Enchanted Forest is my favorite trail on the Front Range. It's a short piece of single track that snakes through a rare heavily forested area, the Enchanted Forest. Matt and I rode it late in the year, mid day on a week day, which spared us from the hordes of hikers and other bikers. It was my first ride with the chest mount for the Go Pro Hero Cam. Matt is a great technical rider so he made a good reference to follow. The only problem is the top tube on my XL Superfly is so long that the camera is pointed down too far, especially on the most technical sections when I have my weight shifted farther back. The footage is good, but with an extension to angle the camera up it will be better in the future.
At the end of the trail there is a water bar made of thick rubber that is angled steeply across the trail. I've seen its insidious placement cause carnage to more than a few riders. It grabbed Matt's front tire and ripped the bike out from under him before he could react. He did a complete 360 before coming to rest and I nearly ran over his front tire. Luckily he was okay. Even the best riders go down hard sometimes and it's always the stupid little things that cause the worst carnage. The Hero Cam was rolling and the footage is preserved forever on YouTube.
A few winters ago Doug got me one of the best Christmas gifts ever. It was a set of small remote control helicopters that fired infrared beams at each other disabling the other helicopter if it was hit. They turned out even better at driving Molly insane (Here). This evolved into a fully collective pitch RC helicopter that I spent hours trying to just hover. I got pretty good at it, but after a crash it never flew the same. The end result was it veering out of control and nearly killing Doug's roommate. It was a great crash and the end of my RC helicoptering for a year.
RC Helicopter #1
When winter came around it was time for another helicopter to occupy my mind during the cold months. I picked up a Blade CX2 for cheap off Craig's List. The Blade is co-axial meaning it has two counter rotating blades instead of a tail rotor to overcome the torque. It's smaller and easier to fly. The blades are made to self destruct if they hit anything so you don't have to worry about injuring personnel or property. I spent hours tormenting Molly (Here).
My evolution at Blade flying came to a point last fall where it was time to mount the Hero Cam to it. The problem was that the Hero Cam was too heavy and the Blade could barely get it off the ground. Mark, an expert on the matter, convinced me that a full rebuild was in order. I order the parts and got to work. It started with a rigid carbon fiber frame, powerful motors, and CNC cut aluminum rotor parts. The transformation was amazing.
The Rebuild
The new Blade CX2 had no problem hauling the Hero Cam around. If anything it made it slightly more stable because of the higher gross weight. The first project was to get some Heli Cam perspective of Molly. I did it on on a fall afternoon when Cruz was over.
Heli Cam of Tormenting Molly
The next project was to record a perspective that only a small helicopter could achieve. In the mall near my house there is a bike path that follows a creek under a busy road. It is surrounded by a pond and a grove of aspens. The aspen leaves were in peak yellow. There is no music to the shot, but I really like the perspective of the Heli Cam. When it flies down the creek it's like flying down a mini Grand Canyon. Another idea I have is find a tall building and fly out of an upper story window. The inside to outside transition will be really unique.
Heli Cam Perspective
Using my freshly honed skills I brought the Heli Cam to the Boulder Rock Club (an indoor climbing gym). There is no better venue for indoor camera mounted RC helicoptering than a climbing gym. It's open, tall, with subjects up high and down low. The Boulder Rock Club is the coolest climbing gym I've ever seen with 3 different rooms, caves, overhangs, and even a slide.
At the Boulder Rock Club
Now I'm the proud owner of an HD Hero Cam. The two problems with mounting the HD Hero Cam are it is heavier and not as "sacrificeable" if the helicopter gets away from me. I'll get the balls to mount it eventually, in the meantime I've tuned the Blade CX2 to be more agile. It's good fun outside, but really hard to land on people's heads now.
Blade CX2 Tuned for Agility
The Tradeoff is it's Harder to Land on People's Heads
It's been cold as Fuuuuuuuuuu since the new year and I've been itching for some warmer flying weather. Catching up the blog I'd like to re-live a great aerotowing day I had in October. It was a Sunday that didn't look too promising, but flying at Moose's is always I good time. The air on the first tow was sporty and I pinned off at about 7500' in a strong thermal. It was nice and juicy all the way to 9000', where an inversion took a couple attempts to break through. Once I broke through it was a smooth climb topping out at 12,800'. Getting close to 13,000' over the flats in late October was a gift and I enjoyed it until near hypothermia forced me to descend.
