Oct 28, 2007

I know I said I'd have pictures.... two weeks ago.....
I have no excuses, I'm a lazy blogger.

One of Tori and my favorites was the lobster cart. They went first and got shafted by judges who were expecting just a little too much.

Numberator 2.0 pictures, after taking first place.
Oregon trail is a classic for anyone born between 1980 and 1985.
The Flintstones car was awesome.

Some serious nerds celebrating their win.

In marathon news, I ran that yesterday. Three weeks til this. Its lookin good.

Oct 14, 2007

24 hours in Rhode Island

Justin, Anthony and the guys were in Providence this weekend for the Red Bull Soap Box Challenge, so Tori and I drove up to hang out and watch the whole thing. The competition was right on the Brown campus and it was a beautiful day, so it was fun just to go, but Red Bull put on a great show too.

We got there at 11:00, just in time to see all the different cars and pick out a good spot to watch from the start. Each team would do a little skit then race to the bottom of the hill. The winner was decided on style and creativity, their skit and their race time, so winning wasn't so much being fast as being all around awesome. I thought the really low key Numerator 2.0 wasn't going to stand out next to some really outrageous vehicles (especially a flying toilet which, if you wanted to get on Sportcenter, seemed like just about the best way), but Justin built a sweet car, Anthony drove super fast and Charlie literally pee'd his pants for the win.

That night we played the part of groupies and followed the team around Providence for the celebration, hitting up some sweet clubs before crashing with Bob and Anthony. I never would have thought it, but Providence is a really cool city. It mixes its traditional roots with new commercial buildings to keep downtown in business without selling out.

Pictures (maybe video too!) to follow.

Oct 5, 2007

Save the World Human Powered Speed Challenge!

Just as catchy as "save the whales!" isn't it?

The WHPSC has been undergoing some strife lately. First SR-305 started to break down, then a proposed chip seal solution (which would basically ruin the road for high speed runs), now the wind and temperature is making record attempts harder than usual this year.

None of these is as detrimental to the event as waning turnout though. It seems like participation has been down the last couple years (to me, at least). This year, there's no Matt Weaver, no Sean Costin, no Fast Freddy and only three guys are going over 60 mph. I've only seen the results for the first three days, but if you look at 2005, it seems like turnout is down. If no one shows up to race, there will be no reason to keep the event going.

Anyway, the Rolla guys seem to be doing well. I've heard of other college students going to Battle Mountain, but I don't think anyone has taken it as seriously since Berkley did six years ago. Good Luck!

Pictures!

Damjan rides his Eivie backwards

Sam's Diablo 3, based on the 81 mph Diablo 2