipe, and it had like I don't know, bulged up from one side to the other. Oh, you fixed it. Wow. So we could that's cool, not have. To like bunny hop right when you're setting your turn up, right? Yeah, but no one it's you don't know that, but anyway, yeah, they did a good job with those things.

SPEAKER_03 22:06

Well, I think the course and adding that oval added something to the course to make it not just like square, square, square.

SPEAKER_04 22:13

It definitely added something to the course.

SPEAKER_03 22:15

I sat there and watched a lot of things that I added to the course. It added a really fun like get on it after the run straight away at the Porsche. Some road rash for some people. I did notice some of that. Yeah. But it's a great place to sit and watch because it's going into the finish stretch, like moves are starting to happen on that road right there. Like I thought it was cool.

SPEAKER_01 22:33

Yeah, I thought it was a great course. I mean that that tight turn was pretty decisive. Because if the speed spoke.

SPEAKER_03 22:40

Like the U-turn back?

SPEAKER_01 22:42

The pull the sharp turn out of the obey. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, because it's right before the finish. So you think that was the final turn? Like first into that one? No, not necessarily, but like if you couldn't, if you didn't know how to corner at speed, you probably weren't gonna win the race. You know, that you know, you watch some of the lower category races and they tried to corner at speed to win the race and crash there, and it's not like it's not a dangerous corner, it's just a hard like you have to know what you're doing. Um I thought what was that? I thought that course was really fun.

SPEAKER_03 23:12

Because you came out of that corner, but you had a huge road, yeah, which was fantastic. Yeah, yeah. That's what I thought was really cool coming out of that. Like it's a hard, sketchy.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

There's there's a lot of options, right?

SPEAKER_03 23:22

And it's sketchy because you're going so fast. Yeah. Um, but yeah, but you have room.

SPEAKER_05 23:26

What does that turn? That turns into a I think you could do good if you were doing 19 or 20, like on that turn. They were like that. Yeah, like that's you're gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

I think I think everyone was not aware of how wide the road was and trying to turn sharper than they needed to. Yep, you're right. Or or just entering the corner wrong, really, is where it started. But I mean it wasn't it wasn't a hard corner, but I I liked it because it was quite a bit different than most courses, like super fast into the oval, but then the oval slows it down because it's narrower. Um I I like that course.

SPEAKER_05 24:00

Yeah, I definitely felt like there was like a cognitive load that that probably um probably registered for a lot of people lap after lap, having to negotiate that. Um I was nervous about it, but then a few other guys were like, nope, we've had to race a lot worse stuff than that in the past. Yeah, it wasn't that at all.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

It was funny, like first lap that's pretty fast going into that turn. And then the next lap and a lot more. I mean, if you can corner, you know, it's like tactically, it's a good place to attack because it's good, it's gonna, you know, at the very least, it's gonna string out because people don't want to bunch up into it. But yeah, it was it was kind of funny, like first lap to second lap, the difference in how people once they realized how tight it was at speed.

SPEAKER_03 24:43

And I thought the course was great to look at because you had a long stretch into the wind coming into that oval. Yeah, which was a great place for things to happen. But then your finish chute was downwind, so it takes that draft kind of setup, makes that a variable that's not atypical. Because if that would have been in the if your finish line would have been into the wind there, there's a whole lot different tactics that happen with teams and with people attacking at the last second or you know when they jump their sprint. So when it's going downwind and it's that finish line, like it was long enough, but it wasn't long enough where somebody can wind it up forever and make a move. So I thought there was a lot more dynamics that happened there that if you I don't race crits, but watching it, I understand it. And so I felt like there was a lot of dynamics that were happening that it was like cool to see.

Race Dynamics And Spectator Experience

SPEAKER_05 25:30

Um, everyone feels like they'll know how you know races they've done, they feel like they know about what's going on with um like maybe Tulsa, for instance, or something like that. Like that university stretch reminds me of like Saturday Brady Arts, the backside stretch right before, and I and their finish is that's Brady Arts is a longer finish, but um, but it reminds me of that because that's where I mean you can you can catch some zeros or you can do a little flyer, make up a bunch of spots. But hey, and racers, I think only about four or five uh guys went down, so it was that turn that pin uh hairpin is not that bad, but do yourself a favor, there are some guys that have uploaded their race footage to YouTube and just look for Maverick Criterium or some guys have put MavCrit, and I mean that's a really good um pre-ride to check out what other guys lines and things like that, guys and gals did.

SPEAKER_03 26:22

So and you can tell me you were the one you were in the racing, and the I think both kids raced, right? Yeah. And so like I felt like there was enough, it wasn't like, oh, if you're first into this last corner, you got it. Like there was oh no, there was more room for things to happen.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

The finish, the finish after the last corner was definitely long enough. Like if you led into that, that didn't mean you're winning. And um did you race Sunday too?

SPEAKER_05 26:47

Or Saturday? Yeah, you raced Sunday too, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:49

I did one and a half races on Saturday, and then I did one race on Sunday.

SPEAKER_03 26:54

Well, let's jump into Sunday because it was downtown. Yeah. And I thought that was fantastic because it just because there was more people there, maybe because it was like the people that were there watching were in a smaller area, maybe. That's why it seemed like there was more or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 27:05

Well, and I think the businesses that went around, yeah. You kind of had people other than like turns one and two. You didn't no one was really over there. Everywhere else there was a lot of people. Um where Saturday, I think everyone was around that last turn, start-finish area, or maybe in the oval, but like turns one and two, nobody was down there because it was kind of far. Um, but Sunday, I actually like Saturday's course better as far as just a course. I didn't dislike Sundays, but I thought I thought the Saturday course was much different than anything I'd raced. For Sunday was very similar to a lot of crits. You raised it.

SPEAKER_05 27:41

It looked like a butcher knife too, if you look at it. That's someone someone the other, I think it was you that was like, dude, look at this. Saturday. We just did like a yellow line image of it.

SPEAKER_03 27:49

Yeah. Well, I think Sunday as a spectator was better because you had restaurants and bars right there to go in to pop in and out of real quick. You could jump over and see the spot where they go both directions through an intersection, so you see them coming and going. Then you go like a block over and you could see the finish line shoot. Like for a second.

SPEAKER_05 28:05

It was really tight, like spectator-wise, spectator-wise was fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 28:08

But even spectator-wise on Saturday, you could go see the oval and just walk a few steps over and you're in the finish shoot. So that was easy. You just didn't get to see anything on the back side of the course.

SPEAKER_05 28:18

But that's that's and a lot of crits have like a I call it dark of the moon, like you're just right there, you know, and there's nobody back there, but for sure. It's still racing.

SPEAKER_03 28:27

Yeah, you don't you're not paying attention to it to some point. But no, for spectators, I thought both days were really good because you got to see the you got to see the good spots both days.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

And you were and you were really close to somewhere to get food. Always. You didn't have to go anywhere.

SPEAKER_03 28:40

And shade. Like it was easy to get shade and come back.

SPEAKER_01 28:43

I mean, I mean I think that's important because you want to support those businesses that are kind of accommodating you. But yeah. Yeah, I mean, both of them, like one of the corners on Sunday's uh cafe, if you want to go get a coffee, and then there's just tons of places to eat, and that's what's always nice. You don't have to pack a bunch of stuff, you don't have to walk away from your stuff, you can just walk a hundred feet and grab something to eat or drink.

