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It's kind of hard to figure out where to begin this story because it 
began so long before the actual race, so I guess for the sake of 
background I should start two weeks prior to race day.

I told Kat long ago that I would help out with the race in whatever 
capacity she needed me for, and as the race date came closer she 
decided my services were needed in the shuttle department.  The forest 
the ride would be in was subject to closure because of Southern 
California's lack of water this winter, so the forest service was only 
going to allow 6 vehicles inside its borders to man the vet checks.  
Two vehicles belonged to the vets, Kat's truck with the evac trailer, 
the shoer's truck, the truck belonging to the communications 
director/vet check manager and me.  All crew personnel would have to be 
shuttled to and from vet check 2 (3 and 4).  That is where I came in.  
I have a 4 x 4 and I'm an experienced off-road driver.

Two weeks prior to race date Kat and I went for a drive up the mountain 
so she could show me where I would be going and allow me to decide 
which road I would prefer to use.  We started out going up Bedford 
Canyon to the Main Divide to the vetting area (vet checks 2, 3 and 4).  
Then we came down the Main Divide to Indian Truck Trail to base camp.  
I didn't bother driving the easiest road in, Silverado Canyon, because 
it was just so far away from base camp that it was useless to me as the 
shuttle driver.

So, which road to choose?  The Hellishly steep, shorter, but wider 
Bedford Canyon; or the longer, easy decent, narrow and rocky Indian 
Truck Trail?  Well, I was leaning toward Indian Truck Trail as we were 
driving down when all of a sudden this screaming alarm goes off in my 
truck.  I'm searching the dash trying to find the problem when I 
finally spy the 'low tire pressure' light in the far corner of my 
dashboard.

I came to a stop and we got out and checked the tires.  Everything 
seemed fine to us.  The alarm stopped sounding, but the light remained 
on.  We continued on our way.  Not too long after that the steering 
wheel was just too mushy for something not to be flat.  We stopped at 
the intersection of the Main Divide with Indian Truck Trail and got 
out.  Air was quickly escaping from the left front tire and by the time 
I moved the truck over to a flatter section it was totally flat.

What is the first thing every father has taught their children to do 
when they buy a new car?  Pull out the jack and spare tire and learn 
how to use them.  I've done that with virtually every car/truck I've 
ever owned ... except this one.  So, out comes the owners manual so I 
can find the jack and figure out how to get the tire down.  Kat is 
reading the manual while I assemble the jack and insert the rod into 
the hole to bring the spare tire down.  Crank, crank, crank, cra...  
Stopped cold.  I couldn't budge it anymore.  I make some snide comment 
about how much I hate grubbing around in the dirt and Kat comes back 
with a me too.  Silence.  I guess my raised eyebrow stare did the trick 
because Kat got down on the ground and crawled in under the truck to 
see if she could budge the tire.  A couple of motorcycles drive by 
without so much as a howdy do, so did a couple of 4x4's too.  A 
motorcycle rider stopped and after watching a few minutes asked if he 
could help.  I hate grubbing around in the dirt so much I wasn't going 
to let that offer go to waste.  He got under the truck with Kat to 
hoist the tire to give the chain some slack so Kat could slip the link 
that was hung up loose so I could continue cranking the tire down.  
Didn't work.  I went off to look for tools and this guy came up and 
started wenching the tire back up.  Then he came down really fast, the 
link was freed and he brought the tire the rest of the way down.  Since 
Kat was still on the ground she unlatched the tire from the chain and 
brought it out.  She was so dirty and I was so clean (relatively 
speaking that is) I handed her the jack and let her go back under the 
truck to position the thing.  The guy started cranking away on the 
jack, so I just stood back and watched.  I helped a little with the 
jack after the guy got tired, but pretty much he and Kat changed the 
tire.  I felt a little guilty.  I'm perfectly capable of changing a 
tire.  I just didn't want to, so I watched.

Turns out it was 'old home week' with this guy and Kat.  They both 
graduated from Colombia University (business).  He's the president of 
the business school club.  She belongs to it.  Turns out her ad agency 
has done business with this guy (something like that - I sort of tuned 
them out when I realized I couldn't be part of the conversation).  She 
almost had him wheeled in as a volunteer drag driver for one of the 
legs of the ride, but he was busy that weekend and couldn't come.

We continued down the road and I decided that Bedford Canyon would be 
the wiser choice in roads to use.

Tori


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