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.<\/p>\n
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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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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CIA<\/strong> – Orca was out today instead of Freyja, allowing the new driver to test out the course with bags all day. In a bold move for the second day of rolls, Firebird was already going bag-less and was screaming around the course. Ascension however was decidedly slower and was measured by a certain radar gun somewhere on the course. She was sporting some green wheels today, a departure of their former blue compound. Looks like CIA is getting back into the testing game. CIA once again was the last org to roll due to scratches, however they did not take the roll-around despite there being enough time for it. Good idea not to kill your new kids before they’re able to really contribute.<\/li>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/photos.smugmug.com\/2012-2013\/Fall-Rolls-Sept-23\/i-5HkPjkh\/0\/df6b6088\/Th\/IMG_6877-Th.jpg\")
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Fringe<\/strong> – Taking it much slower than last week, all buggies rolled smoothly and evenly around the course without incident. Borealis was seen early in the day with several bags. The driver seemed to pick it up quick as the bags nearly disappeared by the end of the morning. Near the end of rolls one\u00a0adventurous pusher tried pushing some other buggies around.<\/li>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/photos.smugmug.com\/2012-2013\/Fall-Rolls-Sept-23\/i-hn7PcDc\/0\/faa1f19a\/Th\/IMG_6846-Th.jpg\")
SDC<\/strong> – Out in force from the size of their push teams, but came out with one fewer buggy than last week. Their head driver was unable to drive in the morning because she took the time instead to help out the new Rage driver. By the end of the day Rage was getting around the course just fine, but early on she seemed to have a difficult time finding the transition flag and had a couple close calls with the curb. She had one moment of confusion and slowly came to a stop just before the Chute flag, but continued to roll before one of the follow-car riders gave her a nice jog to hill 3. As far as I know, she never hit anything, just got scared a couple times.<\/li>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/photos.smugmug.com\/2012-2013\/Fall-Rolls-Sept-23\/i-6pgTmHf\/0\/f1c4ccf0\/Th\/IMG_6822-Th.jpg\")
SigEp<\/strong> – Pandora was again the talk of the morning after she took a bad turn at Westinghouse pond and tipped belly up. Rumors are that this is a different driver than last week and instead of taking it slow like before, the pushers tried a different approach and gave her some solid shoves off of hill 2. This can be good evidence that driving takes some practice and isn’t something to be skimped on if you’re looking to compete. Pandora had her incident early which left mamba some very lonely rolls for most of the morning. UPDATE<\/strong>: Pandora rolled twice, both with new drivers. On her second roll when she flipped, she was dropped whereas the first driver was given a stronger push.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/photos.smugmug.com\/2012-2013\/Fall-Rolls-Sept-23\/i-SVd3ZQ6\/0\/e832c535\/Th\/IMG_6810-Th.jpg\")
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Spirit<\/strong> – Much like their first day, Spirit rolled very smoothly and had no incidents all day long. With their buggies looking more similar than ever, it was hard for this rolls reporter to figure out which was rolling when. It looked as through they were rotating through and keeping the max at 3 buggies per roll.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/photos.smugmug.com\/2011-2012\/Fall-Rolls-Nov-13\/i-dnLw2rg\/0\/c15bd0e7\/Th\/DSC_1055-Th.jpg\")
A few people mentioned it to me recently that they liked the live broadcasts and wondered when it was coming back. I’ve been giving it some thought myself, and even though I don’t know how my iPhone would perform, but I’d be willing to give it a shot. Would you watch a live broadcast, and would the chute be the best location, or would Hill 2, or somewhere else be more interesting?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"