Author Topic: Battle Mountain 2016 (Read 16876 times)

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #25 on:** 13 September, 2016, 05:43:12 pm »

Quote from: Andrij on 13 September, 2016, 05:30:05 pm

From comments elsewhere, perhaps you could sacrifice a Frenchman (regardless of size and hirsuteness) instead.

Andrij, you are a Bad Man

Anyway , we're on the telly. Bunch of hippies on Al-Jazeera = visit from Homeland Security Arrest-O-Bots expected by lunchtime.

mrcharly-YHT · « **Reply #26 on:** 13 September, 2016, 08:09:52 pm »

Nice report

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #27 on:** 13 September, 2016, 09:37:22 pm »

It stopped raining for a bit earlier on but the rain is back with a vengeance, accompanied by the full range of "Dr Frankenstein, Your Lab Is On The Phone" special effects. I'd rate our chances of running this evening as slim to zero as even if it stops raining the road can stay very slick for quite a while. Back in 2002 we had three machines crash at the same spot after a storm had gone through.

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #28 on:** 14 September, 2016, 01:02:40 am »

Tuesday night runs cancelled chiz. Not raining in town ATM but the start is twenty miles away and it's still git murky over there.

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #29 on:** 14 September, 2016, 10:05:51 pm »

More rain overnight but it had dried out enough to run this morning. Yasmin Tredell of the Liverpooligans was first off but ran off the road at low speed at launch and b0rked the camera housing. They couldn't fix it in time for her to have another run but the PSOs got ARION2 fixed for Ken Buckley to do a 71.23 over the long course later in the morning. Sarah Piercy in Reynold, the Plymouth Uni handcycle, did 22.66 mph with the 2.5 mile start. She reckons it's too long so we're looking at the possibility of starting her from or near Badger Ranch Road about 600-1000 metres from timing.

Some bloke called "Reichert" did 81 mph over the long course. Yawn. For some reason Jun hasn't got the results up yet. Hunger, probably. When he does they'll be at or near https://jnyyz.wordpress.com/category/hpv/. We both sneaked out of a meeting just now so hopefully not long.

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #30 on:** 15 September, 2016, 06:04:58 am »

Fast evening today, except for my man Jan-Marcel, who unshipped his chain after three pedal strokes and then proceeded to coast for six miles at 35-40 mph while us poor saps in the chase car tried to figure out WTF was going on and Calvin Moes in Eta Prime had to pass us on the road. We're pretty sure this is some kind of record. Winds were a bit variable; Ken Buckley was just under his BRITISH record with a legal wind 74.9 mph while Florian Kowalik set a new junior men's record with 62.69 mph - he was faster this morning but the wind wasn't being nice before lunch. Three bikes over 76 mph - Aurélien Bonneteau in Altaïr 5, Jan Bos in VeloX 6 and Andrea Gallo in PulsaR, but only Auré had a wind-legal run.

I should have said four bikes over 76 mph really, because Todd Reichert upped his own record to 88.26 mph

And conditions are supposed to improve for the rest of the week

Pingu · « **Reply #31 on:** 15 September, 2016, 09:34:42 am »

Quote from: Mr Larrington on 14 September, 2016, 10:05:51 pm

...When he does they'll be at or near https://jnyyz.wordpress.com/category/hpv/...

I think you need to introduce him to the IF function in Excel

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #32 on:** 15 September, 2016, 09:53:33 am »

The Al-Jazeera piece said 138km/h is "faster than it's legal to drive a car in the US." I thought some states eg Montana had no speed limits and a few others had set them as high as 90mph?

Arellcat · « **Reply #33 on:** 15 September, 2016, 08:33:15 pm »

Quote from: Mr Larrington on 15 September, 2016, 06:04:58 am

Todd Reichert upped his own record to 88.26 mph And conditions are supposed to improve for the rest of the week

And this is what it sounded like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp6JePiGSJY

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #34 on:** 15 September, 2016, 09:29:01 pm »

Quote from: Cudzoziemiec on 15 September, 2016, 09:53:33 am

The Al-Jazeera piece said 138km/h is "faster than it's legal to drive a car in the US." I thought some states eg Montana had no speed limits and a few others had set them as high as 90mph?

