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The Zeroeth Day: Art Judging

We arrived Friday evening at the art judging with art just barely finished. But we were at a severe disadvantage in the art judging since we hadn't had the time or money to get bribes for the judges. Bribes are required if you want to make a showing in the Art judging.

Knowing this, I figured we didn't have a chance in the competition. So I decided we wouldn't push it. Just have a good time. This becomes more obvious during the water leg on the second day.

But we did have a song, courtesy of Clare.

• Down in Corvallis by the banks of the Bop,
• Where the Frogasaurus Rex goes hippity hop,
• With a For The Glory! and a ribbity rar,
• He's off to 'Vinci Days for KSR!

	My entry was Frogasaurus Rex. I think the artwork was the most popular entry we have ever had. Ironic since it was less work. I guess people just like cute animals.
	Bob Durst and Sherry Clark maintained their usual high standards with Time Flies.
I don't know the name of this entry, but the pilot is Jan Anderson of Port Townsend. If you write me to tell, please mention the rubber chicken. Was he even in the race? We blasted him with our watergun in pre-race festivities. He could out-turn us, but we were armed and he wasn't.
	Dave Ulman has usually been an engineering judge in Corvallis. This year he assembled a team, mostly drawing from the judge pool. They created a very aggressive new mechanical marvel. A walking machine. Others have done limited walkers. But this is the first that never relies on wheels. On the other hand, the others may have been able to complete the race. The design objective for Mute Ant was simply to cross the starting line.
Wet Paint is a racer from Southern Oregon.
Kinetic Widows were from Arcata.
	Frogasaurus Rex waits for the checkin. When the engineering judges asked me what was new in the engineering, I was stuck. I hadn't really done anything. Rex is basically complete and solid. But then I remembered that I had been developing a super squirt gun. Unfortunately that night when I charged it again to 80 psi, the firing chamber burst. To cover our water fight needs, Dave bought a second Super Soaker. Good thing or we would have been outgunned on the river. But more on that later...
All I know is that they are called Jesterfield Kings.
Chicks Rule is from Port Townsend. The pilot is Marilyn Kurka.
	Paul Vibrans did a repeat of Retro Rocket. [photographer: Dave Regan]
Albino Rhino is a repeat from last year. In fact, it seemed to me that all of the art from the heavyweights of Arcata was highly leveraged. It makes me think that the economic downturn is impacting them pretty severely. [photographer: Dave Regan]
	Linn-Benton Community College had Road Runner. [photographer: Dave Regan]
This is a new machine. Well, the lawn mower was not new. But as a KSR... Peter named it 'That's A Mower, Eh?', which makes sense when you hear the song. I hear it weighs 400 lbs. But has forward and reverse! And some very low gears. [photographer: Dave Regan]
	Rogue Towing, motto 'Get a Tow, Lose your Leo'. [photographer: Dave Regan]
	Indigo Incident was the Cresent Valley High School entry. [photographer: Dave Regan]
June Moxon always has exceptional art. Bridle Trail appears to be highly leveraged from her previous horse. But I think the costumes were new. [photographer: Dave Regan]
Mullet Bullet was from Arcata. The pilots were Michael Eckburg, Ryan Larson and somebody else. They won a boatload of awards. [photographer: Dave Regan]
	OK, Gina isn't a Kinetic Sculpture. But she is cute. And she can touch her nose with her tongue. Can you? [photographer: Dave Regan]

The First Day: Road and Sand.

	It was only now that we got together our bribes. Of course, having them this late meant they had no influence on the judging. Oh, well.
The Kinetic Chickens first showed up last year. They are from Arcata. I don't know if they are associated with a particular team, or just come independently. [photographer: Dave Regan]
	This was one of the Corvallis High Schools, I heard. Buns Of Steel. But aren't those buns made of paper mache? When I first was this entry show up, Friday night, I thought it was a food vendor. I wonder how many people tried to buy a burger from them... [photographer: Dave Regan]
	And here we are, Frogasaurus Rex. [photographer: Dave Regan]
Creep Show is from Team Chaos, from Arcata. They had trouble on the sand and tacoed their wheel. Saturday evening, Scott and I drove to my house to 'harvest' a wheel from a junker. That got them going again for Sunday. [photographer: Dave Regan]
	Land Shark is a new local entry this year. They used the techniques taught in the Corvallis Kinetic Sculpture class to create an inexpensive, but effective KSR. [photographer: Dave Regan]
	Exodus is the Maltese Fulcrum decorated as an accordian. This machine hadn't done more than parade for several years. Many of us were glad to see it as a real entry again. Dean Codo made an improvement this year. From day one, the seats on Maltese Fulcrum have been very uncomfortable. A couple of years ago I gave Dean a frame for making seats. This year he used the frame to crank out 8, exceptionally nice seats. I have to admit. He didn't just use my design. He improved it a great deal. I am envious. [photographer: Dave Regan]
Duane Flatmo really struts his stuff as an artist in the KSR each year. Surf and Turf, altho highly leveraged from previous years, shows his characteristic style and flair. [photographer: Dave Regan]
	Mute Ant got to the Engineering Building on the OSU campus before breaking down. That is a distance of several hundred feet. I hear the legs got out of sync and a freewheel went sproing. Well, they met their objective. [photographer: Dave Regan]
This is scary. Many of us were holding our breaths until they were no longer in danger of rolling. They left behind a deep gouge in the sand.
Surf and Turf spent a long time on the sand. I was too busy to find out why. But I assume they overcame whatever the challenge was.
As they were waiting in line for the sand pile, I walked up and talked with Peter. I noticed he still had his bike wheels wrapped around the offroad wheels. I suggested that could be a problem since the road wheel will dig a hole in the sand. Later I heard that is exactly what happened. They didn't make it thru the sand. It's possible the machine is capable. But taking those bike wheels off and on again takes a lot of time. I know because that is how Rex worked the first couple of years.
That doesn't look right. Can anybody tell me what happened here to Surf and Turf?

