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

For Gorillas In The Rex, Arcata-Ferndale 2001 is the race that almost didn't happen. Among the Rex teamworkers who assembled the artwork there was not much interest in doing that race. (I had warned them that it is less fun than the other races and more work.) So I put out a feeler on the Corvallis KSR email list for people interested in piloting and pitting. Gary Goodrich offered to pit and his son, Derek, to pilot. First challenge surmounted.

Then, two short weeks before the trip, I learned that the truck I had been counting on to tow Rex to Arcata would not be available for the whole trip. Once again I put out a request to the Corvallis KSR email list. No go. I put out urgent requests to several other mailing lists and asked numerous people I knew. A week before the trip I found a friend who would lend me her van. The trip was saved!

But the challenges continued. No sooner did I begin the trip than the van began to overheat. From this I suspected the engine was too small for towing. I turned off the air conditioning, which got me another hundred miles before I noticed the temperature gage rising again. I turned on the heater, even though the cabin temperature was already warm.

Turning on the heater is a very old trick to cool an engine when the radiator isn't enough. It works because the hot coolant from the engine passes thru the heater before going to the radiator. In effect, the heater acts like an extension to the radiator.

I decided to take the coastal route home. By avoiding the mountains I figured the engine would have no trouble. Naive. The radiator boiled over again, this time nowhere near hills. It appeared that whatever problem there was was getting worse with time.

When I got back to Corvallis I took the van to a mechanic. He found a solid state relay controlling the radiator fan had given its all. Evidently it had been failing slowly all through the trip.

Fortunately there was no permanent damage to the van. (That would have cost me dearly!) I now suspect the van would have had plenty of power for towing if it hadn't had a failing component.

The First Day Of The Race

In the Arcata Plaza the racers assemble. This year there were 45 machines entered, an increase from last year.

	Titanic
	Yi Fang Serpent
	Tri-Carrot Tops
	Mostly Harmless
	This is a new machine that Monkey built. I don't remember its name.
	Yellow Submarine
	Glory Hogs
	Wet Paint
	Pirates Sans Pants
	Mega Sore Ass
	Grape Balls Of Fire
	Moment of Inertia. That's a pocket protector.
	Gorillas in the Rex. We are not fast on the sand. But we don't get stuck.

Dead Mans Drop

Our first excitement in the race was descending Dead Mans Drop. We looked like beginning skiers, sliding from one position to the next. Fortunately we got down without hurting anybody.

That night rather than stay at the mall or the fairgrounds as in previous years, we slept under the bridge at the boat landing. The nice thing about that is that we were very close to our first water entry for the next day. The bad thing is that we got to listen to traffic all night. Fortunately I was tired enough from the sand that I slept well.

My tent under the bridge. Most people had enough sense to sleep elsewhere. There were only 4 tents.

The Second Day Of The Race

Rex To The Rescue!

The second day was considerably different than in previous years. Instead of crossing the bay we had two water entries. The first had us race from the boat ramp to the yaught club. For the second we entered at Field's Landing, went a short distance to a bouy and returned.

The first water crossing was just the thing for Rex. This is a machine that likes water, the more the better. Rex doesn't do well in entries and exits. But those long stretches of water are a delight. And for the last year I had been overhauling the water drive to make it even more efficient and more reliable.

So there we were, zipping along on the water, passing craft left and right. Then up ahead we noticed a foundering KSR. Wilder Things was in the drink. A Coast Guard boat was right there offering assistance. We slid up and offered our help.

This is Wilder Things, the team we rescued. They are preparing to enter the water. They strap their pontoons on the bikes using bungie chords. That's not strong enough.

To tell the truth, I had been wanting to be able to tow someone for years now. This was the first time a team accepted my offer. They refused a tow by the Coast Guard, thinking that would hurt their standing in the race. Actually I don't think the rules care *who* tows them. Either way they lost their Ace. But I think that was pretty much a given. There's not much chance they could have ridden their machine out of the water.

After we had roped "Wilder Things" to Rex we had the two women climb onto Rex for a ride. They offered to stay in the water and kick to help us move. But I declined. I figured we could probably move faster than they could push. But I was also worried that the judges would take away our Ace if we allowed this.