Montana did abolish rural speed limits back in the 1990s but reintroduced them a couple of years later. Highest posted speed limit I've seen personally has been 80 mph on interstates in Texas and Idaho but there may be higher ones wot I've missed.

Anyway, BRITISH women's record for Yasmin Tredell in ARION2 this morning - 67.58 mph. One of the Scousers says she develops as much power as Ken Buckley on account of having been on Team GB's Olympic rowing team before injuring her back and being advised to cycle to aid recovery. As soon as this is over she's back in training for Tokyo 2020

P9150240 by Mr Larrington, on Flickr

Yasmin (R) in pre-run conversation with some of the Liverpool team's myriad Penniless Student Oaves. IIRC she'll get to run again tonight should she desire, when it'll be a hell of a lot warmer.

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #35 on:** 16 September, 2016, 06:04:22 am »

Only sixty dead for Ken tonight because of a disturbing smell as of something rubbing against something it shouldn't have been rubbing against. Whatever it was, it wasn't doing it by the time Yasmin ran in the third heat and she upped her own BRITISH record to 69.94 mph.

Florian Kowalik pushed his own junior record out to 63.86 mph, Andrea Gallo put the Italian record back above the BRITISHone with 76.13 mph and Aurélien Bonneteau was 0.002 seconds off his personal best (which is probably a French national record to boot). Todd only did 86.27. Ten out of the twelve riders tonight had legal wind; natch my man Jan-Marcel was one of those who didn't but he got going without any problems, kept the chain on and did 73.84.

Can't remember what the start order is tomorrow but we're running the long course heats first and there's no skool bus tomorrow so we can close the road at 07:00, so even less sleep for the likes of me chiz.

ElyDave · « **Reply #36 on:** 16 September, 2016, 06:59:24 am »

I'm assuming the 5 miles of run up is to get those massive gears wound up to max?

Unlike mr Martin's attempt towed behind a truck, are they required go do it all by human power?

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #37 on:** 16 September, 2016, 08:30:05 am »

Quote from: ElyDave on 16 September, 2016, 06:59:24 am

I'm assuming the 5 miles of run up is to get those massive gears wound up to max?

Yes, though there have been some in recent years who've complained that they'd like an even longer run up

They can't have one, because there's a corner and central rumble strips just south of where our 5 miles begins and the current slowing down zone is mostly slightly uphill as it crosses the bridge over the Reese River shortly after the timed section.

Quote from: ElyDave on 16 September, 2016, 06:59:24 am

Unlike mr Martin's attempt towed behind a truck, are they required go do it all by human power?

Yes again - you can have instruments, video screens, gear shifts etc powered by batteries (the jury is still out on computer-assisted steering coz no-one has yet managed to make it work) but all the overcoming of aero and mechanical drag is from the rider him/herself. You can have up to 15 metres of push start and/or balance assistance from a pedestrian or sk8er d00d but launch trolleys have been banned for this year which seems irrational and, to many of us¹, a mouldy chiz. And your chase vehicle has to stay $DISTANCE behind the machine to prevent "bow waves" from giving the bike a shove². The rules also required courses to be flat within 2/3 of 1% over the whole length up to the exit of the timed bit which, by sheer luck, "our" stretch of NV-305 is.

1: Especially Damjan Zabovnik, whose last machine was simply too low to be hand- or sk8er-launched by anyone over 3' tall.
2: There is an unproven suspicion that this was what happened when the Cheetah team set the last pre-Battle Mountain record of 68.73 mph as none of their other umpteen runs were close.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #38 on:** 16 September, 2016, 12:30:09 pm »

Wossa launch trolley? Like shelf on wheels with sandwiches and that? Oh, I see...

No, does it provide a push or just balance?