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of Frogasaurus Rex on the sand. We climbed it without incident. Evidently we got the tire pressure just right and I chose just the right path. It was an easy climb.

But I kind of spaced the turn at the top and drove right by it. I tried to make a sharp turn to get on the path, but managed to put the left wheel into the gouge Wet Paint had left behind. I couldn't drive out of it. We had to get out and lift Rex sideways out of the gouge.

That maneuver didn't count against our Leo award because we only moved sideways and not forward. But I didn't feel good about it. It would have been nice to be able to finish the race without ever doing a lateral transfer.

Back at the first day Finish Line

			Dave, Ken and I gave rides to lots of kids of all ages.
			We estimate that we gave close to 200 folks rides over the weekend.

We were approached by a girl in her mid teens. "Frog Man", she called each of us. This girl was fanatical about frogs. We gave her and her friend bribes and put her in contact with Melissa, who runs http://www.frogstore.com/ and who sold us the bribes (and who just happens to be one of the Engineering Judges). Dave mumbled something about taking alcohol to a Betty Ford clinic...

The Second Day: Mud and River

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the second day. I didn't want to carry my camera when racing mud and water. If anybody donates pictures, I will post them here.

The mud was easy this year. I don't think it stopped anybody other than Mute Ant. I heard that most folks lost their Leo in the sand. That suprised me since it seemed easy for us.

Before entering the water I talked with all the other racers in line, asking if they were in possession of Water Weapons of Mass Destruction. Only two teams were so equipped, Creep Show and Frogasaurus Rex. So I arranged a water fight with them.

I recruited a tail gunner to ride with us in the river. Clare had ridden as a barnacle on Rex in a previous year at Port Townsend. She was ready.

We entered the water first, since Rex is traditionally slow in transition. But so as not to leave them behind, I turned immediately upstream. And just for fun I decided to head across the stream to the island. That island has a special place in the hearts of KSR racers. For most it is tantalizingly out of reach. The current is too strong and the KSRs just don't go that fast.

I wasn't really expecting to reach the island. But we did. And what is more, Dave's chain fell off during the trip, so we did it all on one pilot power. We touched the island perhaps 20 feet upstream of where we started across. Let there be no doubt about this. Rex is a fast water machine.

As soon as Creep Show emerged from the boat ramp, we cast off from the island in hot pursuit. They didn't expect us to attack from the rear and when we opened fire they were taken completely by suprise.

The water fight went on for about half of the river. I can't say either team won. In terms of fire power we were well matched. And altho I think they were more adept with their water guns, we had an advantage with speed and maneuverability. Plus Frogasaurus Rex was much quieter than Creep Show, and we could sneek up on them. But we all had a blast.

Our water transitions set new speed records, at least for Rex. In the past I have arranged for well controlled approach to shore. But lately we have been experimenting with just ramming it. That seems to work very well. The momentum drives our pontoons up the shore far enough that we don't tend to drift off.

Summary

• We got Leos. The 2003 Leo medallion is a delight. I think it is the best looking medallion that the daVinci Days KSR has ever given out.
• We got the Graand Poo-bah Award (for giving all those rides). It came with a $100 check. But later I looked closely and realized the check was unsigned. Sigh...
• By the end of Saturday we had at least 7 broken spokes on one wheel. It's hard to tell. When you get that many broken the remaining ones get really loose. It's a wonder we got home on that wheel.
• On Monday, Frogasaurus Rex was on the front page of the Gazette-Times in color. We had the biggest picture on the page.

Trophy for Graand Poo-bah Award	Leo Medallion

This is from Dave: One special memory I have of the KSR was this: A woman came up to us Sunday with her 3-year-old daughter. We asked if she wanted a ride, but she said her daughter had gotten a ride Saturday. The woman told us that as she was putting her daughter to bed Saturday night, carrying her cuddled half-asleep, the daughter kept repeating "I got to ride the Frog!". That's the glory I'll go for.

Copyright (C) C Allen Brown 2003.