Michigan Steel Bending and Breaking Championships 2019 - Tom Flesher

[Tom Flesher]

My wife, Katie, and I hit the road around 3:30 from Long Island. My dog was staying with our friends; the dog figures into a later dispute. We picked up @Anton.Torrella in Queens around 4:45. He gamely folded himself into the back of my Honda Civic Coupe (a position we would all attempt at some point on this journey) and we began the long ride to Detroit.

At 9:30 AM we had driven enough and Katie had noticed a billboard for a distillery so we pulled into Blackbird's somewhere near Clarion, Pennsylvania. I talked Anton out of proposing marriage to the woman behind the counter, who appeared young enough that she had probably not legally sampled her own wares; Anton picked up two bottles of fruited moonshine to last us the weekend. Several more stops along the way included Clubhouse Brewery in Warren, Ohio, where we purchased the sucker bottle for out of towners along with several sandwiches and a growler of Kolsch. We got to Detroit around 5:30 and headed straight to Comerica Park to see the Tigers defeat the Royals and drink a significant amount more local beer to ensure we had an adequate understanding of the town.

No, wait, we headed straight to Founders Brewery to drink just about everything on their list in four-ounce samples. Then, the stadium.

Saturday we had breakfast at the hotel (kimchi and rice were offered along with more standard midwestern options, which made Anton and I very happy) and headed over to Don's. Katie asked for recommendations for Free Comic Book Day venues (grip folks and benders are, by and large, nerds) and disappeared for a while, returning after lunchtime with nine free comics and several samplers from local breweries. Everyone was, as always, extremely friendly.

Double Overhand: Two attempts, a 1/4" square and a 9/32 round. Kinked both, couldn't finish them and zeroed out the event (partial bends didn't score for DO or the spike event). The position didn't feel right, even though I've been melting 19/64" drill rod at 7". I blame the yips.

 Reverse: Went with a blue nail here. Most people bent grade 5s; I haven't been good with them and needed a confidence booster. Reverse has never been my strongest style.

Double Underhand: My best bends in training were 60Ds, so I went with a 9/32 bar planning to move down to 1/4 if necessary on my second attempt. It collapsed surprisingly quickly and I moved up to 1/4" square for my second attempt. I got it to 7 degrees, which was a pleasant surprise. Definitely planning to do more DU in the future.

It was around this time that Katie returned with Timbits and Anton broke out the shine.

Braced:

Long Bar: My strongest event. @Donc101, @Buccos1, Anton and I all did the hardest bar available, a 3/4x40 round bar. I kinked mine fairly easily and got it a few degrees too wide for the leg crush. Don finished his quickly; Carl, as he noted in his report, started slow but finished very strong. I was stuck at the 5 minute mark at about 10 degrees from parallel, and later walked out to the yard to finish the bar so I could take it home. Anton managed a kink in his bar but the length just seemed to vex him.

Spike: The spikes were a lot easier than any I'm used to. Only completed bends scored and I've had trouble getting my 10" spikes past the kink, so at the last minute I changed from a 10 to a 12. I should have stayed with the 10; after the event I grabbed a 10 and bent it fairly convincingly in the yard. I wouldn't have challenged @Andrew Dube or Don for the 10" time, and had Anton and Darrin (both of whom finished ahead of me on the 12) been more confident they would likely have melted the 10 as well.

Medley: I can't say enough about how cool this event was. Don, Andrew, and Carl were in the first flight; Anton, Darrin Shallman, and I were the second flight; and Chris Stillwell, Amir Bayour, and John Mouser were the third flight. I started with the 3/8x14" snap, much to Don's consternation (I protested that he shouldn't question my life choices); I'd been training it without a pad, so duct-taping my towel to my leg made a world of difference. It started showing cracks earlier than I expected and I stopped to admire it a few times while other competitors shouted at me to keep my head in the game.

It was pretty, though.

The snap finished around the 5 minute mark. My next bend was a St Croix Ultralite 2; I had tried a DC1 in training but didn't feel confident that I'd be able to murder it in the medley so I went safe. I don't regret that decision. I went to the 6" wrench next, which I always start DO and finish with a leg crush. That seemed to surprise a few people. Then came the oval nails.

I snapped one nail, though it took me nearly all of my remaining time. This is a real test of endurance; they were frustrating and even optimal technique felt terrible. Also, multiple conversations with multiple people on each side went as follows:

How many nails do you have snapped? Zero.

It was de rigeur to complain while snapping, and at one point I told Amir an economics joke to pass the time.* I managed to snap 1 just before I ran out of time. Knowing I couldn't snap another nail with less than a minute left, I went outside to do a HHH water spout and, because I'm like this, spouted water directly onto Don's wife. She was, unfortunately, right in the firing line, and was extraordinarily friendly and forgiving. ("I've been peed on. This is no big deal.")

Thank God no one got hurt.

Don's pork shoulder, cheesy potatoes, coleslaw, and Oliva sticks were excellent and I'm grateful he shared all of them. His daughters were lovely, as was his boxer. At one point I was petting said boxer and his youngest came over to assert ownership over the dog.

