Flytec Race and Rally 2012 - Day 6

The Peaceful Slumber is the best car camping bed roll in the history of bed rolls. It was produced in the late '90's by a man obsessed with nothing else than a comfortable bed roll for car camping. His company didn't sell anything else, just bed rolls. The lack of diversification was his downfall because eventually he went out of business. With the supply source gone people in the know hoarded as many Peaceful Slumbers as they could find. I just happened to be friends with one of those hoarders. We have been friends for over a decade. When I asked to borrow his Peaceful Slumber he let me take it, but warned me ominously that if anything happened to it our relationship would change. I was like "Bro I'll treat it like my first born." 

 The problem is I don't have kids and accidentally left it on the roof in the Element last night twenty miles away from our starting point in Live Oak, FL. When I realized it was gone fifteen minutes before the task meeting I had a choice; honor my pledge to my friend or rig and abandon any hope of finding the Peaceful Slumber. I choose the former and rallied the twenty miles back to Lake City. After frantically retracing my steps past Moe's Burritos, the drive in coffee shop, the median, and the sidewalk there was only one place left to look - the highway on ramp. I pulled off on the grass and searched desperately. The sinking feeling in my stomach turned to dread as I realized I wasn't going to find it. Then I spotted a homeless camp through the trees. I ran over and there it was! 

That was only half the battle. I still had to take it back from a crew of people that needed it way more than I did. I explained that if it was mine I would gladly give it to them, even buy them each their own, but it wasn't mine and I wasn't leaving without it. After haggling with them for a while we settled on a fair trade that everybody was happy with. They were fiscally compensated for their trouble and I left with the Peaceful Slumber, a chrome truck hubcap, and a good conscious.

All Smiles After Negotiating with my Homeless Friends

 

I couldn't believe I actually found it. I sped back to Live Oak just as everyone was cueing up their gliders. Alex Cuddy helped me rig and found my spot, but by the time I entered in the task and hooked up my harness I'd missed my launch slot. I'd have to go last. It would hurt me, but it was worth finding the Peaceful Slumber. A 90km task to East towards Jacksonville was called. I missed the meeting so I had no clue about the vast forests, towered airports (although I found out later it was uncontrolled), and prisons we would be flying over. I was the last ordered pilot in the air and worked hard to catch up. I did good working with the stragglers to leap frog to a small gaggle. We climbed well, but it was slow going to the airport. After that things got really slow and the lift was light. I had to earn every foot of altitude and kilometer over the ground. 

Working Hard to Catch Up

Across the Big Forests

Huge Pond

 The forest was huge, but I was high enough to have good options before crossing it. Finally just before the turnpoint I made a poor decision. Campbell had turned back into the forest for lift, but I didn't like it so I pressed on. It would have been better to stick with him and find it than take my chances on my own. He dribbled in 50fpm forever, but eventually got up. I decked it just after the turnpoint. It was a rewarding flight because I worked really hard to get as far as I did, behind and alone at times, but almost everyone made goal. The decision that put me on the deck more than any other was forgetting the Peaceful Slumber on the roof last night, but I got a hell of a story out of it!

A Glint of Spring

I saw spring today. The first sign of spring isn't something that offers itself freely. It's a gift only for those with the sense to perceive it. It's a fleeting glimpse, an echo on the wind, a shadow in passing. An apparition that the drudgery of winter is nearing the beginning of its end. This winter has been exceptional with just as many 60 degree days as 6 inch snow storms, but it has still been winter. A 60 degree winter day may be a much appreciated break from the icy claws of cold and dark, but it is just that - a break. A few hours in the afternoon of pleasant temps that will submit to an early chill and encroaching darkness. The first sign of spring isn't as simple as a 60 degree day. No, it's not that tangible. It's the cumulative sum of many subtle clues. Things like the color temperature of the sun as it arcs higher across the sky or faint thermals with just enough strength to block the onslaught of winter winds or the slight darkening of a hawk's wings from summer plumage taking root. These are a foreshadowing that relief is coming. That winter's icy claws are getting soft. Not melting yet just getting soft.