At first they both climbed onto the pontoon on my side. But I noticed that pontoon was starting to submerge, so I had Sara move to the other side. Submerging pontoons are a BAD THING.

They had attached their pontoons to the road machine using bungie chords. There is a lesson here. Don't DO that! Think of it this way: Whatever mount scheme you use to hold the pontoons on should be strong enough to hold the full weight of the machine and then some. (Remember that waves make the stresses greater.) You can be sure they will use something like nylon straps in the future.

"Wilder Things" consisted of two BikeEs bolted together. They then added decorations and pontoons. Its quite simple and they can take it apart and get their bikes back. But I don't think it could ever Ace. Both the sand and mud probably required them to push. I didn't ask.

Rex Almost Needs Rescue!

At the next water exit we cracked our frame, with the result that only one pilot could pedal Rex for the rest of the day. (The left axle shifted which made it impossible to keep the chain on the sprocket. Undoubtedly the resulting wheel misalignment made for higher friction as well.) It's a good thing the exit was at a boat ramp. Anything more challenging would not have been possible with only one pilot pedaling.

Unfortunately the longest hill of the race came in the afternoon of that day. We were moving very slowly up that hill. On the downhill side we hit 25MPH. That was as fast as I was willing to go because Rex was getting unstable. Instability is a feature of rear steered machines. But it is only a problem at high speed, so we rarely have to worry.

But that wasn't our only challenge. The front right wheel was losing it. It had already lost 6 spokes. Plus the tire was worn to the chord. At this rate were not going to make it across the second day's finish line. So we wrapped the tire with duct tape to protect the chord. The duct tape wore thru pretty quickly, but it was enough to finish the day. That night Jim kindly replaced the tire. Unfortunately there wasn't much we could do about the spokes.

Camp

Jenny and Sara of 'Wilder Things' tried to get us a welder, but couldn't get thru on the phone. Fortunately I ran into Monkey who welded Rex back together. With help from Jim, who took time away from his work on '15 day wonder' to help me out. The three of us, with help from a few bystanders, managed several repairs. This was enough so that we were able to tackle Slimey Slope the next day.

I tried to convince Jenny and Sara to come to Corvallis for daVinci Days. It didn't sound likely. Sara has a schedule conflict. Too bad. It would be nice to have the BikeE folks see what these women have done. (BikeE is based in Corvallis.)

The Third Day Of The Race.

	They had us start the third day by lineing up on the sand and then racing to our vehicles.
There were two interesting features of the third day, not including the finish line. We had a sort-of water crossing at the Eel River. This is Good-Bad-Bugly on the right. --> [I'm not sure who the photographer is.]
	I say the Eel River was only a sort-of crossing because there wasn't much water in the river. It was barely deep enough for us to use pontoons. So we didn't. We just forded it. Unfortunately this gets Rex deeper in the water than is comfortable. Not only did we pilots get a little wet, but a whole lot of steel got submerged. I may pay for that in the next year. [I'm not sure who the photographer is.]
And then there was Slimey Slope. Yes. That is the line. It is long and very slow. [I'm not sure who the photographer is.]
It was cold on Slimey Slope. I got a hug from one of Pirates Sans Pants. Warmed me up quite a bit. Of course, it didn't hurt that she was attractive.
	Slimey Slope was a challenge for us. Back at the campground something else happened. A sprocket on the left side broke and fell off. This was the sprocket used for our lowest gear. So we only had super low gear on the right side. Fortunately that was enough. Barely. Derek, my co-pilot, is a strong kid. Without his strength I don't think we could have made it. [I'm not sure who the photographer is.]

Ferndale

	Gorillas In The Rex at the Finish Line in Ferndale.
	The Awards Banquet in Ferndale.

We got Ace status for finishing the race without pushing (except in legal push zones).

We also have the reports written by Gary Goodrich about the race: Kinetic Khronicles .

Unless otherwise noted, all pictures above were taken by Allen Brown.

Copyright 2001 C. Allen Brown