Dave's Aircraft Works 1:26 Foamie

Admitting that I fly remote control gliders cements my seat in the house of 40 year old virgin-dome, but here it goes...

In 1999 I built up a Dave's Aircraft Works Schweizer 1:26 2 meter foamie remote control glider. The DAC 1:26 is constructed of low density EPP foam wrapped in strapping tape and covered with a shrink wrap covering. It's super strong and can take hard blows without breaking. At the time I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area where there were plenty of flying sites. As the smooth sea breeze of the Pacific Ocean hits the coast mountains its forced upward creating perfect lift bands. It was a great place to learn to fly RC gliders and build skills that would serve me later in hang gliding.

For the past 8 years the 1:26 lay busted up in my basement. In November I dug it out and spend an entire day rebuilding it. I was hoping that the early winter winds would bring perfect conditions to soar a local west facing hill, but El Nino shut that down. It's been smooth and mild all month!

The 1:26 Rebuilt









Patrick also has a slope soarer that he hadn't flown in a few years. We met up on a pre-frontal day last month and tried to fly the gliders. It was super windy in the morning, but it died by mid-day. We started at the hill near my house, but the wind was just slightly too light and cross out of the north. After a few hours the trend didn't get any better so we decided to mission to Sugarloaf Mountain.

Sugarloaf Mountain is the remnants of a lava dome that juts out of the craggy hills of the Front Range. The lava rock is harder than the surrounding granite so it eroded slower than the surrounding peaks. The result is a perfect mound shaped hill. It's got a decent west facing area that's well above the surrounding terrain. If it was windy anywhere, it would be windy on top of Sugarloaf Mountain.

Sugarloaf Mountain



When we got to the trail head there was only a few hours of day light left. The clouds were getting low to the north and west and the wind was strong, but gusty. We hiked to the very top in hopes of the best chances of flying. I had never been to the top of Sugarloaf before so even if we didn't get to fly our planes it would be a cool hike. A fire on the eastern slope had burned all the of trees except for occasional charred trunks. You could see all the way to Kansas!

Burnt Trees



Snow



Kansas



At the top the air was choppy and inconsistent. I wasn't willing to risk crashing my freshly built glider, but Patrick took a few flights. It wasn't really soarable, but good fun none the less. As the sun set we hiked back down and were treated to an amazing sight. The haze in the air created perfect contrast to see an amazing pyramid shadow of Sugarloaf mountain. Being at the apex of the shadow was a truly unique perspective.

Patrick Flying



Dogs Watching





Amazing Shadow



Sunset



A few days later I headed to Lookout Mountain to hang glide. When I was setting up my glider my sprog pocket zipper broke, but luckily I had the 1:26 with me. I mounted the Hero Cam above the cockpit and hiked up to the top of the hill. It wasn't really soarable, but I was able to make a few passes before I crashed it into a bush. Here's the footage:

Hero Cam Footage

Knee Surgery and a New Bike

No Love for Cycling...

When I rolled across the line at 11:51pm on October 9th at the 24 Hours of Moab it would be the last time I touched a bike until November 30th. That's 52 days off the saddle, one of the longest stints in my modern cycling career. My cycling this season has been a train wreck. I started off the year with a solid base, but was plagued with stubborn patella tendinitis. I reached my peak fitness for the year just before I got a PRP injection in late April. The PRP injection required a few months of taking it easy. The result was doing San Juan Hut Trip, The Laramie Enduro, and the 24 Hours of Moab "off the couch". All things considered, I think I pulled off some amazing results, but none that were competitive.

Fast forward to October 10th and I needed a break. I would look at my bike and feel conflicting emotions from guilt that I should be out maintaining my fitness to disgust that I had let cycling define such a large part of my identity. I planned to fill my fall with hang gliding and a few other projects I'd been putting off. Ironically, El Nino ensured perfect riding weather this fall with mild temperatures and almost no wind, keeping me on the ground more often than not.

