You're welcome Todd, but really I just checked in and gave my observations of what was going on at the lakebed. Almost all the solutions I was hoping
for had already been put in place. The biggie was the standing water.............. Ok, I am directly responsible for the rain, but not the other
stuff.
The tide came in! This was taken yesterday by Brian Holgate. This is the result of the flooding rains we had a few days ago in Vegas. Not sure how
deep it is but I'm ready for it to dry out completely. New wheels and they aren't dusty yet. High temps are dropping below 100 most every day now.
It is good to hear that people will be locked out until the lake is dry.
From what I saw last spring those workers using the lakebed was a real problem. I could not get over the soft sand tracks on my small wheels. I
wondered at that point why BLM wasn't talking to the Solar Plant people about the issue? I few days of handing out fines + holding the Solar Plant
people accountable was overdue back then !
I hope the issue has been properly addressed and the rain will repair some of the damage. Please do us all a favour and inform BLM as soon as the
activity starts up again! I have a feeling that left alone , it will?
Got to put in some miles yesterday! Good showing of locals and far away travelers as well. The surface is improved, but not totally repaired from
the damage the solar workers did before being cited by the federales and being threatened with losing their job if caught trespassing there again.
Even with my ~2" of ground clearance, I didn't high center anywhere I rode yesterday. Ruts are perceptible now but you can roll right over them and
the surface is firm again. Some new spots are super smooth and others are noticeably rough. It will take a few rides to learn where the good spots
are.
Winds were jumpy between 0-18. Sometimes being fully lit and others with a lifeless kite sitting on the ground. I ran the 12m Phantom II and it
could handle more wind if it was smoother. Got up over 45 mph a couple times which makes me wonder what is possible with the 9 and 6m. Looking
forward to the cooler fall winds!
Great ride yesterday. I think I broke my miles record. Rode over 80 miles in just over 3 hours. Lots of 35-45 mph cruising. One blast to 53.8.
Video is on facebook if you can see it. Wind was from a very southerly direction which made it very smooth. I was flying the 12m Phantom II and it
was rock steady in those smooth winds. Feyd suggested all straps loose and it seems to have been great advice.
It was fun chasing Wexler around all day. He started out with the 3.4 HQ Prodigy and shifted to the 7m Montana VII. It had a little more power and
we were pretty evenly matched all day. I ran lots of video and am going to put together a compilation video of those fast turns that have been called
suicide gibes, but might not really be.
go to your user control panel and change the number of posts per thread and that should unlock it. You can do a really big number and most threads
will only have one page.
Originally posted by thanson2001ok
You rock. What else is there to say!
Thanks for sharing. Gotta see if I can get to NABX to ride with you.
Thanks! Todd it's location, location, location. Before I rode at Ivanpah, my high speed was 35 mph. It's a huge learning curve to get to ride there
every time out. I posted this not as a "look at me" thing, but to try to share the experience of having a place like that to ride and to show that
runs over 50 mph aren't really that traumatic. Also realize that when I ride with Brian Holgate in his little XR+, he routinely stays right with me
with one or the other having an edge at any given time. It's not till the speeds get over 50 mph that he starts to run into limitations of the small
buggy. In my buggy I can also handle gusts at that speed more easily. Bottom line, with miles and hours on the lakebed, 40-50 mph is within reach of
virtually anyone.
We had an unusual Southerly wind that day and it had us running straight across the most narrow part of the lakebed. The hard part is that the best
wind was consistently with about a half mile left so the best runs were right up close to the interstate to either slow down or just roll through the
turn.
I'm working on a compilation video right now of the full speed downturns. I have video of 8 or so turns, some really smooth and some with some slack
in the lines. Coming soon!
Originally posted by BeamerBob
We had an unusual Southerly wind that day and it had us running straight across the most narrow part of the lakebed. The hard part is that the best
wind was consistently with about a half mile left so the best runs were right up close to the interstate to either slow down or just roll through the
turn.
I'm working on a compilation video right now of the full speed downturns. I have video of 8 or so turns, some really smooth and some with some slack
in the lines. Coming soon!
Ok, this is my first foray into editing video. I didn't take great pains with it, just trying to trim down the running and concentrating on the
turns. There is also a cool clip or 2 of Wexler and I running together thrown in.
Just watching the video footage, I can see how to improve and smooth out the turns even more. Always something to learn.
