Posted on | by ben
‘Twas the morning of Cèilidh, when all ’round the course,
Not a buggy was stirring, they lay in their house.
The drivers asleep, all warm in their bed,
For on Saturday it rained and stopped all rolls dead.
 
The morning to follow, was far more exciting,
As the weather proved to be far more inviting.
 The buggies were brought and the teams got in gear,
They filled the alumni with an excess of cheer.
 

It was Homecoming this weekend which brought back buggy alumni from around the area. Some new along with some veteran made for a fun Sunday morning after a rained out Saturday. Unfortunately, Sunday saw its own issues delaying rolls until 8:00am, after which, everything went about as well as it ever has.

In Attendance

Org Sunday
AEPi Kamikaze
CIA Orca, Ascension, Freyja, Firebird
Fringe Bonsai, Borealis, Bedlam, Banyan
PiKA Raptor, Chimera
SDC Bane, Avarice, Malice
SigEp Peregrine, Barracuda, Pandora
SigNu Krait
Spirit Zuke, Haraka, Seraph, Fuko
No-Shows Apex, KapSig, DU (?), SAE

Observations (Sunday Gallery)

  • AEPi – Finally making it back out to the course, AEPi managed to get a couple rolls in with a new second driver in Kamikaze.  Now with two drivers in a single buggy, and no rumor of a new buggy, it’s a bit of a mystery as to what they might be planning. Will they bring out Zepherus again? Will Aether ever see the light of day again? Or are they just trying to spread the joy of driving? Hopefully it will lead to some exciting developments.
  • CIA – Out again with 4 of their 5 buggies, CIA rolled as consistently as they have been all fall. So far Ascension is the only one that hasn’t missed a day, so we’ll see if they keep with this rotation come next weekend. Ascension was  seen on their new red wheels again this weekend. As a bit of a surprise, their rear wheel, which is normally a larger wheel, looked significantly smaller and also red. This may be a good experiment to prove whether larger or smaller wheels are better.
  • Fringe – As another constant team out on the course, Fringe rolled very well for the one hour of rolls. Bedlam had a near miss on the outer bales as she made the chute turn, but corrected well and smoothly reached hill 3. Word is that they’re working on some repairs or renovations for Bissa so some of their drivers are swapped around until that’s finished. I expect that this extra practice should make the transition later in the year much easier.
  • PiKA – Joining the course for the second time this fall, PiKA looks like they will be back for the duration. Both Raptor and Chimera are starting to pick up speed and nail their lines. Chimera was still rolling with bags, but the driver looked much more confident and found the chute every time. Following suit from many other orgs, Raptor was seen with a GoPro taped above the front windshield giving the drivers something to watch and critique during the week.
  • SDC – Much like the other orgs that were already mentioned, SDC has given very little to report on as they continue to roll cleanly and quickly around the course. Envy wasn’t out this Sunday leaving a bit of a question as to why she was brought out and rolled last weekend. I have a feeling this is only because the driver can’t make it out on Sundays, but this is only speculation at this point.
  • SigEp – Coming out in the morning with only Peregrine and Pandora, SigEp showed some signs of great improvement as both buggies made it around the course without incident. It’s not certain that they’ve settled on a single Pandora driver, but she was rolling very well Sunday and is picking up speed without bags. They still have some other drivers caped in Pandora, but a few of them haven’t rolled once.
  • SigNu – Deciding to show their faces this fall, SigNu made it back out onto the course as was predicted in last week’s rolls report. They got two rolls in the short morning, and split the day between two of their three drivers for Bungarus Krait. Both drivers did very well for their first time on the course, though it was noticed that on one roll, the driver seemed to have some difficulty keeping a straight line. Fortunately she was rolling slowly enough that she had no trouble staying safe and completing her roll. UPDATE: Apparently SigNu is planning some repairs for Skua to get another buggy out on the course, and potentially an entirely new buggy to boot.
  • Spirit – Doing their best to keep things exciting, Spirit had many near misses, and almost spins, but all buggies kept it clean and made it through the chute without incident. A few of their drivers made some long slides, making many of the alumni jump back, but fortunately everything was fine.

There’s some very exciting news floating about, so here are the rumors that have surfaced recently.