The Break-Away Cross

I started off the year with four bikes, one for every possible training scenario. This was 3 bikes more than I could afford so by October I was down to only one, the Superfly. Through all the bike shuffling I did manage to snag a Ritchie Break-Away Cross frame and patiently trolled Craig's List for killer deals here and there until I had horded enough parts to build it up. By the last week of November I couldn't take it anymore and set out to build up the new Break-Away.

This was my first build from scratch without any outside help. It took way longer than past builds, but I've never build a cross bike before. I got it all together by Thanksgiving Day, but it was too late to ride when I finished. Here's the finished build:

Steel Break-Away Cross Frame
Ritchie WCS Bits
Ultegra SL 10 Speed Components
Mavic Ksyrium Elite Wheels
Hutchinson Tubeless Bulldog Tires
Avid Shorty Cantilever Brakes









The Break-Away Cross will be the perfect all around bike. It's a steel frame that breaks in half so I can take it on the road. I can ride the tubeless knobby tires on dirt, snow, and mud. On December 1st I took it out on a 20 mile loop of road, bike path, dirt fire roads, snow, mud, and a piece of technical single track. I was super impressed with the bike. Having tubeless tires filled with Stans, I didn't have to worry about flats and could run a much lower pressure than normal tires. The bike did great on all but the technical single track, which took all the skill I could muster to negotiate. Cantilever brakes are horrible compared to road brakes, they do not scrub speed quickly and require some planning to stop completely. Over the bike was great and it finally felt good to get out for a ride.

Knee Surgery

After the ride my knee was killing me and I was reminded of why I hung up my helmet for almost 2 months. It didn't matter because I was headed to the hospital for knee surgery. The PRP Injection I got in April might have helped my patella tendinitis, but it was not a decisive fix. Faced with an expensive change in health insurance on January 1st I was forced to make a decision. I could get another PRP injection and hope for the best or clean it up the old fashion way with a scalpel. After much thought and consultation I choose the latter. Dr. Paul said he would "part my patella tendon like a violin bow" and clean out a ball of scar tissue underneath that extended under the tip of my knee cap. It was too deep to get to with body work or physical therapy.

The surgery was pretty straight forward, I was in and out in 4 hours. Now my job is to stay off my feet and let it heal properly. I have a propensity to develop scar tissue, so I'll have to take extra care to mobilize my patella tendon once I'm back on my feet. If it works I should be back on my bike by the spring and possibly racing again by summer, but I'm not going to rush things. If I never race again so be it, I just want to be able to ride my bike without being in pain.

Rich Crowder Shoots BJ and I at Lookout

Fall is one of the best times to fly on the Front Range. As the winter months approach the jet stream moves south bringing with it cold fronts and snow storms. As the cold fronts move across the Rockies into the Plains the colder denser air displaces lighter warmer air forcing it up the slopes of the Front Range in an action called upslope. Depending on the strength of the front the flying is a pleasure, add a little thermal activity and it becomes bliss. El Nino has caused a general weakening of the systems this year compared to past seasons, but upslope flying can still be had on the right days.

In October I met up with BJ on a day that had potential, but the front stalled and the east wind turned south allowing us only quick sled rides to the LZ. A photographer named Rich Crowder came out to shoot BJ and got some shots of me too. Rich is an accomplished outdoor photographer how wanted to add some hang gliding stock to his portfolio. Although we didn't fly very long that day, Rich did an excellent job capturing what goes into flying, from the hike up to the set up. You would think we were going off on hundred mile record attempts from the mood, but alas we were on the ground in less than five minutes! Here are his shots:

BJ Hiking Up to the South Launch


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder

Rigging


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder

Preflighting


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder

Scoping the Conditions


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder

Hooking In


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder

BJ Launching


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder

Alex Launching


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder

Breaking Down
(5 Minutes Later!)


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder


Courtesy of Rich Crowder

Thanks Rich for the shots! You can see more of Rich's work on his blog here:

http://richcrowder.blogspot.com/

Or his website here:

http://www.richcrowder.com/