Wake Up Now: Serving Coffee to Exhausted 24-Hour MTB Racers
Recently, Loam Coffee teamed up with Mudslinger Events to serve coffee at the Oregon 24-hour mountain bike race outside of Bend, Oregon. By the end, everyone was hot, sweaty, and exhausted, but at least there was coffee! Serving coffee to mountain bikers is special. It’s even more so when they’re slugging it out in a non-stop 24-hour race. Here’s what happened …
Most often in life, the rule is that if something terrible is going to happen, it will. It happened to me. No, nothing catastrophic happened. Instead, it was more of a nuisance than any really “bad.” In a nutshell, I’ve still been having mechanical and electrical issues with Nacho the Van since it was recovered after it was stolen. Fortunately or unfortunately, the problems have nothing to do with it being stolen. But it’s probably spent more time in the shop than at home.
That meant I had to pivot at the last minute for the race and rent a car, buy a 10x10 tent, and serve coffee in a booth instead of out of Nacho. It was probably better this happened. Why? Because it was blazing hot! The temps hit the mid- to upper 90s. Even though the mornings were cool, once the sun came up and the temps started rising, it would’ve been a little toasty serving coffee from inside a van.
In preparation, I roasted a bunch of coffee, not knowing how much I’d serve. I brought a variety of our single origins in two-pound bags. It was a great choice because people had three different coffee options. My setup was basic and minimalist … pourover coffee only. That’s it. Not espresso or anything else.
The race started Saturday morning and finished Sunday morning. I served coffee for about four hours each morning. I was also hired to take photos for the event, so on Saturday, after I finished serving coffee, I grabbed my cameras and headed out on the trail.
The first time I ventured out on the trail was around noon. It’s not the best time to take photos as the sun is high in the sky, and the lighting is what photographers call “harsh.” Since it was a 24-hour race, the plan was to be out on the trail at different times of the day. I spent a few hours on the trail midday, capturing photos before I headed back to base camp.
Later that evening, just as the sun was beginning to set, I went out again. This is the magic time to take photos as the sun slowly descends in the western sky. The colors change, the shadows are longer, and the scenery changes. I kept walking around, looking at the sun, at the hills, and finding spaces where the sun was punching through the trees.
While taking photos was and is so much fun, even more so, I enjoyed chatting and interacting with the racers, especially when they came to my booth for coffee. While I had a good crowd buying coffee on Saturday, people were exhausted from racing by Sunday morning. As a 24-hour race, team racers will ride at least one lap at night. That means they’re out on the trail at 2am … 4am and not getting much sleep. Then, some race solo, which means they race non-stop for 24 hours.
Sunday morning, the 24-hour solo leader swung by for a cup of coffee before heading out for one last lap. We counted, and at that point, he had already ridden nearly 250 miles. That’s crazy!!!
The Oregon 24 was a fantastic time. My only regret was not having Nacho the Van there to serve coffee out of and sleep in (have you ever tried sleeping in the front seat of a compact SUV?). Serving coffee at a race combined with photography is a blast. Next month, I’ll be up in Washington serving coffee before the kickoff of the Dark Divide 300, a gravel race through the remote Gifford Pinchot National Forest.