2018 New Mexican Roadrunner | Saturday, 5:13 p.m.

A description of the sculpture courtesy its designer:

ART: A few years after Hobart brown started the California kinetics he moved to Boulder and started the kinetics there. It became the largest event in Colorado! I heard about it and decided to travel the 1000 mi. Round-trip from my home in New Mexico. That year I was one of 50+ sculptures with 60,000 spectators on the beach! Big name bands, beer and hot air balloon‘s were everywhere. We felt like rock stars. I continued to build a new sculpture most years over the next 30. It was of course expensive and a challenge finding the time, but I was working so I had the money and needed the artistic outlet in my life. A few years ago most of the kinetic people felt it had become way too commercial. We reorganized, moved it to a beautiful lake in another town and it became a family oriented event. It’s been quite a ride. My sculpture this year celebrates these 30 years of kinetics with a large road runner representing my home in New Mexico and displaying photographs of my sculptures and those of fellow artists in Colorado throughout the past 30 years. In this way I hope to bring part of our kinetics to California. I know that the 3400 mile round trip uses a lot of gas and four days of hard driving will tire me but the “glory of having fun, showing kids adults having fun” I deem worth it. With this sculpture I bring the spirit of Hobart Browns Colorado kinetics to the GKR And share our glory with you as we discover new friends to help us all cope with this very scary insane world. It is hoped that in a small way we will be participating in a healing of humanity ceremony that spreads around the world. God bless all the illuminated souls who form the embodiment of kinetics

ENGINEERING:  Coming from New Mexico I knew my sculpture would have to be lightweight and compact for the 3400 mile round-trip atop my car; But not small. We want our Colorado kinetics sculptures to be seen. A tandem bike pulls a trailer consisting of two pontoons and supports several poly carbonate sheets which are the focus of our sculpture, a 22 foot long by 10 foot high road runner all weighing only 250 pounds. ROAD: The innovative feature is that the bike is located in the middle between the pontoons positioned such that the rear wheel of the tandem is aligned with the two trailer wheels! The bike is structurally attached to the front crossbar of the trailer in such a way that the crossbar keeps the bike upright. This configuration allows for a very tight turning radius and all four wheels to move up and down independently. WATER: each pilot operates an oar while sitting on a rolling seat as in a scull boat. The invention is : by using two connecting rods in a parallelogram configuration, the blade of the oar and the handle always stay perpendicular to the boat, always pushing against the water at the proper angle. Another Innovation I discovered quite by accident. I had missmeasured the support for the roller seat and when I tested it, it wasn’t level. It occurred to me that I might use this to my advantage. That is for the rest stroke I have to pull myself up an incline plane and on the power stroke I recover that, gravity generated, stored energy. (The international HPV Association allows one cycle of stored energy). WIND. I’ve never sailed in salt water only lakes in New Mexico. The poly carbonate road runner offers 50 feet of sail surface. By utilizing both a front and back rudder we can adjust the Tack of the flat bottom boat and effectively “set the sail” SAND: The Colorado kinetics has mostly water and road and very little sand. I have a low gear and four fat tires but anticipate problems!

OTHER: Over the years Colorado kinetics has evolved and changed dramatically. For example we have two blind team members. A few years back one of the queens offered me the privilege of cheating and allowing pit crews to replace pilots. Thereby we were able to accommodate these members. We have been doing this for several years now and find that it works well for incorporating more people into the artistic process thus adding to the fun . My 74th birthday is on the day of the race, May 26. I will definitely be starting as a pilot. However I’m thinking that though I am healthy I may not be able to finish the three days as a pilot. I have always taken the rule that “cheating is a privilege not a right “to heart. I hope that we can exchange many ideas and traditions. Height: 10’, Length: 22’, Width: 8’, Weight: 250#, Wheels: 4, Built: this year(as always), Land speed: 10 mph, Water speed: 5 knots, Builder: Jon VerPloegh (ploo)