In November I spent 12 hours rebuilding my old Dave's Aircraft Works 1:26 foamie glider. It had been sitting broken in my basement for 10 years (Here). Since then I've flown it twice. December was cold and January wasn't very windy. Yesterday the conditions were perfect. The wind was so strong I needed to add some ballast to get good penetration. I set up the glider with the center of gravity as far aft as possible. An aft CG is more efficient because there is less tail-down force for the main wing to overcome allowing more of the wing's total lift to act as lift. The trade off is that it spins immediately with no warning. Adding the Hero Cam as ballast only aggravated my set up. I should have moved the mount a 1/4" forward. The great thing about RC's is that you can do everything that is too dangerous or illegal in a real aircraft. Catching it on the Hero Cam was pretty cool.
I launched the glider, gained some altitude and turned downwind to dive bomb Molly on a high speed pass. In the turn I pitched a little too aggressively and entered an accelerated stall. It immediately broke into a spin. I recovered in one turn, but was too low to pull out of it. The impact ripped the covering off the wings and killed the receiver. It came to rest facing me so you can see me running up to inspect the damage. Classic!
It might be another 10 years before I motivate to rebuild it!
The Rocky Mountain BMW CCA Fall Driving School was my third time on the track with the M Coupe. I mounted the Hero Cam in a different place for each drive session. This was the best I could do with 2002 Windows Movie Maker and my ancient laptop.
In May I did the spring school on 4 hours of sleep the day after a mountain bike race. This time I really wanted to get the most out of the day so I showed up well rested and motivated to improve my skills. Well as rested as one can be waking up at 3:45 am for the drive to Pueblo Motor Sports Park. On the way I picked up Doug who had volunteered to work a corner. We got to the track at sunrise and it was only 35 degrees out. The first session was going to be a slippery one. Dunlop cautions highly against driving its Z1 Star Spec tires in temperatures below 50 degrees. Once I got my pit set up I sat in on the corner worker briefing so I could fill in during the instructor drive sessions allowing Doug to get a ride-a-long.
My Pit
Diane Waving the Green Flag on Corner 10
I was moved up to B group (the second most advanced) for this school and was a little apprehensive about it. Driving School Chair Andrew Jordon was my first instructor. The first session was basically scraping the rust off and cleaning up my line. Andrew’s witty South African charm put me at ease and I felt at home in B group by the end of the session. My line was inconsistent through turn 9 and 10 but I found with Andrew's advice if I apexed slightly earlier than the marker cone it felt right at my speed.
Chasing Jeff's E92 M3
(I never caught him!)
Cristina's Black M3
The second session was more of the same. I was a little faster and my heel-toe work a little smoother, but I still needed to be more consistent. It's easy to nail a turn or series of turns once, but doing it over and over again is what separates the pros from the students. I am definitely still a student! It's also interesting how improving on one section of the track will result in more speed later in the track and bring out areas that suddenly need more attention.
Getting Faster (and lifting the inside front wheel)
At lunch I volunteered to work corner 8 during the first instructor drive. Then I switched to corner 10 so Doug could ride in Frank's Lotus Elise. He came back with a grin from ear to ear. It reminded me of the sheer terror and joy of my first ride in a track car with an instructor.
Frank's Lotus Elise
The 3:45 am wake up hit me during session three and my line fell apart. I was super inconsistent and lost the line in turns 1 and 4. My instructor wanted to head in early which was fine with me. I refreshed with a protein bar and caffeine then spent some time driving the track in my head to clean up my line.
Spec E36 M3's
I wanted to nail session four and finish on a good note. I commandeered Andrew Colfelt to be my last instructor. He drives a new E92 M3 at speeds that make even the most seasoned corner works flinch as he hurls by inches away. He had some great suggestions to tie the lessons of the day together. The most important was to move my braking points farther back and brake harder. I was braking too soon and having a millisecond or two of nothing to do before the turn in. It was disrupting my flow. Another great suggestion was to shift later. You don't have to blip the throttle as much and it's one less thing to think about hurling into turn 1 at 130mph. His suggestions worked magic and it all came together for me during session four. Suddenly I was going fast, driving the line, and nailing my shifts with enough excess mental energy to carry on a conversation - about the task at hand of course!
