Thursday, December 17, 2009

Wildlife in Mark's Backyard

Mark Windsheimer runs Airtime Above Hang Gliding, he's the go-to guy for lessons, parts, wings, and repairs on the Front Range. I spent quite a few afternoons at his place in Evergreen this fall getting my Talon sorted and had the opportunity to take in the wildlife in his back yard. Every time I turned around there was a different cheeky and mischievous animal and except for a timid black bear.

Furry Antlers







Hairy Woodpecker









Cheeky Pine Squirrel



This was the first bear I've seen in Colorado. Jo, Mark, and I were hanging in his front yard packing up my glider when Jo noticed the dogs were completely quiet and fixated on something in the woods. Nana barked a bark we had never heard before, it was quiet and muted, almost under her breath. Then Jo spotted a small black bear at the edge of the woods. I ran for the camera and stalked closer to get a good shot. The bear was shy and wouldn't let me get close, the best shot I could get was him running away.

Bashful Black Bear

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

M Coupe Makes Jalopnik's Best 10 Cars of the Decade

Jalopnik's Best 10 Cars of the Decade
From Jalopnik.com, Link

The criteria:

"Leave the minivans to the buff books, the sales stars to the wire services, and the hybrids to the green freaks. As Best10 week continues, here's Jalopnik's Best10 of the past decade.

Before putting together a list of the cars we dug the most — the stuff from the past decade that most represents Jalopnik — we decided to put down some ground rules:

1. This ain't Jalopnik Fantasy Garage — the car has to be attainable for an ordinary person, or perhaps an ordinary person who has mortgaged a kidney and inherited half of their hometown. MSRP is capped at $200k.

2. No matter what it is, the vehicle in question has to have made us cackle the first time we drove (or, in some cases, saw) it. Fuel mileage and practicality matter, but they aren't what gets us — or, we assume, you — in showrooms. Yes, we're admitting a bias toward the impractical. If you don't agree, come up with your own damn list in the comments.

3. To make the list, a car or truck has to be sold in the United States between 2000 and 2010. It has to be available to the public through an ordinary, open-door dealership. No gray-market imports allowed. No kit cars. Production must exceed 1,000 units per year.

4. Some of these cars are blindingly fast, but this isn't meant to be a list of salt-flat options. Nor is it a list of cars that made a difference in the industry. More than anything, these machines are what motivate car-obsessed freaks like us to find a way, any way, to justify a purchase. (In other words, no one buys a hybrid in a fit of passion, so those are automatically out.) "

I'm not sure if there is a hierarchy, but it's the first car on the list:
Link



BMW M Coupe

"Years Produced: 1999 - 2002
Base Price When New: $45,990 (2002)
Engine: 3.2-liter I-6, 240 hp, 3.2-liter I-6, 315 hp
Curb Weight: 3230 lb (2002)
Power-To-Weight Ratio: 10.25 lb/hp (2002)

This is it, propellerheads — this is the last of the nuthouse BMWs, the last car Munich built where the loonies were in charge of the asylum. Step one: Take a Z3. Step two: Graft a steel roof onto it, increasing structural rigidity threefold. Step three: Add a version of either the E36 or E46 M3's in-line six. The Z3 M Coupe is as unhinged as BMWs come, a rolling testament to the fact that the company once gave a shit about the die-hard enthusiast. Every BMW since has been too ordinary, too dull, and too fat by comparison.

M Coupes made in 1999 and 2000 featured a version of the E36 M3's 240-hp S52 six-cylinder. These are nice cars — and they're far cheaper than 2001-2002 models — but something is missing. We prefer to think of that something as "batshit crazy."

What You Probably Didn't Know: The M Coupe's semi-trailing-arm rear suspension effectively dates back five decades; BMW first used this layout on its 600 microcar, produced from 1957 to 1959. The Z3 and Z3 Coupe were the last production BMWs to use a similar design. (The same setup was also found on Munich's legendary 1600/2002 and E30-chassis M3.)

What You Probably Didn't Know, Short Wheelbase And Big Power Doth Not Always Equal Hoonage Edition: A stock Z3 M Coupe understeers like mad, the victim of liability-focused suspension engineers and a heavy nose. Add some roll stiffness and shuffle the spring rates, however, and that sucker will dance."

Friday, December 11, 2009

Knee Pain Update

It still hurts... Like this...

M Coupe Run in the Apsens

Fall didn't really happen this year in Colorado. It went straight from summer to winter back to summer and now winter again! Last fall I took an run in the M Coupe with Kevin another M Coupe owner to check out the aspens as they were near peak yellow. BMW only made 690 S54 powered M Coupes and Kevin's M Coupe is more pristine than mine, a later build '02 with only 14,000 miles. It was a great drive along one of my favorite routes. We met in Lyons, rallied up Left Hand Canyon, hooked up with the Peak to Peak, headed south through Nederland and back down through Golden Gate Canyon.

