Racing with SteelSports in the Ozark Extreme, Ouachita Adventure Race

Team SteelSports for this race is Justin Reneau, Chris Clemmons and Rodney Skyles

We arrived at the main transition area last night at 6:50 pm for a 7:00 pm pre-race meeting. We were a tad bit tardy.  Prior to the meeting, during check in, each team had a gear check, repelling skills test and a navigation skill test.  The navigation skill test required one team member to plot UTM coordinates on a topographical map.  Each number was 8 digits long, and the race director told them to "round off the last number".  Team SteelSports plotted the point successfully and moved onto the repelling skill test.  For this "test" each member of the team had to repel off a stump that was about 2 feet tall.  It was entertaining to say the least, but each team member completed this test, too.   

 

During the pre-race meeting they were told several things about the race.  First of all, one section of the race would be a marked course.  They will start and finish at the main TA, but will only come back one other time during the course of the race.  There will be a second TA, which would be determined after they plotted points.  There will be a bike drop.  There is a 14 hour cut off.  In the pre-race letter the start time was "TBA".  During the meeting, the race director said the start time would be a 5:00 am.  Bikes needed to be dropped between 4:00 and 5:00, at the trail head of the Ouachita Vista Trail.  Teams were also given maps and UTM coordinates for the entire race.  There are 28 checkpoints.  After the meeting was adjourned we made our way back to the RV where we had a surprise birthday cake and party for Chris, who turned 50 on Thursday.  After we had a bite of cake, the team sat down 

and plotted all the points and planned out the race and estimated it would take them about 9 hours to finish.  We all settled in for bed about 10:00, for our early wake up call at 3:30am.  

The alarms went off at 3:30, but we all rolled out of bed about 3:45.  After getting a few last minute things together, we made our way to the bike drop, then to the starting line.  The race started promptly at 5:00 am. with a trekking leg.  They left, running, to get 10 points. 

Team SteelSports made it back FIRST !! at 7:37 am.  They checked in, refilled packs quickly, unloaded a canoe (boats are provided for all teams at the race) and took off on the paddle leg at 7:42 am.  They anticipate this leg will take about 3 hours.  They will have a 75 foot repel sometime during the paddle leg.  The next leg will be the bike leg.  Diana and I are making our way to the Mountain Harbor Lodge for breakfast, then to see if we can spot them on the water, then onto the second TA, at the bike drop.  The second team behind them, a solo male team, got on the water 14 minutes behind team SteelSports, the next team, a 2 person male team, was 2 minutes behind him.  Shaping up to be a great race.  It's chilly here this morning, but it's supposed to warm up to a sunny, 64 degrees this afternoon.

We were able to drive to a section of the Mountain Harbor Resort and see the team paddling.  There were no teams close behind them and they looked strong.  We drove to the Tompkins Bend Recreation Park, where CP 21 was, but someone there told us we missed them by 5 minutes.  They are paddling way faster than they expected and are still in the lead.  We drove over to the bike drop, second TA, and waited for them.  

At 10:30, they were the first team out of the water.  We filled their packs while they took off their wet, paddling gear and got ready for the bike.  At 10:35, Team SteelSports was off on the final, bike leg.  They said this leg would take them about 3 hours.  We, expect to see them soon!  Hoping for a big win this race, and it's looking good!  The weather hasn't warmed up and the sun has not come out today, though.  It's 52 degrees, but it feels very refreshing.  It's a great day for racing for sure!

It's 12:55 and we're waiting at the finish line.  We haven't heard any updates or news and we weren't able to see them at one of the CPs on the bike trial.  We thought we would, but after we got there, we realized we most likely missed them.  As far as we know, they are still in first place.  The only team we've seen is the 2 person male team, biking on one of the roads near the trail.  Since Rodney didn't wear the spot tracker, it's hard for us to know where they are.  I knew I appreciated that thing : )

At 1:20 the race director told us Team SteelSports is about 3o minutes away.  He had just caught them in time, while putting out the last CP.  He said the rest of the trail is all down hill, so it should be a fun, exciting finish for them.

