Day 17: Battle Mountain NV

Hold on a second, I've got it writted down on this piece of paper...  This morning was true to the forecast, viz. about 6 Celsius but fairly calm and not a little misty.

This morning's playlist: Blues For The Red Sun ~ Kyuss

In spite of this, speeds were reasonable.  Calvin is tantalisingly close to being the 7th person to top 80 mph, getting a wind-legal 79.28 mph while Aniek still looks to be the strongest contender to lift the women's crown, and possibly the world record, with a 74.24 mph performance.  Shinsuke seems to have got the measure of the Super Ketta Machine 162 and clocked 76.82, just ahead of Andrea and Taurus' 76.01.

Super Ketta Machine 162 passes the Grassy Knoll

Andrea Gallo in Taurus

The morning was not without its mishaps; Barbara's starting sk1llz still seem absent as she was unable to get either Varna off the line.  Mike Mowett dropped a chain in Chuck Norush and Isaac Chung yet again stacked Bluenose while slowing down.  This time he rolled the bike six times, bent the front wheel, murdered the electronics and cracked the frame around the steering head, before crawling out with a couple of minor grazes.  There is much to be said for sturdy carbon-fibre and seat belts - I learned today that the unbelted Shinsuke-san was actually ejected from his bike during his crash on Monday.

Isaac's Thursday crash.  Today's was even more violent! Photo by Eric Satterlee

Friday afternoon is traditionally the drag races, organised as ever by Robert and Linda Barnett.  For the very first time I did manage to attend these, though only when they were winding down, so I've no idea who won overall.  Though I did see some greenbacks disppearing into Adam Ince's pocket.

Cow. Nevada. Friday.

Thomas Ulph attempts to get to grips with Robert Barnett's hand- and foot-powered trike

Equally true to the forecast, the evening was far from sweltering and bastard windy.  Almost a straight headwind but enough to put Ken off riding.  Well, that and the fact that's he's a Proper Gent and didn't want to risk breaking the bike and depriving Yasmin of her turn.  Though he didn't sound entirely happy about the state of affairs that has seen her able to bag the optimum starting time every day; the riders get to choose their heats according to the percentage of the current world record they've achieved and Todd Reichert has lifted the men's record so far out of reach in the past two years that hardly any of the Chaps get a look-in.  Todd and his wife Jenny, incidentally, have joined the growing army of spectators/volunteers as of this morning.

Another cow, Nevada, Friday.  Or rather a member of the Taurus squad in fancy headgear...

Iris waiting on deck for a run in heat three.  None, alas, was forthcoming.

Although none of the bikes managed to get near the records tonight, the nine year old mark for Highest Speed Set By The Sweep Car did get a beasting tonight.  Officer Steve Day of the Nevada Highway Patrol brought out his Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat to play; this sports a 6.2 litre supercharged V8 with 707 bhp on tap.  Traffic held up the first try, but we got a clear road next time round and duly hit 187 mph with three people in the car.  It's a bit of a beast...

Nice kitteh...

We were invited to join in the Mexicans' Independence Day celebrations this evening; by all accounts this was something of a party last year with much tequila and Sherry Shi of Toronto dancing like one possessed.  I await reports of tonight's shindig with interest as I opted for a Dirty Sandwich from the "gas" station and an early night.  Tomorrow morning's weather forecast: like today's only colder.  Drat and, moreover, fiddlesticks.

Day 16: Battle Mountain NV

"Damn and blast the Nevada weather!" shouted Mr Larrington, the words coming easily from force of habit.  More than halfway through the week and things have been a bit of a letdown, mostly because of the weather.  Thus today we ran the on the five mile course first because, as any fule kno, the wind gets, er, windier the later it gets.  The wind, fickle and capricious wossname that she be, had other ideas, however, and you can probably guess the rest.

The weather doth bring mud and gravel out of the paddock and onto the road...

On the plus side, Isaac Chung in Bluenose managed to get a decent qualifying run in that will allow him to run on the long course later in the event, as did Shinsuke Kouzai in Super Ketta Machine 162.  Both managed to crash quite spectacularly afterwards, though.  Apparently Isaac was changing down the gears and speared off the road just before catch.  "No", said long-suffering Captain Calvin, "just leave them alone!".  Shinsuke-san locked his brakes and performed a lengthy skating routine through the catchers, leaving them scattering like a flock of surprised hi-viz sheep, before heading for the brush once again, but his 67.17 mph pass was the fastest legal wind run on the short course thus far.  Barbara finally managed to get the new Varna to go where she intended and clocked a respectable 65.8 mph.