SPEAKER_03 29:04

That's the one thing I would love to encourage people um to come watch these races because we don't get crits, like top-level crits in Oklahoma City metro area. I mean, we only get two in the state. Um and Tulsa Tuf gets a massive crowd, but they've been doing it for I don't know, what, 20 something years at this point. Um, so it just takes time. But I think people don't realize how because my brother lives in Norman, and I was talking to him, and he came down and watched, and he was like, Yeah, man, I haven't heard anything about this, like really, outside of like you telling me, and then I paid attention and saw something. He's like, I don't think people in Norman knew that this was happening, and you know, so I think the more years it happens, the more steam that that gets, because it's a fantastic place to go watch races. It's great. Like exactly what you said. You can get coffee, you can get beer, you can get food, your kids can come and hang out, and there's places for them to I mean I've been to a lot of crates where you're you're in a downtown area, but there's nothing around, or everything's closed to their doors, like our businesses.

SPEAKER_05 30:05

Um picture if you've been to Campus Corner and you're on ASP, that's one of the main one of the you know streets that you're thinking of when you think of Campus Corner. Like a lot of those businesses open their doors. You can go in and get something, you can go get a margarita, you could go get, you know, a beer or a hot dog or a burger, a pizza, and any of those types of things that the normal you know OU haunts that you think of, and you're racing right down it. So the looks like, and that was my thing when we first started it, and they're like, hey, what about a bike race? And I'm like, okay, we can do this, but it may be almost as hard to do one that's not awesome as it is to do one that's really awesome. And I was really wrong, but because it's it's a lot harder to put one on in these tight urban areas, but gosh, it looks so good, there's so much there. Um, you know, anytime you go race other places, I felt like I could just see like our hometown, and I'm like, we could do this, it's been done before, and through a lot of and what I call an immoral amount of work.

SPEAKER_03 31:03

Yeah, we are well on Saturday. I felt like the crowd was like only racers and families on Saturday. On Sunday, like sitting around, there was a lot. I think there was more people that weren't had no idea about bike racing on Sunday, like sitting there, these people that I'm sitting with and you know, talking, and these people that they have no clue. Maybe they maybe they own a fixie, maybe they own a single speed kind of situation, maybe they commute on their bike, like I doubt it, but maybe they just happen to be coming to downtown to a bar or a restaurant, and they stumbled out on the street, and then they sit there for the next two hours, and they're like having the best time. And watching them was hilarious because they're like, I know, I love best heart.

SPEAKER_05 31:42

Yeah, but that's I love the shock when people are like, What's happening?

SPEAKER_03 31:44

Like, I was it was on campus, uh but they were the best fans too, because they were like cheering and saying and yelling and screaming because they were terrifying.

SPEAKER_05 31:51

It was great. We don't know something like crit racing exists until it's scaring you to death because it's in front of you, and the wind that comes off of you know, elites and pros, like it's you know, I mean it's it's terrifying if you've never been that close to it, and it's awesome. And I think it was campus. I had promised I promised Melissa like one walk each for each race. Like we just husband and wife go take a take a walk. I'm gonna go watch a couple corners or something with you, you know. And we were walking down Aspen, I think we got to uh Louis. And I think it was Louie's in one of the like one of the doors, like the windows kind of open up, and this this uh couple who was from out of state, and I can't remember what they were there doing. They might have been there, they may have been there for softball world series, but they're like, excuse me, they're like, What's going on? It's like you know, I got to really just super briefly tell them, and they're like, This is really cool. So yeah, organically connecting with those people, it was pretty, it was fun.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

Yeah, it's also pretty challenging getting people who don't know what bike racing is to come out to a bike race, and that's where Trent and uh the Norman Sports Commission is really helpful. Um, a lot of focus this year on trying to get new engagements and those people out. Um, I think we will see more people out this year than we did last year.

Downtown Day Two: Crowd And Flow

SPEAKER_03 33:06

But even like bike racers here in Oklahoma City, like I know we have a mountain bike race that same weekend, but it's just one day. But like, and but it's in Edmonds. So people that are coming in from Tulsa or coming in from you know Lawtonary or Enid, whatever, like come a day early and go down and watch this race. Like you can come in and pre-ride Arcadia and then go watch the races. Like, you need something to do, and it's they're fantastic. And like exactly what you said, there's plenty of places to eat, there's plenty of places to hang out, like bring family, like everybody can just do whatever they want to do. And I think the city of Norman, I mean, they put on a great event with that, but I think the businesses were they seemed to be very welcoming, and I think if we had more spectators, then it would continue to get significantly better. 100%. Yeah, yeah. So um, was there any like wild, crazy story that happened? You're like, oh my god. Before we jump into what's happening this year, that was like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 34:02

Besides the rainstorm.

SPEAKER_03 34:04

Oh yeah, that was sunny.

SPEAKER_05 34:05

Not like an hour, what we do had to impose like a I don't remember and 15 minutes. Nothing like that. That's because it was your first year.

SPEAKER_00 34:13

Like you have to have rain your first year.

SPEAKER_05 34:15

I had to redo the schedule for this year, hopefully for the last time, but like uh, and I was like, I was asked, of course, I was terrorizing Vanessa and Trent. I was like, hey, what did we do last year? Because sometimes that just goes back to the cloud. Like it's just it's back in and I was like, Trent, didn't didn't you have some kind of what did you do? You you said something to the church, and we were like, I don't remember. I have no idea what I said. And I said, I know what it was that was that rain delay because we had to pose, and I forgot about the rain delay. We were sitting in the truck, just sitting there like zombied, and we're like, it's just gonna keep raining. And at some point, we're just radaring it, and at some point we're like, we're just gonna get wet, dude. And like we just got out and just it's pouring down, and you were throwing hay bales, like at that moment. They were, they went from like 50 pound bales to 90 pound bales. And if y'all have seen me, that needs to be Trent's job. No, no, that is not that is not a curse job. I was like, I need a lot more coffee, but yeah, we were throwing, and later Vanessa's like, you do not need to be doing all that next year. Well, there's not a bike racer in the world that can lift a 90-pound hay bale. I know, yeah, it was uh it was entertaining.

SPEAKER_00 35:19

There was a lot of chaos going on that day. I mean, we we had a corner that like there was a team working on like trying to drain water out of a specific corner. We saw the course, and then the officials were like, the pit can't be on that side of the course, it has to be on the other. So then we're like taking fence apart, moving the fence to the other side. Like, this was all probably 30 minutes before the start of the first race.

SPEAKER_03 35:40

They worked on that corner all the way in the room. Like, I don't know what a lot of those races looked like. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that that cornered. It was an impressive effort.

SPEAKER_05 35:48

It was well, thank you. And here's what we came up with, and because I got called to that corner several times, and I think I was really pleased I got to use some more builder knowledge on this because we the whole course was was bone dry except for this one little spot, and it kept weeping. And I'm like, guys, this is um this is like it's just pumping up. Like it's just like hydraulically pumping up, it's not even like draining anymore from somewhere, it's just coming out of sidewalk cracks, and it's like 85 degrees, everything's dry. I'm like, it's not going away. No, you're sweeping it every direction, brooming it, squeeze.

