Wally's Waterford Round-up

By Wally Kiehler, MHPVA president

This year was our 22nd annual Michigan Human Powered Vehicle Association rally.

We had 37 HPVs competing Saturday and 26 on Sunday. I think those were about our average numbers since I joined the MHPVA in 1992.

The big difference this year was the weather. On Saturday -- after both one-hour time trials were completed, it rained and then poured. We were not able to run the hill climb/coast down event as scheduled. After waiting around all afternoon, we decided to stay on schedule for our dinner plans at Big Boy.

Two hours later, we returned to the track and the rain had stopped, so we ran the hill climb/coast down event. Some of the competitors did not return after dinner and missed out on the break in the weather. We felt, however, that we had to try to get back on schedule.

On Sunday the rain held off enough for us to run the 1-kilometer time trial, followed immediately by the 200-foot sprints. We were rushing that day to get back on schedule so that we could hold every advertised event.

Following the sprints we decided to proceed with the road race. Because the pavement was still wet, only 11 competitors entered this final event and we were able to run them all at once. Our awards ceremony was held on schedule at 2 p.m.

The results to all of these events are found on the HPRA web site. They represent the hard work of our club officers, club members, and their families. Thank you!

I have been involved with this organization as an officer now for several years and I really feel our HPV group is working together very well. For example, Bill Frey has been compiling the race results on his laptop computer for several years now. This method was originally started by member Jon Stinson. Bill receives the race data from Warren Beauchamp's timing equipment, which Warren takes with him to all the Human Powered Race America events.

This year we were fortunate enough to have two long-time friends assist us, Len Brunkalla from Illinois and Charles Brown from Florida. "Flag man" Len came with his son, Greg, who took some video for an upcoming proposed TV slot in the near future and photographs for a magazine article. Charles assisted Mike Eliasohn with the "best home-made bike" judging. There are many others who helped out greatly those two days. Thanks to you all!

I encourage you to share your Waterford photos or experiences with our group. You should forward them to Mike Eliasohn for the newsletter. You are also encouraged to submit photos and bike information which can be listed in the "who we are" section of our Web site.

I hope to see you all again next year.

HUMAN-INTEREST STORIES

By Mike Mowett

Len Brunkalla’s 27- year old son, Greg has become a photographer and videographer. He’s really interested in shooting a documentary on HPVs.

He had some great studio quality cameras that look like the stuff TV guys use. He took, presumably, some great action shots as we went through the chicane on the course. I think several of us were leaning over him as he sat like those courtside photographers right on the edge of the chicane.

Greg flew in from Chicago and made it to Waterford later on Saturday, after missing a flight. He mentioned it would be great if he could find a production company willing to sponsor the documentary. (I mentioned maybe CycleVision to him.) He would like to travel to the big events like Battle Mountain to really get great footage.

Greg did some on-camera interviews with people during the weekend, and after we had all packed up, he took a video of Sean circling the track in the Coslinger. Dad Len was driving and Greg was shooting out the back open hatchback of their van.

Jeff Hunn brought along a younger guy (Luke Gilbert), who really helped out with the timing and tabulating results from Warren’s system. Brenda Gritters helped man this system during the races, freeing up Warren.

Ann, the lady from the Waterford Hills raceway, spent the whole weekend with us, and I think was interested in buying a trike by the end of the weekend.

Upright bike junior racer, and state junior champion Cory Dubrish made a return appearance to Waterford. He was there in 2002 as a 14 year old. Now 17 and about 200 pounds of muscle on a 6-foot 2-inch frame, he looked impressive on his Felt time trial bike. Cory’s dad, George Dubrish, is a good friend of Bill Frey and I’ve also talked to him at our local bike store. George said Cory rode 550 miles in nine days at a cycling camp in Alabama over spring break. He’s a fast spinner, and practices a high-cadence.

Cory was perhaps a bit overworked and his dad said being bothered by the heat near the end of the one-hour time trial, as 14-year old Charlie Ollinger (on an M5 low racer) took the win, with a new junior hour record! (Editor's note: Cory, who only raced on Saturday, and Charlie actually were in different classes. At 17, Cory raced in the stock class with the adults. Charlie was the only competitor in the junior class.)