I saw it today, ironically in the reflection of the sun on Colorado's Never Summer Mountain Range. Today was the beginning of the end. We will have more snow, more cold, and more wind, but the grasp of old man winter is weakening. It will suffer death by a thousand cuts, a thousand seconds of extra daylight a few seconds per day. Spring is coming, be forewarned, spring is coming...

The Never Summer Mountain Range

Parkzone P-51 Mustang

For the last few winters I've endured the downtime when hang gliding, cycling, or even snowboarding is not possible with a remote control aircraft. It's a good way keep my mind sharp and my flying skills polished. Last winter it was the Blade CX2 (here), this winter it's a Parkzone P-51D Mustang.

Parkzone P-51D Mustang

I scored this thing for 60 bucks off Craigslist. It wasn't working, so it was a gamble. I was able to trouble shoot it to the receiver, which was fixed by hacking a good one out of an old foamie slope soarer. It was flying in no time. I was amazed at how great it flew; nice and slow, but snappy enough for basic aerobatics. Here was the first flight with Mark.

First Flight with Mark

In September took it to the Santa Cruz Flats Race hang gliding competition where I flew it almost every day. The comp was held at the Francisco Grande Resort, a ten story building surrounded by green grass and palm trees - perfect flying grounds. The mental break of concentrating on flying the RC did wonders for relieving my stress level during the comp. Jeff and I even flew it at night under the lights of a soccer field. It was nerve racking because the lights turned off at a different time every night. If that happened while the P-51D was in the air it would be lost forever. Jeff and I also snuck onto the roof of the ten story building to fly it in the mornings and evenings. The stakes were high landing on the "carrier deck" roof. If I was short it would fall 100 feet to the ground. If I was long it would fall off the other end, 100 feet to the ground. And if that wasn't enough there was a "minefield" of vent tubes sticking up all over the roof. I stuck most of my landings, but a few resulted in controlled crashes that were easily fixed with Shoe Gu, strapping tape, and hotel room keys for splits.

The Francisco Grande Resort

View from Our Room

Roof Top Flying

The 100 foot tall roof was tiny to land on and it was filled with a minefield of vents.

One of a Few "Controlled" Crashes

Note the hotel room key splint forward of the wing from a previous crash.

When I got home I used it to exercise the dogs. Sugar and Molly chased it enthusiastically, while Nana (being the sensitive one) sought the shelter of the nearest human being that wasn't me. Superior Town Park and the Dog Park are my favorite places to fly. Both are surrounded by tall trees, fences, playgrounds, pedestrians, lakes, and streams. After a particularly bad crash at the dog park I decided to rebuild it with a new fuselage and wing. When I did so I lengthened the ailerons in increase the roll rate and added a rudder. The rebuilt P-51D flew great. The new fuselage was much lighter without being weighed down by Shoe Gu. I took advantage of this by mounting the Go Pro HD in the old canopy section. It was seriously overweight with the Go Pro, but if I minded my speed and kept it fast it flew great. Right up until I crashed it (again) at the dog park!

Terminal Wing Damage

New Airframe

Installing Metal Gear Servos

Lengthening the Ailerons

Rebuilt with Full Span Ailerons and a Rudder

Go Pro Mounted in the Old Canopy Section

Go Pro Mounted Flight in Superior Town Park

Go Pro Mounted Flight at the Dog Park

(Crash at the End)

The Carnage

(I'll rebuild it)

The SPK Overnight 500 14 Hour Go Kart Race

For the majority of the last ten years the second weekend in October has always been a special weekend. It's when the 24 Hours of Moab mountain bike race takes place. It's the one race I've usually been able to do regardless of the state of my knee injury. This year that was not to be, but I found a valid replacement.

