Click on a thumbnail sketch to see the full size picture.

Safety Tests

The Port Townsend brake test is dramatic. We climb a long steep hill. Then we barrel down the hill and have to stop on command. If you fail to stop, at the end of the road is Puget Sound!

While we were waiting our turn at the top of the hill, Dave and I noticed an old lady step out of our house and head our way. This woman had a scowl, and both of us had a forboding sense that she was going to tell us off. The suspense built as she approached. And then, when she was close, she raised her hand... and gave us the Kinetic Salute and a grin! Cool.

Road

Port Townsend is the hilliest of the races we attend. And my chain was acting up. I had to do a repair while Dave kept us going. Sorry, Dave!

Water

Before the race Elliot had been telling me how fast the Two Ton Trike was in the water. I was quite certain Rex was faster. So when we passed him in the water we ran a circle around him, making it look like he was standing still. He was agog.

Our transition is slow. But once we hit the water we move very fast. You can see we have taken our pit crew as a passenger in the water.

Sand

This is the first year Port Townsend had a sand challenge. Fortunately we were prepared.

We had to put on our sand tires, ATV wheels. But then we zipped thru.

Mud

The mud was our Waterloo. Or maybe I should say Muderloo. The treads of our ATV tires filled up and we just spun our tires. OK, "spin" might be an exaggeration. But they turned and we didn't move forward. Hence we lost our Master.

	After several lateral moves [as evidenced by the mud on our shoes] we are still moving. But not for long.
	The pit person is touching Rex while we move. That is technically illegal. But in reality she wasn't helping. Instead she was using Rex to keep from falling in the slippery mud.

Award Ceremony

At the start of the race we were given several balloons. We were told that we needed to make something for a special competition at the end. Dave made a fly for Frogasaurus Rex to catch. We put the frog head on stage, proudly holding his fly. I may be prejudiced, but I think it was unquestionably the best balloon sculpture. Nevertheless, it didn't win. The judge picked, instead, a balloon that had been marked up to represent a tube steak.

But we didn't walk away empty handed. We got the Sportsmanship Award.

All pictures above were taken by John Liczwinko and are presumably copyrighted by him.

Copyright 2004 C. Allen Brown