SPEAKER_01 36:23

They were sweeping it. The riders would come through, they would sweep it, or shot back. They were vacuuming it.

SPEAKER_05 36:29

It looked like curling in front of a bike, like we were like brooming in front of top. Oh my gosh, I remember in um who was oh, Aaron Smathers was helping at that corner, and then and then Shanks stayed along. That was like his station. And and I think Smathers was like, hey, we gotta dam this up. So we had um we just started robbing um um, I don't call them sandbags, they were mud bags at that point of sand and just like just oozing it, just all down our fronts trying to find a way to dam it up.

SPEAKER_03 37:04

How sore were you the next day? That's the most you've lifted in your life.

SPEAKER_05 37:08

I don't know. I I had to have been pretty sore because I have uh that got extra. I didn't hear from him for two months, let's just put it to you that way. Yeah, we spent two months in a truck together getting signatures, and uh then we like didn't talk for two months. That's hilarious.

SPEAKER_02 37:24

Yeah, so the other element that I felt like that was unique that was kind of chaotic for us was trying to thread the needle, trying to get some other people that aren't bike fans out there, and so yeah, we brought in the Porsche's, right? We had a Porsche show element to it on Saturday, which was awesome. That was cool. Um, there were vintage Porsches there, and and and Chris Anderson with Eurosport was amazing in helping set that up for us. But I think there was an element, and you probably know the story a little bit better than I, but there was an element there that caused some friction, some chaos there for us on the scenes.

SPEAKER_05 37:56

Right. Well, so we're like, we're like, oh, this is awesome. We've got I mean, we've got Porsche, you know, paste cars. I mean, I don't remember the last time, it's been a long time. And then we've got like, I think it was 19 or 22 collector Porsches out there. So we're like, oh, everything's great. And then um, and then I think Vanessa was like, you have all your slips for these drivers, right? And I was like, oh, I'm I'm sure they're what? I mean, I don't know. I don't I don't know. And so it was like, what was it, night before or two nights? It was two nights ahead of. Oh, it was it was rough. And Vanessa was like, I'm really sorry, dude, but like we gotta have some way, and and and and she did everything she could to help figure out exactly how that needed to be. But yeah, I know Chris had to he had to pull some, he just had to go back to these drivers and be like, I don't know what you're doing right now, but you're doing this slip, you know.

SPEAKER_03 38:46

Watching those guys were having the time of their lives because they can like definitely like slow down to the right corner just so they can hammer it in the wrong screen, right?

SPEAKER_00 38:55

Yeah, we got pretty lucky with the group of drivers that we had, and I think two or three of the drivers are actually in the cycling community, and we know them pretty well. Um, they had family members racing that day. Um, but yeah, we do we have to do like a like a background check for drivers. I mean, they're on a closed course with people on bicycles, so we want to make sure it's safe.

SPEAKER_06 39:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:16

Um, so we they were they were really safe last year. I think this year we'll let them rip a little bit more, is what we agreed to.

SPEAKER_03 39:23

Yeah, yeah, they were having fun for sure. Because they got to shut it down pretty quick on some of those corners to get to the next one. So they but they would hammer and then shut it down and then right?

SPEAKER_00 39:34

That's how yeah, that's what we want them to do.

SPEAKER_05 39:35

Yeah, they were having a good time. Yeah, and so yeah, and it's fun to watch, right? And and they were behind it, and I'd say Vanessa, but like, I mean, USAC thinks it's cool too. But they're not going to be losing their reputation over just a piece of fun. So, like, it had to be right, but then it had to be fun, and it got to be both things. So we were looking at it.

SPEAKER_00 39:52

Yeah, one of our goals is we want to try to, I don't know if it'll happen this year, maybe, but offer like a VIP ride type experience where we can have passengers in those cars.

SPEAKER_03 40:02

That would be cool.

SPEAKER_05 40:03

Yeah, so to the right passengers, the right sponsors, um, and when the situation's right, that's basically just have them be getting picked up. And and Chris was very um experienced. I think Jess Parker, he was very couple of it's what was uh the lady's name? Okay, well, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 40:20

Donna.

SPEAKER_05 40:21

Donna. I'm sorry, Donna. Okay, they know you better than I do. So but um they were very good and experienced and know how to um get up ahead of uh the racers, get over to a good pit and pick up um a rider. And yeah, well, I will say this uh somebody last year needed a bag. Like um they almost needed a barf bag. I got I was told that I could see that.

SPEAKER_00 40:42

Maybe the sure we'll just put a donation jar out and we'll be able to donate, uh-huh, get in the passages. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 40:48

Whoever donates for most gets in for the last race.

Weather Chaos And Game-Day Adjustments

SPEAKER_01 40:50

Porsche cream recycling of B VIP. Of course, yeah, with the podcast right from the front seat. I did think I was, I will admit, I was annoyed. I was like, why is there just a big break in the racing for these Porsches? Uh-huh. And then as soon as they came out, I was like, this is pretty cool. Yeah, I was watching it and enjoying it, like I kind of got it after that because I was just looking at the race day schedule. I'm like, why do we have this big break just for them to drive? But it was pretty cool. Like seeing all the different cars and like hearing all the different cars, and it was cool.

SPEAKER_03 41:24

I think that's I think that's the best part, is like the event can be whatever in the world you want it to be. Like, and so to do something different, like that's the point. Like, it sold a Porsche.

SPEAKER_05 41:35

I know one for one, at least one Porsche. Um, yeah. That's awesome. Just in the GM of Noun Hotel, which is our host hotel. Oh, nice, nice plug. Well done, sir. Yeah, but so he had a really sick, um, like oh, caddy, like black wing, I can't remember. It was souped up and it was fast and it was cool, but he that was gone. That's awesome. It is now a Porsche, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:55

Within six months, he had had his Porsche.

SPEAKER_03 41:57

So it's just yeah, it was that part it was fun. Yeah, but I think it's fun that when a when any kind of event or anybody does something different, like that's the whole point of all of this. Like you have a blank slate to do whatever in the world you want to do. So do it.

SPEAKER_05 42:11

Yeah, that said, I will say this, we're we are trying to figure out exactly where the Porsche uh show goes in. Okay, so let's let's roll that into this year. Yeah. So what what are we looking at for 2026? So because of some great people and their advice, like Vanessa and some other people, I again terrorized. Um, it made it look like Trent and I knew everything we were doing. Okay. So it was it went pretty well. Like we were very, very fortunate and blessed that um I think it went better than you and I probably I mean, even thought it would go. So what we hoped is to have um an even better representation of categories. So we'll have um actual cat five men, and that was my thing. I won because I'm like, I feel like we need more cat sevens. Um cat five for life, baby. Sign up.

SPEAKER_03 42:59

I'm sorry, that's what I'm saying. Like, you know, they told me like, hey, if you do one more race, you gotta cat up. I'm like, I'm not doing another race. Sorry, I'm not gonna be.

SPEAKER_05 43:05

I mean, you don't parachute in as a cat three, so I was like, man, we need somebody. First of all, fours, four or five races are I mean, that's very ubiquitous. That's you're gonna find those. I mean, that's just because I mean you can't have a race with you know four people. So um anyway, we we stripped that out. We have a true cat uh five menace. So a cat five only race. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 43:26

Boy, that's gonna be entertaining.

