The Great Arcata to Ferndale Cross Country Kinetic Sculpture Race Course Map

Deadman’s Drop

Boat Launch

PACIFIC OCEAN

HUMBOLDT BAY

x START: Arcata Plaza

x

Eel River Crossing

FINISH: Ferndale

A map of the 42-mile course, which traverses pavement, sand dunes, mud, and water. For a more detailed account of the course, visit kineticsculpturerace.org/map.shtml. Image shown on previous image: Flash Gourd’n.

most certainly is not one herself. The year 2006 marked her 24th year of competing. During that time, she’s powered herself across a lot of territory. In fact, she and fellow racer Ken Beidleman once pedaled a racer across the United States.

“In 1989, Ken and I left Ferndale on our racer with $200 in our pockets, and we survived by donations and doing odd jobs,” she says. “Each day on the road was different: heat, snowstorms, steep hills, rain.” Eventually, they pedaled all the way to St. Augustine, Fla.

Skaredy Kat is, as June describes it, “a ginormous, black and white, spooked-out, kinetic kruising kitty kat.” More specifically, it’s a 500-pound tandem tricycle with an immense gear ratio and a sophisticated system of pull-cords that allows June and her co-rider to move the puppet parts of Skaredy’s head, eyes, whiskers, and tail while riding.

June’s boyfriend, Ken Beidleman, is equally enamored of kinetic sculpture racing. A metal sculptor from Redding, Calif., Ken first became interested in the activity back in 1987 when he volunteered to work with the event’s founder, Hobart Brown, on his racer. Beidleman has participated more or less continuously since then.

“Every year I try to come up with something new,” he says. “For instance, I’ll say, let’s do something contemporary, a racer [with a theme based] on a current event or movie.”

In the past, that line of thinking produced the machines he named Watermelon World, Hog Wild, and Nightmare of the Iguana. The 2006 entry was Flash Gourd’n, an upgrade of an earlier year’s Gourd of the Rings, but Flash Gourd’n has better steering, fewer squeaks, and reduced weight.

The night before the race, builders work into the

wee hours making final adjustments. At the Arcata Kinetic Lab, some pause to chat with the curious. Others are furtively focused behind drawn curtains. In the back corner, sculptor Duane Flatmo is hard at work, putting the final touches on a comically scary, bug-eyed, four-person tricycle.

Extreme Makeover is a heavy beast, weighing 1,200 pounds when fully staffed. A good portion of that weight is invested in teeth and eyeballs. Once the race starts, it’s the scores of gear ratio choices that allow the pilot to take it over water, turf, asphalt, and even sand dunes.

Like fairy tale creatures, the racers lumber along the beach, making the best time they can before attempting the more difficult parts of the race. The hardest obstacle is a high, steep, and perilous sand dune called Dead Man’s Drop.

Atop the dangerous dune, sunburned, mosquito-plagued spectators call out encouragement as racers make the tough climb at tortoise speed. Below Dead Man’s Drop, emergency medical technicians wait, ready to deal with breaks, blood, and twig-pierced eyebrows. As the racers plunge over the edge of the dune, the crowd follows in their wake, cheering each guts-and-glory descent.

For what it matters, the 2006 grand champion was East Shark, a two-person land submarine designed by high school students from Eureka. They finished the race in under eight hours of actual pedaling time. Flash Gourd’n and Extreme Makeover finished respectably in the middle of the pack, taking about 20 hours. And Skaredy Kat? It, too, finished. Eventually and gloriously.

MAKE Contributing Editor William Gurstelle wrote the rubber-band ornithopter project (MAKE, Volume 08, page 90).

30 Make: Volume 09