Day 26: Battle Mountain NV

A groaning Mr Larrington roused himself from his pit at 08:15.  Praise be!  There is strawberry jam in the breakfast area for the first time this year, instead of the pukey grape jelly that tastes mostly of disappointment.  By the time I got over to the Civic Center 99% of the clearing out was done and the University of Toronto team was hard at work in the parking lot:

The frisbee went thataway ==>

Larry and I took a few more bits'n'bobs over to the storage unit before Toronto self-cat-herded into departure:

Turn left after the overpass and start looking for signs to "Canada" once you reach Indiana

The kitchen has to be cleared out, meaning leftover pizza and salad for a late breakfast.  And ice cream for elevenses, thanks to the Toronto kids.  Larry has designs on these:

Even though he's a millionaire:

Naff-all else going on so I came back to the Super 8 for uploading the Stuffs I didn't do last night.

Late afternoon Joyce and I went to look for the Yellow Brick Road, the north end of which has changed little since 2024, though there's actually some houses now down at the other end.  Plus there's this:

You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows...

Yes, that's a BMW flat-twin being used as a weathervane.

Final dinner at the Wol Club for the last survivors of the event: your humble scribe, Joyce, Larry, Niklas, Wiebke, Adam and Battle Mountain Mike.  Nik declined to join us; Niklas says this is because he subsists entirely on grapefruit and onions.  Back on the road tomorrow; currently looking at the daunting prospect of turning a Several of Teetering Piles of Crap (© CrinklyLion) into two and a bit neatly-packed bags.  And it might be an early-ish start tomorrow because Cedar City UT is:

• about a hundred miles further away than I thought, and
• in a different time zone

Summary of this year's event: not a classic in spite of the Calvin/Ellen record.  Small turnout and many of the machines had technical problems which prevented them from reaching their potential.  But it's always good to link up with the grizzled veterans and new enthusiasts alike, and a special and huge thank-you to the locals from the Battle Mountain Chamber of Commerce, the Lander County Convention & Tourism Authority and the folks in the Civic Center here who have gone the extra mile to promote the event and treat us like royalty instead of scruffy oiks.

Day 25: Battle Mountain NV

I hope you realise, Constant Reader, that I'm missing Robyn Hitchcock playing in St. Leonards On Sea tonight in order to Disseminate Essential Information...

Return to more normal conditions this morning i.e. bloody freezing and almost still conditions.  I say "almost" because the Wind™ teased us all morning by dropping to legal speeds before easing up again almost every time a bike hove into view.  A mixed bag this morning.  Just for a change it was Video Woe that nobbled Eta Prime while 'topher was on the start line with the fairing being fitted.  The team has a replacement monitor but the bike was out for the morning.  Alexis was the only taker for the first heat; Beluga One reaching 52.49 mph but not with legal wind.

Beluga One has been redecorated overnight...

Heat 2 had Calvin and Ellen in Titan and Justin S in WooHoo 2  64.13 for the former, 51.04 for the latter.  Neither run wind-legal chiz.  Calvin said he was pushing hard but the bike just didn't accelerate.  Too cold?

For once Titan ended a run with both wheels still on the deck

WooHoo 2 nearing catch

FFS, Blogger, stop changing the damned font at random.  (FUMMS)

Heat 3 had Adam and Dark Star as the sole starter.  73.94 mph.  Non-legal wind.  Gagh!

Wiebke and Niklas prepping Dark Star

Typhoon was the sole runner in Heat 4, if I've read my scrawl right, with Ethan T aboard.  54.59 with - you guessed it - non-legal wind.

Ethan T in Typhoon
The purple stripe is cool, at least according to Erin

A combination of a launch fail for Titan and MOAR Chain Woe for Typhoon stopped play for Heat 5 but at least it had warmed up sufficiently at the long course start that I could feel my toes again.  The Toronto team hauled the entire front sub-assembly out of Typhoon and threatened it with the old ultra-violence:

Erin gives Typhoon's oily bits a Hard Stare
Purple stripe suspicious colour match for Erin's shorts

Titan at an Improbable Angle

Seems we actually got three bikes down the course in the swiftly-arranged Heat 6; Calvin and Ethan in Titan, and the Justins S and T in WooHoo 2 and Typhoon respectively.  69.26 mph and the first wind-legal run of the morning for Titan; 54.32 for WooHoo 2 and 41.17 for Typhoon.

