Rolls Report: One Month To Go

Alright, it’s not actually a rolls report, but there sadly haven’t been any rolls to report on… So here we are…

In the absence of anything to talk about rolls-wise I figure this might be a good time to talk about things that are coming up just a month from now. There’s not a whole lot set in stone just yet but I’ll share with you guys what I know.You could also think of this as a reminder to pay your membership so that we can keep doing the things that we do and so you ensure that you will get the comprehensive pre-Raceday guide recapping the year and giving you our predictions for Raceday. Continue reading

Rolls Report: Nov 17 & 18 – Fall Final

Sorry for this being a bit late, hopefully you’ll find this a relaxing break before you enjoy some thanksgiving feast.

It’s the last weekend of fall rolls and from what I can tell it was a flurry of activity both days. The teams will now have a chance to sleep in on the weekends instead of sleeping in the afternoons, and make up all those assignments they neglected. By assignments, I of course mean builds, and from what I hear, there’s the potential for several this year. Only time will tell who will come out with new buggies when.

I sadly wasn’t able to make it out on Saturday, but thankfully Stengel was able to snag some pictures for me to look at. Pictures were also posted from the weekend of the 11th

In Attendance

(Saturday roll counts weren’t posted so the buggy lists may be inaccurate.)

Org Saturday Sunday
Apex Phoneix
AEPi Kamikaze
CIA Orca, Ascension, Freyja, Firebird Orca, Ascension, Freyja, Firebird, Quasar
Fringe Bissa, Bonsai, Banyan Bissa, Bonsai, Banyan
PiKA Raptor Raptor, Chimera
SDC Bane, Avarice, Malice Bane, Avarice, Malice
SigEp Barracuda, Pandora Pandora
Spirit Zuke, Seraph, Haraka, Fuko Zuke, Seraph, Haraka, Fuko
No-Shows AEPi, DU, KapSig, ROTC, SAE, SigNu Apex, DU, KapSig, ROTC, SAE, SigNu,

Observations (Saturday GallerySunday Gallery) Continue reading

Rolls Report: Nov 11 – Mini Raceday #1

Sorry for the delay, being on the opposite side of the earth, my times are a little messed up. I sadly was also not able to take any pictures this weekend. Anyone who was at rolls with a camera should send me all pictures they took so that I can add them to this report.

This was the first day of Mini-Raceday where I believe there is a second on its way (someone please check me on this). Times have not yet been calculated, but there was still plenty of excitement to go around.

Special thanks goes out to Jakes Reid and Rachel Johnson who were able to get me some fantastic notes for this week’s rolls report since I wasn’t able to take some in person.

In Attendance

Org Saturday
AEPi Kamikaze
Apex Phoenix
CIA Orca, Ascension, Freyja, Firebird, Quasar
Fringe Bissa, Bonsai, Borealis, Banyan
PiKA Raptor
SDC Bane, Avarice, Malice
SigEp Mamba, Peregrine, Barracuda, Pandora
Spirit Zuke, Seraph, Haraka, Fuko
No-Shows DU, KapSig, ROTC, SAE, SigNu

Observations (Saturday Gallery) Continue reading

Rolls Report: Nov 3 – Short

After two weekends of no rolls, many teams were excited to take advantage of the longest day of rolls thanks to the end of daylight savings. Unfortunately, the longest day is always preceded by the shortest day, which can always feel like a let-down for teams getting only a few rolls.

Unfortunately, Sunday rolls were called early due to weather, citing the precedent set from last year that rolls would not happen below freezing. While it is a little sad that rolls didn’t happen on the longest day of the year, it was nice to not be out in the freezing weather. Sadly this also means that I didn’t make it out to rolls this weekend, so thanks to everyone that I got info from to put this together, and sorry that there are no pictures.

As a note, I will not be able to attend any more weekends of rolls this year and I require volunteers to take notes and pictures so these can continue to happen in my absence. If you are interested in helping out, please email me at ben.matzke@gmail.com. Students and Alumni are both welcome and encouraged to help out. The more information the better!