At 1:40 Team SteelSports finished the race.  Still in first place.  They won the race!!  The race is made up of teams of 3, so they will be first overall and first in their division.  

They've showered and are trying to get warm.  Rodney had a pretty bad wreck on the "marked course", which they are describing as a creek bed full of boulders.  He is out of the shower, but he is still bleeding.  He said the wreck was bad enough to knock the breath out of him and his bumps and bruises are hurting pretty bad.  Chris said that he fell on the trek this morning, on the second check point.  He went head first into a creek...so that was about 5:30 this morning and he's been wet ever since.  Justin said after he was finished he felt like passing out because they pushed themselves so hard and he was freezing.  He's showering now and we have some hot tea for him.  We've cooked up a pot of chili in the RV, so they can get all warmed up and rested after an outstanding race.  They are all three so excited and feel like they had a great race.  They are most excited about the paddle leg, because typically that's where they lose time.  Overall, this was an extremely impressive race.  Team SteelSports ROCKED!

Until next race!  Katrina

Ouachita 12-Hour Adventure Race!

Chris, Justin and I are racing in the Ouachita Adventure Race in Arkansas this Saturday. Katrina may, or may not blog. The connection is slow out there with AT&T's EDGE (2G) network.

• Race Website: http://www.ouachitaadventurerace.com/ouachita_race_home.htm
• Race Date: October 10, 2009
• Start Time: Listed as To Be Announced on the pre-race letter. Chris is hoping for an EARLY, DARK start. I have to agree, that would be fun :) Charging our lights now!

We will try to post some pics, too. I'm not sure I'm carrying the SPOT Tracker, since it's only a 12-hour race, but I may. I'll update the SPOT link, just in case.

~Rodney

Tyler Adventure Sprint 2009

Team Members: Chris Clemmons, Kim McClain, Justin Reneau (3 Coed)

This turned out to be a great race with a really good stratgey plan (that we failed to capitalize on, oh well, we were beaten by our own game i.e. I did this same thing at Mineral Wells as the race director.) The strategy was to have a special test that could be completed at any time during the race before a certain time of day. Idealy you would wait and finish the first leg before you do even think about going to the "test" leg that can be completed at anytime. Well we commited to going to the special test early and once we made up our minds we were commited. This error cost us an extra 1.8 mile run and about 16 minutes. If we would have just waited we could have completed the test during the bike course and would have only cost us about 30 seconds to get off the bike trail. Oh well, we live and learn. But the one thing that I have learned in my years of racing is you can't hesitate. You have to make up your mind quickly and once you do that you stick to it even if you realize you should have done something different. You reach a point where hesitation and revaluation costs you more time than just following through.

So we were first out of the shoot to hit CP 2 in a very prominate draw just north west of the TA off a road leading to the lake. Before we hit this point we all decided to go ahead down to the boat launch where the special test was. (This was our first and only mistake.) We aim high in the draw so we don't miss CP 2 and hit it dead on. We run to do the "test" which was having to make a raft out of big drum barrells, rope, and 2x4's. This was probably quite commical to watch but it wasn't to do. It was very challenging becuase most of us that do these races can be perfectionist. So of course we wanted to build a boat that would float. We had to at least sit on the boat for a second as a team and if it fell apart we could swim to a point in the water with our boat supplies then swim back. Of course our boat fell apart literally 2 seconds after we were all floating on it, so we swam. Back to the TA to hit CP 1 we take out noraml route and find CP1 no problem by the restrooms at the TA.

The next leg is a mountain bike leg and we don't have to do the last loop D. This saved us a lot of time. You didn't have to plot these points because they were all on the trail but we decided to just do it anyway. I mainly wanted to do this becuase one prior race we did the bike course was like this and we didn't plot and at one point of the bike course there was a pedestrian rider pulled over to get out of our way. Well that rider just happend to be standing right in front of our CP and we passed it up. Long story short, we always plot now and look behind all people standing on the trail.