S: "My puppy."

Me: "Yes, she's your puppy! Wanna see my dog?"

S: "Uh huh."

Me: "This is my dog. She's dressed as a dinosaur in this picture."

S: "She looks like a cheetah."

Me: "Her name is Carrot, like the vegetable."

S: "No. (walks away)"

So now I need to change my dog's name.

Aside from needing to buy a new tire on Sunday and not getting home until 1 AM, the rest of the trip was uneventful.

It was a joy to meet all the guys from the board. I expect Amir to be an all-in bender soon. Some exceptional strength was on display, and Carl's fighting spirit was an inspiration. Don also shared a lot of his equipment and showed some very cool training techniques. I'm so glad we were able to go.

Rosé all day.

 

 

 

 

*What's the difference between the long run and the short run in economics? Well, in the short run, prices exhibit some nominal rigidities, whereas in the long run, we're dead.

Edited May 7, 2019 by Tom Flesher
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[Buccos1]

Thanks for the compliment.  Great write-up and all-around job at the comp.  Especially with the braced long bar on very tough stock!

[Vinnie]

Dang it, I wish I didn't hate bending!  Right now, all I have ever done in unbraced is to reverse or DUH a couple of 60ds, blue nails, and timber ties (never did manage a DOH of anything, just not flexible enough to get the position), and in braced, an occasional hit or two on a longer bar someone else let me help with, and in horseshoes, a couple of St. Croix Ultralight 1 and 2s.  Each time, I get annoyed at myself for the pain and bruising and say never again.  But then I save my piece of bent steel and look at it and think, hey, I did that, and the bruise goes away and ... you know how it is.  So I imagine I will keep sticking my toes back in from time to time, and maybe it'll grow on me. 

[Vinnie]

3 minutes ago, Vinnie said:

Dang it, I wish I didn't hate bending!  Right now, all I have ever done in unbraced is to reverse or DUH a couple of 60ds, blue nails, and timber ties (never did manage a DOH of anything, just not flexible enough to get the position), and in braced, an occasional hit or two on a longer bar someone else let me help with, and in horseshoes, a couple of St. Croix Ultralight 1 and 2s.  Each time, I get annoyed at myself for the pain and bruising and say never again.  But then I save my piece of bent steel and look at it and think, hey, I did that, and the bruise goes away and ... you know how it is.  So I imagine I will keep sticking my toes back in from time to time, and maybe it'll grow on me. 

All of the above is said because I can see you all had a great time and got a great workout in the process, and I would love to have done the same.  Maybe if someone shows me how to do a frying pan or something like that, it might suck me in a little -- will have to investigate ...

Nice job guys.

[Anton.Torrella]

Rosé all day - double pours on Friyay - Tom that was such an awesome weekend of drinking and I'm so glad we also stopped at a bending comp - I can't thank you enough for letting me third-wheel your Michigan's lovers trip for 3 straight days - I was apprehensive about sharing the same hotel room with you and your wife but after being in the car together for so many hours it did only seemed right - Awesome job at the comp man - your braced bending gets more impressive week by week - major respect for finishing that 3/4 x 40" steel after the time elapsed and for hitting those extra spikes between rounds just to make sure you could slay them - many more good times to come!

 

[Tom Flesher]

7 hours ago, Anton.Torrella said:

Rosé all day - double pours on Friyay - Tom that was such an awesome weekend of drinking and I'm so glad we also stopped at a bending comp - I can't thank you enough for letting me third-wheel your Michigan's lovers trip for 3 straight days - I was apprehensive about sharing the same hotel room with you and your wife but after being in the car together for so many hours it did only seemed right - Awesome job at the comp man - your braced bending gets more impressive week by week - major respect for finishing that 3/4 x 40" steel after the time elapsed and for hitting those extra spikes between rounds just to make sure you could slay them - many more good times to come!

 

Katie wants me to defend her honor by pointing out that you had your own room and the waitress at the last bar assumed that you and I were the couple and Katie was the third wheel. 

[Tom Flesher]

18 hours ago, Vinnie said:

All of the above is said because I can see you all had a great time and got a great workout in the process, and I would love to have done the same.  Maybe if someone shows me how to do a frying pan or something like that, it might suck me in a little -- will have to investigate ...

Nice job guys.

You might be good at the miserable oval nails ....

[Vinnie]

10 hours ago, Tom Flesher said:

the last bar

LOL "the last bar" - both the bending double entendre and the fact that there was a series of them.

[Vinnie]

16 minutes ago, Tom Flesher said:

You might be good at the miserable oval nails ....

Well now I need to know what these are.

[Tom Flesher]

2 hours ago, Vinnie said:

Well now I need to know what these are.

They're smaller (65mm long) and wrapped in a full Horne wrap (10x4 suede) so they aren't painful like a 60D or horseshoe would be. They're a test of finger strength and endurance more than anything else. I'll bring a handful next time I see you.

Edited May 8, 2019 by Tom Flesher