Barbara brings the Varna into catch

Barclay Henry steadies the bike while Barbara exits

From my position following their chase vehicle, it looked as though Charles Easton-Berry in MQ1 was going to do likewise, with a scary-looking wobble as he poured on the coals near timing, but he kept it rubber-side down.  Also disappointed was Arnold "Leadfoot" Ligtvoet, who took over sweep car duties for heat two.  His shiny Mercedes would only reach 135 mph¹.

Danny Guthrie takes a break from the timing table to observe launch distances

Collared the Liverpool catch team after Yasmin's 65 mph run.  "Rubbing or burning smell this time ha ha?" I asked, incorrigible japester that I be.  "Both!" came the chorus.  Oh.  With this in mind, Ken elected not to run this morning.

Barbara may have Done Good with the new bike, but she still needed to qualify the old Tempest as a backup.  A frustrating series of false starts ensued and you don't need to speak French to understand the gist of the disembodied Angry Noises emanating from the cockpit.  The De La Salle team attempted to run both their machines today but the white one pulled up with some unknown malady while the red was so slow that we had to pull them off as we needed to re-open the road.  The Ford ASBO will do 10 mph in "D" with the engine idling and I was obliged to brake to avoid overrunning their chase car.  There is much to be said for learning from other people's hard-won experience.

The second Mexican machine - very pretty, very very slow

Nik Vatin's Black Helicopter² proved invaluable in tracking the Mexican bikes

Calvin and Aniek were once again the front runners, though both their runs were too windy, with Ellen and Iris both doing wind-legal 68s.  Shout-out to Mike "Statto" Mowett for qualifying the veteran "Chuck Norush" that did 57 mph here fifteen years ago with Rob Wood at the helm, with a 49.78 mph run.

Multinational taping team deals with Chuck Norush³

Jamie Guthrie⁴ about to launch an Adam Ince unconcerned by the fact of someone having robbed one of his back wheels

Back to town, wrap-up meeting, Super 8, upload photos ect ect.  Phone rings.  'tis Nice Lady in reception.  "It is raining," said she, "and your car is getting wet!"  For Lo! Idiot Boy has left the roof down, because it was warm and sunny when he parked it.  Two thumbs up to John Jackson for getting a tarp over the cockpit in time to keep out the worst of it.  After which the damp had got into the Super 8's Intertubes, or something.  So I went to sleep, perchance to dream of ["Removed after taking legal advice" - Ed.]

Out to 305 for the evening.  It's blowing a hooley again in town.  Out on the course it's flat calm, until it isn't.  And then it is again.  There is Weather to be seen on all sides but we are hopeful that it will pass to our south.

It didn't.  Game over.  Bugger.

This came out to play, and brought its horrible mates with it

If I am right, you will not require a Farcebok account to view the onboard video from MQ1's run the other day, which is worth the price of admission just for Larry Lem's Save of Awesomeness.  It may be found here: https://www.facebook.com/MQSpeedTeam/videos/1619997181394283/  If I am not right then someone will have to petition the Aussies to put it on YouTube.

1. Points.  Laughs.
2. ["TANBH" - Ed.]
3. Name courtesy of the clowns and Western Half-Devil Monster Faces of Team Cygnus
4. AKA "The Future Mrs Ince"

Day 15: Battle Mountain NV

Wednesday morning was, to borrow a piquant phrase from a Liverpudlian PSO, "like watching two monkeys trying to fuck a football".  Starting when the Oaf responsible for the care and feeding of ARION 3's transmission failed to plug the derailleur's battery cable back in.  Yasmin made a faultless start in perfect conditions and then couldn't change gear.  Spun out after 200m, coasted the rest of the way and still did 42 mph.  Ken went down at his first attempt and a communication cockup led to us thinking he wasn't going to run.  When he had another go he went down again and then really packed with "something rattling" in the bottom of the bike.  Team not happy¹.

Weather looms over our little encampment in the desert

Bad luck settled on Toronto as well; Isaac Chung didn't start because of "something rubbing" around the rear wheel of Bluenose, Mr Sir Lord Professor Jun Nogami decked the same bike three times and DNS'ed and Thomas Ulph snapped the old dog's final drive chain.  Then the timing system went wonky for current fastest rider Calvin Moes in Eta Prime.  Which fate also befell Aniek Rooderkerken in VeloX 7, though the bike's on-board GPS had her at over 70 with legal wind.  An attempt was made to salvage the data from the innards of the timing box later, but there was nothing in there chiz.

