Father Time Runs Out of Time

[Jessica & Donald Jansen & Crabtree <crabtrdw@earthlink.net>]

This has been a very busy month.  Based on my past experience with the
Woodburn drag strip and other EV events, I started by getting
Frankenbike ready to run  - with new tires, new battery box covers and
battery straps (and a new fuse), as per the rules.  I added a rear
fender and tail light.

Last year's bike got some renovation for this year:  New battery boxes
and covers; fuses (one for each battery string); and "The Switch" - a
parallel series mechanically-operated cam-actuated six-contact
double-pull double-throw sliding device.  Since I broke a #40 chain last
year at Woodburn, I increased the chain size to #50, and also changed
the ratio (a mistake - with 144 volts instead of the 120 volts I ran
last year, I went 6 miles per hour slower).

I had planned to have "42 Dragon Parade" (a.k.a. "Dragonbike"), a 240
volt drag bike, up and running at Woodburn.  Jessica worked with me for
hours to try to make last-minute completions.  But at midnight Friday
night, we threw in the towel.  It took 2 hours to load the truck with
bikes and equipment.  We left Burien at 2 a.m. Saturday morning and
arrived in Woodburn in time for a bad Denny's breakfast.  We made the
gates by 7:00 a.m.  Jessica crashed for a nap and I went out to
reconnoiter.  My son Scott arrived to help in the pits.

Clearly we were not the only people to spend Friday night in like manner
and arrive bleary-eyed and brain-dead.

The Woodburn Experience:

I thought when I added a larger tire to the rear of Frankenbike that it
would drain some of his testosterone overload.  The first run I took
seemed to verify this.  But with a fresh battery charge, he got up on
his rear wheel again.  Gonna have to go back to the wheely-bar design -
or break out the knife.

The other (nameless) bike did not perform well at all.  The gear ratios
were wrong and it tended to wobble at high speeds.  I believe replacing
the front fenders or building a special brace between the tubes may
solve this problem.  In the first run, a small relay that controlled the
contactor failed in "on" position.  I had to pull the emergency
disconnect at the end of the run.  After being pushed back to the pits
by my pit crew, while I huffed and puffed along behind, we discovered
the problem, by-passed the relay and made another run.  This run was to
be a head-to-head with one of Bruce's bikes.  This time I inserted the
disconnect chip; staged the bike; the tree started coming down; I pushed
the "Go" button and there was a click - and nothing.  The competition
was halfway down the course before I got the chip re-inserted.  This
time, when I pushed the button - launch!

At the end of the quarter, when I released the "Go" button on the
handle-bars, I found it had welded itself closed.  (Back to the
emergency disconnect!)  The first grasp at the tether came up empty.
Startled, I grabbed for it again.  This time the disconnect came out and
the bike began to slow down - but the wobble returned in full force.  It
was an interesting run-out at the end of the traps.  I finally got the
bike under control just in time to avoid harvesting a strip of the
potato patch next door.  Comfortably made the last turn-out, but my
trusty pit crew came jogging/panting up to help push me back to the
pits.  (Although I was soundly beaten in elapsed time, the speed was
approximately 1 mph faster than Bruce's bike.)  It was time to get out
of the racing leathers, cool off and charge batteries.

Later Bruce challenged me to run Frankenbike against his smaller (72v)
bike.  My whimpy 48 volts was wholly inadequate.  Enough said.

We did manage to arrive half-conscious at Abby's later in the evening
for pizza.  I still can't put names to faces - there were a lot of
people there.  I wasn't coherent enough by then to talk.  Managed to
stay awake long enough to stuff pizza in my face and head for Burien.  I
drove the distance home from Woodburn to about the Lake Oswego exit
before Jessica refused to let me drive any more.  (The wobbling across
lanes made her uneasy.)  She drove the rest of the way home and I
slept.  She says I mumbled replies when she asked me questions, but I
don't remember any of it.  We arrive home after midnight.

All in all, it was an exhausting but interesting day.  (I said "fun" but
Jessica refused to type it.)  Can't wait to do it again next year.
(Yeah, right!)  And then there's Alameda in October.  And we'll see some
of you at Greenlake on September 13.

- Father Time & The Time-Keeper