Author Topic: Battle Mountain 2017  (Read 10227 times)

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
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Battle Mountain 2017
« on: 30 August, 2017, 10:16:39 am »
(Sings)
It's that time of year
It's time to go abroad
It's time to go on holiday
And visit Betty Ford NV-305

No, not me, Lawnmower DETH...

Actual runs don't get underway until the 11th, but if I don't start the topic now I'll probably forget.  Or something.  No Aerovelo this year chiz - I assume RL has caught up with them - nor Team Cygnus chiz chiz but I'm hoping for some keen competition among the women, with BRITAIN's Becky Taylor in Liverpool's ARION 3, a returning Barbara Buatois inna brand-new Varna camera bike and both Iris Slappendel and Aniek Roodenkerken in HPT Delft/Amsterdam's VeloX 7 givin' it large.  We want 80, Becky!

Last year's best of the rest, the Super Ketta Machine 162, is also returning with a new rider and - hopefully - without the TV crew, Team Policumbent have a brand new and drop-dead gorgeous bike, the Taurus, for Andrea Gallo and BRITAIN's Ken Buckley returns for the third time as the other rider in ARION 3.  We want 80, Ken!

Your roving reporter, together with both iterations of 2D Thomas van Schaik, will be heading to USAnia this very day so assuming The Man hasn't found all the rude things I've said about Donald TЯump the Automatic Diary will be open for business from tomorrow morning UK time.  I'm very grateful to the forumites who talked me out of going via Houston this year...

Official event webby SCIENCE is at http://www.wisil.recumbents.com/wisil/whpsc2017/speedchallenge.htm; first stop for the results after each session Mr Sir Lord Professor Nogami's pages at https://jnyyz.wordpress.com/category/hpv/; Facething group is at https://www.facebook.com/groups/123929127660938/
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Beardy

  • Shedist
Re: Battle Mountain 2017
« Reply #1 on: 30 August, 2017, 10:27:15 am »
Will Bethany (7) and Bethany's mum be travelling also?
For every complex problem in the world, there is a simple and easily understood solution that’s wrong.

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
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Re: Battle Mountain 2017
« Reply #2 on: 30 August, 2017, 10:56:58 am »
Will Bethany (7) and Bethany's mum be travelling also?

That would be telling!
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
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Re: Battle Mountain 2017
« Reply #3 on: 31 August, 2017, 03:14:55 am »
I am in Denver, not Guantanamo, and the convertible is actually a convertible this year.  Hurrah!
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Torslanda

  • Professional Gobshite
  • Just a tart for retro kit . . .
    • John's Bikes
Re: Battle Mountain 2017
« Reply #4 on: 31 August, 2017, 09:00:24 am »

That would be telling!

We want information. INFORMATION! INFORMATION!


 :-\
VELOMANCER

Well that's the more blunt way of putting it but as usual he's dead right.

Re: Battle Mountain 2017
« Reply #5 on: 31 August, 2017, 10:08:02 am »
Photos needed

What does 2D thomas think of the convertible?
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Beardy

  • Shedist
Re: Battle Mountain 2017
« Reply #6 on: 31 August, 2017, 10:49:19 am »
Photos needed

What does 2D thomas think of the convertible?
You're going to have to be more precise than that if you want information. After all we have already ascertained that the party consists of at least three travelers (and possibly more) including two 2D Thomas's.
For every complex problem in the world, there is a simple and easily understood solution that’s wrong.

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
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Re: Battle Mountain 2017
« Reply #7 on: 31 August, 2017, 12:36:16 pm »

P8310175 by Mr Larrington, on Flickr

Sole photo of the trip thus far as it was getting dark by the time I arrived at last night's caravanserai.  And I ate'nt had the top down yet as although it was toasty warm in Denver remembering how to drive on the wrong side of the road and listening to a pair of competing sat-navs is difficult enough even when the wind is not whipping your hair around your ears.  For the motor-car has a built-in one while Emily was quietly chuntering away in a pocket of my rucksack.  This could get interesting.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

benborp

  • benbravoorpapa
Re: Battle Mountain 2017
« Reply #8 on: 31 August, 2017, 01:05:26 pm »
Why is the bottom of the image pixelated?
A world of bedlam trapped inside a small cyclist.

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Battle Mountain 2017
« Reply #9 on: 31 August, 2017, 01:35:38 pm »
Why is the bottom of the image pixelated?
'e's a villain. A right wrong 'un and no mistake.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Battle Mountain 2017
« Reply #10 on: 31 August, 2017, 02:52:15 pm »
Why is the bottom of the image pixelated?

Plane driver took a wrong turn (perhaps due to competing satnavs) and instead of USAnia he's ended up in Minecraft.  Which would explain the suspicious lack of hassle at border control...

Arellcat

  • Velonautte
Re: Battle Mountain 2017
« Reply #11 on: 31 August, 2017, 09:46:37 pm »
…and BRITAIN's Ken Buckley returns for the third time as the other rider in ARION 3.

The other rider to Ken in ARION3 was going to be me.  I'd been training with the Liverpool guys since December last year and recently finished a bunch of test days at Woodford aerodrome with the completed bike.  It has some very nice engineering inside it, and the team is great.  And then just last weekend, with only days left before flying out to BM, unfortunate circumstances meant I had to respectfully withdraw from the whole endeavour.  :'( I'm still gutted about that, as is the rest of the team.

But if anyone can do it, Ken can, and I would say the bike is aerodynamically capable of 80 to 85mph.  :thumbsup:
Quote from: Morningsider
I like that you think any of your conveyances might qualify as "a disguise".

