Truck Rodeo?

You guys ever do the truck Rodeo's at you're company?
They asked me if I wanted to go to ours and I passed. I don't fell that I am good enough to be in a truck rodeo. Now I guess there's a Rookie pool which is not the same as the non rookie pool. I guess no one from our branch is in the companies truck rodeo which is why they asked me and that probably doesn't make us look very good to the bigger company with nobody from our branch participating. None of the senior guys probably want to give up a weekend to go do it you know if I was married and had a family and a life I probably wouldn't be down at the truck rodeo either. The other thing is, and this wouldn't happen and I'm not trying to be Debbie downer here just a realist. I haven't been with the company long enough so even if I won which wouldn't happen, I would be pointless, because the big competition in Florida I wouldn't be able to go to anyhow, but we can't deal in hypothetical situations that won't come to fruition.Plus I would be scared to death to be representing the entire company in a big huge national contest like that with all the good LTL drivers like all those guys at USF Holland who can go and blind side back a 53 foot trailer into a dock across four lanes of traffic in one shot. It's all I can do to pull a little 28' trailer around everyday. Of course it's all I need to do ha-ha!

I can do what I need to do to get through the day and it's good enough for me, but me I don't know, I am no super trucker not even close. I just try to do the best I can to stay out of trouble ha-ha. One of the things I do wrong when backing and I know I do this and try to correct it, but sometimes you have trouble correcting things is 90% of the time I wait to long to start following the trailer and end up having to do a pull up which in it's self is pretty harmless really, but it is one of my weaknesses. Honest to god I still have a hard time believing that I can drive the truck as well as I can ha-ha!

Today this morning I had a new stop a temp stop not normally on my route and it was an easy dock really, but I took about 4 try's to get into the dock. Just stupid stuff like that makes me lose patience with my self. Now I bet if I went there again, I would get in a lot quicker.

One of our drivers at my yard used to work for Pepsi and he said "Yeah this sometimes makes me miss my job at Pepsi where I just drove the truck into a parking lot and parked it."

Like today I saw a Budweiser bulk truck at a bigger gas station, can of corn he just pulled in as far away from the building as possible and just drove the pallet right up to the front door with a power jack and made his delivery.

It always feels to me like having all those big wigs and bosses around watching you back the truck and do whatever I don't know and anything I do I'm always thinking there thinking "What kind of people do we have out on the road for us?" I don't want to be in there thoughts. "This kid had to pull up and get out and look and what not, should of done that in one shot, what kind of people are we hiring?"

I don't know any of you guys ever participate in a Rodeo?

Every year, it has been either the beginning or end of a vacation week for me. So no, I've never participated. This year it's later in July, but I just don't have any interest.

We had a driver finish 8th in the big show a few years ago.

We have one every year. They made it mandatory for us to attend. They pay us $100.The winners used to compete against the winners from other branches in our company. But now that we got bought out by a bigger company. The winners is chosen strictly by the score. I do not expect to be near the top. I hope to be in the middle of the pack.

Yeah middle is about the best that I could ever hope for as well.

Speaking of truck rodeo's: Truck Guy? Have you ever delivered to the Taco Bell on Detroit Ave in Lakewood, Ohio? It's the Taco Bell on the corner of Arthur and Detroit Ave? If you did Rocky River Pizza Hut next to Penn Station then wouldn't you also have had that Taco Bell on you're route? Then from Rocky River Pizza Hut run over to Taco Bell on Detroit and Columbia in Westlake, Ohio?

Anyhow the Taco Bell on Detroit and Arthur Ave in Lakewood is on a corner lot, did you back in off the street or is there enough room to pull in and swing around the building in a 48'.

One of our GFS 28' would be no problem, but a 48' is a whole different ball game that is for sure.

A lot of our routes don't make much sense. Maybe to someone, but not me. I know some of it has to do with delivery windows. Only so many are key drops, or have lots big enough to get around when the place is open.

I've never done that Lakewood store. Looking at the aerial view, it looks like enough room to get around. I didn't have the one on columbia either, but I was there a couple of weeks ago on an overflow route. I did have the kfc up the street.

Silly me, I would have thought (Every time I start thinking I get in trouble ha-ha) it would have went Lakewood, Taco Bell, Rocky River Pizza Hut, Westlake KFC on Detroit and Clauge and then Detroit and Columbia Taco Bell. That's 4 stops all on the same street going east to west.

We have a bunch of routes that go in and around Cleveland. Making everything work time-wise is the challenge.

On the rodeo theme, I had a trailer last week that wouldn't release the pins to slide the axles forward. Made for an interesting couple of days. Did pretty good, with only one curb jump. Had to back out of a few places.

They haven't said a word to us about the rodeo, in the 5 years I have been here I haven't heard one thing about it.

grocerythrower said:

They haven't said a word to us about the rodeo, in the 5 years I have been here I haven't heard one thing about it.

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Ours was this weekend, one of our senior drivers from a drop lot far away out east went and competed in the 28' division (we only have 2 kinds of trailers at GFS 28 which is the majority and 50 which is not as common. I don't know if we have a straight truck division or not. I think Canada has straight trucks. GFS Canada runs a bunch of different equipment way different then what we have in the states.)

Anyhow a transit driver from the yard I work out of also went and competed in the rodeo. Personally my backing has been not very good lately (in my opinion) so it's a good thing I didn't compete.

GT whats going on man?
I know it's been kind of quiet on the forums this summer.