In Attendance

Org Saturday
CIA Orca, Ascension, Freyja, Quasar
Fringe Bissa, Bonsai, Borealis, Bedlam, Banyan
SDC Bane, Avarice, Malice
SigEp Mamba, Barracuda, Pandora
Spirit Zuke, Haraka, Fuko
No-Shows AEPi, Apex, AEPi, DU, KapSig, PiKA, ROTC, SAE, SigNu

Observations (No Pictures) Continue reading

Rolls Report: Oct 13 & 14 – First Double Header

This weekend we finally had the first combo with both Saturday and Sunday rolls. The people around the course also got to see just how bipolar Pittsburgh can be day-to-day. Saturday had temperatures nearing freezing and Sunday was a very pleasantly warm morning.

To follow the weather, the teams decided to match the weather and showed their own version of bipolar. There were no incidents on Saturday and having forgotten my tripod for the stream, I was able to get a lot of different pictures from around the course. The continuous rolling made the frigid morning a bit more bearable. With the warm weather on Sunday, teams seemed to lose their cool and we saw a few crashes and spins.

In Attendance

Org Saturday Sunday
AEPi  Kamikaze
CIA  Orca, Ascension, Freyja, Firebird  Orca, Ascension, Firebird, Quasar
Fringe  Bonsai, Bedlam, Banyan  Bonsai, Bedlam, Banyan
PiKA  Raptor, Chimera
SDC  Bane, Avarice, Malice  Bane, Avarice, Malice
SigEp  Mamba, Barracuda, Pandora
Spirit  Zuke, Seraph, Haraka, Fuko  Zuke, Seraph, Haraka, Fuko
No-Shows Apex, AEPi, DU, KapSig, PiKA, ROTC, SAE, SigNu  Apex, DU, KapSig, ROTC, SAE, SigEp, SigNu,

Observations (Saturday Gallery – Sunday Gallery) Continue reading

Rolls Report: Oct 7 – A Merry Cèilidh To All

‘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) Continue reading

Rolls Report: Sept 29 – A Fateful Return

First off, I have to thank a few people for their help on this report. Rachel Johnson (sweepstakes assistant chair) got the roll count doc up and got me some fantastic notes from Saturday. Lou Conely was able to take some photos since I forgot to put batteries in my camera. Thank you both for your help this weekend!

Saturday saw a flurry of activity from the orgs, and also the Pittsburgh community. No new and exciting wildlife this time, just a pack of bikers, flock of runners, a car, and a police bike that sat and watched from the curb. The car came through from panther hollow and took a quick right down towards the pond.  Word on the course is that the bikers came through the Westinghouse barricade. Fortunately, none of it was out at the same time as a buggy and if anything just caused some minor delays. The newest addition to the course was what I can only guess to be a Phipps staff member sweeping up trash on all the parking spaces. He seemed very calm though all of it and was only called off the road when he started to stray close to potential buggy lines.

Next weekend is Cèilidh, so any alumni in the Pittsburgh area, or those coming in from out of town should stop by the CMUbuggy table in the UC on Saturday. Come catch up with all your friends, and mock all your rivals new and old about changes that are completely out of their control. Tom Wood will be giving his History of Buggy presentation in Rangos I. See a full schedule of events here.

PiKA made their return this weekend and joined the other orgs to make it 6 for the day. All orgs have been picking up speed and some people are taking advantage of the extra practice that comes with so few buggies on the course. This will hopefully make for an exciting show come Cèilidh next weekend.

In Attendance

Org Saturday
CIA Orca, Ascension, Freyja, Quasar
Fringe Bonsai, Borealis, Bedlam, Banyan
PiKA Raptor, Chimera
SDC Bane, Avarice, Malice, Envy
SigEp Peregrine, Barracuda, Pandora
Spirit Zuke, Haraka, Fuko
No-Shows AEPi, Apex, SigNu

Observations (Saturday Gallery) Continue reading

Rolls Report: Sept 23 – A Mostly Uneventful Sunday

In an attempt to give myself some kind of fight against my procrastination, I’m going to try and get these out at or before noon on Mondays. This will hopefully give me enough time to add things I had forgotten or get new info from others that were at rolls. Remember, if you were at rolls, I want to hear what you’ve got. Please email me at ben.matzke@gmail.com.

Sunday was the only day of rolls again this weekend, but this one is thanks to the diabetes walk that happens every year, so it’s not like we didn’t see this one coming. Next week we only have Saturday and from then on we should be back to the full weekend. With so few scheduled days to start with, and fewer still that will likely happen due to Pittsburgh doing what Pittsburgh does best, I’m interested to see how this will affect the spring, if at all.