The SPK Overnight 500 is a 14 hour go kart race held at Summit Point Raceway in West Virginia. That's right I said go kart! They aren't just any go karts; they are French built Sodi RX7 high-speed karts that feature a 9 horsepower Honda GX390cc motor. Equipped with a composite dry clutch, hydraulic brakes, and racing slicks they top out a close to 65mph and can pull 2.5 lateral G's. The track is Summit Point's Washington Circuit, a former auto cross track with tight S turns, high speed sweepers, chicanes, and a long back straight that ends in a tight, but fast left hander.

Sodi RX7 Kart

RX7's Cued Up for the Start

Summit Point Washington Circut

The race is the longest of Summit Point Kart's endurance series. It's 500 miles (1000 laps on the 1/2 mile track) or 14 hours, which ever comes first. The race starts at 8:00 pm, so the majority of it is at night. SPK provides the Karts, you just show up ready to race. The rules are Le Mans style; meaning if you pit for other than a mechanical issue a driver change is required. When my brother Andrew asked me to be on his four person team I laughed at the absurdity of the whole thing. When we showed up at the course and saw how professional the competition was that laugher turned into fear. We were seriously outclassed. The other teams had sponsors, matching race suits, team trailers and racing coaches. In hindsight, that made it even funnier!

Pro Team Trailer

Walking the Track

Our team was called the Black Stigs after the first Stig character on BBC's show Top Gear. We couldn't find black suits so we had to make due with black helmets and green flight suits. We all had proper high speed karting experience, but nothing close to the "professional" teams. The intensity of driving a racing kart is something that must be experienced to understand. It looks so stupid from the sideline, but when you are in the driver’s seat you feel like an F1 champion. Zero suspension, 2 inches of ground clearance, racing slicks, and a sports car-like power to weight ratio make it incredibly intense. The beating of constant braking, accelerating, lateral G's, and feeling every bump on the track takes a huge toll on the body. The neck is usually the first thing to go due to the weight of the helmet. I prepared by wearing a thick neck pad and lateral G restraints (which I didn't end up needing). Padded, but grippy gloves and thin-soled shoes for good pedal modulation were the next on the list. Even something as sedentary as putt putt golf would hurt after fourteen hours; hurling around a track all night was going to be a special brand of pain!

The Black Stig

My Race Equipment

After we completed all of the necessary paperwork (including awareness that being ejected from the kart is a good thing because your energy is dissipated less rapidly), we had to weigh in. To make it as fair as possible weight is added to the karts to match driver weight to the heaviest person there. The race meeting was next followed by the Lemans (running) start. Tim drove first followed by me, Patrick, and Andrew. Tim's wife Kate provided us with food, coffee, and support. Tim had a great start in front of the pack. A crash in the high speed turn following the back straight brought out a yellow flag, but it only lasted one lap.

Our Team

Andrew and Me

With Tim

Patrick, Tim, and Andrew

Tim and Kate

Weights to the Even Out Karts

Race Start

First Laps

The Pits

Tim had to end his first driving stint early due to a glove issue. Luckily, was I suited up and standing by on the ready. It was baptism by fire as it was my first time in a kart in 3 months and I had never driven the track. At first almost everyone was faster than me. Learning the track was tedious. Early on I spun in the high speed turn following the back straight and got black flagged. That meant I had to pull into the hot pit for time penalty. As a team we were only allowed six black flags throughout the race and mine was our second. When I went back out I got the basic line down quickly, but fine tuning it took a long time. Braking points, where to lift and just coast (this was huge), turn-in points, apexes, and what sections of the track had the best grip all came slowly. By the end of my first stint I was running consistent 51 second laps, but the leaders were running :47's. After an hour and fifteen minutes in the saddle I was surprisingly not sore. That was until I tried to extract myself from the kart and walk. The best I could do was hobble. The inside of my shins hurt the most from constantly modulating the pedals.