At the sort of time that normally sees us back in town the circus moved down to the short course start for two more runs.  In the Typhoon corner, Frank.  In the Titan corner, and weighing in at $US 250, the one, the only, Professor Sir Chief Justice Baron Timelord Jun Nogami!  No, they didn't let him drive.

You put your right leg in, your left leg out...

Frank in Typhoon

Calvin and Jun got their steed up to ~ 55 mph in 2 km when the main video screen blanked out.  Somehow a cable got disconnected.  They trundled through at 30.57 mph, faithlessly hogging only the second lot of legal win this morning.  The luckless Frank suffered more Chain Woe in Typhoon and ended his week with a DNS.

Back to the factory for the morning debrief, group photos and clearing of the Civic Center for tonight's awards do.  It was deemed Cruel and Unusual to send Danny Guthrie up the ladder this year, because he's 80.  So the job fell to me.  I hate ladders.

Teams and vehicles.
Come back SeventySeven and your interesting blueness!

Vehicles and riders
L-R: Frank, Ethan T, Justin T, Erin, Christopher, Harrison,
Jaden, Justin S, Adam, Jun, Ellen, Ethan E, Calvin, Alexis

I don't know whether Officer Aten rocked up to bundle some miscreant into the back of his cruiser this year, coz I came back to the Super 8 sharpish to get the group photos uploaded.

One more set of runs starting at 17:20 Pacific.  Hopefully we'll get 9 bike/rider combos down the road with high temperatures, legal winds, new tandem records and upgraded Hats, though alas we'll be without Beluga One as most of the team has to leave town to fly home before proceedings are concluded.  I'll post this now (half past two-ish in the arvo) and update it after tonight's activities.

So after the Awards Dinner I got back to the Super 8, put the kettle on and promptly fell asleep for three hours which is why I'm posting this update Sunday lunchtime.  Saturday afternoon the Wind™ was supposed to drop but it didn't get the memo and there were no wind-legal runs at all.  Justin T in Typhoon was the sole rider in the first heat with 38.97 mph, coasting through timing after the chain fell off.  Again.  In heat 2 Justin S & WooHoo2  fought the Wind™ for 53.39 while Ethan T and Typhoon clocked 44.10, coasting through timing after the chain fell off.  Again.  The event closed with Adam doing 55.82 while not trying.  Titan didn't run because Wind™, leaving Ellen just short of her century, while Eta Prime failed to make the start because of difficulty getting the fairing in place due to repairs after Erin's crash the other day.  We suggested loading her into the bike in the parking lot and carrying bike and rider onto the road, like wot we used to do with Damjan Zabovnik but the message didn't travel from catch to start as fast as Bill's car chiz.

Typhoon & Justin T

Joyce looks for fresh cats to herd

Back to town to get cleaned up and - optionally - don the Posh Frock for the Awards Dinner.  Pizza & divers salads.  Om and, moreover, nom nom nom.  Then actual Awards:

Hats: Ethan T (55), Erin (55), Justin S (50), Justin T (50), Alexis^[•] (50)
Note Posh Frock...

Erin's plan to wear that ^^^^ dress in Eta Prime thwarted on the grounds of practicality rather than for aesthetic reasons.

Some of the teams:

The tattered remnants of Team Hermus

University of Toronto

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

HPT Falcon, feat. Nik on harmonica

The customary visit from Officer Aten of Whatever The Nevada Highway Patrol Is Called This Week:

Respect mah Authoritah!

Only one speeding ticket issued this year chiz, to Adam, but a fair few for failing to maintain travel lane and one to the unfortunate Frank Fang of Toronto, for "impeding".  Toronto escaped being ticketed for "littering" i.e. letting Stuffs escape from the back of their truck and Bill got away with his 201 mph antics because closed road.

A hardened criminal, yesterday
Frank gets nicked

Trophies (assorted):

Women's single rider: Erin

Men's single rider:

1. Adam
2. Ethan T
3. Justin S

Mixed Multi-rider: Calvin & Ellen

Men's Multi-rider:

1. Calvin & Ethan E
2. Calvin & Jun

Collegiate:

1. University of Toronto
2. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
3. Team Hermus

Heroes from Battle Mountain and Lander County:

Holly, Maite & Becky

In days of yore George and Carole Leone used to make special awards for Stuffs (various).  Calvin has revived this initiative:

Innovation: Cal Poly SLO for their landing gear

Sportsmanship: Adam Hari

Leadership: Joyce Lem (in Posh Frock)

Joyce's Shiny Thing up close & personal

And a Special Superstar Stiffticket to drone camera pilot Nik Vatin:

Top pointing there from the Lithuanian representative!