This MTB leg was a fun ride and we passed a lot of teams on the mountain bike. I just knew we had to be in first overll. But we weren't because we did the boat launch special test first and like I said that was a big mistake. This was Kim's first race with Team Steelsports.net and she really held her own on the bike. Very strong rider and consistant in pace. We gave her the liability of the pass port and she handled it very well. Well, you know that special test I keep grumbling about? We this portion of the race is were we should have done it because when we skip loop D and head back we clearly see the lake and the boat launch. There we should have stopped and did the test. The three teams that finished in front of us either did this or did it on the last trek leg. Ok, now its up the big hill to CP 6 (another special test). This was a cool test where you had to throw clay pigeons through a vertical rope net and a teammate has to catch it on the other side. We did ok here and only broke one piegon. Now its back to the TA and one more point to get at the end of the bike trail. I ask Chris to tell me what the clue is for CP 7 (the last on the trail) and he couln't because our clue sheet got wet and torn up. We see what we think is CP7 and try to double check it but couldn't make anything out so we just punch it and say oh well. It turned out to be right.

The last leg was a trek leg that you could get the CPs in any order. CPs 8-11. CP 8 was a special test and we went there first. Right off we could see a bottle neck so we left there and ran the course first. We take off due south through the woods for CP10 on the south west corner of the lake. We hit it no problem. Then it is due north up the dam and sort of a north easterly direction us a big hill to CP9. Bamm, we hit it no problem. This it is off onto the road to CP11. (Enroute to CP11 would have been another GREAT time to do the boat launch special test.) We didn't run all the way around to the trail head that CP11 was on (which was at the ranger station) we shoot due east from a major road junction and just bush wacked to CP11. This proved benefical because again Bamm we hit right on. From there we took a nice little trail south west to the park lake and followed the trail that runs around the lake back to a point where we went south through the woods to get back to CP8's special test. We arrive at CP8 and it is a Special test with COMBINATION LOCKS AHHHHHH. Chris and I both dread the horrid combination locks. But not only that we had to open four of them by relaying the lock combo verbally from teammate to teammate. So what we had was four tool boxes with combination locks on them and the combination to the next lock was inside the prior box. And yes you guessed it we had to do it twice becuase we got to the last lock that had the CP inside and I forgot the combo becuase I yelled something out before saying the combo. So we had to start all over again.

So we head back to the TA thinking we had one more leg. On the way back from CP11 we passed a CP by a bridge that we had not retrived yet so we knew there had to be one last leg. To our suprise we were done after that test and we didn't have to get the CP down by the bridge.

Overall this was a great race and SUPER beginner freindly with relativly easy navigation. I like races where the navigation is hard because I feel that is my strongest point and I can complete those courses faster and smoother. For a race like this raw strength and speed is what will determine the overall winner, and of course with this race strategy played a crucial role in the overall winners stakes.

But we walked away with a first place 3 person coed finish and we are stoked to have that! Kim raced hard and we hope to have her back. Chris as usual raced a great race and held strong pulling us all through the course to the very finish line.

We look forward to more great races with STEELSPORTS.NET!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Katrina and Rodo!!

Justin Reneau

Team SteelSports Rockin' the Rock and Roll Adventure Race

Team SteelSports

Adam Hart, Rodney Skyles, Chris Clemmons, Lesley Conrad

The SteelSports Rock and Roll Adventure Race started bright and early this morning at 7:32AM.  Teams were given two instruction sheets, containing two different legs.  One, leg one, is the paddle leg.  The other, is the climbing leg.  Teams are going to choose when to do the climbing leg.  The only instruction is, it must be completed by 12:00.  Team SteelSports left the TA at 7:36 to paddle.  They did not take their climbing gear with them.  

Temperatures are expected to be in the high 90's today.  Currently the weather is, a humid, 80 degrees and so far, it's overcast and we have a nice, summer breeze.  The sun has started peeking through the clouds occasionally and promising to heat up the day soon.  The paddle is four miles and Team SteelSports, I'm sure, is hoping the cliffs surrounding Lake Mineral Wells will protect the boats from tipping over.

At 9:47 Team SteelSports made it back from the paddle.  They did tip over one time, in each boat.  One of the points was mis-plotted, so they had a little trouble finding one point, which slowed them down.  They arrived back to TA in 3rd place, overall.  There was a special test that had to be completed in the TA, which was a word find, a maze, a "what's different about these" and a "which two are the same" puzzles before they could receive the next set of instructions.  They completed the puzzles at 9:58 and started plotting the points for the next leg, which is a trek.  There are nine points on this leg, as well as the climbing leg.  Team SteelSports will climb sometime during this trekking leg because some of the points are close to the climbing area.  They left here at 10:06 and this should be a pretty long leg.

1:04 Team SteelSports has checked in from the Trekking leg.  They mis-plotted one point, so it took a little longer than they would have liked.  They all seem to be in good spirits and trying to stay well hydrated.  They had a special test to complete at the TA.  It was a soccer challenge.  Each team member had to make a goal from a line in the parking lot, about 35 yards..  If they didn't make it from the farthest line, they had run get they ball, return with the ball and try again.  They were able to move up 2 parking spots each time they missed.  They finished it pretty  quickly, although, none of them made it on the first, or second attempt.  I think most of them made it from the spot closest to the goal.  They were then given the next leg, which is a bike/trek leg.  They can get the points in any order.  There are seven points on this leg.  It's expected to take about 3 hours.  This is the last leg of the race.

Rollin' at the Rock-Stick Challenge with Team SteelSports

Team SteelSports: Rodney Skyles, Chris Clemmons, Lesley Conrad, Justin Reneau

Our morning started with a short, 20 minute, drive from the Hyatt Hotel in Grapevine to the bike drop for the Rock-Stick Challenge, on Lake Grapevine, near Flower Mound, Texas.  The bike drop was located at a camp ground about 4 miles from the main transition area.  The pre-race instructions were to leave the bikes, equipment and climbing gear at the bike drop.  Team SteelSports aired up tires, unloaded the mandatory gear and dropped off their bikes at about 6:40am.  Afterwards, we drove to the boat drop.  After dropping the boats, we headed to the TA to get things setup.  The team has set up, checked in an is ready for what the day has in store.  While checking in, we heard a rumor that the race was expected to take the entire 10 hours.  Team SteelSports is looking forward to a fun, fast race without tipping the boats over.  : )  The wind is expected to be 10-20 mph and we heard the lake here gets pretty choppy with minimal wind.  Pre-race meeting starts now...more to come.

The race started at 8:30 with a special test, which was plotting points on a map.  Teams who did not plot them correctly were given a 10 minute penalty.  Team SteelSports was the second team to turn the map in, and had plotted them correctly.  They were the first team to plot correctly.  The first leg of the race was a trek with 3 points.  They only had to get 2 of the 3 points and the instructions said only one team member per team had to get a point.  When they read the instruction sheet out loud, they vocalized the concern about the 30 second rule, which is, each team member has to be within 30 seconds of each other, but decided to stay together and get the 2 CPs.  (Turns out they could have split up, but they didn't learn that until they had already punched the CPs.)  They were the second team back to TA, though. 

The second leg was a paddle.  I drove over to the bike drop, which is where they would begin the next leg, after paddling.  After I made it there, I saw them paddle by and ran to the shoreline to cheer them on.  They yelled at me that they had lost the map.  I assumed I heard them incorrectly.  Dusty's team was the second team to arrive at the bike drop.  They told me that, indeed, Team SteelSports had lost their map.  Apparently, the boats tipped over, more than once, and they lost the map.  Dusty helped them along the way with pointers and directions to checkpoints.  Thanks Dusty!!  Team SteelSports made it to the bike drop shortly after that.  There was not a smile to be seen.  It was in their body language, and demeanor that they were not happy.  They decided to ride the trails to find the rest of the checkpoints and back to the TA.  During the bike leg there was a ropes course, special test.  I was able to cheer them on and watch them successfully complete this test.  The race director, Dwight Spencer, was kind enough to give me directions to where they would be.  So far, it's a great race an

d they seem to be picking up their spirits.  The race director gave them a new map and they are now on a short trekking leg.  I believe there were only a few CPs on this leg, one of which, they have to swim to.

Dusty's team is doing very well, too, however, they had a broken chain on one of the bikes, so they had to repair that before continuing.  Team SteelSports should now be about 45 minutes behind the leading team.

1:00 The swim/trek leg did not take them long.  I estimate 20-30 minutes.  Team SteelSports is now out on the next leg, which is a bike leg.  The CPs are along the trails according to what I heard them say as they were leaving.  They weren't sure ho

w long this leg would take them. They are 40 minutes behind the leading team.  I checked with the front desk and they are in second place, so, they're doing great.  

1:16 The leading team has arrived back at the TA from the bike leg.  It took them a little less than an hour to complete the leg.  I expect that Team SteelSports should not take longer than an hour either.

2:20 Team SteelSports arrived back at the TA.  Before they left, they had to complete a special test.  They had to climb a rope that is positioned atop some wooden rails that are raised off the ground, then they had to balance and walk across several wooden 

rails.  They all four completed the test and are now on the bike leg which is the last leg.  It's a paddle/trek/rogaine that's expected to take a few hours.  There are 6 checkpoints on this leg.  Number 24 is the only point they have to paddle to, so they are planning on trekking as much as they can to prevent tipping over in the water again.  They should be finished soon.

5:16 Team SteelSports has finished the race.  They finished third overall and second in the 4 person co-ed division.  They are resting up and reflecting on the race.  They are very grateful to Dusty's team for all the help in the beginning of the race, they are a little disappointed with the boats, they are hot and they are exhausted.  Overall it was a great race and they are glad to be finished.

Check out the video:

Team SteelSports, Rock Stick Challenge 2009 from Katrina Skyles on Vimeo.

This was a great Rock-Stick race, directed by Dwight Spencer and Tom McMillan.  It was a HOT day, 95 degrees for the high, and Team SteelSports had a great race!  They pushed themselves harder then they have and overcame a couple of obstacles.  One of their best races this year.  I look forward to them continuing to get better and better!  I was glad to support them, with the help of Craig.  Perfect day!

See you next race.  Katrina

Soaring High with Team SteelSports at Too Cool's Spread Your Wings Adventure Race

Team SteelSports: Chris Clemmons, Leslie Conrad, Thomas Mullins and Rodney Skyles

Pictures of the race.  

We awoke this morning to the sound of a pretty quite TA. Birds were chirping and singing softly, which gave the day a peaceful beginning. Everyone slept well last night and woke up ready to race! Chris slept in the Tundra. Leslie, Rodney and I slept in the travel trailer and Thomas slept in his trailer. After an evening of friendly chats with other teams, getting to know our new team mate and a hamburger dinner, we went to bed about 9:00pm. In getting to know our new team mate, we learned that his wife, Connie, made Italian Cream Cakes and cookies for him to share. Needless to say, with one question, “Do you guys want some cake?”, we quickly voted HECK yeah! So after dinner, we got the chance to enjoy some truly delicious homemade cake and cookies for dessert. We appreciated, and enjoyed it, very much.

It rained the majority of the afternoon yesterday here, so things are pretty nasty and muddy.  The day is beautiful so far though.  The sun is shining and the temp is not unbearable.  Shaping up to be a very nice day.

Prior to the pre-race meeting, we dropped their canoes at the boat drop, which was a short walk from TA. They had to rent canoes from a place near Dallas, because the park was out of canoes, and they didn't want to paddle/portage heavy kayaks. The boat drop was heavily congested with boats. This is a full race, with 12 and 24 hour races. The pre-race meeting started at 7:30. We headed over to hear what Too Cool events were planned for the day. As usual, the first team to sign up for the race gets free batteries, and it just so happens that team was Team SteelSports. So free batteries for them! During the meeting we learned they will do the “big” repel, which is approximately 175 feet. I'm hoping I can make it over to snap some pics of that. Robin, the race director, did say that will be later on in the race. Rules of the race are you have to get at least one checkpoint from each leg to be official, race cut off is 8:00am tomorrow morning and the other typical adventure race rules. It's a firm cut off, so they have to be back by that time. A few more announcements about the wonderful volunteers in yellow shirts and instructions about the ropes course and it was time to race! The team captains were given the maps, passports and first set of instructions and the race was on.