SPEAKER_01 43:28

You can be out there with no socks. Do it.

SPEAKER_03 43:30

Trash five as uh Jeff Linder says fives.

SPEAKER_05 43:35

Yeah, I that that's that's gonna be an entertaining race. So I'm gonna be there for that one. Um yeah, so it got so it got longer because we wanted to um have um well, I mean, we're I'm talking to to you racers. I mean, we wanted to have categories that are gonna really represent races where you are in with everybody else that's a very similar skill set. So there's then A, there's no hiding. You know, um and B, you're not gonna have to just get shelled too bad. Um if you're racing with I mean we also split out the men's um true to uh true two races like um uh masters A and Masters B that won't just be together. You'll get your own races start times. Um and then um we also have a women's uh masters. So they'll race with um that's cool. Vanessa helped me. The threes. So uh cat three women and masters 40 plus um two podiums. Okay. One start time on that. So we tried to really work on some things um with the intention or the thought that um we probably um have a few eyeballs going on now, and if you come, we wanted to have um good category report.

SPEAKER_03 44:48

Well, I think last year, like I don't feel like there was a ton of spectators there, but I feel like you had a solid amount of racers. I I feel like I felt like the racer turnout was actually, I mean, as someone on the outside looking in, I don't know what y'all's goals and thoughts of the all this was gonna be, but like I was like first year race, like I don't know, like it exceeded my expectations.

SPEAKER_00 45:09

But I felt like the turnout Yeah, for year one, I think it was it was really successful. I thought it was to the point to where we're kind of talking about what percentage we would like to improve for year two. Um but I think year one it was it was way improved like what I my expectations were.

SPEAKER_05 45:29

I mean yeah, it was it's it's led to growing pains. Like we're like, hey, this is a long way from Charleston's. I'm like, dang it. Well, you know, and and and I it obviously this was a lot of people, it wasn't just me, but like, you know, it's awesome, like that it did, it did go, I it exceeded my expectations. I mean, I just walking around and was like, I couldn't believe, you know, I was busy, everybody was busy, like I got to hear the Porsches, but I think I was trying to help somebody, somebody was moving in on the campus course, they didn't get to hear it, but like um I it did exceed our expectations, and so I think to us, we're like, well, we have to honor that. Like, um, we were able to, through a village, um, pull off a great first year event. What do we want this to be? Well, I mean, we want this to be a world-class race. Um, we worked hard for world-class courses. Um, we've listened to you, racers. There were a couple things we've improved upon.

SPEAKER_03 46:28

Um let's talk about that. What let's talk about the courses and let's talk about the things you've improved upon. For one, you added categories, right? So that's fantastic to give people more opportunities to race in a similar skill set, which as a cat-fi for life, I appreciate that, even though I won't be there. Oh, you'll be there. I'm watching, yeah. We'll do flat bars during that. Oh, nice. Um, but let's talk about the courses. So, what courses do you have set up for this year? And how are they the same, different, and how are they the same and different?

Porsche Pace Cars And Safety Protocols

SPEAKER_05 46:59

Um, campus is exactly the same. Okay, that's our expectation. Um, campus is exactly the same. So you're gonna do good to go to YouTube. If you weren't there, you're gonna be there this year. Come race. I'll put a link in our show notes for I'll find somebody's video that we'll be able to do. That's right. You're gonna be at Tulsa the weekend after. Maverick is the weekend before Tulsa. Come in. You know you want to check out Diamond. Um so get on YouTube, check out those uh the race footages that were loaded um uploaded, and you will have a um uh cliff's notes um of what campus looked like. Um and then downtown we are excited to um talk about a new course. Let's do it. Let's talk about it. So, what I really loved about last year's course, and and they've all heard me whine and cry about it enough, was we got to race Porter. And if you're not uh familiar with Norman, that was a big lift and a big ask. Um what that came with was a narrow um, I would call it like we call it um the yellow dog corner at Porter and uh Ufala. And so that just wasn't gonna be um that was untenable because you have traffic there, and then that's honestly at least the second and maybe one of the fat maybe the fastest corner on that course. So we have um we've kept Main Street because that is to me, that's the course, like that's iconic, and I wanted to make sure we had two continuous um city blocks of racing there. So your start finish will still be on Peter's, and you will have uh still have a great final turn with um 440 feet of of a shootout at the end once you've make that be first in the last turn. But if not, get on the gas, you know. So um we're excited to talk about that new course and um yeah, we'll go south.

SPEAKER_02 48:42

Yeah, the other thing that I'll point out is that on Saturday on the campus corner course, we're gonna have a later start time and go into the evening. So it's gonna be Saturday under the lights. Yes, so we're really excited about that. Good job, Trent. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:56

Dude, is anybody else think the Trent has like the most fantastic podcast voice?

SPEAKER_04 49:01

Yeah, he does. He does not radio play anymore. So good.

SPEAKER_03 49:06

Yeah. Like, man, I feel like I'm uh like uh can you give the more overhead door phone number for us? I should know that by the heart. I'm sorry. I feel like I'm like what like listening to like KOMA at night or something. It's Dr. Frazier Crane. I'm really dating myself with that. Um so with the new with the changes to the course, what are you guys looking to have happen over last year to this year with those changes? Is there is it just a flow, better flow? Is just a little safer? What like what are you thinking? I think while Vanessa, did you want to say something? I've talked a whole bunch.

SPEAKER_00 49:41

No, I was just gonna say this kind of goes back to like the complicated hurdles that are constantly having because this did not start out by a decision that Aaron wanted to make.

SPEAKER_04 49:51

So okay, yeah, fair.

SPEAKER_05 49:52

Yeah, you're right. It's fair.

SPEAKER_00 49:53

All right, so it's fresh, so yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 49:57

The band-aid I was ripped off. I was very in love with this course from last year, and a lot of you were too. Um, so I didn't explore a lot of the other parts of downtown that we could um that we could race, but when when USAC was like, dude, no cars, and then the police were like, dude, no traffic, like it was gonna cause a formidable and I pushed. Um and we have an incredible uh police liaison, Denny Osterling. He's he's been awesome. Um and so, but I mean he he uh he put up with my you know grousing about this traffic and and he he tried. He was like, hey, look, you know what? I'll try. And so he went back and I mean he really did, and and and really at the end of the day, um Norman is just trying to do what's right, and obviously USAC's trying to do what's right. Um and so I know that there were a couple moments maybe Chris might remember because I know your race was pretty fast. Um Porter was kind of spooky, and I didn't know that, I'm gonna be honest until I mean I I would say it wasn't a problem, but what if it became a problem it was gonna be bad?

