So jealous...:moon:

Well get your :moon: out here! Kite buggy tours available.

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Originally posted by BeamerBob Well get your :moon: out here! Kite buggy tours available.

It's in my que for vacation day alotment. Hoping the planets align!

I wanted to come down this weekend and get some riding in but the forecast doesn't look good for wind. Missed the last weekend due to the rain thinking it wouldn't be open. I hope my schedule and the weather can finally work together soon

Dusty Trails sounds like the name of a porn star lol

Possibly, but it's intent was the trail of dust a buggy creates when the speed builds on the lakebed. You know the power is flowing heavily from the kite if the dust is kicking up.

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Originally posted by BeamerBob Possibly, but it's intent was the trail of dust a buggy creates when the speed builds on the lakebed. You know the power is flowing heavily from the kite if the dust is kicking up.

yes i know, just throwing some levity in there.......

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Originally posted by wheresthewind? Quote: Originally posted by BeamerBob Possibly, but it's intent was the trail of dust a buggy creates when the speed builds on the lakebed. You know the power is flowing heavily from the kite if the dust is kicking up. yes i know, just throwing some levity in there.......

I figured some might not know about it. Levity is always good!

Partly cloudy and windy. High 53F. Winds NNE at 25 to 35 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.

Windy, with a north wind around 30 mph, with gusts as high as 45 mph.

These are the 2 forecasts I'm getting for Ivanpah tomorrow. I think I'll go ride. It might be a "2 GPS day".

Have fun out there! Hope you can post some speeds for us.

Today was an awesome day. The winds were strong for awhile late morning. Forecast called for 15 to 20 with gusts to 28. I got the boys riding and tended to and then got a ride for me. It felt fast with bursts of real speed. On the way back towards camp, it really kicked in. I was flying my 3.5 Reactor II and I broke downwind when the buggy started slipping. At the end of the run, I looked at the gps and was thrilled at my new PB of 51.8 mph. Just a small jump over my 50.1 but still my first increase since moving here. 50.1 was set at Nabx 11. This was the first ride where I was powered well enough for the wind to have to break downwind when the burst came, so I guess I'm learning about kite selection. I wanted to also give a run on the HQ Prodigy, but the wind backed off right after my fast run so I toughed it out for awhile and then tried the Vapor 5.4. Wind was a bit too shifty and up and down for the Medium sized Vapor. 90 degree direction shifts and the wind was up and down alot.

Also, Wexler had a new pb with the gps on this time. My 16 year old hit 47.4 today! More to come later.............

Wexler was riding our 5m Apex III. He said he would've been fine with more power. but I told him he's probably the fastest 16 year old out there so be proud of that kind of speed. Who knows? Popeye doesn't take age info I don't think.

That's great Bob. I wish I could have made it down for a run or two but had to do some last minute work before the Holiday kicks in. Maybe over the break we can bring the kids down for a day.

You are livin' the dream! Sounds like a great session. Kudos to the boy!

Just noticed that Popeye's Top Speeds site is broken down into pages. That is even more motivation to increase my speed to not be relegated to "page 2"!

Mixing it up a bit with Donnie Gould at our last ride together. Yes I won this one but I just had the right kite out this time. We tease each other and I gave him some grief in good humor. My real worry is that Wexler (my 16 yr old son) is only about 5 mph behind me on top speed. Popeye is threatening to talk to him about adding weight to the Hero to even things out a bit. Oh boy. :embarrased:

we did have a good day . that kite was good fun till i put that bar on it i. it was a hole new world . hope we get to ride agin before i make the move to wyoming

Oh I forgot you were messing with the turbo bar too.

I hope we get another session in as well. You have been the most likely to show up for a ride when I've been able to get out there so far.

We will ride agin and I won't have that bar so I might be harder to pass :moon:

damn, Bob... you were really haulin' the mail....!!!! Sounds like Wex will be on Arie's heels in a couple of years.... let hiim do it...!!! :cool2:

It has always been a proud father moment when my kids have passed me by at something. I never went easy on them though so he'll have to pass me up on his own. :smug:

Scratched together a ride today. Got to the playa at about 1 pm and waited till after 3 for the wind to start. Vapor 5.4, and 5m Toxic got things going. Sometimes overpowered, and sometimes fighting to run 10 mph. With the wind dropping out, I just flew the kite without stropping in for more control. Was just poking back and forth sometimes getting up around 20 mph with a top speed of 27 something.

Decided it was a good day to work on turns and at dean's suggestion, tried some upwind turns and they were really no problem. Botched one because I was barely rolling, but a dozen or so were easy. In the light conditions it was a good way to keep the kite from luffing too. Tried a few suicide jibes and a few worked out but they were hard today due to the slow speeds that were common.

I hope the winds get better this month. Supposed to have 28 on Monday, and I hope to slip away and bust a speed run.

Had my most awesome day at Ivanpah yesterday. For the first time I got to ride with Brian Holgate, another local and he is a Peter Lynn teamrider. He is a great guy and has plenty of buggy skills for sure. It was fun having someone there with a competitive nature as we chased each other around testing skills and taunting each other. Brian shares my love of the kite and the passion to ride which adds to the stoke for sure. Reminds me of my days riding at the sodfarm in NorCal with Dino and Screwyfits along with Flexiblade and AD72 as regulars. And of course my SOFKA days back east riding at the OOBE field in Aiken, SC or in Charleston or Jekyll Island with one or more of that crew including Pokitetrash, Phreerider, tridude, Angus, PBC, and others.