• That's not actually Alexis in the photo because most of the Sherbrooke operation had to leave early to catch a flight chiz.

Day 24: Battle Mountain NV

Because "operational reasons" Josh the Traffic Control Supervisor was obliged to drive over to Elko yesterday and swap his Chevy pickup for a different truck.  Now a  heavy-duty Chevrolet Silverado is no Kei car but this:

is something else altogether.  He hates it.

But anyway.  It was almost 10 Celsius at seven this morning and the wind appeared mostly benign.  Neither Toronto bike had been reinspected following yesterday's upsets and subsequent repairs but everyone else was there, trying to get at least one decent run in while the weather held.  Three bikes in the first heat, on the long course.  Adam and Dark Star were away first and recorded the week's highest speed thus far, a wind-legal 73.41 mph.  I was in the chase truck driven by a cautious Battle Mountain Mike so we didn't get close enough for photos during the run chiz.

Adam's debrief with Niklas

Next down the road was Justin S and WooHoo Two.  He managed 44.84 mph with "something rubbing", plus the wind had snuck over the legal limit, but a couple of minutes later it has dropped for Alexis and Beluga One, who clocked 48.05.

Justin S & WooHoo Two about to be caught

Alexis & Beluga One on final approach

Only one machine in the second heat, since not even Titan can accommodate three riders.  This morning saw Ethan E returning to the back seat; he and Calvin passed at 68.80 mph with the wind having once more reached "naughty" status.  Titan has been fitted with old-skool steel discs cannibalised off Adam's old bike and in spite of reaching 370 Celsius these did not catch fire, disintegrate or exhibit suspicious political tendencies.  Although the bike still fell over at catch chiz.

Titan not reaching catch backwards, umop-ap!sdn or on fire

No more takers for the long course so we at catch chilled out while Larry and co moved down to the 4 km start.  Only one taker for the sole heat, this being Jaden in WooHoo Two.  He only made it about 500 metres before going down.  Cause as yet unknown.

Other things we learned this morning: the default notification sound on Adam's phone is a recording of Arnold Ligtvoet shouting:

BIKES ON THE ROAD!

This, Adam says, causes much consternation among shop staff when he's paying for things.

Back to the Civic Center for results and reuniting folks with lost property.  Yes, we found a ring.  No, Calvin, no-one has found a fat roll of $20 bills wrapped up in an elastic band and we strongly suspect your plea for its safe return to be rooted in a thick and squelchy bed of Lie.

Before the meeting I got a special invite to Holly's office, because Wols:

Cora teh Wol

Wol! Wol!

MOAR Wols in today's Flickr album.

After the meeting I went back to the factory, Guv Super 8, there to deal with the morning's photos and update the people of England^[1] now abed of the morning's progress before sitting outside with Volume 3 of Richard J. Evans' history of the Third Reich^[2] and catch some rays.  The sun promptly vanished behind thick clouds, the wind picked up and it tried to rain.  So I went back to bed.

The weather hadn't improved much by the time we got out to the course and many folks, having made the trek out there, left their vehicles on the truck and hung around.  Heat one was on the short course; Justin T scored 51.10 mph despite the wind.

Justin T & Typhoon
Why is "Typhoon" so difficult to type?

Heat two attracted this many punters: 0.  I repaired to the motor-car to Defile the Wilderness with Rock'n'Roll while the Cal Poly team started a game of keepy-uppy:

This would have been more successful had they used a ball instead of a potato^[3].

Joyce, John and I all went back to the start for the third heat only for it to contain exactly one bike, 'topher and Eta Prime having pulled the plug only seconds before they were due to launch.  Leaving Ethan T in Typhoon as the only starter.

Ethan T and his Gleaming Steed about to Joust with the Forces of Darkness. Or something.

Nice smooth run into a screaming headwind; 55.62 mph.

Back to the Civic Center.  We got fed again.

