Post
by Wesley Tucker » Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:10 pm
To continue with the on-going saga,
We ran my new TrakMate at the Southeastern Slalom Series Race . . . er, session, whatever, in Winston Salem on Sunday. Set up was a snap and taking it down was even easier!
There were six of us during the day and I would estimate each skater took at least 10 runs with the clock. Ran without a hitch. No glitches, stammers, lock ups or non-stops. Every run went like, well, clockwork.
I learned one thing yesterday, though, that's kind of a cool tidbit. This isn't necessarily TrakMate related, but certainly applicable to my system. It was HOT yesterday in North Carolina. When I got in my truck to leave at 4:00 the thermostat read 98 degrees. Before that, though, I had the unenviable task of winding up 700 feet of cable. Doing that in the blazing sun AFTER skating for five hours is no fun.
After cranking on that wheel for about five minutes and about dying from exposure, I had a brainstorm: why am I doing this? I have a big truck with lots of room. So I just gathered up all the Cat-5 cable and tossed in the truck with the reel. This morning after a long night's sleep and feeling better, I went to the truck, grabbed a huge wad of cable and brought it inside. In the air conditioning and with a glass of iced tea, I easily wound up the cable in about ten minutes. No sweat . . . literally.
I know on a race weekend this might be a bad idea to do on a Saturday if you have to race again on Sunday. Then again, taking care of the system while back in the motel room sure sounds better than wilting away in the heat when it's not necessary. I know the guys who use phone cord are a little protective and try to get it straight and wound up as soon as they are finished, but the heavier Cat-5 is easy to gather up and untagle later. Of course, the fact that it's heavier is one of the reason winding it in while on the hill is so debilitating.
I know that not everyone has a covered pick up truck bed they can just use as a huge trunk, but it works for me. I'm sure the next time I set up the system on a blistering summer day I will not spend any time cranking and winding that cable. It sure makes everything easier to just do it later when the conditions are a little more ameneable to manual labor.
![Image](http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/Boards/Ick/ClippedIck-Logogrey.jpg)