Drivers have been getting more rolls in a day than previous year’s drivers got over a few weeks and because there are so few orgs in operation, Sunday started with only 5 teams on the course. Normally, at least 6 teams are required to make rolls happen, but sweepstakes had little choice in this circumstance and the organizations stepped up to man every barricade and sweep every hill. Despite being as hectic or more so than the first, there were fewer incidents making for a very uneventful Sunday morning.

In Attendance

Sweepstakes hasn’t yet gotten the roll count spreadsheet up, but it’s in the works. (Thanks in advance for getting that together Rachel!)

Org Sunday
CIA Orca, Ascension, Firebird, Quasar
Fringe Bonsai, Borealis, Bedlam, Banyan
SDC Avarice, Malice, Rage
SigEp Mamba, Pandora
Spirit Zuke, Seraph, Fuko, Haraka
No-Shows AEPi, Apex, PiKA, SigNu

Observations (Sunday Gallery) Continue reading

Rolls Report: Sept 16 – First day of Rolls

Welcome back to Buggy for this Raceday 2013 season!

RIP Sam Swift

For those of you that don’t already know, Sam Swift has moved on from Pittsburgh and with that has passed along the reins of the Rolls Reports to current Pittsburghers. In particular I (Ben Matzke) have taken over the organization of getting these out to you every week. Since I feel I don’t have (or yet have) the same dedication/time that Sam had, I’ll be asking for collaboration from any alumni or current students that attended rolls each weekend. If you are in the Pittsburgh area and attend rolls on any given weekend, please send any interesting notes, funny stories or overheard rumors to me. With that out of the way, lets get into what you’re really here for.

Rolls were slated to start on Saturday, but ran into issues with the new parking meters and their lack of NO PARKING signs. Many buggy fans were disappointed to have a similar start 2 years in a row. Because of this, the Police made some of their temporary signs and taped them to the meters for Sunday.

Sweepstakes (I assume it was them) also made some nice giant signs to help alert people of the weekend closures.These signs allowed Sweepstakes to get things running on Sunday and things ran well. Aside from the typical shenanigans that accompany the first day of rolls, everything ran incredibly smoothly and some drivers are already maxing their fall rolls. It was an exciting day for everyone and the surrounding wildlife, so lets get into some of the details.

In Attendance

Sweepstakes hasn’t posted their roll counts for the year yet, but this is what I remember. And with my memory suspect from those late nights of buggy building, there’s likely to be something wrong.

Org Sunday
AEPi Kamikaze
CIA Ascension, Freyja, Firebird, Quasar
Fringe Bonsai, Borealis, Bedlam, Banyan
SDC Bane, Avarice, Malice, Rage
SigEp Peregrine, Barracuda, Pandora
Spirit Zuke, Seraph, Fuko, Haraka
No-Shows Apex, PiKA, SAE, SigNu

Observations (Sunday Gallery) Continue reading

Truck weekend mini-report and Raceday hype

If you’re a member you should have found our legendary Members-only Raceday Preview in your inbox by now.  Enjoy it.  If you didn’t get a copy, you should know that it’s not too late.  Join up, forward us the gift receipt to join@cmubuggy, and we’ll hook you up pronto.  If you thought you were a member, maybe we don’t have your email or have it wrong or something, let us know.  Lots of people plan on joining while they’re on campus, but we’ve  got some serious ground to cover to match last year’s membership total, so don’t be shy.

 Lead Truck Auction

Can you believe this is our 4th time putting on the lead truck auction?  It seems like just the other day that we announced the first iteration of our biggest fundraiser of the year.  It continues to be a fan favorite, so we’re back at it again.  If you haven’t ridden in the lead truck before, you should definitely get in the mix and snap up a heat you like the looks of.  If you’re a veteran, you know that it’s a great way to mix up your raceday experience.   Bidding starts tomorrow morning at 9am and will run for 36 hours until 9pm Wednesday.  Full description of the rules can be found on the auction page.  We’ve got a new version of our home-grown auction software this year.  We hope you like it! (and that it doesn’t break!).

Truck weekend Continue reading