Following which, Jun Nogami announced his retirement from HPV racing.  Again...

The luckless Japanese team didn't start this morning - possibly something to do with the seat mountings - while the equally luckless Mexicans made two unsuccessful attempts to get their bike down the road, and Barbara Buatois yet again failed to get the new Varna off the line, going down a further six times.  She's going to qualify the old Tempest tomorrow morning.  Fastest of the session was Andrea Gallo in Taurus with a wind-legal 75.15 from Alan Petit in Eta Prime at 67.63.  The Aussies are improving, with Charles Easton-Berry doing a 55.77, though this was only a whisker ahead of Peter Borenstadt, a Gentleman of Mature Years, in his almost-stock DF velomobile.  I hear Charles is another late substitute rider, which accounts for the blood all over the inside of the fairing from his knee being grated by the composite.  Thanks, Al, for showing us all the picture while we were waiting for dinner.  But the Macquarie team supplied Liverpool with a roll of hockey tape, so all is forgiven.

Is your car bike?  Is preeetty car bike

2D Thomas decided to ride in the sweep car today

We started the evening session a little earlier than on previous nights, mostly because the days are getting shorter.  Fewer shenanigans tonight, though Ken had volunteered his services as sk8r d00d to Yasmin as the Scousers' regular man-on-wheels was laid up with heatstroke.  So only two bikes in the first heat and yet again Toronto suffered, with Bill putting Bluenose off the road while slowing down from a wind-legal 68.94 mph run.  HPT Delft/Amsterdam continued to improve their form with a 65.79 for Iris.

Iris accelerates VeloX 7 away from the start

In heat two Toronto's Calvin Moes unshipped Eta Prime's chain and didn't start; Charles recovered from a use-all-the-road wobble to record another clean run and Peter ran the DF to a whisker under 54 mph.  He's having a lie-in tomorrow.

Team Gangsta: (L-R) Frank Lem, Peter Borenstadt, Larry Lem

Charles in MQ1 leaving the start

Heat three saw Andrea edging his speed up to 75.93 mph, though my Sinister Agents tell me there is Dissent in the Ranks as Professor Paolo thinks Andrea's Methods - cruise at 200W power for three miles then cane it - are Unsound and please to try it his way.  Computer Andrea says "No".  Yasmin's disappointing day continued with "something rubbing" loud enough to be heard from the timing table and a 69.69 mph pass; Aniek did a 72.15 but both she and Yasmin had non-legal wind, which was starting to get pretty strong at the start.

Ken the super-sub sk8r d00d about to launch Yasmin

Alan was the third Toronto rider of the evening; you can probably guess the rest.  A fall, a righting by some of the HPT PSOs and an apparently successful start, until Eta Prime toppled again, slid off the road and disappeared completely into the deep bed of the watercourse that passes under the road just next to the Grassy Knoll.  "I thought it slid a long way" he said, after a Several of sturdy Oaves had lifted bike and rider back onto the road.  He declined a restart...

Sturdy Oaves rescue Ditchfinder-General Alan from deep in the Hole

Although there was Weather brewing up on all sides it stayed away from the course tonight, though there's some serious thunder-and-lightning action going on in the mountains right now.  Last weather forecast anyone saw reckons a storm coming in after tomorrow morning's runs but so far the weather forecasts have been  mostly this: wrong.  So we're hoping that they err yet again.

Edit: It's almost midnight, raining hard and blowing hard enough to have ripped the securely-taped Customs paperwork from on of HPT's crates out the front.  Yoicks!

"I'll be glad when the 13th is over" ~ Marieke Ligtvoet, yesterday.

The wrap-up meeting had a surprise visit from Axl Rose²

1. Understatement
2. Lie

Day 14: Battle Mountain NV

Things were both more and less fraught this morning.  Fewer wrecks and mechanicals, though the luckless Shinsuke Kouzai managed to put Super Ketta Machine 162 off the road at almost the same spot for the second morning running. while the La Salle team had more transmission problems meaning they too have yet to complete a qualifying run.  And in a first at Battle Mountain, Barbara Buatois was obliged to scratch from the long course runs as the Varna seemed to have developed an unhealthy fondness for the ditch on the right of the road.  Seems that because the new bike is a good deal wider than the old Tempest, they'd glued some foam into the body to act as an armrest, and this was getting in the way.