We made our way to the start line, after the team read, then re-read the instruction sheet. Each team member would have to swim, with their inflated tube, across the river to the other side, where they would receive a chip, then swim back. The race began and the teams ran to the water. Team SteelSports seemed to be doing really well. Chris swam first, followed by Rodney, with his intense fins, then Leslie and Thomas finished. They were all strong in the water and were the second team to leave. They received their second sheet of instructions, which was a bike. This bike leg only has one checkpoint. The had a fast transition and were off. They were about the fourth, maybe fifth, team to make it to the trails. I was able to trek up to a place called Windmill hill and saw them biking down a rather steep hill. They were the third team I saw, but I don't know how many teams had come through before I got there. Still, they seem to be doing pretty well. They were ahead of Team Vingette by a few minutes.

10:04 AM I'm back at TA waiting for them to arrive. Several teams have come through and changed into their PFD's, then leave on bikes. I overheard another team say this was a Swim/Bike/Trek leg. Team Vingette, left on their bikes a few minutes ago, and other teams are heading to the water with snorkels. Hopefully Team SteelSports will be right behind them.

At around 10:10 Team SteelSports made it back to the TA on their bikes. The next leg is indeed, Swim/Bike/Trek. They left here with goggles and PFDs. For the swim leg, they slide down big rubber slides into the river below. Next, they had to swim to what's called The Iceberg. This is a tall, inflatable peek in the middle of the water. Teams have to climb the slippery sides, punch each teammates wristband and slide back down. From there, they swim, a short swim, around a bouie, then exit the water. They climb a small, wooden staircase, check in, then head back to the TA. I was able to snap a few photos of them on the Iceberg and in the water, then headed back to the TA to clean off the black, caked on mud from their chains and derailers. Team SteetSports was back at TA by about 10:30. They grabbed quick bites to eat, filled packs, changed shoes and were off. There are only a few CP's on this leg and Rodney anticipated it would take them about an hour. They left here about 10:38.    

**Just a quick note to readers.  There is one place here that I have the ability to connect to the internet, so my posts might not be a regular as they usually are.  I'm trying to type in a word document and upload to this site as soon as I can.  Be patient.  I promise to get the whole race in here!  Thanks for reading and I'll try to post more pictures later, too.  There is a lot of thunder rolling in and I need to get back to the TA before everything gets wet.**

11:30 AM The team arrived back from this, short bike/trek leg. There are a few teams ahead of them, but I feel like they are doing very well. When they arrived back at the TA the thunder seemed louder and closer. The next leg is a trek, that has 3 points and a special test. Rodney thinks this one will take a couple of hours. They left here at 11:40 on foot. I followed along behind them on my bike, as I made my way back to the shop with internet. I saw them trekking/jogging down the main road to Camp Eagle. As I sat down to connect, it started sprinkling, so I decided to head back to the TA to get things covered. Before I left I overheard a volunteer talking about the repel, so I asked him if that is what they are doing now. He said they expect teams to begin arriving at the repel about 12:00 or 12:30. I headed back to TA to see if I could possibly get some stuff done and head over to the repel cliffs. As soon as I got back the thunder and lightening started to worsen. The lightening seemed like it was right on top of the TA. I got the bikes cleaned and moved under the canopy, but not before getting soaked myself. I heard a loud banging noise and noticed that Thomas's canopy on his trailer fell to the ground and crashed onto his bike stand and bike that were underneath it. I think the water collected on top of the canopy, making it fall. I moved his bike, but I think the canopy is broken : ( Rain is kind of a nightmare. As I said before, the mud is horrific, and now it's only worse.  But, that is the sport and adventure of it all. I really wanted to get some pics of them repelling, but don't want to chance missing them getting back here.