Had a great run yesterday. Was hoping for a day of epic winds but the big stuff didn't come through till sunset and brought so much dust with it due
to a 90 degree wind direction change, it was not safe to run wide open. I had a well earned top speed of 54 mph, but my moment of pride was
increasing my most miles traveled in a day to 94. Now I have to break 100 miles next time I have a day full of wind. I flew the 9m Phantom II the
entire day. I would've been fine with the 12 m except for the final half hour. I really hate wasting the time of changing kites and knew the 12m
would get out of hand quickly with 50 mph gusts in the forecast so erred to caution with the 9. In the last half hour, I'd have been well powered
with the 6m as it turned out. I still feel lucky to have such a great place to ride!
I guess I do have a bucket list and the only thing on the list is to fly with you guys on the lake beds!
2.6 , 3.9 , 5.3 , 6.8 PL Vipers
10 , 13 , PL Scorpions
5 , 7.5 HQ Apex II
14m HQ Montana VII
5m naish element
7m ss turbo diesel
10m pansh blaze
5m beamer dearly departed into a tree
3 "snowspider" homebuilt kite sleds
3 homebuilt buggies
1 skate board with seat on wheels or blades (the c0ckroach)
Heavy winds today on Ivanpah. When I got there winds seemed to be upper teens to lower 20s but promised to be much more. I started out on the 9m
Phantom II and got launched in time for Brian Holgate's last run in the speed buggy before he had to leave for work. We hit 48 something on that
first run out. He was flying a 7m Fury LEI. It really looked stable in the air. I want to put in a lap or 2 with that kite in the right winds to
see how it feels.
Later I had a run of 62.1 still with the 9m but only got one more run in before the 9 became too much since I had trouble slowing and turning after a
run. I went back in and traded down to the 6m as the winds increased. I had 4 more runs with it over 60 mph but didn't go over the 62.1 again.
The winds were out of the north and very punchy today. The 9m has much more speed available if the winds are more smooth. A nice smooth 30-35 mph
wind might be the ticket to ratchet up the speed another few notches. I put in 40 miles in the tough conditions and lived to ride another day!
It was good to see Kent from AWOC, greasehopper, along with John from Phoenix and another local Steve. Also good to get one run in with Brian but it
just made me want a day out there to push each other.
It was good to see Kent from AWOC, greasehopper, along with John from Phoenix and another local Steve. Also good to get one run in with Brian but it
just made me want a day out there to push each other.
Always a pleasure, great time, wish I could have hung around a bit longer.
Ken Shaw
Riding the wild sastrugi of the Sonoran Desert in Scout Buggly
Personal Masseur to Chuckawalla Rock-It Series
Flexifoil : Blurr 5m
HQ : Beamer IV 5m : Crossfire II 3m : Montana V 9.5m
Ozone : Haka 5m : Cult 2.5m : Flow 2m : Imp 1.5m
Peter Lynn : Core 6.7m, 5.1m, 4m, 3m
Skydog SDT GenI : 4m
Revolution : Speed series Blast : 1.5 SLE
Awesome day. I just got back home. I logged over 120 miles between yesterday and today. Best speed I could muster was 55.92, still plenty fast for
this old guy. It was sure nice to see ya Bob, Ken, John, Steve, Marty, Dave, Jim and everyone else that was there. Our Blokart demo day was a huge
hit with tons of people riding, learning and enjoying. What an awesome weekend...now if it was just a couple degrees warmer! Saturday's dinner was also awesome. Thanks to everyone who pitched in and made
this such an awesome weekend.
MDK its like skydiving, its not the going that worries me when I'm totally overpowered, its the stopping. The winds were too much for me to have the
confidence to do suicide turns yesterday. I can always eventually get the buggy turned upwind if I can ease the kite up high. The old advice to keep
the kite low and turn upwind just doesn't work at that level of conditions. The buggy just slides sideways. But if I ease the kite up high, then I
can get the buggy turned upwind and all is good. At 60+ mph Ivanpah is just big enough for a run.
Bobby, I'm with ya, but what I am wondering and I should have been more clear, is that if you had brakes on your bug to assist in slowing down would
you have kept the 9m in the air and reached for higher speeds? just thinking of the possibilities.
![[*]](images/perspective/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
Saturday's dinner was also awesome. Thanks to everyone who pitched in and made
this such an awesome weekend.