Adam Ince being horribly cheerful for this ungodly hour

Everyday object, unusual angle: Barbara in a downed Varna

A few more start-line spills, including Taurus falling just as I was pointing a camera at it and Charles Easton-Berry doing likewise in the MQ1.  Both bikes were launched successfully at the second attempt, with Charles assisted by a fantastic Larry Lem dive full-length onto the road to get under the bike and bounce it upright an on its way.  I hear the Italians manged to capture it on video but it's yet to show up on that Interthing, possibly because someone has filled the wires with jam this evening.

Andrea powers Taurus past the Grassy Knoll at the second attempt

Charles' first attempt in MQ1: Larry not quite quick enough

Calvin in Eta Prime was once again quickest with a 75.96 mph run into a fairly stiff headwind; second overall and still fastest of the women was Yasmin with a fully-legal 66.66.  John Mumme improved his own 600/200 arm-powered mark to 28.87 mph, but we won't see any further improvements as he had to leave at lunchtime today.

Camera helpfully auto-focuses on Mike Sova's moustache instead of new world record holder John Mumme

Oh, the additional fraughtness was caused by someone whom I shall cloak in tactful anonymity leaving their car parked at the 2.5 mile start when we began using the 5 mile course.  This is a no-no.  Don't do it again, u muppet!

Tuesday is the day of the Show'n'Shine, when the teams set up their machines in the Civic Center for the Tinies to inspect and cover with little jammy fingerprints.  Not wishing to be covered in little jammy fingerprints myself I snapped a few pictures, ate a few lunches and scarpered back to the Super 8 to make use of the Intertube while everyone was out.  At the time of typing they are not out which is why this entry may well be late, short on pictures or swallowed whole by a giant fish before it even gets as far as Blogspot.

Barbara tries Taurus

Structure of MQ1 encloses much of the rider

Liverpool's Three Wise Monkeys hide from the jammy Smalls

By the time we set out for the evening runs the clouds were gathering over the mountains to the east.  For a while it looked as though it was only going to deliver unto us a few spots of rain, a wind of profound illegality and Nik Vatin welded permanently to the roof of his van, where he was sitting the better to watch the lightning like Giovanni Ribisi in that episode of "The X-Files".  But as the time for road closure approached, the Varna truck appeared at catch from the other end with tales of torrential rain, HPT's little weather station being blown over and four blokes on horseback making a bloody nuisance of themselves¹.  We called it off.  Sacrifice to the weather goddess not possible because of ongoing shortage of virgins.  Hence while at this time of night most people are still eating or fettling their machines after the evening's exertions they are Doing Stuffs with the Internets.

1. This last bit may, technically, be fake news.

Day 13: Battle Mountain NV

Bzzzty-arse-bzzzz went the alarm at oh-dark thirty and Mr Larrington stumble from his pit with only four hours in the sack.  Iz teh suxx0r.  It being 11/9 it is, of course, (the absent) Tom Amick's birthday. Happy birthday, Tom!  I refrained from shouting "WANKAAAAH" at the Tribble-haired bumballoon-cum-president pretending to give a shit on the TV and instead offer this:

Rear bumper of Danny Guthrie's van

Being Monday it was qualifying runs from the 2.5 mile point and being Monday there were more than a few cases of first-night nerves, fluffed starts and the occasional offroad excursion.  And a new car park attendant.

Awooga! Awooga! Western Half-Devil Monster Face alert...

The University of Toronto boys were particularly jittery, five starters in two bikes and three DNFs.  Though one finisher was Calvin Moes, who clocked the highest speed of the morning with a 68.32 wind-legal run.  The only other runner over 60 was Andrea Gallo in Team Policumbent's new and drop-dead gorgeous machine Taurus - the usual faultless run from the Italians.  Yasmin was third up with 58.03, handily eclipsing team-mate Ken by nearly 5 mph.  Jocularity ensued.

Yasmin shoehorns herself into ARION 3

Taurus (has Moment)

Damage to Bluenose's tail fin

Less than smooth start for Iris in VeloX 7

Most serious casualty was Shinsuke Kozuai in the Super Ketta Machine 162 - last year's runner up.  After a starting mishap he was well under way but did a spot of rallycross before ploughing a deep furrow through the brush and gravel and emerging unhurt save for a few grazes and a bloody nose.  But even Barbara Buatois and Ellen van Vugt had starting wobbles, plus after 09:00 the wind started to pick up.  It was left to the day's first runner, John Mumme, to save the morning by setting a new record for the 600/200 arm-powered class at 27.6 mph.  Alas you will have to be content with pictures mostly from the start, because that's where I end up after driving sweep.  About 156 mph, since you ask, and watch that fuel gauge plummet.