SPEAKER_01 51:00

Oh because it I mean if there were a crash, you're crashing into traffic at a high speed. So I would just say, I mean, what what they're doing is future-proofing this. I mean, if it's gonna grow the way they want it to grow, uh the fields last year weren't a problem going from a four-lane into a one-lane. But I mean, yeah, the last lap of my race, we were racing for third, and the guy in front of me was running over the the feet of the fence because we're going so fast and he couldn't he couldn't hold that single. I mean, he held it. Right. Um, it was Chris Carlson, so he knows what he's doing, but he was like running over the feet, and I was coming in at behind him, like hoping he didn't crash. Right. Um about that exactly. Yeah, I mean he I mean we were I don't know how fast we were going, it had to be over 30 though. So coming from four lanes to one lane at that speed, even that was in the masters race. That wasn't even in the the fast race. So the way I looked at it, because I've been in on this conversation some is like you're you're future-proofing it. If you can't shut Porter down or can't open it up, you need a different course that's gonna accommodate a hundred rider field eventually.

SPEAKER_06 52:10

Yeah, that's fantastic.

SPEAKER_05 52:12

So yeah, and that was the great point, was and that's something Vanessa had preached and was hey, you know what? People saw this race, it's not gonna shrink next year. So like if we have a bigger, the faster fields, they'll grow and and it'll be fast still. So, like you're gonna have to see your courses from those eyeballs. And so, um, hey, I'm not outside um getting taken to the woodshed. I just might not go down easily. So I had to have them fight me a little bit on it until I saw the light and I was like, this is really happening. Um, so I got to start exploring some other courses, and we drove them and we and and and Denny with the police, he drove them with us.

SPEAKER_03 52:49

And so, what other what other exciting changes do you guys have coming this year? Anything else?

SPEAKER_00 52:55

Um Fondo.

SPEAKER_05 52:57

Oh Fondo Fondo. So all right, all right, so all right, Norman and surrounding area. Um I know you've got bikes in your garage. That's right. So um get outside, come ride the Maverick Fondo. We've brought on our fondo leader, um uh Dane Price, uh from uh Fat Tire Norman, and he is our he's uh leading the Fondo and coming up with the great course for you. Uh yes, Saturday morning. Okay, so we'll be leaving from ASP, and it's kind of like just south of Boyd on ASP.

SPEAKER_03 53:32

Well, for people that don't go to or aren't from Norman, where would that be at in Norman proper? Is it like by campus, by downtown? It'll be right by the course. Right by the course.

2026 Plans: Categories, Courses, Night Racing

SPEAKER_05 53:41

Yeah, so exactly. So you will be right close to and finishing right very close to like 800 feet from um the mav assuming that it goes exactly as we assume. Um right by where you can still see the Maverick uh start-finish truck. Yes, like the banner. So that will be fun. So if on the one Saturday, what distances are you off with? Um because I really wanted to have it's amazing when you try to write like a sophomore album, and the first one, you know, was pretty okay. Um, which I I mean I I try to say that with a lot of humility because I I mean it was as you always say, it's flying an airplane while you're building it. So but um be careful saying what he says. I know, yeah. I gotta say it more like this, like you know, an action hero uh voice. But um I wanted it to be more of an incremental change. So um we've got what we're planning on is a 40. Okay. Um it is it is a hilly route, so we have some really great riding out in Norman. I know. We've got some really great riding um out, it's kind of southeast Norman, so you will find some hills out there, and then we're planning also um it should have a 10-mile um kind of a fun ride.

SPEAKER_03 54:58

Something a little more 10-mile fun, any beginners, anybody can go do this. Anyone, a 40-mile come out and ride, enjoy being on your bicycle, and then finish and watch the crits.

SPEAKER_01 55:08

Yep. Yeah, I mean with the later start time Saturday, everyone should be done, mostly done before the races start.

SPEAKER_05 55:15

Um I think that some races will have started, but you'll be done before like I probably won't be finished yet, so you'll be fine.

SPEAKER_03 55:26

Okay, all right. I'll still be going. They weren't there. Okay. He won't have the socks on all the time. Now I'll do the fondo. That's what I heard. Can I do the fondo and then roll that right into the catflies? I'll just jump in when I get back.

SPEAKER_05 55:39

I mean, we'll distract Vanessa if she's officiating, so you can just duke the hazardous ordinary.

SPEAKER_03 55:47

Um yeah, so Fondo, we're excited to. What time does the Fondo start? Do you guys have that set up? Fondo is eight. Okay. Okay. 40 miles. And then when did the races start?

SPEAKER_05 55:56

Um, the first race is uh nine, I believe, is when cat five men. Dang it, I don't think I'll be back in time. That'd be pretty fast.

unknown 56:05

Oh.

SPEAKER_05 56:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 56:07

I think if you can run that fast, you'll win the cat five men.

SPEAKER_05 56:09

No, my e-bike.

SPEAKER_06 56:10

I'm good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 56:11

Um so and then some other things. Oh, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 56:14

I was just gonna say there's a couple other elements that we've uh included this year. We're gonna uh on campus corner, since we've already shut down the streets, we're gonna have a 5k component. Oh, yeah. That'll kick off, I don't know, around 8 or 8.30 that morning. That's right, yes. Sorry. See how it happens? Yeah, it's wild. And then on Sunday, we're gonna do a one-mile beer run. So we're gonna get the brewers that are downtown involved. And so you can we get you on that one? We need you in on that one.

SPEAKER_05 56:41

That's like a decathlon for you. Do you know how hard it is to watch Ryan turn that one down right now? That's a big weekend.

SPEAKER_03 56:48

I'm gonna start training. Look, we're saying it all. Like all my magic words.

unknown 56:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 56:54

Man, I'm gonna have to come up with a safe word for the weekend. This is fantastic.

SPEAKER_05 56:58

Um, we do have a Patriot said it earlier in the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 57:01

Yeah, I think so. Right.

SPEAKER_05 57:03

Um, host homes. We have our uh first host homes. We're glad to welcome them this year. Uh guys are almost like a big deal now. We're trying, I mean these are some of the growing pains, you know. And uh obviously, you know, we had a lot of great advice, um, so we decided to bring that great advice to the table in Vanessa. And so she's like, maybe maybe explain host out. Yeah, so are the host homes for teams or just for individuals? Like, do you all want to explain host homes? I think you would better explain it than me, even.

SPEAKER_00 57:31

So the Tulsa Tuf is the next weekend, so it's Maverick and then Tulsa Tuf. Um, our goal is just to get people in Oklahoma a little sooner and in the community longer. Um, so a lot of the pro teams, elite teams that travel and have a big race circus that they race, um, they will stay in host homes. Um, the events that they go to, it helps with budget and things like that. So that's one of the things that a lot of the events do that we would like to support. So just something that we can welcome. Um, you know, you want to come in, stay for the week. We want to be able to open homes for teams to stay in, um, which means if you have a home that you want to accommodate two people, we can do that. If you want to accommodate eight, sixteen people, we can do that too. So um, we do have an application process on the website, so you can go in and like say kind of what you're interested in, um, how many riders you want to accommodate, where you're located, things like that. And then as teams register and ask for that assistance, then we can kind of connect you too. And um, it's it normally plays out really well, and then it also gets the community kind of like a backbone in with the event. So the host home uh families develop a relationship with those teams, they'll come out and watch and cheer and all the things, and it's normally pretty successful.

SPEAKER_03 58:51

That's cool. So you need people to sign up to offer their home. Yes, we still do. Okay, so we need that. Um, and then how much I mean, do you have any clue how many people will be accepting this opportunity to use a host home? Like, do you have an idea of like, man, we need like 20 more houses, we need 20 homes. We need 10, or is there do we have any clue on that yet?