The Clown Shoes



Left Hand Canyon





Aspens Yellow and Orange



The Town of Ward





Landscapes Were Everywhere



Kevin's Coupe





Details







M Coupe Butt



Peak to Peak Highway North



Peak to Peak Highway South



Looking Down on Left Hand Canyon





High Speed Sweepers









Golden Gate Canyon



Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Lookout December 1st - Last Flight of the Year

On December 1st, after a month of missing the cold fronts and subsequent upslopes I had one last opportunity to fly before my knee surgery. It was a drab, gloomy day, typical of winter flying days on the Front Range. Dean, Steve, BJ, Matt and I all converged on Lookout Mountain in hopes of airtime. I had the Falcon with me, but Steve suggested I fly the Talon in case the upslope pushed through too strongly. We rigged and waited on the snow covered hill for the front to approach. The first push came through after an hour with a strong North component. At times the wind was due north, well too cross to launch off Lookout. We anxiously waited (at least I did) for the wind to turn back east enough to get off the hill. Dean hiked up above the launch to an area called the Crow's Nest and I eventually joined him.

Set Up and Waiting



Dean Headed to the Crow's Nest





As I got to the top the wind turned east enough to launch. I struggled getting my glider upright on the slippery snow and launched as soon as I could get the wing balanced. BJ had already launched below me followed by Dean, Matt, and Steve.

Working Back to the Towers



Steve



The air was buoyant and smooth. We all made a few turns over Lookout and headed south to the towers by Buffalo Bill's Grave. It was a perfect upslope day. The air was so dense that even with light lift you could do no wrong. I flew with full VG on the whole time and blazed through the gaggle and the towers at speed. I set up a few passes over Buffalo Bill's, but the lift off the face was super strong blasting me up every time I crossed the overlook. We spent the next hour buzzing each other and enjoying the blissfully smooth air.

Circles Over the Towers





Looking to the North



Buffalo Bill's Grave



Matt



Dean and Me From BJ's Glider



Matt Overhead



Getting Cold and Heading to the LZ



After an hour I'd had enough. My fingers were super cold and I wanted to have some feeling left for my landing. I blazed out towards the LZ first, passing a few daring slow moving paragliders on the way. I set up over the power lines on the western edge of the Miner's Field and spot landed next to the a picnic area. I've really been trying to tighten up my spot landings, but there was so much wind in the LZ that I couldn't really count this one. Everyone else soon followed and we all laughed up the day as we broke down in the fading light.

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Coyote Goes for a 600 Mile Ride

Coyote Hit at 75mph gets stuck inside the bumper and goes for 600 mile ride.

From http://www.snopes.com/

When a brother and sister struck a coyote at 75mph they assumed they had killed the animal and drove on.

They didn't realize this was the toughest creature ever to survive a hit-and-run.

Eight hours, two fuel stops, and 600 miles later they found the wild animal embedded in their front fender - and very much alive.

Daniel and Tevyn East were driving at night along Interstate 80 near the Nevada-Utah border when they noticed a pack of coyotes near the roadside on October 12.

When one of the animals ran in front of the car, the impact sounded fatal so the siblings thought there no point in stopping.

"Right off the bat, we knew it was bad," Daniel explained. "We thought the story was over."

After the incident around 1am, they continued their 600 mile drive to North San Juan - even stopping for fuel at least twice.

But it was only when they finally reached their destination at 9am did they take time to examine what damage they may have sustained. At first it looked as though it was going to be quite gruesome.





"Daniel saw fur and the body inside the grill," Tevyn East said. "I was trying to keep some distance. Our assumption was it was part of the coyote - it didn't register it was the whole animal."

Daniel East got a broom to try and pry the remains out of the bumper and got the shock of his life. "It flinched," Tevyn East said. "It was a huge surprise - he got a little freaked out."



The pair immediately phone Wildlife Rehabilitation and Release.

"We could see a little bit of blood, not a lot, and we couldn't see any wounds," Tevyn East said. "We didn't know if it was suffering and we should put it out of its misery, or if we could rescue it. But we realized we were going to have to take the front end of the car off to get to it."

The coyote had been thoroughly embedded between the front fender and radiator of their Honda Fit car - and had amazingly survived the journey without any broken bones or internal injuries. "It just had some scrapes on its paw," Daniel East said.

The coyote - which was nicknamed Tricky - became active while trying to escape the car space so, fearing severe internal injuries, wildlife rescue worker Jan Crowell managed to snare a loop around its neck.



Jan took the coyote to a kennel in her yard while figuring out where to release it.
But three days later the coyote saw its chance - and escaped by wriggling beneath the bottom bar of the cage.

"Now it's a local coyote," Tevyn East said.



"This coyote is amazing. If you look at the front of our car, the grill broke and acted like a net to soften the impact. It's pretty insane ... somehow the conditions were just right for it to survive the trip. We're trying to tell the story to people, to family and friends back home, but people can't wrap their minds around it." "We named it Tricky for a reason," Daniel East said.