Day 8: Battle Mountain NV

My notebook is mostly dry now after spending the night atop the aircon wossname.  Hurrah!  So, Thursday morning.  Last night's Wind, which we subsequently learned was blowing a hooley all the way to Austin, the thick end of ninety miles away, had thankfully gone to annoy someone else but leaving in its wake a distinct nippiness.  About seven of your Earth Celsisuses on the way out to the course, at least at the cold spot by the golf course¹.  We only ran on the long course this morning, which meant five runs for me and the Kia, burning half a tank of petril in the process chis.  Almost everyone had legal wind speeds and David is now starting to get the hang of the Orange² Bullet.  His 62.62 mph was the quickest of the day and indeed the whole weeks so far.  This earns him An Improved Hat, as did Daniel's 60.29 in Cyclone.

Ellen and Larry launch David

Brigadier-Admiral Earl Archbishop Captain Of Industry Timelord Jun also earned himself a shiny titfer with a 51.67 in Peter's DF and, it seems, he's now well and truly bitten to the extent of signing up for another go tomorrow morning.

Loading Jun into the Tardis DF

Diego already has a 50 mph Hat but today he went one better as he now holds the Men's Arms-Only World Record with a 51.75 mph run, beating Ken Talbot's five year old mark.  This was his second run of the day too, having been one of the two unfortunates³ to get a non-legal wind speed on his first attempt, plus he was promoted up the start order of Heat 4 at short notice after MQ2 had some issues on the start line.

Team Policumbent: World Record holders

Lizanne subsequently reached 54.41.  My notes say there was a timing FAIL for Christopher in Tempest though the onboard GPS says V > 50 mph which is enough to permit him into the evening runs.  Nice to see Sven Jorgensen pop by on a flying visit this morning too.

I had been asked to confirm whether Apple Maps spake the truth concerning the existence of a certain street in town.  My SatNav denied it, but Lo!

Goodbye! ~ E. John, yesterday

It exists!  Although there's a bunch of fire hydrants and electrical connection boxes along its disappointingly black length there's a paucity of actual dwellings.  We did the Dorothy & Toto gag in Tulsa in 2016, and it can stay there.

I was about to head out to the course this afternoon when my attention was drawn to an Unusual Object parked behind the Super 8.  Thanks, Peter!

This also meant that by the time I got out to the course John Jackson had again set up most of the distance marker signs.  Having been so benevolent this morning the wind had turned not so much fickle as downright hostile in the evening and there were no wind-legal runs.  At all.  I counted them.  Twice.  There was, however, a Cow.  On the course, apparently.  When I passed by on the sweep run: Cow = 0.  As the bikes were lining up on the start line: Cow = 1.  By the time a team of cowboys from Team Policumbent had reached the location of the alleged Cow: Cow = 0.  Spaghetti Western joke goes here ==>  Passing Fedex Van Lady said she knew how to deal with errant Cows but this only works if you can find the Cow in question.  Having followed the advice of Bart Simpson⁴ we were able to get on with the main business of the evening.  The Orange Bullet - now at least partly orange - was the fastest again with David doing 58.65 into a screaming headwind.

Shiny thing make it all better, say Clever SCIENCE Man

Drama behind him on the road as the Toronto team went to the aid of their stranded machine at the 3.5 mile marker, causing Diego to anchor up Cerberus and abandon his run.  I'm told that there were many two-handed words in the Policumbent van on the way back to the start.  Because divers people declining to run for little or no reward he did get another chance but his 48.15 into - yes, you guessed it - a screaming headwind was a bit of an anti-climax after this morning.

Resident clairvoyant Jun says tomorrow morning will be much like today's version but even less windy and colder.  I didn't take my jumper today purely to show up Team Northern Monkey as a pack of soft jessies⁵.

1. 9-hole, very green in comparison with most of the rest of the county, very good food in the clubhouse.
2. Now in white primer.
3. Ellen being the other.
4. Don't have a cow, man.  Obv.
5. Lie.