Tracks left by Super Ketta Machine 162 before sliding off into the boonies

Post-debrief = back to the Super 8 for the midday cursing of their internet connection.  Photos for the rest of the week will be pre-shrunk to avoid disappointment.  To me, that is, because of how much sleep I'll lose.  Then loafing outside talking nonsense with assorted riders and volunteers before it was time to head back to 305.

Even before leaving the summit of Mount Lewis had rendered itself invisible behind the clouds, and rain could clearly be seen falling behind the mountains either side of our valley.  Which stayed dry.  Had all the teams been present in the start area before the first heats were scheduled to start we could have brought the schedule forward a bit, but instead we stuck to the timetable.

Two bikes only in the first heat; Ken in ARION 3 and new bug Bill Kong in Bluenose.  Ken got away without issues while Bill needed two bites at the cherry, though with the highly-experience Calvin Moes in charge of launching he stayed upright and clocked a more-than-respectable 67.8 mph run, though not with a legal wind speed.  And, or so I'm told, without paying much heed to the notion of stopping the bike afterwards as he barrelled through catch and a further Several of hundreds of metres down the road.  Ken, meanwhile, had contrived to blow his rear tyre halfway down the course while travelling at ~65 mph.  A visit to the sagebrush soon followed.  Ken is OK and the bike was not very badly damaged, though too much so to be fixed in situ.  Thereby depriving Yasmin of her turn.  Again.  Words will have to Be Had.

Bill waits in line.  Note clouds.

I'd got about two miles up the course when the rain started.  Only a fleeting shower scarcely damp enough to warrant covering the expensive electronic gubbins at the timing station but enough to make the waiting riders decide that no, they weren't playing.  Some have previous for crashing on a damp road.  Sole dissident was Peter Borenstadt, but then he has an extra wheel.  We hung around a bit longer hoping the weather would bugger off and leave us alone, but it didn't, so we packed up early chiz.  Racing is also this.

On the bright side I only had five photos to upload and we were able to get out of the Mexican before the nine o'clock curfew.  With a bit of luck I could be in bed by eleven.  Well, OK, midnight.

The rest of today's pictures, nearly all from this morning, are at BM2017 - Monday on Flickr

Day 12: Battle Mountain NV

That was the last relaxing day we'll have for a while...  The morning was spent watching fettling going on outside the Super 8, mostly Team Policumbent working on their brakes and rear tyre.  They were fitting new brake discs which, although the same six-bolt-pattern as the old ones used in testing back home, had a bit more meat around the bolt holes and thus wouldn't fit the hub.  Synchronised filing...  Meanwhile Paolo was attempting to iron the creases out of the (folding) rear tyre, a 406 Schwalbe Pro One and persuade it and the sealant goop required for tubeless operation to stay in place.  When it didn't a very Italian solution to the problem was called for, viz. have lunch.  I think it's all sorted now, but I still haven't seen it fully assembled.  John Jackson and Larry Lem were also hard at work trying to knock some sense into John's ride, named REO Speedwagon.  Hopefully after the car rather than the band.  Lots of Bondo.

Larry Lem gets busy with the Bondo

Andrea Gallo (R) supervises the Team Policumbent filing-and-graunching crew

Marieke Ligtvoet wearing a skirt, "because it's Sunday"

In the afternoon I strolled over to the Civic Center where Arnold Ligtvoet and Hans van Vugt were doing the inspections.  the University of Toronto gang had appeared by this stage; they're running Eta Prime - a clone of the world record holder - and old warhorse Bluenose.  Liverpool University had also appeared with ARION3, which is to be their last leg-powered machine as they're already scheming an arm-powered machine for next year and have already signed up Paralympic gold medallist Karen Darke to drive it.

Hans (L) and Arnold (with fondleslab) grill the Liverpooligans

The team from Mexico's De La Salle University have a new device with an arm- and leg-powered linear drive, which looks ever so slightly likely to kill its rider utterly to DETH in the event of a crash.

De La Salle University's String-Driven Thing

I then tagged along with the Liverpool team as the conducted some low-speed testing on the strip of Tarmac known as "Poo Road".  Some surgery was required to the seat to get Ken Buckley low enough to get the lid on but Yasmin Tredell - freshly arrived from her peregrinations around half of USAnia having blagged a lift with Professor Frank from Caly Poly who happened to be passing Reno at the time - fitted in with nary a problem.  She had a very low-speed tumble while distracted by something making an odd noise from the rear end but both riders pronounced themselves happy.  The returning Super Ketta Machine 162 was also out testing with new rider Shinsuke Kouzai, but far enough up the road that we couldn't see how they were getting on.  Though we did spot their sk8r d00d take a tumble into the undergrowth.  We shouldn't have laughed, but we did.

Yasmin does The Twist to load herself into ARION3

Whoopsie...

Success!

Back to the Civic Center for the introductory meeting, which some of use old stagers can probably recite in our sleep by now.  While I was away the team from Sydney's Macquarie University had also arrived, as had Peter Borenstadt running an almost-stock DF velomobile again, so I think everyone is actually here.  As usual the meeting went on just long enough for us get to El Aguila Real for Mexican eats after it closed.  Wol Club it is, then.

First sighting of the very solid-looking machine from Macquarie University.

Alarm set for 05:30.  Time for Bedfordshire; today's photos at BM2017 - First Weekend.  These will be the last full-fat ones on Flickr as they take so long to upload.  Sorry.

Day 11: Topaz Lake NV - Battle Mountain NV

Message on the recumbents.com forum last night led to last-minute change of plan and instead of haring off along US-50 to Austin and then taking the 305 north, I went via Reno to collect Mike Sova.  Mike was travelling here from Grenada.  Via Miami.  Oh.  Before all that, though, I dropped in on the assembly of beach buggies outside the "gas" station/restaurant/casino/motel/RV park¹ next door.

A relatively easy run up to Reno, except for the interminable 25 mph speed limit through the very strung-out town of Gardnerville.  I arrived bang on time at 10:30 and then spent about fifteen minutes wandering through the pit of Heck² that is the ground floor of the Silver Legacy Casino/Resort/Hotel/Let's Not Go There¹ before finding the actual hotel reception on an entirely different floor and rousting Mike from his room.

Then an equally painless drive along I-80 to Battle Mountain, except that it started to rain at Winnemucca.  Stop, erect roof, rain stops.  But it did look pretty gloomy most of the rest of the way.  Honest.  And we actually saw an actual passenger train on the line somewhere near Lovelock!  I have in the past contemplated travelling here by train from Chicago, but the nearest stations are in Winnemucca or Elko, so unless you jump out at the level crossing near the Wol Club, it's a bit of a hike to get the rest of the way.

Spotted Barbara Buatois and Julius Kunich just as we pulled in; much standing around in the car park chattering ensued, in the middle of which the Ligtvoets rocked up in a shiny Merc E-Class.  "They didn't have the car we reserved.  Would we like a Mercedes?" explained Arnold.  In a minute I will take a wander over to the Civic Center to see who else is around; it should be noted that photos uploaded to Flickr from here on in will almost certainly be shrunk to 1024x768 as the Intertubes get very clogged very quickly.

To the Civic Center for fetching and carrying.  The van Vugts appeared in mid-carry, thereby ruling out one option for "How does Yasmin Tredell get here from Las Vegas tomorrow?"  She was a last-minute sub for Becky Taylor and thus one can suppose she was too late to fit into the rest of the Liverpool University team's travel plans.  Vegas is a whisker over 400 miles from here, though, so I don't think a minicab is an option.

VeloX 7. Please don't crash it...

Back to the Super 8 for further technology-prodding.  Team Policumbent, the Italian champions have arrived.  Twelve people this time.  "No more than twelve, ever!" says team boss Paolo Baldissera with the resigned look of a reluctant cat-herder.  Then to the Ming Dynasty for nosh with Larry Lem, John Jackson, Mike Sova and the Krauses, before TEA!  More bike Stuffs tomorrow when we expect the rest of the mob to roll up, and probably more pictures too if I'm awake enough to gatecrash the technical inspections, this year being conducted by Arnold Ligtvoet and Hans van Vugt, as the Leones have thoughtlessly taken themselves to Norway.  Yes, it begins with an "N", but...

1. They're big on multi-tasking in Nevada.
2. Although what I thought was brimstone was merely a hundred years of cigarette smoke.