I’ve volunteered to help a friend at the ‘Puffer. He’s never ridden a 24hr solo race before. I’ve never spannered at a race before.

So, what will I need, to sustain
a. bike
b. rider
c. self

the ability to heat food is a must …

brake pads – buy some , then double the ammount – think i used 4 sets last year.

lighting / head torch for you !

bike cleaning kit and some wd40 and deicer

if hes using gears – remove them and throw them away to be fitted again after the race.

if using gears then a spare bike – he will kill a drive train up there !

lots of changes of clothes – lots of warm clothes for you !

a tent/camper/trailer/gazebo for you to sit/grab some kip in !

Presuming you’re not one of the people who should have a time penalty for using a motorhome…..(i would do this if i ever did it again!)

Something to cook on – you need the warm drinks.
Some way of keeping warm – chimenea is a good idea.
Hot chocolate and nice treat type food. Sat around eating frozen energy bars is depressing. Custard is good! Big Soups etc.

Warmest clothes you have. All of them.
Those handwarmer things they sell in outdoor shops.

A big pit tent is good – you can stand up in it properly to spanner and you’re sheltered.

Everyone bangs on about brake pads at the Puffer – first year i did it 2007 i went through one set which had been on the bike over a year already, second year in 2008 didnt wear through them at all? Only did 11 laps though so maybe those who wore them out did more?

Headtorch – needed for everything!

To be honest the biggest boost for the rider is a hot drink waiting when they come in and somewhere to swap into a new set of kit, esp if they stop for any length of time and cool down.

Ridden Puffer solo twice and would rather be riding than spannering cos at least riding you are keeping warm.

Admittedly a lot of the above depends on what vehicle you are using to go up there. Good luck, its a great race, the best 24 i have done.

Is he soloing? Second bike set up and ready to go.

Plenty of brake pads already bedded in.
spare tubes
Spare water bottles ready to go or mix ready made up to refill bottles.
spare drivetrain all ready to go and all interchangable.
Cables
Energy gels

Watch to check times so you know when they are due in

For you – plenty of warm kit – yo will bbe doing a fair amount of hanging around

Plenty tea coffee snacks

So each time he comes in off a lap you can give him a new bottle and a gel, check the bike for working OK, if he is stopping a warm jacket on him. If any bike issues juest give him the spare bike to do the next lap

Good luck

Whisky.

Spades/shovels to clear a spot for your tent if it’s not all thawed.

Some way to clean the bike(s) a bit is good, since the queue for the bike wash can be massive.

We had a gas space heater in a marquee last year, and that was excellent (til the fan broke and the gas ran out!).

Woolly travel rugs are good for your lap when you’re sitting about.

2nd TJ’s comment about a watch/alarm clock. Nothing worse than getting back from beasting a lap to find your pit area empty or in disarray!

Thanks folks.

Might see you there – I might be pit crew

Cheers TJ

….starts search for gazebo….

big bag of whizz !

Good heat source and plenty of it – but too warm and the rider may be hard to push out again.
Decent size shelter with plenty headroom – but there’s limited area to pitch a tent.
Good hot food and plenty of it.
Plenty light.
A really warm sleeping bag…

Usual tools and spares. Easier to swap tubes than patch at 3am. Definitely spare pads – even a slowcoach like me can get through a set or two. Surgical gloves beat trying to wash grease off your hands with freezing water.

To get a good perspective on what it will do to a bike, just think of it as a whole season of racing in mud and slush all in one hit.

And don’t turn up with a bike with any dodgy or worn parts on it unless you really really enjoy fiddling with broken bikes in subzero.

Its my third time as bike biatch for teams, we have 10 riders this year so will be busy…

Find out what strategy your rider is on or trying, double laps or singles.. or ride a few laps then a break and this will shape your 24 hrs. If they are doing muliple laps then coming it it can be pretty boring if I am honest, take an ipod…. We have mixed pair and two sets of quads so three riders on the course and 3 bikes an hour to sort and turn around (assuming a 70 ish minute lap) so I am hoping for a pretty busy and social event!

Each rider is responsible for sorting their own food and having a kit of their spares bagged up… 10 riders on different bikes is a lot of spare kit/free upgrade potential!

As a rider came in we fully cleaned (dirtworker) and lubed their bike and pads etc as required. Its a lot but none of our riders has failed to complete due to a mechanical yet…..

We are taking:
Motorhome (and a spare one.. there will be 14 of us in total…)
Family tent and space heater/workshop. We took a gas “bin” heater and warmed up water on it too.
Couple of pallets to stand on out of the mud whilst fettling
Workstands
Spare cables, intered brake pads and bleed kits to suit, chains, powerlinks, tubes or tubeless repair kits, cable ties, assorted metric nuts and bolts, tape, cassette, mech hanger per bike…. I was selling stuff to folk last year who broke their own kit.
Shovels
Hammer and big nails for tent pegs
Headtorch and batteries
Latex gloves and bin bags for clearing up
5 gallon water container…

Have had to deal with the following:
Snapped chains
Punctures
Crash damaged brakes needing bleeding/pads changing
Snapped cables
Change bb but the owner is a mechanical numptie and didnt prep….
Changing to ice tyres which needed bigger tyre levers than the usual plastic jobbies

The list goes on…

See you there!

Big tyre levers – good call.

See those people that take motorhomes and all that nonsense – that’s not what the puffer is all about.

Surrounded By Zulus – Member
See those people that take motorhomes and all that nonsense – that’s not what the puffer is all about.

I don’t mind, so long as the motorhomes don’t overtake me on the technical bits… 😀

Good idea re pallets Rick.
Dirtworker. If you haven’t got one get one.
And take every item of riding kit you own.

So far, Team Beg, Borrow, Steel have acquired a Gazebo, generator, lights, heater and workstand.

Need a lead on Whizz though.

The folk that were by themselves and sleeping in the back of their iced up and frozen subaru imprezza looked like they were having waaaaay to much fun…

…is that what you mean SBZ… ?

I am hopeing to meet some of the folk from here and have a good crack with our team members…its sort of serious as our mixed pair are very keen to defend their 2010 first place…and I know its not just about the win but these two worked really hard for it and good support lets them do the best they can… guess its what ever you make of it tbh

Ah – Dave the hustler is one of them. He’ll only win if he’s spent the majority of the year complaining about being injured. They have some serious competition in there this year.

Ah-ha!

The boy’s training hard and if winging = success then the Beggs-Friereich combo will hopefully do well….

SBZ.. you on the T4/T5 forum…? Someone on there was talking about serious competition for these two.

Nope. I know Dave from the Mtb-Borders forum.

Haha too right sbz

Last year was a hoot

Friday night bivvy out up the track outside the car.

-20 bag and a down jacket + 2 thermarests- might do the same this year ! I’d have a motorhome if I could afford it but I’d be oo tempted to sleep instead of ride !