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Battle Mountain 2017
« Reply #12 on: 31 August, 2017, 10:31:50 pm »
That's pants.   :(

Mr Larrington

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Re: Battle Mountain 2017
« Reply #13 on: 01 September, 2017, 12:06:04 am »
B'ggr :'(
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

TheLurker

  • Goes well with magnolia.
Re: Battle Mountain 2017
« Reply #14 on: 01 September, 2017, 06:12:12 am »
Quote from: Mr Larrington
...when the wind is not whipping your hair around your ears...
You have hair? On your head? Git!

Or do you mean the wind whipping your ear-hair around? :)

And for good measure I'm going to resubmit my complaint from last year about the total lack of coverage of, "The Spanish Race" to Pandemic.  It really isn't good enough them letting their commentator in chief bugger off on his holibobs.
Τα πιο όμορφα ταξίδια γίνονται με τις δικές μας δυνάμεις - Φίλοι του Ποδήλατου

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
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Re: Battle Mountain 2017
« Reply #15 on: 01 September, 2017, 12:06:11 pm »
Top down all day yesterday, applying hairbrush to Anistonesque flowing locks today.  This has generated enough loose fur to provide a whole generation of Wild Woozles, such as inhabit the East Pole, with nesting material.  If Dr Hook's Lucy Jordan really had travelled to Paris in a sports car with the warm wind in her hair she'd have looked like the wreck of the Hesperus long before reaching the Terripherique Peripherique.  Ha!

Complaints about the Vuelta should be addressed to the organisers of that event, who IIRC moved the date to coincide with Pandemic's colemantator's annual pilgrimage to Abroad, where the FOREIGNS come from.  Battle Mountain is when it is because:
  • That's when it's least likely to be windy, and
  • It's not snowing, and
  • It's not the breeding season of the Mormon Cricket*

* An insect, not a variation on 20-Twenty**
** Wives
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Re: Battle Mountain 2017
« Reply #16 on: 01 September, 2017, 01:15:17 pm »
Arellcat, that's a real shame (but does explain all the training you have been doing).

Mr Larrington

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Re: Battle Mountain 2017
« Reply #17 on: 03 September, 2017, 04:43:56 am »
I've just seen on Facething that Yasmin Tredell is to ride ARION 3 :o  Something of a surprise as she's only just had an operation on the injured shoulder that kept her out of rowing and into "cycling" in the first place.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Arellcat

  • Velonautte
Re: Battle Mountain 2017
« Reply #18 on: 06 September, 2017, 09:19:01 pm »
Yas's injury was partly why she didn't apply for the rider selection at the tail end of last year.  I'm bummed about not going to BM, but I'm pleased for her that she's getting another crack at the record.
Quote from: Morningsider
I like that you think any of your conveyances might qualify as "a disguise".

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
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Re: Battle Mountain 2017
« Reply #19 on: 09 September, 2017, 10:40:26 pm »
Well, I'm here!  Only met the Varna gang so far but suspect others are over at the Civic Center or being coerced into lifting Heavy Things out on the course.  I shall go for a wander later.

If anyone's driving here from Las Vegas tomorrow Yasmin could do with a lift :o

Edit:

First piece of Shiny:


VeloX 7, latest from HP Team Delft/Amsterdam
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Beardy

  • Shedist
Re: Battle Mountain 2017
« Reply #20 on: 10 September, 2017, 03:08:56 pm »
They seem to have forgotten a window to allow the driver a fighting chance of going in the right direction.
For every complex problem in the world, there is a simple and easily understood solution that’s wrong.

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
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Re: Battle Mountain 2017
« Reply #21 on: 10 September, 2017, 05:31:49 pm »
Windows are so noughties, dear boy.  Cameras and video screens are where it's at.

Update: Yasmin has made it to Reno and should be able to scrounge a lift from one or other of the timing chaps.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: Battle Mountain 2017
« Reply #22 on: 10 September, 2017, 09:01:28 pm »
Looks very sleek, I hope Yasmin is of whippet-like svelteness
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
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Re: Battle Mountain 2017
« Reply #23 on: 10 September, 2017, 09:51:16 pm »
That up there is VeloX 7, wot is Dutch and powered by lady cyclists.  I aten't got a picture of ARION 3 yet, but it's probably a bit bigger since Yas is sharing riding duties with BRITISH Chaps' record holder1 Ken Buckley; she's originally a rower and somewhere north of 6' tall.

Spent the morning watching the Italians fettling their new machine Taurus.  Brake discs and the rear (tubeless) tyre were causing some headaches; brakes now OK but tyre still playing silly buggers.  Their solution to this?  Have lunch ;D

Picture from this morning still squeezing through the very skinny pipe at the Super 8; shortly I'm going to head over to the technical inspections where I can point the camera at most of the rest of the machines.  No sign yet of the Japanese, the Australians or the Canuckistanis but the BRITONS, the Dutch, the Italians, the French, the USAnians and the Mexicans are all here.  No Russians this year chiz.

1: Though former University of Toronto PSO Trefor Evans has dual nationality and has gone faster than Ken has so far managed, but say's he's Canadian.

Edit: Morning photos now uploaded: https://flic.kr/s/aHsm4G2tdV
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: Battle Mountain 2017
« Reply #24 on: 10 September, 2017, 10:02:46 pm »
The solution to every Italian problem is lunch, or coffee, or lunch then coffee. I can entirely relate to that, as my new triple front mech suddenly worked after having returned from dinner
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens