I’m going to try live-streaming rolls with intermittent commentary on Saturday next week, so if you’re into that kind of thing, mark you calendar. \u00a0Welcome back to buggy, and get ready for more because the next 8 weeks are going to go fast.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When the alarm went off it was dark and it looked cold and I considered getting back in bed. \u00a0What was I thinking?! \u00a0Rolls are awesome, I just needed a reminder, and the first day of rolls did the job. \u00a0Apex made it out, PiKA made it back out, CIA rolled the first new buggy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rolls-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmubuggy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmubuggy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmubuggy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmubuggy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmubuggy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1996"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/cmubuggy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9528,"href":"https:\/\/cmubuggy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1996\/revisions\/9528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmubuggy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmubuggy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmubuggy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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When the alarm went off it was dark and it looked cold and I considered getting back in bed. \u00a0What was I thinking?! \u00a0Rolls are awesome, I just needed a reminder, and the first day of rolls did the job. \u00a0Apex made it out, PiKA made it back out, CIA rolled the first new buggy of 2012, and 6 other teams came out to start the spring with a healthy crowd. \u00a0Sunday was deemed too cold to roll (26 F, 8mph wind) so everyone had a short buggy weekend to get back into the groove.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/photos.smugmug.com\/2011-2012\/Spring-Rolls-Feb-18\/i-Rv6F7Sb\/0\/10badf74\/Th\/DSC_1774-Th.jpg\")
Tough call on the headline story between Apex, PiKA, and CIA’s #18, but I’m going to to with Apex. \u00a0These guys have only been at CMU for 6 months, CMU stuck them all in an ex-nursing home down on 5th Ave, but here they are rolling like champs on the first day of rolls. \u00a0After learning about buggy, figuring out the funding rules, working the buggy network for a loaner buggy, and doing a lot of improvements on the buggy they got, their first day of rolls was impressively smooth. \u00a0I would guess that they didn’t even own the bottom of the full-course times. \u00a0As I understand it, Camo was\u00a0literally\u00a0thrown in a dumpster by AEPi, snagged by CIA basically just for fun, and then loaned to Apex when they came around looking for it. \u00a0They had to do some pretty serious improvements (re-welding major frame elements, etc) to a buggy that hadn’t been any good in the last 10 years and it’s working out for them. \u00a0Other organizations thinking about doing buggy should be encouraged by their success so far. \u00a0That said, day 1 is just the beginning. \u00a0Good luck Apex!<\/li>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/photos.smugmug.com\/2011-2012\/Spring-Rolls-Feb-18\/i-JpxpW67\/0\/135b3e23\/Th\/DSC_1753-Th.jpg\")
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CIA’s 18th buggy was the only member of the 2012 fleet to make it out in time for the first day of rolls and it did so in its skivvies. \u00a0It looks almost identical to last year’s design comp winning Ascension. \u00a0The one difference I could see in its current state was that the large rear wheel is extended further back from where the shell finishes tapering. \u00a0At first I was hoping it was some crazy trailing arm suspension design, but it looked pretty static. \u00a0It rolled quite slowly on its first day out, but that’s mostly likely just CIA’s conservative style. \u00a0Also in the “oh, CIA” category is the fact that they covered their buggy in trash bags like teams often do before they’re painted, but CIA used clear trash bags. \u00a0Water\u00a0repellent, but not secretive.<\/li>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/photos.smugmug.com\/2011-2012\/Spring-Rolls-Feb-18\/i-XKxQS9d\/0\/5992bdc2\/Th\/DSC_1770-Th.jpg\")
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PiKA got the first roll of the semester and got back in the game with Chimera and Raptor, both of which looked great. \u00a0They didn’t waste any time getting up to speed and both buggies were in the top\u00a0tier of downhill speed by their 2nd or 3rd roll. \u00a0I noticed a dark purple polyurethane compound on Chimera’s front wheels which I believe is new for them, so they weren’t sitting idle while they sat out this fall.<\/li>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/photos.smugmug.com\/2011-2012\/Spring-Rolls-Feb-18\/i-JxJGZKg\/0\/8056fc23\/Th\/IMG_1780-Th.jpg\")
PiKA and CIA are now sharing the patio in front of Tepper. \u00a0CIA moved into the prime location last semester in PiKA’s absence and it looks like they’ll be trying to co-exist there now that PiKA is back. \u00a0I can understand PiKA being less than excited about this development, but it seems they’ve unfortunately decided to live up to the frat-guys stereotypes by picking on nice-guy CIA. \u00a0I wasn’t between the tents personally, but I heard multiple reports of PiKA loudly talking shit about CIA, CIA’s extension cords “coming unplugged”, and high school caliber stuff like raw eggs being tossed around CIA’s tent. \u00a0Sweepstakes chair Anthony sent a reminder e-mail after rolls concerning the ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/photos.smugmug.com\/2011-2012\/Spring-Rolls-Feb-18\/i-XM3LhrF\/0\/a0e911c6\/Th\/DSC_1749-Th.jpg\")
Spirit had a GoPro camera mounted just above the windshield on Zuke on a few of their rolls. \u00a0They were rolling with decent speed and looked very stable in the chute while I was down there. \u00a0I didn’t notice any visible changes to their wheel \/ compound \/ profile set-up so I gather they’re focusing on lines for the time being.<\/li>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/photos.smugmug.com\/2011-2012\/Spring-Rolls-Feb-18\/i-j2t2rwc\/0\/f19126f8\/Th\/DSC_1750-Th.jpg\")
SDC had Bane rolling on some blindingly bright new white tires which is not significant except that it made me realize how the white compound (which gets dingy over time) makes it more observable when new wheels are brought into the rotation. \u00a0If I had to guess at current pusher rosters, I would say that SDC had the most big dudes with athletic wear and cmu sports clothes hanging around the hills.<\/li>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/photos.smugmug.com\/2011-2012\/Spring-Rolls-Feb-18\/i-qHfWw72\/0\/00912cb8\/Th\/DSC_1854-Th.jpg\")
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Fringe and SigEp both brought out only two buggies but looked well- to over- staffed on the hills for the job, so I’m guessing their mechanics are working hard to finish up their builds.<\/li>\n