1:00 PM The team arrived back at the TA. They did not do the repel yet. It has been postponed until later. The rain has stopped and the sun was peeking through the clouds. This leg of the race is a bike/trek. There are 8 points and Rodney thinks they'll be gone 3 hours or so. They plan on biking as much as they can, mud permitting, so they didn't take trekking shoes with them. They all refueled, snacked, helped plot points and helped with route selection. They had a fast transition and were out of here by 1:15.   

8:30 PM The team returned from the bike/trek leg. They had some trouble finding a few of the checkpoints and have ended up skipping one. I may have not heard correctly, they may have skipped more than one. Rodney told me they were going to skip more, because they were out of water. They came across a windmill that was pumping water, so they refilled their packs there and were able to continue searching for points. Rodney's derailer is broken on his bike. They were low on fuel, so they ate a little more this time, before leaving. This leg is a paddle/ropes. Rodney said about a two mile, or so, paddle. They will paddle to the traverse line and repel cliffs. It's nearly dark, so they took headlamps with them. They left the TA at 8:45 and Rodney said this leg shouldn't take them more than a couple of hours.   

11:35 PM They arrived back a the TA. They all seemed in good spirits and ready to finish. They are on the last leg, which is a trekking leg. They spent some time here eating, plotting and refilling packs. Rodney anticipates this leg will, hopefully, take 4 hours. There are 6 points on this leg and from what they said while looking at route selection, some of them will be pretty tough. They are going to the CP farthest away first and making their way back, collecting the other five.

6:50 AM I was packing up the TA and heard their voices coming down the road. Team SteelSports has finished Spread Your Wings Adventure Race. They only missed one checkpoint. They are all saying how good they feel and how much they enjoyed the race. Chris said he ran into a pig and when he crawled out of the cave he had a tarantella on him. Eeek. Rodney said they had a tough race, but they enjoyed it. Now they are off to load up the boats and then to a tasty breakfast here at Camp Eagle. We'll be on the road back home shortly.

Sorry for the delay in posting. I hope I didn't cause anyone to worry if they ever finished. When I made my way to the store with the internet connection it was closed, and I think they needed to reset the connection. So, I had to wait until there was cell phone reception to use the wireless card.

What a wonderful, Too Cool, weekend of adventure with an awesome team. Until next time...Katrina  

There is a science to this

On Interstate 35, between Buda and Goforth Texas, Team SteelSports weekend adventure began.  At a speed of 70 mph, a man drove along beside us, waving for us to roll the window down.  Rodney and I had flashbacks of the flying canopy fiasco that took place only a few short months ago.  Same interstate, same scenario.  So, we immediately thought we lost something.  The man said "Your tire looks bad.  Those ball bearings don't look good at all."  We smile, wave and say thank you.  We pull over at the next exit, for gas, and to check out the tire.  Turns out the tire is worn down below the steel belt, to the soft mushy stuff.  Or, as Rodney said "the cream filling was coming out", and Chris says "it was worn down to the nub."  

After we established where we were, I used my happy birthday to me gift, my iPhone to find RV Centers near Buda.  The first place, I called, Camper Clinic II, told me we were close and gave us directions, but she didn't know if they sold tires.  She transferred me to the service department, where I had to hold for the guy who knew this info.  He was on the phone with a customer.  I'm impatient, so we decided to just drive there.  We made our way in the direction of the store, and found 2 other RV places.  We stopped at the closest one,  Crestview RV Center.  It had a nice parking lot and exterior.  Inside were tiled floors and a large, tiled, front desk area where a nice lady directed us to the service counter, where we were told someone would be with us shortly.  This fancy place, had a popcorn machine in the lobby.  Chris helped himself, then Leslie, saying, she "didn't want to be the first", nabbed some for herself.  Eventually, Rodney was able to explain the situation to a very well dress man, who looked like he was just the service department boss and didn't get his hand dirty.  He told us that they'd have to "get it in here and take a look at it" to know exactly what was wrong with it.  When we asked if that could be done quickly, he responded with "we're swamped today, there's no way".  They were no help to us, but they did have free popcorn.

