Diary of a Mad Man – London East 2015 – Day 5 of the build
Day 5 and we are really beginning to rock and roll. Today saw new boy Reg come on board, he’s keen to work for us next season so we’ve got him for a couple of days this week as a trial. Bull and I both think he’s a great fit; he’s got lots of building experience, loves OCR (and DD) and he’s a good laugh with some good banter. We’re pretty hard on each other when it comes to banter, it’s all good hearted but it’s a bit of a shark tank as we all like to test each out. I love competition and love to see it in the team. Who lift the most? Who can carry the most? Who’s the fastest with the impact driver? I love it. Tomorrow we’ve got David back for the day as a trial for next year too. He’s already got the nod from me as he was epic back in April but I want Bull, as build manager, to be more involved in choosing the team for 2016. The Bull is hard to impress.
So, what did we do today? We smashed out Irish Table and Sheep Dip in record times, both are classics. We also spent some time planning ‘Shark Tower’ too. I love planning new obstacles, bringing my sketches to life is a big deal for me. It’s always challenging and in this case we’ve got to calculate buoyancy, leverage as well as the usual capacity v fun factor. I can’t wait to build this one later in the week. Typically we build the classics first so everyone is in the groove, then we focus on the new ones. It’s a real treat building new obstacles.
What’s the plan for tomorrow? Tarzan Bars. This is not only fun to do in the race but it’s also fun to build. Our trailer is 16ft long and the trusses on Tarzan Bars are 32ft long so transporting takes some doing. We’ve got it down nowadays but it’s always exciting to move them around the site. We worked out how to make the trailer longer, no-one saw that one coming.
Thanks for reading.
The Beard