Doug's Cayman S
Then after a few laps of my best driving yet I had a moment of shear terror. I had worked my braking point on turn 1 to inside the 300 foot marker. As I rolled on to the brake I felt a rumbling in the pedal and severely reduced braking power. I never look at the speedometer, but I estimate I was doing about 120 with 200 feet till the turn. For a split second I thought we were going off the track. It wouldn't have been a big deal, there was still run out left from the drag strip which doubles as the front straight. It built my confidence tremendously that I stayed cool and never stopped driving the car. It’s just like flying, never stop driving the car! We drifted a little high at the apex, but with some creative trail braking I had scrubbed enough speed to keep the nose pointed in the right direction and drift through the turn. I was awesome! Maybe one day I'll have the guts to do that on purpose.
Exiting Turn 10
I think I had glazed my pads by revving the gas while braking during a previous down shift. Andrew and I talked about pitting, but if I slowed down I had enough brakes to keep things safe. It actually was a great learning tool because without good brakes I had to drive my line with much greater precision. I was forced to clean out the slop out that I could get by with having full brakes. The fade got worse, but the checkered flag was waived just as I was ready to shut it down. It was a perfect end to the day.
Doug Waving the Checkered Flag
There was plenty of talent and rad cars. Andrew's E92 M3 was a beast. As the V8 monster ticked itself cool on the grass of the paddock it looked fast. Chip Clark drove all the way from Rifle in another S54 powered M Coupe. We chased each other on the track and took some mandatory M Coupe pics in the Paddock. There was a yellow Mini Cooper S that was stunning and begged some lens time with the M Coupe. What I'm going to say next is going to make my late father turn in his grave and all of my fellow BMW purists throw up in their mouths a little. My favorite car of the school was a Corvette! It was Ross's stealthy all black Z06. Holy S#@! was it fast. When I was working turn 10 and the A group cars roared by the Corvette was by far the most impressive. Compared to the stock M3's there was absolutely no body roll through the turn and the throaty V8 roared like a dragon down the front straight. I'm not going to sell the M Coupe and buy a Corvette, but the Z06 left a lasting impression.
Andrew's E92 M Coupe V8 Powered with the Carbon Fiber Roof
The M Coupes
The M Coupe's Closest BMW Brethren (in my opinion)
HDR
Ross's Z06 Corvette
HDR
After the session I took Doug's corner so he could have one more instructor ride. There weren't any students lined up, so he hopped in a spec E36 M3. At the awards ceremony the M Coupe got nominated for car of the day again, but Leslie's beautiful Laguna Seca Blue E46 M3 won it - and rightly so! As always the Driving School was an epic day filled with great cars and fantastic people.
Last week I had a great scratching session at Lookout. It was one of those days when you had to wait for the right thermal to get up. I launch just after Sam in his paraglider. We nailed the best thermal of the day as it would turn out, but I left it to swoop a local newspaper photographer. He wrote a great article about hang gliding you can read here. The Fusion just isn't as efficient as it used to be and I didn't make it back up to the thermal core. BJ launched and we scratched for a bit together before top landing. It was my first top landing at Lookout, I opted out of a perfect approach to make one more pass and ended up low the second time. I was high enough to make the hill, but too low to make the grassy clearing and ended up in the bushes below. It was like landing in a nest of barbwire, worse yet I was wearing shorts. The result was a bloody mess - Ouch! The majority of the carnage wasn't even on the landing, it was the walk back to the grass. On the second flight BJ went first, followed by Steve, then me. We scratched again for a short while, but the soaring window was closed and soon we were on the ground. Here's a short Hero Cam video of the day. Not having Adobe Premier to edit with is really frustrating. With Windows Movie Make I can't time music to the video or control the length of fades. Although there is nothing special about it, I do really like the footage. It'll be great for a winter day when I'm wishing I could fly.