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #39 on:** 16 September, 2016, 02:18:35 pm »

THURSDAY NIGHT SPEEDS IN ERROR STOP YASMIN OVER 70 STOP JUN TO BE PUBLICLY FLOGGED WITH KMC CHAIN @ 11 AM MEETING ENDS

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #40 on:** 16 September, 2016, 06:51:34 pm »

So, yes, launch trolley is just for balance and less undignified running about. Usually a wheeled wossname that fits round the tail of the bike and is pulled off when it's going. Preferred method is to have it attached to a piece of string secured at the other end to something secure for e.g. Zabovnik Junior or a Chevrolet as ones discarded by pulling a piece of string inside the bike are prone to failure and might be considered as discarding a piece of the bike after launch, wot is Forbidden. I don't know why anyone would object to them as it's no slower to bung in the chase car than picking up a sk8r d00d and Damjan Zabovnik had a 100% success rate last year, which cannot be said of some of the other teams withe peds or sk8rs.

Just about to head off to the debrief post-morning runs - more Stuffs later.

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #41 on:** 16 September, 2016, 09:17:12 pm »

Corrected speeds from last night: Ken Buckley: 61.20, Todd Reichert: 87.62, Yasmin Tredell: 70.05. So a better hat and a speeding ticket for Yas, though Officer Aten of the Highway Patrol had the misfortune to get sent to Las Vegas this week so tickets for road traffic violations will have to go by post chiz.

Busy morning with generally benign wind conditions. Sarah Piercy set a new Women's arm-powered record at 24.85 mph, but Ken Buckley dropped ARION2 twice and had to be hauled off for fettling. To the bike, obv, not Ken. He later did 72.33 mph; fastest of the morning was Jan Bos in VeloX 6 at 75.22. Andrew Sourk looked as though he was finally going to get a proper run in but then a knee went SPANGGG and he finished with 18.61 mph with one legged pedalling.

to the University of Toronto Oaves who managed to run Vortex in all five heats without dropping it, holding up proceedings or dropping seat cushions halfway down the course. Conditions looking better than last night for this evening's runs.

Oranj · « **Reply #42 on:** 16 September, 2016, 09:56:28 pm »

Kudos to Yasmin (in the modern, Strava, idiom), I can imagine that sitting on an ergo all winter is a similar motion to the recumbent pedalling style, which must help. "Only" 5.7mph off the absolute women's record already on what is her fourth, or fifth, max speed run.

Todd went 87mph I see, so that's filled that little gap in the records, I wonder how much more there is in the tank?

Lookin' good, Mr L:

Von Broad · « **Reply #43 on:** 16 September, 2016, 11:09:10 pm »

Quote from: Oranj on 16 September, 2016, 09:56:28 pm

Lookin' good, Mr L:

Blimey! touch of the Reservoir Dogs or what!
Cool and most definitely menacing I'd say

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #44 on:** 16 September, 2016, 11:23:24 pm »

I've have you know that those are my bass-player-inna-stoner-rock-band¹ sunglasses bought ~~secondhand off Rick Rubin~~ somewhere poncy in Colorado on a previous trip when I'd contrived to leave my almost-as-cool Ray-Bans at home chiz. That is my grate frend Mr Woolrich in the passenger seat; he hav been here almost as many times as me and even Organisated the whole event in 2004 and 2005. Which takes a bit of doing if you live in Egham.

1: Trufax - someone approached me at a gig a few months ago and asked me if I was Tom Araya out of USAnian thrash metal bozos Slayer

T Araya in May 2015, yesterday

ElyDave · « **Reply #45 on:** 16 September, 2016, 11:36:13 pm »

I'm as impressed with the beard as I am the sunglasses

Wascally Weasel · « **Reply #46 on:** 17 September, 2016, 05:51:29 am »

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MKGai9_81gY

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #47 on:** 17 September, 2016, 06:52:20 am »

There were drag races this afternoon, open to anyone without an engine. For the umpteenth time, I didn't go but my Sinister Agents tell me that first place was scooped by Scout, who is Beth & Barclay Henry's golden labrador. Srsly.

