My weak Chicken arms

Tour de Georgia – Stage 4
Chickamauga/Walker Co. to Lookout Mt. TT

I’m never going to like TTs, but with this team, they are getting
smoother and smoother and thus slightly more tolerable. Most of that is
due to basic (more) knowledge of the course and getting there early
enough to prepare. With the team doing a similar TT course as last year,
I knew the gearing would need to be different (lower) than most TTs. And
with the same start area, parking was a breeze. Craig and I got there
early and I “stole” some power from the dorm rooms nearby. Pumping tires
was the only real challenge to do. All the other stuff (gears, bike
choice, wheel choice) had been done or could be done easily. But pumping
tires by hand was not gonna happen. OK, I’m lazy I admit it. But it is
not just the 8 race bikes (16 tires) we need to pump. But rather add the
4 plus pare bikes and about 12 more pairs of wheels to give them that
last minute option AND for spare wheels. That is a minimum of 24 pairs
of wheels. That’s a lot to do by hand. Not to mention pumping them up
with a bit more pressure than the road bikes. We only pump them ONE bar
(atmosphere) more than the road bikes but that bit more x 48 plus wheels
makes that job that much more daunting. I guess I just have weak Chicken
arms.

Our bus driver decided to try and not repeat the problems he had last
year. Last year the bus was on a slight angle due to the crown of the
road. Without knowing how the bus worked last year, he expanded the
interior room of the bus by using the slide out part of the bus (expand
— a — bus) AND put down the leveling “Feet” to both level the bus and
stabilize it a bit more. But last year he had big issues both getting
the “feet to retract” and getting the slide out rooms to return to
driving/orrigional position. I think he was at least 30 to 45 minutes
late to the hotel last year trying to solve those two problems.

So, this year no “feet” to stableize/level it and just put out the slide
outs. But again he had issues getting the slide outs to retract. Just
the slight angle and the weight of the slide out room prohibited it from
operating properly. So, Ritchey, Craig and I gave it a hefty push as the
bus driver operated the retracting motor. Viola!! It worked and we were
off to the hotel.