SPEAKER_00 59:13

It is hard to say with we're kind of saying that like we're on year one with that.

SPEAKER_03 59:18

But we need to house like 40 people.

SPEAKER_00 59:20

Aaron has pretty big goals with this event, so we're sending out, communicating, and targeting a lot of teams. We like want to get a lot of teams to this event. I would say if we could get 10 homes to sign up, like we couldn't need more than that. We could not use them all in year one, but you know, if you sign up, then that means you're available.

SPEAKER_03 59:40

And 10 homes housing how many people would that be like 20, 30 people total?

SPEAKER_00 59:44

I mean, that's where it's kind of difficult because like if if I were to say, yeah, I'll house someone, I can choose how many people, like I can say I want to have three women, and then like some people can say, I will house eight people, I don't care if it's men and women, like um, so you kind of can build that how you want.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:01

Okay, cool. And I would say too, and I think you told me that I would describe the um the obligation as as much interaction or as little interaction as you want with the team. And we're only here for a couple of things. No, I could probably let them sleep here, but I you know, I don't want to have a lot of people. Many of the places stay.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:15

Yeah. Yeah. And there's no you know, how many days are they here? Probably three to four. Okay. I would say I mean I'm sure they would come, you know, it's gonna depend on the team. They might show up Thursday, they might show up Friday, and then they're probably gonna leave Monday. Yeah. And go to Tulsa. But yeah, I mean, I I would I would say it doesn't there's no expectation on it. Uh you you set the expectation, but these teams are, you know, they're a lot of them run on a tight budget, so it's like if they can find somewhere, you know, if they can say five, six hundred dollars, yeah. It's a big that's a big yeah. I mean, the goal is to bring money into the city. You're hoping to do that with amateurs and masters racers, and um, but the teams, if you want to get the teams there, accommodating them helps a lot.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:00

Okay, cool. Um, what else are you guys uh yeah?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:04

Chris said maybe they'll come in on Thursday, which kind of reminds me one of the things that we're adding this year is a Thursday group ride and barbecue type atmosphere just to get the kickoff event, if you will, um, for riders and teams.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:22

I do love barbecue. Signed up for one more thing. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:28

Um, yeah, so events and things like that on our side will kick off on Thursday. So I would expect, like, if you're considering being a host uh for a team, I would say Thursday through Monday.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:41

Um, and then that's our kind of our long-term vision is that they stay in Norman, Oklahoma City metro area um till Monday, and then normally for Tulsa Tuff, people start arriving on Tuesday or so. So, you know, we're just kind of getting them here early, letting them acclimate to our wonderful summer weather. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:01

Yeah. And it may not sound like much, but even just adding these elements is a level of uh complication that we are taking on to big kiddify our race.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:11

It's a level of hospitality.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:13

Absolutely. Yeah. Speaking of, now our host hotel on that Friday night, we'll have our packet pickup, and then on their second floor that overlooks the course, the campus corner course, uh, they're gonna host a happy hour up there. So yeah.

Why The Downtown Course Is Changing

SPEAKER_05 1:02:27

Yeah, so it's and it's hard to pump all these things out. I'm I'm really glad you said that because that's gonna be a really fun thing that they've put themselves out there and to do in. Is that that really nice hotel that's on the stack? That really nice hotel. So nice. I went in there. Yeah, just like you can stand there and one bar is what is their bar you can just watch racers go by as they're going onto the oval coming down city.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:47

Oh, yeah. I mean, I went in there with Perkins, but he was like, Oh, you gotta come see this.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:50

And we went in there, I was like, Of course, Perkins were cool. Of course. So the team stayed there last year.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:56

That was super cool. Yeah, it's nice, yeah. But that said, adding those layers, I mean, we still uh we're growing. I mean, as as as Maverick grows and as we're adding um lots of different um things to make uh to future you know proof, like Chris is saying, and just make it an amazing event for our cycling community. Um we can still use help. So um obviously um we volunteers, you can sign up on our website on mavcrit.com. Um there are still you know, in the right fit, there's still some places that we could uh use some uh leadership for lots of different um other roles and things like that that we've added. So um obviously it has to be the right fit. Our team is we're we're uh we're very uh we play well with each other, we're we're direct, but we're um but we're courteous with each other, so we have to gotta you have to be able to play nice and um you have to You gotta be able to work. I mean from the outside I'm not gonna lie, I mean it's a big project.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:56

Right. And from the outside looking in, the fact that you guys, the fact that it was professional and as big of a production as it was year one from the outside looking in was shocking, to be honest. And that it was like, man, when you show up and you're like, a real deal. Like, this is not like a little crit that just happened in like a random town. Like, this is like the real deal with like the signage and the finish line shoot and the like the uh commentators and the music, just like the little things, this neutral support that we're gonna talk about here in a sec. Like those kinds of things, like it was done right, and then now you just gotta do it. Hope that you have the funds and the ability to do it enough years to get the traction, right? But like, not only are you doing that again this year, but you've leveled up, and that's the cool thing to see. Like looking at the event, it's like, oh, we're not just like saying, like, oh yeah, it was working rinse and repeat. It's actually like you're trying, and I hope people appreciate that you guys are actually trying to like put on a real event and not just be like, now we're just gonna go ride bicycles. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:00

And I know one person who appreciates you saying that is probably Trent because if you thought it looked cool last year, it's because I was talking him into writing a lot of checks, and I was like, look, dude, they'll love this, and they did love it. And um it was again, I I don't know. I mean, I I I I try to say it with as much humility as I can. It did go better than we thought. And I was trying to convey that to our team that isn't like immersed in crit racing or cycling. I was like, dude, people are talking about this that I mean I really didn't know that it would go like this. I hoped it would go well because it was so much work, but I was like, y'all know.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:37

I knew all the I mean, she was involved some last year, so I kind of knew all the struggles during the weekend. But I I was talking to Shanks after Sunday. We were just hanging out, and I was like, You wouldn't had I not known it, I would not have known it. I didn't see a thing. Like nobody else knew that there was all these problems that you guys dealt with.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:58

So at the challenges.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:01

Opportunities to improve. Well, from the outside, if you didn't know, like if I wasn't hearing it from her, you wouldn't know it. Right. Which is fantastic. I mean So it should be. Yeah, it's gonna be that way every year. There's gonna be challenges every year. Um, but if if you know majority of the public doesn't see that, as a ricer, how you're doing how it went last year. I thought it went great.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:23

Yeah. Everything was on time, everything went smooth. Like there was nothing that I didn't like. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:31

Well, thank you both for those kind words. I mean, it's like the duck on the water, right? I mean, it just looks smooth. It's it's like a six-legged duck.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:39

It's like it's a it's like a wedding day. Like you literally you don't like if the racer, I guess, would be the bride and you just hide everything.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:46

Let's say crit race, they are the bride. Crit racers are very much brides. Very much so. Yeah, they're princesses, divas.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:55

Yeah, is what I think uh Holzberg was like, hey, just don't forget that you know everybody likes the the pomp and the circumstance of an awesome crit race. And um we do too.