My First Stint

Patrick went next followed by Andrew. By my next stint we were up to 14th place. I was able to whittle my lap times down to consistent :50's with a few :49's and hold our position. The amount of work it took to gain one second was astronomical. As nice as the Sodi RX7 is, it's not a precision instrument. In a race that is fought in half seconds precision matters most. It was like conducting an orchestra with a telephone pole. I was amazed at how much faster the good people were. The karts theoretically all have the same advantage, but the levels of precision that the fastest teams were able to drive with meant they were lapping us hour.

Enduring the Night

When Tim went out again he threw down an hour and twenty minutes of solid 48 second laps, combined with Patrick and Andrew's driving that moved us up to 10th place. Our position was starting to matter now. At 6:00 am, on my third driving stint, it was up to me to maintain it. I did so by further whittling another second off my lap times to consistent :49's with a few :48's. My fastest lap of the race was a 0:48.7. Then disaster struck! In the S turns after the front straight the kart lunged hard to the right. I fought to keep it under control and miss the wall. Through the next turn it was clear that my kart was mortally wounded. I limped it back into the pits. The right rear tire had rolled off the rim (they are solid tires, so no flats). We lost four places during the kart swap to 14 th place. A driver change was not possible because we would have lost even more. At that point I had been out on the course for one hour and fifteen minutes. It was going to be a long stint.

Dawn had arrived and with it an eerie morning fog. Driving at night was like having tunnel vision. Daylight offered a whole different experience. Oddly people's times slowed down slightly. Then a nasty accident brought out a full course red meaning everyone came to a stop. The driver was okay. He got ejected from his kart after spinning and hitting a tire wall hard. After the track was cleared we were cued up for a re-start. I had been out for two hours, but had moved us back up to 12th.

Dawn

Stopped Due to a Red Flag

Red Eyes

The Accident Being Cleared

Patrick went out next and brought us back to 11th place. At 9:00 am the leaders had completed 907 laps running solid :47's. They would probably hit 1000 laps around 9:45 am. Patrick didn't have enough gas to finish so we would have to do a driver / kart swap, but the team in 12th place was only one second behind us. Fortunately, they had to pit too. When it was all done our lead had dwindled to half a second. Andrew went out to finish the race. He was running :50's, but the team just behind us was running :47's. There were less than 30 laps to go. It was going to be agonizingly close. Andrew was in kart # 1, they were in kart # 9 and closing fast. With 15 laps to go Andrew was only three turns ahead of him. Working to our favor was a group of traffic between them that allowed Andrew to maintain his half second gap. Then #9's lap times fell off to :49 - :50's. We weren't sure if his concentration lapsed or if it was the kart. With seven laps to go it looked like we had 11th place locked. All Andrew had to do was keep driving :50's and not spin or get caught up in traffic. He crossed the line at the checkered flag two karts ahead of #9.

Andrew Going Back Out

Go Pro Movie of Andrew's Last Stint

Andrew Crossing the Finish Line

We had finished 11th place out of 23 teams, the first 7 of which were pro teams. As absurd as the concept of a 14 hour go kart race is, we ended up taking it seriously and battling hard to finish 11th. The intensity was greater than any mountain bike race, hang gliding comp, or adventure race I've ever done. Battles were fought in half seconds and won by 10th's. First and second were only 6 seconds apart and 33 laps ahead of us.

Europe - London

We concluded our honeymoon with a few days in London visiting family. After the flight from Munich we enjoyed a Tube ride through the heart of London to The George Hotel, just north of SoHo. The Piccadilly Line train ended at the suburb of Cockfosters, which when announced in a proper British accent, caused us to burst into laughter. We exited the tube at Russell Square and made the short walk to The George.