Yesterday was my most miles buggied in one day. In about 3 hours of actual riding time I clocked over 70 miles. I can feel it too. I had marks still visible this morning around my hips from my great fitting Divine harness. I wonder if I need to be more careful about where my waistband of my jeans is or avoiding folds of shirt fabric under the harness. Much respect to those that have done 300 and 400 miles in a 24 hour period. I also discovered that one of the velcro straps holding on my right number plate needs to be shifted because the male velcro on the strap is on top and over the 70 miles chaffed the underside of my arm.

Winds usually measured 10-13 but it boosted higher several times evident from higher speeds. I started out with the 3.5 RII and was underpowered the whole time running it. It was embarrassing to have someone pulling away from you while riding backwards. The wind didn't seem to be building so I went in to change kites. Wexler was running the 7m Montana and said he was powered ok, so I got out the trusty 9.5m Montana. Good choice! I was just well powered and could almost always handle all it was giving and it was usually enough to keep Brian from getting in front of me. If the wind backed off a bit, he could pull ahead being lighter, and as the winds increased, I could hold my line and add in power with the bar to be able to pull ahead a bit. Brian was bouncing between 2 PL Cores I think at 4 and 5 meters. Cruising speeds were usually 25-35 with common bursts to 40. I had one boost that let me turn downwind a bit and hit 45. That is so awesome when you have enough power that easing off downwind causes you to accellerate. It's also surprising just how fast the big 9.5m Montana VI can go. I look forward to the Montana VIIs that will be in soon to replace the VIs. The VIs are such fantastic kites already, improvements will make them even better with minimized bridles and some other tweaks to speed them up even more.

With all the turns I made, I practiced upwind turns some more, gaining the confidence to just send the kite back the other way while I completed the buggy turn. This is a nice turn to have confidence in if you're the upwind guy in a pack that is all turning at the same time. Also did countless of the speedy downwind suicide jibes. I found that they worked the best if you had at least 30 mph coming into your turn, and 40 is even better. Just a brief paraglide phase then you are in a powerslide coming out of your turn as the wind catches the kite again. Brian was telling me I was cheating by not doing the downturn style SJ, but that version is more about style and less about maintaining speed. The downturn SJ is also more technical and more of a trick than a turn. It really looks cool too.

I had the gopro running and used a different bracket that raised it up off my helmet a bit. A downside is that I had more trouble hearing the beeps and thus sometimes would botch a turn off or turn on sequence. I'll have to look at what we got but should be some good stuff with 3 fast buggies running together most of the time.

I really count my blessings every time out at Ivanpah. It is truly the best riding in the world and its in my backyard. I want to get all it has to offer.

Awesome. Looking forward to some vids; esp of the turns. Joan and I are looking forward to the trip to NABX.

cool bob. love it.

access to excess ...oh i recommend it!

Went out to Ivanpah and was timid because I ended up out there by myself. Winds were next to nothing but would kick up to 10-12 mph sometimes. I had not flown my 4.5 Vapor yet in the buggy so wanted to give it a ride. First pass in the buggy and woosh! I was toodling along at 25 mph or so just cruising then felt the wind build. It's a big kite so ended up almost going downwind to keep from sliding. The wind backed off a bit and I had ended up in the soft part of the lakebed but got slowed and turned no problem. Thought maybe I had hit 40 or so and it was 48 mph. That's fast (for me) for a 4.5m kite. I thought its speed limit might've been slower than that but no.

I got some of the new recon goggles and will tinker with plotting that run to see where the acceleration and speed were in the run. Just wanted to share.

Edit: for those troubled by the solo ride, 3 people knew where I was and I only rode 15 miles or so before the wind died. The rest of the ride was very tame, usually around 20 mph or so.

All day today there are thunderstorms coming through the area. Radar shows Ivanpah getting a good dousing. I hope it gets enough to soak it well and maybe even get some standing water on it. That might repair the soft spots that have formed all along the interstate. The soft spots along with unauthorized illegal vehicle traffic travelling along the gasline have taken a large portion of the lakebed and rendered it unusable to lowriding buggies. I imagine a good soaking is like a new paving job on a highway. Hoping for flat, smooth and hard for when fall winds kick in.

BOB, I don't think a soaking is going to correct the abuse. I camped/sailed on the playa Sat/Sun Memorial weekend.
I found spilled grading media (rocks) & nails scattered randomly. More alarming Heavy equipment tracks gauged the surface.
Another long term camper verified the use of the playa as a short cut by solar project workers returning to the casino's at days end.If this continues by next year the surface will be destroyed. I think the BLM should take a close look. just sayin.

I agree Randy. I think I'll send BLM a note about it and ask what the plan is.

Great news from BLM! In response to my letter, I was informed that the gates at both the north and south entrances have been improved (as seen at the north entrance at NABX this year) and both gates have been locked with a combination lock and they will remain locked until the lakebed is DRY (their emphasis). Also, several citations have been issued to workers at the solar plant for their unauthorized use of motor vehicles on the lakebed. Thirdly, patrols by the BLM rangers have been increased to help safeguard the treasure that Ivanpah dry lake is.

And with a little help from mother nature, several inches of rain fell in the area to cover the lake with not just the few inches I presumed but 8 inches of standing water which should do a great job of renewing the surface to its natural splendor.

I know all of you are as excited as I am to hear the good news about our playa.