New Add-Ons: Fondo, 5K, Beer Mile

SPEAKER_03 1:07:06

Yeah, I I mean from the outside looking in as a spectator only, I you couldn't have you couldn't have done a better job for year one, for sure. Like, I don't know. It was fantastic from the outside. I really hope spectators show up this year because the more spectators just makes the whole entire environment so much better. So if you race, stick around. If you don't race, still come down. Like, there's no reason for us to not support, and and I I don't know, I preach this and I stand on this high horse all the time, and all my buddies are always like they get tired of it. But like, there's certain things we have very little control in life and with things in the world, but we can control where we spend our time and where we spend our money, and those two things will show exactly what we support, and those two things will show exactly what we want to be better and or worse by how we do manipulate our time and our money. So I think if we want to see more things like this event, we should show up and watch. Even if it's like, man, I really don't have time. I got I got an extra hour today. Okay, well, drive down and watch one race. That's it. Because if you being there, you share a post, or it's just another person cheering, like it's just if everybody did that for an hour, it makes a huge difference.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:19

Like so and and spending your money down there, yeah. Like plan to go down there and eat or have a drink, because if those businesses decide they're not making money and they don't they don't want us there, then the event doesn't happen. So if they're making money and it and they can see the benefit, then it keeps happening. So that that's a huge part in it, I think.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:40

I agree. And I think it goes in when we have, like I said, we have a mountain bike race that weekend at Arcadia, but those people are coming in early, go down and watch the race. Go check it out. When you come in and pre-ride, it's a there if you're on the highway straight away from Arcadia down there, 30-ish minutes, probably drive straight through. Go watch it. It's something to do, it's something different. Like you're coming to town to stay, anyways, coming from Tulsa or wherever, like you're gonna stay the night. Like, this gives you something to kill time with. Like, go down and watch the race, enjoy it. It's I thought it was fantastic, and you know, I'm excited for it. I can't I I understand the money side of things. I get it. Money is money, and there's only a certain runway, but I really hope it continues to get the support from the city and from the sponsors that are stepping up to make this happen.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:27

Yeah, I will say this too, along those lines. Um, guys, if you like this type of stuff, just like what Ryan's saying, um and Chris, you know, come spend money with the small businesses that are risking with this to put this on. If you like this type of event, if you like Maverick and you think it's and you think you want to have an you know a race like this around here, um, if there's somebody that thinks it's cool enough, they can I mean you can uh be a sponsor. So and I know that's it sounds like a shameless plug, but it just kind of is. I mean, like, for instance, like Norman Sports uh Trents Organization, they're writing it, they wrote a bunch of awesome checks and helped us uh you know get this race off the ground. But just remember they're not funded by just writing checks. So if you if you have people like, you know what, it's kind of cool that we have something like that again. If someone's willing to put their money where their mouth is, hey, I'll print a sign. We're gonna put some signs and get them on a core plast, and you can you can be part of what makes sure we still have an amazing um you know, an amazing crit weekend around here because they don't just happen everywhere. Yeah um, but that would be I mean we have two in Oklahoma now. Hey, and Trent will if you kill it and drag it back to the cave, Trent will he he will give you a little cheese for it. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:38

I mean, I think it across the case. Wherever his uh wherever this guy bought his Porsche from should be a title sponsor. For sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:48

1000%. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:51

You're welcome.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:52

It's a pretty solid commission, I'm guessing. I don't know. I don't sell Porsche stories like that. I sell accreditation, not Porsche, so I'm guessing their commission is better than mine.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:00

In racers, I'm gonna talk to you just real quick before we wrap up. Hey, look, you saw it, you saw us race, you saw somebody here that you can beat. You saw that you don't have anything going on, and you're gonna be here because they are gonna be here too. So come race Maverick. You we have we have a great great courses for you. Um we showed up and we we tried to land as hard of a punch as we could. So come race that weekend. It's before Tulsa. There's gonna be people here that I know you want to beat. So come race and we'll show up for you.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:31

Yeah, I love it. I mean, I think ever everybody in Oklahoma or this kind of area of the country, their A race is probably Tulsa tough if you're a cur racer. Like it's the way it is. So it's a perfect tune-up, it's a perfect way to get acclimatized to the humidity that's happening, it's a perfect way to like see how did your competition race, what's their strategy, what form are they in, like what teams are doing what? Like, it's a perfect tune-up for your A race. Like, I don't I don't I don't understand why anybody that's doing Tulsa Tuff that cares about Tulsa stuff would not be at Maverick. It doesn't make sense that you would not that would not be the start of Tulsa Tuff weekend for you. Makes total sense. I agree. Well, okay, is there anything else that we want to wrap up with what you guys have coming this year besides the other thing that we haven't talked about yet?

SPEAKER_05 1:12:20

There's one more thing. Yeah, what is that? I've talked so much. I you have not sure. I'm about to get I really have it's this it's the fermented banana.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:29

Do we want to touch on neutral support and add age?

SPEAKER_05 1:12:31

I think that's that's a good one. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:34

Do you mean to do that?

SPEAKER_03 1:12:35

Yeah, you should do that.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:36

Um I'll be probably mostly running neutral with competitive edge. Um, obviously we've talked about them. That's who my kids race for, but I don't know how long they've done neutral. I think that's kind of how they got their start, right? Before they were a race team, it was a neutral support program. So they do races all over the country. Um, I'll run that with one other mechanic. We'll have neutral bikes. So if you crash and break your bike in half, I mean it's not ideal, but you can come grab a bike from us. That's cool. That's huge.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:05

Or we'll just so cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:06

If you have a mechanical that needs to be fixed mid-race, we can do that or before before your race or whatever. Um, yeah, we'll have wheels, so if you get a flat, so most people, I mean, know how that works. A lot of people that are new to it don't. I mean, if you have a mechanical issue in a crit, you can get it fixed, take a free lap or two, and get back in.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:27

So how many free laps can I take in the race?

SPEAKER_01 1:13:31

And I've seen a I've seen a lot, but probably should have been. Oh, we're gonna test that one.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:37

So with with how long your socks are.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:40

What if no no socks, no rules? That's what I'm saying. Just won't go. Um, so with neutral support, like I think it's fantastic that it's like a professional neutral support and not like Billy Bob. It's like, I yeah, we can fix it, bring it in here. Let's see what happens. Which you're kind of Billy Bob, but yeah, like at least you'll have a jersey. So, like, what what is exactly if something happens to somebody and they come in, do they have to have their own set of wheels there? Do you guys have something they can borrow for the rest of the race, or how does that work?

Host Homes And Team Hospitality

SPEAKER_01 1:14:09

So if you have your own wheels, you bring them over there. And you have your own wheels, you have them labeled ideally, they're ready to go, they're aired up, um, and we put those wheels on your bike. If not, there are neutral wheels. Okay, so pretty good, a pretty good spread of you know, Sram Shimano, um, different rotor sizes and stuff like that. So hopefully we have something that would just go right on your bike. Um, or worst case scenario, you just get on a different bike.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:34

Okay. And if somebody's like pre-riding, getting ready for the race, and they have a flat issue, like something's not shifting right, or whatever, can they come in before their event starts to get like a quick like touch-up?

