HPV- Battle Mountain

Out of negligence or indifference I totally missed the WHPSC at Battle Mountain, the annual high speed slug fest in the Nevada plateau. Usually its held a little later in the year and, to tell the truth, its been so anticlimactic lately that it was pushed to the back of my mind.

Recently, it looked like Sam's thundering 2002 run of 81 MPH would go unbeaten. Legendary highway SR305 has been deteriorating over the years and interest in repaving a rarely used highway in perfectly serviceable condition is pretty low. Even worse, participation has waned in recent years. All the big players had given it their best and none could best Sam, who has become fairly dominant in the small world of recumbent racing. It looked like this was there year he would back into the DeciMach prize, not by going 132 kph, but by being the only one get close.

Well, how wrong I was. Plans are in place to repave 305 (ensuring at least the possibility of a future for high speed runs). Participation was up this year and a fair number of newcomers showed up. My old foe Cal Poly showed up with not one, but two bikes to test out. Best of all, Sam (despite retiring from full time racing a while ago) pulled out multiple 80+ mph runs and a prize winning run of 82 and change. Genius Matt Weaver didn't show and there wasn't the international showing there has been, but apparently there is some future for the race.

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