So, evening runs and everyone had a wind speed below the legal maximum. Highlights include:

Ken Buckley: New BRITISH record at 76.59 mph
Yasmin Tredell: New BRITISH record at 71.05 mph
Andrea Gallo: New Italian record at 78.85 mph
Aurélien Bonneteau: New French record (I think) at 78.95 mph. Certainly a personal best
Ryohei Komori: New Japanese record at 80.06 mph; 6th member of 80 mph club, 5th fastest person evvah, edging out Damjan Zabovnik's 80.01 on his final run last year.
Florian Kowalik: New Junior Men's World Record at 65.93 mph

For reasons unknown Todd was off the pace with a mere 79.69 mph while my man Jan-Marcel couldn't get top gear and only clocked 73.26. Top marks to the Japanese team for building a bike in a couple of months that cracked 80 pretty much straight out of the box.

I'll have to hold off trying to view Mr Weasel's YouBend link until Sunday night coz the Internets here make the Slow Children look like Komori-san.

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #48 on:** 17 September, 2016, 09:11:23 pm »

Too windy this morning for all but one run to be legal and the fast girls and boys stayed in bed anyway. Some of them without telling us Offishuls that they were doing so; apologies from Delft and Liverpool written on the back of a $100 bill will do nicely. Then the gathering of all the machines, riders, volunteers, thieves, vagabonds and drag-racing dogs outside the Civic Center for the photos. Minus Plymouth and Dave Sianez, who had left already, and Adam Ince who we think CBA.

P9170326 by Mr Larrington, on Flickr

L-R riders: Jan Bos, Barclay Henry, Andrew Sourk, Greg Thomas, Peter Borenstadt, Gareth Hanks, Alexei Kristaev, Ellen van Vugt, Jan-Marcel van Dijken, Ryohei Komori, Todd Reichert, Calvin Moes, Andrea Gallo, Florian Kowalik, Larry Lem, Aurélien Bonneteau, Yasmin Tredell, Ken Buckley, $MEXICAN PSO, $TORONTO_PSO, Chris Williams, Sherry Shi, $TORONTO_PSO_2
L-R machines: VeloX 6, Take2, TRIage, DF Velomobile, All Overzealous, Tetiva 4, VeloX XS, Cygnus Chronos, Super Ketta Machine 162, Eta, Eta Prime, PulsaR, Velox S (aka "Gee Bee"), Super 8, Altaïr 5, ARION2, The Mexican bike, Vortex

P9170328 by Mr Larrington, on Flickr

Winner of the drag races

P9170340 by Mr Larrington, on Flickr

Team Cygnus (2016): Hayco, Western Half-Devil Monster Face van Schaik, ~~Tom Araya~~ Mr Larrington, Jan-Marcel, Sjaak

Last runs tonight. Should be exciting.

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #49 on:** 18 September, 2016, 07:43:07 am »

Just in from the awards bash. New multi-track record for Gareth Hanks: 73.95 mph. Improved Japanese record by Ryohei Komori: 82.03 mph. New world record by Todd Reichert: 89.59 mph

Sadly for we BRITONS Ken Buckley stacked ARION2 for reasons as yet unknown, but possibly to do with wind. He's OK and the bike wasn't too bad but bad enough to deny Yasmin Tredell a chance to run, which is a chiz coz she reckoned she was in with a shout of surpassing Barbara Buatois' world mark

Nice People George and Carole Leone gave me one of two Launch Area Appreciation Awards and I've been promoted to Official Member of Team Cygnus which means two packets of Stroopwafels. And the boys have entrusted me with the care and feeding of the 2D version of Western Half-Devil Monster Face Thomas van Schaik for the rest of the trip.

The Automatic Diary and photos on flickr won't see much new Stuffs tonight because slow internets and general knackerdom but should resume by this time tomorrow.