So what do you do for the team?

It’s a question I’ve been asked a lot this year, so I might as well answer it here and explain what I do as the marketing manager for the Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada team by going through my day at the Barclay’s Grand Prix in San Francisco in September.

My race-day responsibilities are to coordinate VIP rides in the team car, make sure that reporters covering the race have up-to-date information about the team, take pictures to post in a photo album on Kodak Gallery, write and distribute a race report, and update the team’s website.

So after a cup of coffee in my own kitchen, I hop on the subway and meet up with the team managers in the staging area about two hours before the start to discuss the list of potential passengers, since the team car can pause after each lap to refill the backseat with a new load of sponsors, reporters, and guests.

After stopping at the media tent to drop off a stack of press kits (which contain freshly updated bios for each rider and stock images on CD) and chat with the journalists and photographers that are covering the race, it’s back to the staging area to get some quotes from the riders, introduce them to reporters for pre-race interviews, and snap some photos before the start and as the race gets underway.

For the next few hours, I’m on the phone constantly during the 9 ‘big’ laps that cover both the Fillmore and Taylor hills, making sure that passenger exchanges run smoothly every 20-25 minutes while trying to follow what’s happening in the race, talk to reporters, and take pictures.

Once the race hits the 6 ‘short’ laps that only cover Taylor St., team cars are no longer permitted to stop for non-racing purposes, so I have the final hour to focus on covering the action for the post-race report.

And for Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada, there’s some good action to cover, as we have Glen Mitchell in the breakaway with a two-minute lead and Dominique Perras in the next group on the road.

After scrambling through North Beach to take pictures at the top of Taylor St., I get back to the start/finish area just in time to catch Glen and Dom finishing 5th and 10th. Then it’s time to get some quotes and pass them along to reporters at the post-race press conference. When that’s done, I find a quiet spot to get to work on the computer.

First thing is to transfer the day’s images from my camera to my laptop and select the best ones to post on Kodak Gallery. While they’re uploading, I get started on the race report and once that’s written, I put the text, along with a few images that I’ve cropped and resized, into templates for the team’s website and email updates.

I have to work quickly in order to send out the report – which goes to a slew of sponsors, friends, family members, press, and fans – early enough that reporters might be able to refer to it before they file their stories. Once the email is on its way, I upload the same story and photos to KGSNcycling.com and ‘slice’ an image from a pro photographer to fit into three cells on the homepage.

Then, after a full day of marketing – from sponsor hospitality to graphic design – it’s all over but the post-race schmoozing…

Thanks for reading, and be sure to check out Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada at www.KGSNcycling.com - you can subscribe to our email updates and check out photo albums from San Francisco and many other races throughout the year.