Horrible Cycling Weather

Well, its just plain been aweful cycling weather the past few weeks. I think I actually heard my roadbike say "I'm lonely.... ride me".......

Between rain to keep me off the trails, and cold to keep me off the roadbike, I'm guessing its now time to set up the trainer and go from there....... Kinda a painful thought- I hate the trainer. However IF I'm going to hit my 2009 goal of getting to 180 by September, then I'm gonna have to do it......

T-Rex Night Flying

Last night while waiting outside to pick up some take-out food, I rigged up my T-Rex for night flying.

Used some Align blades I'd picked up some time earlier, and an Electrifly light kit I picked up at the LHS. I test flew two packs through it and its not terribly easy to see, so I redid the lighting on the canopy and the fuse. On the canopy, I moved it 1/4" away from the black window paint. I'm hoping this will get the light reflecting from a lot of white paint.

On the structure, I re did the lighting alignment so it would show in every realm of flight.

I also noticed that these blades tracked worse than any blade I've flown yet. I'll have to re-track them when its warmer.

In flight, the thing really was a dog because of the cold. I could not believe how poorly the batteries performed. That was until I got in the truck and realized it was 21 degrees........

Memphis Indoor Classic 2009

Its been a week since I last posted......... and its been even longer since I've thrown a leg over my bike.......

http://www.mycyclinglog.com/profile/Chinn

Thats because I was incredibly busy last week.

Last week was the Memphis Indoor Classic. I've been working on this race with Al Glenn for several months. First off, he deserves all the credit for getting this event together, and simply consider myself lucky enough to have helped.

I started the event the week before in building my newest design. It still does not have a name, but it flies well. I finished that airplane on Wednesday evening. Thats the cool thing about FAI F3P-A, finish your competition airplane in 4 hours instead of 400.......

People started showing up for the event on Thursday night. While I tried to stay out of trouble with the wife, RJ and AC showed up and started working on RJ's latest prototype. FancyFoam had shipped the raw kit to my house along with prizes for the competition. After laying a simple but attractive paintjob on the bird, RJ took to framing it. For me, it was a bit frustrating to watch, as it took RJ about 4-5 hours to complete, and I can do the same job in less than an hour....... However the results were pretty awesome.

We showed up at the facility on Friday morning and helped Al set up the facility with tables and concession stand. By 10:30 we were flying, trimming and practicing. I put up approximately 15-20 practice and trim flights just in that one day. By 5pm, we were handed the unknown and sat down for a pilots' meeting. The unknown looked scary on paper, but was really not that bad in the air. It certainly was not easy (it was an ass kicker) it was just not as hard as it looked on paper. That was definitely a good experience for me. We finished the evening when Riley K's father brought pizza in for all the pilots.

Saturday began very early and very rainy. Thank goodness we were flying indoor! We started the morning by realizing 2 of the pilots we were sure were going to fly backed out. Their loss. We flew 2 rounds of F3P-A and 2 rounds of unknown. I felt really good about the known flights and my first unknown flight. My second unknown flight was going great and I managed to zero the last maneuver!!!!!!! Thank goodness we were allowed to drop our worst flights.

After the morning precision contest, we had open flying for several hours. People flew all sorts of flying, and we managed to get some impromptu pylon racing in. That was some of the most fun I've had at a contest in a while. I flew my trusty little SCAT delta (own design) and whoooped up on everyone else. By the last race, one of the HobbyLobby guys finally had his bird tuned to outrun my airplane on the straights. At that point, I genuinely had to outfly him on the course to beat him- and I did!!!!!! Of course that was all just for fun. : )

Saturday afternoon, we got ready to hit the freestyle section of the competition. Frankly, I flew my first flight to a new song and the routine just plain sucked...... Then I flew to my 2008 ETOC music and my routine was significantly better, even though I had not flown it in almost a year....... and then I crashed. I genuinely think that d@#$ airplane was jinxed. Needless to say, I won't rebuild it.

The real freestyle competition was between Riley K and RJ. Both put up absolutely killer flights. They were on fire. Well choreographed, challenging maneuvers and sequences and pretty dynamic overall.

In the end, RJ came out on top on both Precision and Freestyle. Huge congrats to him.

Personally, I came out in 4th place overall. I'm actually pretty pleased with that. The competition in front of me was/is pretty doggone good.

After the competition was over, we sat down for some 'Interstate' barbeque. There is nothing that compares to Memphis bbq. I had not had any bbq in so long (still trying to lose weight) it was really nice to have a plate of it. We spent the rest of the evening flying helis, some more pylon and generally acting stupid.

Sunday, we flew a bit and helped clean up. I ended up having to work Sunday morning, so I missed most of my friends before they left.... : ( but I'm glad I was there to help Al wrap everything up.

Next year will be an even better event!

Foamy Painting

Laid some paint this evening after cleaning the airbrush for too long......

Foamy Building Fun

Spent a lot of the fall working on two foamies, one of which is great, the other which has its own issues........

So, over the holidays I drafted out something new. We'll see if it flies well on Friday with a little luck. In a matter of 3 hours, I cut all the parts, drew and cut the milling templates, then milled all the parts.........

Bike Cleanup Day

Well, I've put in a few messy miles over the last couple weeks, so when my daughter decided to nap, I got out the work stand and polished and waxed up my bikes. Each is shined to a 't' and will resist the rest of the winter gunk out there on the roads and the trails.

Finally got a picture of the QA with the new Toupe Ti on it. Crappy name for a seat, but I like the seat.

While I was at it, I pulled all the cables and wiped them down. I then coated the portion of each that goes inside the cable housing and greased it with Boeing grease. Everything shifts/brakes very nicely now.

Awesome MSTA New Years Day Ride

To start the new year, I met up with approx 16 other MSTA members and rode the Wolf River Trails. Was a great morning out even though it was cold!!!!

I launched myself over the handlebars for the first time in a lot of years, but otherwise had a smooth fast ride. Was a great time to meet all the other MSTA guys I've not yet met. They really are some good riders and very capable of putting the burn on a rider!