Hi, I just wanted to add my 2 cents as I had a little different perspective this year. I volunteered to be on the BUB staff because blowing up my motor at BUB last year had left the Pepperoni Bros. coffers pretty bare. I chose to run Speedweek, lost a piston and a few other things and was now so broke that I had to hitch a ride out to the salt with the BUB crew. I ended up at the 4 mile position on the mountain course, watching you exit the course through binoculars, calling the course clear on the 2-way, and hearing Tom Burkland tell the starter at mile one or mile zero to release the next bike. This happened very efficiently all week, I was really impressed with how quickly they were able to reverse directions for the return runs, there was very little down time. It kind of reminded me of being in the Army, except doing something REALLY cool, without all the harassment and bullcrap, up at 4:30am, staff meeting at 6, being in position and ready to rock at 7 for the first runs and remaining there for 12 hours, except for a couple of days when I had some help, I was alone and can tell you that nothing sounds so good as the crunching of the tires of the vehicle bringing my lunch which had to be eaten in short shifts between when you left the start line and becoming visible in the binoculars, approx. 30 seconds. Early in the day with the sun behind you, you could see all the way from the 4 mile to the start line, as the day heated up, the ground became "thick", the marking flags semi-visible or distorted, and the oncoming bikes would appear out of a haze somewhere between the 2 and the 3. Most folks turned off the course quickly and efficiently, allowing the next run to proceed, others powered through the 4 and headed down to the 5, a few stopped on the edge of the course, not sure what to do, but the worst thing that happened, at least from my perspective, was the fellow that exited the course after the 3 mile, I called the course clear, another bike was released, and then to our horror, re-entered the course heading towards the 2 mile! Fortunately he turned off as the oncoming bike approached, so he and the load in his pants got a counseling session from Mr. Ramsey. I genuinely enjoyed my staff experience and would encourage anyone to give it a shot, especially those with issues with how things are done. I think you would find a great team of people giving their all to make it happen! The only downer for me was having someone put 30 mph on my 750 M-PG record, ouch!
Have fun, Tom