We made our way to our next stop, Camper Clinic II, the location I had called first.  They had a gravel parking lot and the office was a double wide trailer.  Leslie and I decided since this place was not as fancy, they probably didn't have popcorn.  She said they might have suckers, though.  Maybe only Dum-dums, but a free sucker, none the less.  The service department was in another double wide trailer behind the office, connected by a wooden deck.  When Rodney opened the door we were greeted with an overwhelming scent of moth balls.  Mmm...looking good so far.  The man behind the service counter, looked like a man who had been working on motor homes and was wearing his service shirt.  He was surrounded by several staff members.  Rodney explained the situation to him.  He told us they wouldn't be able to look at it today either.  Rodney asked if they sold tires and he said no, that Discount Tire did.  After weigh in from other employees, they gave us three locations for Discount Tire.  We thanked them and left, but not without noticing the large box of Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pops by the cash register.  Indeed, they did have suckers...and not just Dum-dums, but we chose not to take one.  Another bust, but luckily, there was one more RV Center down the service road a bit.

Our next, and final, stop was Marshall's Traveland.  They had a paved parking lot and didn't appear to be busy as there were not many cars in the parking lot.  This place was nothing fancy, but not a trailer, more like a big metal building.  Inside we made our way to the service counter where a friendly lady asked what she could do to help us.  Rodney started the story and she turned to a man who was sitting at a desk eating and said, "Let me see if the service deparment can help you?"  He just looked at at us for a minute, then asked what kind of RV we had.  After Rodney explained the situation in a little more detail and asked for some advice, the man reluctantly got up from his chair and came over to the counter.  Rodney told him the tire was practically brand new because we had it replaced recently.  He offered his advice and Rodney asked if they sold tires.  He said no and told us about Discount Tire.  We already know that story.  He asked what size and how many lugs there were on the tire.  When Rodney answered, he, again, reluctantly said "Well, I've got a 15 inch here."  Rodney said "I'll buy it!" We went outside to make sure that was the correct size.  It was actually a 14 inch.  Coincidentally, he had a 14 inch, too.  He said he kept them around for spare parts.  He informed us that it wasn't part of inventory, so he'd take $80.00 cash, no tax, for it.  While Rodney was paying him he asked "Are you going to put that on yourself?"  Rodney said, "I can, unless you want to do it."  He (we'll call "he" Vido), said "Well, I'm really bogged down right now, got a man out, so I'm short handed, we're just really busy today."  Uhh...hmmm....really?  We took our tire and said our thanks to Vido.

In the parking lot, Rodney and Chris jacked the trailer up and investigated the axel.  Rodney can interject more details later, if he feels the need, because I have no clue what any of these parts are.  Ball bearings, lugs, axels...I don't even know how to tell what size tire we have.  All I know is I heard Rodney say, from the other side of the RV, "There's a science to this."  He asked Leslie if she was good with physics, to which she responded...no, with a smile.  But, all three of them took a look at the axel to decide what would be best.  We found some tire removing tools, and yes, I know they have a name, and they were able to remove the old tire.  After it was off we were able to get a good look at it.  There were frayed metal strips hanging from one side and the whole tire was worn at an angle.  The boys did some mechanical work on the axel, that made perfect sense to them.  They decided this adjustment would keep it from bending, which is what caused this problem in the first place.  Leslie propped the old tire up against the trailer and the boys put the new tire on.  After the tire was on and they released the jack, Leslie and I realized the old tire was now wedged under the edge of the trailer.  I mean, that sucker was STUCK.  It was not budging.  Rodney released some of the air pressure and pulled it out.  Leslie decided that was pretty smart, because her idea would be to jack the whole trailer up again.  The only air pump available was the bike pump, so that what was used to add 50 pounds of pressure into the tire.  Needless to say it took a few minutes.  Chris, Leslie and Rodney took turns and eventually it was ready.  We moved a few of their gear boxes from one side of the trailer to the other, incase weight distribution was causing some issues, too.  We loaded up the tools, bike pump and the old tire and were ready to go.  We cruised down the road a tiny bit and checked it.  The tire did not appear to be bending out of place anymore, so we headed back down the interstate to finish up our trip.  You may be wonder...What was I doing during all this?  You know I was snapping photos!