Flying Into London

Thames River, Big Ben, and London Eye

Buckingham Palace

Riding the Green Line Tube

To Cockfosters

Russell Square

The George Hotel was a classic London hotel, slotted in a quaint block of century old buildings overlooking Cartwright Gardens. As is convention for such venues, we shared our water closet (literally a shower and toilet in a closet) with everyone else on the floor. A particular burly gentleman would destroy our air quality daily with his morning constitutional. Soon we met up with Mom, Bill, and Andrew. After catching up we enjoyed dinner at the corner pub. I picked up some mini remote control cars at Munich Airport, which Andrew and I put to good use entertaining the after work crowd.

The George Hotel

Our Floor's Communal Bathroom

Meeting Up with Mom, Bill, and Andrew

Racing Mini RC's in Cartwright Gardens

Lord John Russell

And His Pub

In the morning Andrew, Jo, and I decided to take a tour of the city on a trifecta of City Bikes. Similar to Boulder's Bike Share, they are bikes you can rent by picking up and returning at various docking stations all over London. Riding on the streets of London required equal amounts of bravery and skill. It was safest to be aggressive and hold your line against the onslaught of taxi cabs and double decker busses. Our route took us past all the big attractions including The London Eye, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and Hyde Park.

City Bikes

Navigating the Streets of London

Entering Westminster

The London Eye

Parliament Hall

Big Ben

Riding Across Westminster Bridge

The Mall

Buckingham Palace

The afternoon called for a celebration of Mom's 70th birthday with an afternoon tea at the National Gallery. Dear friends and family converged on the gallery for a reunion that spanned the globe. The farthest traveler was my Aunt Peggy who had come all the way from Western Australia. It was a high culture affair entirely fitting of the occasion. Afterwards Andrew and I had a race with the mini RC cars on the smooth concrete in front of the gallery. Due to the close proximity of street performers in nearby Trafalgar Square a crowd soon formed. Shouric wooed the onlookers into believing it was a proper street show, only thickening the crowd. Everyone that knew better laughed in hysteria as the little cars chased each other around our makeshift track.

The Tube

The National Gallery

Mom's Tea

Shouric and Abby

Melissa, Peggy, and Beatrix

Mom and Peggy

Birthday Cake

Kitty, Kerri, Tessa, and Claire

Steve and Melissa

Caitlin and Corwin

Michael and Chris

Beatrix

Andrew Sipping Tea

RC Cars Out Front

The Family

The next day we took the London-Midland train to my cousin Chris's northwest of London in Newport Pagnell. He lives in a converted school house with a large garden on the side. After a huge barbecue we took a walk through a mid-evil graveyard and along the local canal. It was good fun spent united with family that is normally oceans apart. We had to live in the moment as our reunion was much too short. At dusk we boarded the train back to London to prepare for the long travel that lay ahead.

The Train to Midland

Barbecuing at Chris's

The Garden

Stalking Goldfish in the Pond

Medieval Graveyard

The Family Together

In the morning we took the shuttle to Heathrow for the journey home. The trip over the pond in the Airbus 330 was so much nicer than the 767 going over. We had a 5 hour layover in Philadelphia. My cousin Eliza came and got us for a brief visit with the Hardy's. The tough streets of Philly were a unique welcome home.

Emirates A380 Model

Which replaced the concorde in front of Heathrow,

metaphoric on many levels

Our Ride Back Across the Pond

A Short Visit with the Hardy's

I love traveling because it allows me perspective and enlightenment I would not have otherwise. Europe and the UK have their fair share of problems, but being abroad opened my eyes to some depressing perspective of our country and culture. My most glaring and immediate impressions were our rampant obesity, completely dysfunctional politics, and righteous arrogance towards each other and the rest of the world. I am forever grateful to have won the lottery of the world by being born in developed country like America. Our greatness as a nation is defined by our people and it saddens me to see the direction we have taken. I think a healthy dose of humility, unity, compromise, and perspective would go a long way for all of us. In the months following our trip I've tried to carry those principals into my daily life so my disgust ought not be in vane.