It has been a stormy, wet spring and late summer in Colorado, but even with the weather I was able to get out towing a few times, plus nab a flight off Lookout. Aerotowing is a new skill, so I've tried to change only one thing at time. My progress since getting my rating has been, towing at altitude in Colorado on Tim's Sport 2, towing the Fusion in smooth air, towing the Fusion in Mid-day conditions. Next I'll ditch the keel-mounted release and should be able to tow with the best of them. Here's a short Hero Cam clip of my tows. My computer is slowly dying and won't run Adobe Premier Pro so I had to use Windows Movive Maker (ugh).
The first towing session this month was my first time towing the Fusion. Jim, JT, Tim, Sparky, Rick, BJ and a few others met at Farm Flight on a foggy Sunday morning. It was still overcast when I set up, but the sun was burning off the clouds quickly. When the holes were big enough to get on top Tim fired up the tug and took a test flight. JT was first to tow up, I cued up next. The fusion was a hand full on the first tow, but it was because I didn't have enough VG. I pulled on just over a 3rd VG on the second tow and it settled down considerably. The morning air was bliss and smooth as glass. The plains were lush with green grass from all the rain, while the Rockies to the west were still capped with snow. On the third tow I dropped the Hero Cam on a dangle mount JT lent me. One string broke immediately sending it spinning. I re-tied it and dropped it again for a set of wing overs. It oscillated quite a bit, but worked. I'm envisioning an airfoil shape with vertical stabilizers for the next mount to smooth things out.
Overcast Skies in the Morning
Tim Test Flying the Dragonfly
JT's Tandem
My First Tow on the Fusion
Sparky Towing
Rick Towing
BJ Towing
Tim Landing
Sparky Landing
Me Landing (right wing got popped in the flare, but I saved it)
The second towing session was last week. I worked in the morning and didn't make it there until mid afternoon. The crew was mostly the same as before, along with Fred and Craig who visiting from Arizona. I took my time setting up, waiting for the lift to turn on. There was line of over development to the south, but nothing but blue skies above Farm Flight. Fred towed up first in his ATOS, followed by JY and BJ in their rigid wings. Dan in his U2 and I were the only flex wings to tow up that afternoon. The fusion was a hand full in the slightly turbulent air. I had a 3rd VG on, but it wasn't enough. Down low the air was filled with constant ups and downs, but when I pinned off I there wasn't much lift to be found. I found a disorganized thermal just downwind of some dark, muddy cow corrals. I worked to maximize any core I could find and soon climbed into nice organized lift. JY was thermaling with a hawk above me and we were soon joined by Tim in the Tug and BJ from below. I leveled off just below 8000 feet to stay out of DIA's class B airspace and got out my camera. I took some pics of BJ and he climbed up through me and we went off on glide.
Waiting for it to Turn On
BJ Ready to Go Far
Fred Towing
JY Towing
BJ Towing
Thermaling with Tim in the Dragonfly
Thermaling with BJ (his pics show me)
The wrinkly and battered fusion lost hundreds of feet on glide compared to BJ's clean ATOS. After about a mile he hit a bump and turned above me, but it didn't look very good so I pressed on (and down) towards another big corral to the north. It was north of the class B so I could climb high if I found lift. Above and downwind of the corral there was nothing but broken bumps. I could see hawks turning below, but nothing was strong enough to punch through a weak inversion at about 7000 feet. I hung out slowly loosing altitude until I was down to about 6500 feet and needed to head back towards the field. It was one of those light days where the thermals were few and far between. I explored a potential thermal triggers on the way, but found nothing. I reached the field with enough altitude for a perfect base entry, then milked my final enough to clear a few fence poles and touch down right on the runway.
Farm Flight from the Air
BJ and JY joined up and flew all the way to Lions and Boulder respectively. I was kicking myself for not hanging with BJ, but don't think I would have been able to stay with him on his rigid. Most likely I would have sunk out a few miles from the field and had to endure a hot, boring walk back on desolate dirt roads. I was happy with the flight and my thermal skills got a good polishing, hopefully next time the conditions will be better and I'll make it up and out of Farm Flight.