Last day tomorrow so we're pulling out all the stops to make sure everyone gets at least one complete run - Jaden from Cal Poly and Frank from Toronto have has yet to do so. Corrected on receipt of comment...

Make it so!

1. Other countries of residence are available
2. "I hate this book!" - H. Himmler, yesterday
3. Lie

Day 23: Battle Mountain NV

This morning's action if brought to you by the letter "W".  "W" for "Wind™"  Relentless, unstoppable and making it feel colder than it really was.  On the way out to the course $BIKE's hatch escaped from the back of their truck.  Again.  And unlike yesterday, it was too badly damaged for $BIKE to be able to run either this morning or tonight, for Lo!  It is in at least two pieces.  We ran the long course heats first.  'topher and Eta Prime the sole runner in heat one.  Chain.  Again.  Controlled flight into terrain.  Again.

No takers for the second heat; Adam scratched from the third but Erin decided to give it a try.  She was doing about 55 mph when the Wind™ got the better of Eta Prime and blew it off the road.  The bike has suffered some damage which the Toronto PSOs are beavering away on e'en as I type.  Quite a lot of Nevada found its way inside the bike, and Erin, during its acrobatics and the duty ambulance was summoned to give her eyes a good irrigation.  She was tucked away in the back of the ambo for so long that we feared some latter-day Dr Frankenstein^[1] was dismantling her for spare parts but happily this has subsequently been shewn to be in error.

We also had to remove this:

from the road; a sharp-edge piece of vehicle trim backed with d/s tape sticky enow that Bill couldn't detach it from the asphalt.  Traffic Control Supervisor Josh had some suitable tools, Stuffs for the unsticking of.  "Probably fell off my truck!" said Battle Mountain Mike.  "Too shiny!" I replied, from a safe distance.  Josh has actually had Stuff To Do this year; earlier he had to wake a snoozing motor-ist who had parked on the shoulder just after the bridge.  "You can't park there, mate!"

Two short course heats ensued.  Team Hermus elected to sit the first one out; Justin S actually got going in WooHoo Two but lost control at low speed while trying to reposition his hand, that he might operate the gear shifter.  Low-speed off.  Both riders went again in the next heat; Justin went down again, much further down the course this time, after the chain came off and got itself into an unseemly and indelicate position with the right pedal.  Hans may have a suitable chainring with built-in guard in the Box of Delights he keeps here in town.  Alexis opted to start.  Reports from the chase vehicle suggested a much more stable run than his last attempt, despite the Wind™.  41.91 mph.  And he made a perfect landing down at catch.

Levez vos skinny fists comme antennas to heaven^[2]!
Alexis in the centre in the black top.

Forecast for this evening looks shite as well.  Wind™.

One of the nice things about Bill doing sweep this year is that this lunchtime was the first time I've had to put petril in the less-than-mighty Honda since Friday.  But anyway.  Yes, it was still Bastard Windy™ so we only ran two heats, both on the short course, to give the Cal Poly and Hermus riders some more stick time.  In the first one, Justin S went first and got WooHoo Two down at 37.57 mph.  It seems the bike's camera system is not of the first water since the hapless pilot confessed he could see little of the catch crew until they were a hundred feet away.  He evaded all their efforts and steered off the road for a soft landing in the shrubbery.  Alexis fought Beluga One all the way down for a 35.22 mph run before losing the fight just after the bridge.

Justin in the shrubbery.  Ni!

Alexis wanted another go, because he's an Athlete but Team Hermus withdrew their whale from the second heat due to Transmission Woe.  Which the Pinion gearbox is supposed to minimise.  Justin - who is also an Athlete - did run again and hit 44.18 in the Wind™.  We nearly caught him this time but the bike ended up supine again, this time in the middle of the road.  It's a lot easier to lift than a fully-crewed Titan.

We were just packing up in time for a flying visit from our grate frend Officer Arthur Aten of the Nevada Highway Patrol.  Vote early and vote often to elect him Sheriff.  I wonder if he'll be hauling Bill off to clink on Saturday for doing 200 mph... ["You did 200 mph too!" - Ed.]

Additional: once again Holly is spoiling us.  On tonight's menu, a rib-sticking soup.  Three bowls of that and I'd be able to walk to Denver.

1. Pronounced "Fronkensteen", obv.
2. See note "a", Godspeed You! Black Emperor fans.