  • Apex – As of this report, I hear (and have seen) that Apex has completed their first shell and are getting set for making it smooth and pretty. Getting help from all of their new members and some veterans from CIA, Fringe, SDC, SigEp and others. It’s fair to say that everyone in the buggy community is excited to see what the first new independent team of the millennium will bring to the table.
  • DU – Mentioned as a comment to last week’s report, DU is recolonizing and might be interested in obtaining a loaner if anyone has one to spare. I haven’t heard anything directly about this, but if you know any of the new DUer’s direct them here and I’m sure there will be plenty of alumni or teams looking to help out.
  • KapSig – Getting some help from the past sweepstakes chair himself, KapSig might be working on some fixes to Apache. Having lost some of their more devoted buggiers in recent years, it sounds as though getting excitement has been difficult. Hopefully the assistance that they’ve been getting will help to bring them back out and join the teams on the course.
  • SAE – Also doing some repair work, SAE is working on a few more modifications to Rubicon in an attempt to make it out this fall. According to the Safety chair, they scheduled some time to cape this last week, but cancelled. They are apparently expected to get out next weekend.

UPDATE:

  • ROTC – Leadership has approved a buggy team for CMU’s ROTC chapter and word is they might be looking for a loaner or purchase as soon as now.

Other Observations and Happenings on the Course

Despite the rain on Saturday, there was a good group of alumni that made it out to our table in the UC and I hear the History of Buggy presentation also went well. But with no rolls, Saturday was a little lacking in excitement.

Sunday proved to have its own set of challenges for the teams. As everyone got set up, Sweepstakes noticed the lack of Pittsburgh police that normally man the outer barricades and prevent traffic from entering the course. After a quick call, the department informed sweepstakes that the event was not in their system and there was nothing they could do to help. After trying to get CMUPD to help it looked like there would be no cops to assist for rolls. Not to be deterred, a few teams pulled out the required people and manned all the barricades.

Without any police, it meant that there were no one to tow the cars on the course, fortunately, there was only one that was an issue. Sitting right in the middle of Schenley drive, in the Phipps parking lot, a big white whale of a truck sat in the way of the orgs and their rolls. With the live stream up and running, anyone in the chute and watching from home got a chance to watch as the teams pushed the car ever so gently off to the side and guarded it with a row of extra bales.

The sunrise start time slipped by as more alumni began to gather in the chute, wondering when or if rolls were going to start. After a good half hour of bonding time, the word was finally passed along that rolls would start at 8am. And right on the dot, CIA sent the first buggy of the morning speeding around the course for what ended up being a very short, and uneventful morning of rolls.

Before I get to the last part I want to bring up a concern that was posted in last week’s report. One anonymous commenter declared that I was incorrect about many things going on in the Greek organizations. While I like to think that I’m perceptive and know at least a little of what I’m talking about, please don’t hesitate to correct any issues that might happen in these reports. While I try to get as much information as possible to present to you, some of it inevitably falls through the cracks, or get’s mixed up with something or someone else. So please, correct me if I’m wrong, call out my bullshit and I will do my best to make the needed corrections.

Fun Musings

This weekend, we had a bunch of alumni join us in the chute for Cèilidh (homecoming + parents weekend). There was lots of old people bonding and we got it all on the internet for you to watch! There were a few technical difficulties, but the stream was never down for more than a minute or two, so feel free to enjoy all that was the Cèilidh morning of rolls.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

part 4

13 thoughts on “Rolls Report: Oct 7 – A Merry Cèilidh To All”

  • rlbrowne says:

    Thanks for the report, Matzke! Also, the stream was helpful for teams to be able to see what was going on, so I hope you can continue putting that up. =)

      • Oatmeal says:

        I would say more pedantic than annoying. One or two I can overlook, but when I saw a third I had to comment. You fixed the two its/it’s, but there’s still “get’s”. “DUer’s” is wrong as well, but that’s not even a word, so not as big of a concern.

  • Maddie says:

    I had failed to appreciate, at the time, that everything I said was being streamed to the internet. Except for not being entirely sure how to spell Freyja, I don’t think I said anything too incriminating

  • Connor says:

    To all the Alums out there THANK YOU for all of the help and advice you have given us over this past year. We put the buggy into the bag for the last time on the one year anniversary of the day we decided to start Apex. We pulled it out of the bag today and everything came out incredible. Everything is solid and fairly smooth. If anybody wants to see I will take some pictures and send them to Ben to get posted up here. We have to do the finishing work now to make this thing something other than a useless carbon fiber shell. Seriously thank you to everyone we could not have done it without you. Hope to be out near the end of this semester!

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