One of the reasons Tulsa Tough is held when it is, is to race in a drier time of year. In the dozen years I have been driving the box truck that supplies rest stops on the Fondo courses, we have never had rain during the Fondo races.
This year we had a storm come through early Saturday morning. The cyclists are not wusses and are willing to ride in the rain. But the people running the event are not lunatics and will not let them ride with lightning in the area. As a result, there was a two hour delay in starting the Fondo races. Because most of the Gran Fondo riders were unlikely to finish their 100+ miles with two fewer hours, they had to run the Medio which is about 65 miles. Two of the rest stops were no longer needed, including one of the two I had on my truck. Since the trucks had been loaded before the rain delay, I still had two stops worth of supplies.
I pick up my truck and kinda get bum rushed out of there. On my way to Kellyville I got a call from someone who was at Slick, the stop that got canceled. I explain what happened and continue to Kellyville. I get to my stop in Kellyville early and the crew manning the rest stop is not due for a half an hour. Being an older person, the first thing I notice is there are no portapotties. I now realize in the rush to get me out of there, I do not have the contact information for the company paid to run the event. I do have contacts among the rest stop captains and get in touch of the company rep, who then tells me to take my extra Water Monster to Lake Sahoma. I type in the address and set out for Lake Sahoma. For whatever reason Google Maps thought it knew better than me where I was supposed to go and sent me to Lake Sahoma. The south end. The rest stop is on the other side of the lake. I can’t find a place to turn around a 14 foot box truck. Finally I meet another volunteer who made the same mistake I did, but in a smaller vehicle. He backs up and I follow him out. I get back to Kellyville, the crew is waiting for me and the portapotties have arrived. We unload and find out that the t-shirts for the volunteers can’t be found. Other than that the setting up went smoothly.
Fortunately the rest of the day runs almost normally. I take a slight detour on the way back, but by now I am familiar with the area and get turned around and back to the gas station to fuel up the truck. The card doesn’t work and the clerk can’t figure out what’s wrong either. I finally try another pump and things are good. I get back to the warehouse and get ready to deliver tomorrow’s stop.
Footyfried 