SPEAKER_01 1:14:47

Yeah, I mean, that's that's also what they're there for, or what we're gonna be there for. And I mean, as long as there's not a race going on and we're working on bikes in the race, that's kind of that's kind of the time frame where it's kind of hard to just tune your bike up if you didn't show up fully prepared or had a crash, but uh we could get the bike going.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:05

And I'm gonna say this as a triathlete, don't come in for a full build and a full maintenance situation to the neutral sport. Come in for a quick, like, hey, it's like skipping right here. Yeah, yeah. Not can you I need new brakes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Got it. Okay. So really pumped. Take notice. It's not a full bike shop situation. Okay. Um, well, is there any other fun stuff? Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:32

There's one more thing that I thought of. Uh-huh. Um, I want to make sure, and and and Vanessa may have thought of something else too, but um, we're hard at work trying to do a lot of different things for the cycling community. Um, one of the things is um we would like some a couple of weeknight crits before uh Maverick so everybody close enough can have some uh tune-up racing and not Zwift corners, but she can be uh you know tuning up. So we are in the process of and we'll keep you posted on social. So please be watching social for this. But we're in the process of um of organizing two pri uh two weeknight crits um between now and maverick, and they will be at Max Westheimer um airport in Norman. Okay. And um, so we were very fortunate to get a meeting with them, and uh Trent helped uh facilitate that. And so um it's not a hundred percent approved yet, but we got good news on it. So I wanted to at least let the community know that um so that at least we can be thinking about that. And we will keep you posted um as soon the second we know that that's live so that you can get registered. Okay, and so more details coming.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:44

Yes, not a hundred percent guaranteed. So all you fools that want to say, like, I heard it, I'm gonna sign up. Right. It's hopefully gonna happen.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:52

It's more than a wish, okay. So, and it's we've had several hours of meetings over it, so it's not you know, but uh I did want to at least make sure people know.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:01

And you're looking at doing two of those between now and one in March and one in April, yeah. Cool, yeah. And that'll be in Norman, practice crits, um sanctioned, not sanctioned. Do we know yet any of those details? Like how I would say it's more like yeah, I would say it's more likely going to be sanctioned than not. So, yes, for points. So you can come get some points, good place for you sandbaggers, you know where to stay away from for anybody that wants to chat up last minute. It's a perfect opportunity for you to do that. Um, yeah, so it's a good place to come get like real race practice in. Yep. Yeah, that's fantastic. Stay tuned. Stay tuned. We'll share that on Cycling Oklahoma, on Mavcrit Instagrams, and everything else, and Drummond can share it to his four followers on his page, too. So um anything else you guys want to talk about? Anything? Or no? Price.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:50

Oh, yeah, we do. We have 15,000.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:52

Whoa, whoa. How why is that not the leader?

SPEAKER_05 1:17:56

I know. You are terrible at this. I I I know it's always there with the guy with the voice. Well, he's writing the check, so he wants to. He knows. We didn't have to write the check. I mean, if you would like to be the uh, you know, so-and-so um inaugural prize purse, it could be yours. Um I'll make a huge sign for it. Um yeah, fifteen thousand dollars. So it will probably be really due last year. It was it like 11 or 12. Wow, so it's a bump.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:24

It's a bump on the back. Yeah, for first year. That was massive for our first year. Yeah, and it's even more this year.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:29

Right, it's it's more, and part of that's just because we had a couple of categories we wanted to make sure we sh uh shared the love in. Um, and just to make sure you know and make sure our uh preams and stuff like that look right and fun and everything. 15 grand for a second year race is wild. Yeah, what are you doing? Come race. Wow, make some money. I know, I know uh Aubrey posted a Aubrey was she killed it last year.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:55

One night, one one of the days, but one like all the premes though.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:59

It was like McDuck and her back.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:02

If your name is Aubrey Drummond Preams, and so she was just like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. She was. She'd never been so rich in her all of her life, I'll tell you.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:13

You know the story? I think I'll just add this story real quick. I think what happened was we had transposed what the payout for the race was on that one, and then uh the prems are getting passed out like the payout. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:27

And we didn't know any better, and we were like she did that, she has to get that, so we just paid her.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:32

That's why that particular race, like she's gonna feel so.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:36

She will lose it. For her, yeah, it was insane. That was about chaos.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:40

She heard it. I mean, like, we said we were gonna pay it.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:44

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:45

No, she like she won every premium, but we had to like that's what happened. And then we were like running to Travis. We're like, wait, I think we screwed something up.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:53

That also happened in like the master men's race.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:57

Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:58

I didn't see any of that. There weren't enough.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:01

Well, at least one of the drummers made money last year. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's hilarious. She earned she did, she cleaned house. Well, there's a lot of money to be made that weekend if people think they're good enough. Yeah, 15,000.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:14

And that also makes the racing a little bit higher level, even if it doesn't necessarily mean like higher level as in names, but I mean, the more money you give out, the more risky people are willing to be for that. So it's the racing is really exciting for that.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:29

I thought it was fantastic. Yeah, I thought the pre-laps were exciting, like the like the sprint finishes were all good. Like, I never saw a race that was like a dud.

SPEAKER_05 1:20:37

Just the chance that I might mess one of those numbers up, you should come race because like it could really be worth it. On an hour and a half of sleep each night. That's not impossible.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:48

Caffeine and cortisol is what you usually say banana coffee. Banana coffee.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:54

There would be no mistakes this short banana coffee in the system for the whole time. He might be in the porta body the whole time, but no mistakes on the prayers.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:02

What is in this?

SPEAKER_03 1:21:04

Like dumb and dumber over here. Oh goodness.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:09

A crazy look in your eyes.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:10

Exactly. Um all right, cool. So the race dates are May 30th and 31st. Okay. Saturday, Sunday. So we need host homes, we need volunteers for race day, potential leadership opportunities if somebody is the right fit and they have the right skill set of needs that you guys have. Um but most importantly, come watch. Come race at the end of the May, end of May. You have nothing else going on. Um or come run. Or yeah, come run, come do the fondo, come do the 10-mile fondo.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:43

Beer run, yeah. Beer run.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:45

Like there is zero reason that you're like, well, I got no reason to go down there. I think you guys have covered it all.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:52

Which one are you committing to right now? Oh. Thursday ride, 5K, beer run, or crit.

Volunteers, Weeknight Tune-Up Crits

SPEAKER_03 1:21:58

I can't do Sunday because I have a race. And then you're in for the body. He's really sweating this one, everybody. I'm probably in for I can come down for Thursday. I could probably be in for the Fondo. Oh. Are you gonna wear a hydration bag? Alright. Thursday socks. You heard it here. And an arrow helmet. While you're asking these questions, you know the answer to.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:19

Yeah, so I can commit to those.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:21

Yeah, I can commit to those.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:23

Heard it here first. Beautiful. Now we just need Porsche to come on.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:26

Oh man. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:27

Make some progress. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:29

Yeah. Yeah, I like it. So thank you guys so much for spending your evening with us and getting this done and and uh sharing the news of Maverick. I man, I really hope this continues. I hope it catches on like and goes to another level this year. I don't I don't know why it wouldn't, but you know, sometimes people just don't show up, but I hope they do. There's no reason not to. They will. I dared them to say that. Oh, well, in that case, in that case. Alright, thank you guys so much. Appreciate you, Alice.