• included with RAAM riders' memberships the Ultra Marathon Cycling Association when they do RAAM.
• included with new crew memberships in the UMCA. Give your race crew members Crewing with Fuzzy and a six-months subscription to Ultra Cycling to learn about this season' s races. All for $20.

Download membership form and get Crewing With Fuzzy.

Equipment Lists for Rider and Crew
Download Lee' s Equipment Lists for a 24 Hour Race or Qualifier and his Quick Tips for Crewing.

Quick tips from Lee Mitchell About Lee Mitchell

• Safety is #1 priority at all times during a race.
• Park off the road at all times unless protecting fallen racer!!!
• Don' t spend too much time beside the racer, talking or handing off.
• Stop at stop signs and lights - no penalties. Vehicles must stop too.
• Leapfrog: Stay behind the racer about 90% of the time. You won' t be much help if you go ahead as soon as your rider passes, go around a turn and your rider breaks down. If the rider is in front of you, you will come upon the rider quickly.
• When doing leap-frog support, mark turns with crew pointing in correct direction. Park vehicles pointing in direction of turn, if possible.
• Pedestrian handoffs while leapfrogging: hold bottle by top or bottom so rider can snatch easily. Running alongside the road may bob the bottle up and down too much for the rider to grab it. Practice hand-offs!!
• During pedestrian handoffs position one crew up the road with a water bottle, another crew 100 feet along with a different food bottle - gives rider time to stash the bottles.
• Rinse bottle mouth pieces if dropped and get under ice immediately.
• Window handoffs: driver maintains a straight line, rider moves over to vehicle, navigator leans out as far as possible, take empties first, then hand off full bottles. Practice hand-offs!!
• When the racer stops, have the rider park the bicycle in front of the pace vehicle. It' s easier to work on the bike at night in front of the van and safer. And no one moves the bike forward except the rider!
• When a rider re-starts, the crew can' t push the rider - but can hold rider upright while getting into pedals
• Keep the motor running, except for gas stops.
• Use the trip odometer to keep track of distances between turns and/or between time stations.
• Keep triangle covered unless actually following racer.
• Lights: Overhead flashing yellow lights and van emergency flashers must be on when following rider. Never on when driving at highway speed. Flashing lights may be on when van is stopped.
• Dim headlights when oncoming traffic or if you are approaching traffic from behind.
• Cut music when stopped.
• Cut music, PA when near houses, campgrounds, etc. No complaints!!
• If your rider hasn' t peed twice, drunk 4-5 water bottles, and eaten lots of calories and salt by 12 noon, plan on an ultra race DNF!
• Stop and Eat sheets: record all intake of calories, sodium, and fluid as well as peeing. For stops record time off bike, race location and reason for stop. Remind each other to make entries on Stop and Eat sheets.
• Salt sources - dill pickles, tablets, V8, tomato juice, Cup O' Soup-type instant soups, cheese, chips, etc.
• Start with more water and ice than you think you' ll need. It' s cheap and you can always dump it at the finish! Don' t break all the ice bags - you may need to move from ice chest to ice chest.
• Park vehicles so that rider can pee behind door and not be seen from behind. If necessary, use a privacy sheet (keep with TP). Crew must be discreet, too - they can be penalized.
• Spray water on rider with water bottles. Cheap and easy - but don' t spray shorts and crotch.
• Say "Thank you" and "Please" for the entire race!
• "Milk" boxes that stack and can store things are good. Label the boxes!
• Go through the van before the race - everybody must know where everything is.
• After hand-offs, refill bottles immediately and keep on ice.
• Put things back where they belong in the pace van.
• Strip warmers off the rider, then turn clothes right side out before putting away.
• Wash dark glasses and night glasses before putting away.
• Dirty rider clothes in one place.
• At a minimum, take a large (68 qt) ice chest in the center of the van and a small chest up front to hold a few bottles at the ready. Don' t drain all water from ice chests.
• Mix liquid foods in gallon jugs before start. Then, just keep two of the racer' s bottles filled with each product.
• Put clear contact paper over names, logos, etc. to attach them to vehicles. Waterproof and protects souvenirs.
• Take garbage bags.
• Relay race teams practice exchanges a couple of times. Don' t need to tag racer, front and rear wheels just need to overlap.
• If new rider not ready to ride, old rider continues on.
• In ultra relay race, put best hill climbers on hills. Change riders at tops of passes - new rider already has warm clothes on.
• Crews need food, fluids and sleep! If they collapse, the rider is done!!!
• Crew snooze whenever possible during ultra event.
• Crew pee just before dark.
• If the rider can' t stay awake, try a 10 minute power nap or a 90 minute sleep break. Better to finish later than not at all.
• Trade-off driving at night, if tired!
• Cheer on all ultra riders and crews!
• Get reservations at start and finish ahead of time.
• Put a cash bag in vehicle to buy whatever. Not all small stores take charge cards. Decide if receipts needed - getting them takes time!
• Above all, have fun!!!!!!

To download. open and print Fuzzy' s Quick Tips and his Equipment Lists for a 24 hour race or RAAM qualifier in PDF format you' ll need Adobe' s freeware Acrobat Reader (version 3.0 or higher), or another PDF capable program, installed. If you do not have a PDF capable program installed, please download and install Adobe' s freeware Acrobat Reader.

If you integrate the Adobe reader into your browser (the default installation), following the link below will automatically start the reader and load the file. If you don' t add the reader to your browser functions, you' ll have to save the file below and then start the reader manually to read the saved file.

Download Fuzzy' s Quick Tips and his Equipment Lists for a 24 hour race or RAAM qualifier in PDF format.

Lee "Fuzzy" Mitchell racing Team RAAM James Burger photo

Lee "Fuzzy" Mitchell has crewed:

• 20 Race Across AMericas, including Notorangelo' s win in 1989, Tatrai' s RAAM win in 1993, and Wilson' s 50+ RAAM win in 1997
• 20 Furnace Creek 508s RAAM Qualifying Races
• 2 Races Across Oregon
• 1 Fireweed
• 9 long-distance PAC Tours and Pacific Crest Tours
• over 100 double centuries and brevets.

Lee Mitchell raced Team RAAM:

• 1995: Team PAC Masters set Men' s 60+ record 6 days 20 hours 27 minutes
• 2004: Team Grand PAC Masters set Men' s 70+ record 7 days 16 hours 31 minutes

Profile of Lee

[ To Top of Page  | Home   | Calendar  | Current Results  | Standings  | Year-Rounder  | Records  | Training  | Equipment  | Nutrition  | About the UMCA  | Site Index ]