I was asked to help with setting up the course for Friday’s Blue Dome criterium race. Specifically, I hauled the lights from Tulsa Tough headquarters to the race course using an off road vehicle commonly known as a gator. I never drove a gator, but how hard can it be?
The controls look like those of a passenger car, but don’t act like a car. You have to pull down on the parking brake before pulling up to disengage. When taking your foot of the accelerator, it comes to a complete and sudden stop. When turning or on an incline, it is about as stable as a crazy ex-girlfriend. There was one mirror in the left corner that did not offer much rear view, which was a problem when the streets were not completely closed to traffic. Nothing too difficult here, but there is a definite learning curve.
We got off to a bad start when we found out two of the hitches were upside down resulting in the ball being too low for the light trailers. Pulling the pins to get the hitch out proved easy. Getting the ball off the first hitch was difficult and involved a liberal application of WD40 and stepping on the channel locks to break the nut holding the ball. After removing the ball and reinserting it upside down, all I had to do was reinsert the hitch upside down so that the ball was right side up. The second one needed someone bigger than me to break the nut.
After a half hour of adjusting the hitches, I picked up my first trailer knowing only that the course was somewhere west of the staging lot. I picked up somone in the office who had a map of the course layout and went to the first spot that didn’t have a light. We go to unhitch the trailer and the collar won’t slide back far enough to disengage from the ball. We go back to the staging lot, where the equipment rental rep makes some adjustments and we go back to drop the trailer. After some difficulty the collar slides back far enough to release the ball so we can drop the trailer and return to pick up the next one.
At this point, my partner has to go back to the office. By now enough of the streets are closed so I can figure out where the next light should go. When I prove to be wrong there is someone to redirect the gator drivers. After two more trips, all the lights are roughly in position. I end up spending the rest of my short shift driving someone around the now completely closed course, fine tuning the lights and checking fence alignment.
I had to drop my banner hanging shift because of check-in issues at my hotel. I will post in detail later. Tomorrow, I drive a supply truck. This will be a much longer shift, so I ned to get some rest.
Footyfried 