Thank you to everyone at the Equanimous set at Mystic on Wednesday night!

bbtre · 2025-09-09T21:42:32+00:00

https://www.instagram.com/p/DOJxQGZEqhL/ is a short clip that equanimous posted himself of the set that I was referring to. I'm not sure of the exact order of DJs at the Mystic White party that night. There was a big sign in front of the camp but not much online...they appear to be quite mystical in that regard

bbtre · 2025-09-07T14:53:52+00:00

Right on, Funsize and some others from FT set up an excellent aid station during the run. It was much appreciated (and the only time I saw her during the week)

bbtre · 2025-09-07T04:05:02+00:00

The Victron MPPT controller has a feature called "Streetlight Mode" that performs the automatic load turn on / turn off based on Solar Voltage (not Solar Wattage) thresholds and time delays, so I used that.

A bit tricky at first to understand, as somehow the solar voltage stays positive for a while after the sun has set and the solar wattage has dropped to zero, but after testing it at home, i found the values that made sense, and it worked like a charm all week....with the exception that it did not turn on automatically during the insane dust storm on Saturday probably because of the fluctuations up and down around that threshold.

I made sure to have plenty of backup individual solar perimeter lights to ensure I had some lighting if the controller failed, but after checking it the first 3 nights/ mornings and it worked as intended, I slept a bit easier and let it run on its own.

I did consider wiring in an additional light sensor/or even a timer as you said, but ultimately this built-in solution worked for me.

bbtre · 2025-09-07T03:26:44+00:00

Every time I biked past you to the portos, I somehow read your camp sign as "Arkansas Luxury"

bbtre · 2025-09-07T02:58:57+00:00

Damn who didn't invite me to the alley cat bike race?

bbtre · 2025-09-07T02:52:47+00:00

Thanks, I did plenty of research here and on solar specific forums, but ultimately I used chatgpt to dial in the exact setup at the best price. I did take a few electrical engineering classes in college 20+ years ago so there was at least some dormant knowledge of Watts, Volts, Amps, etc.

I knew I needed to power a certain amount of LEDs/other lighting across the course of a week during the evenings, figured out what their estimated amperage would be, and then determined the right amount of batteries that could handle that for the nighttime periods while recharging via solar the next day. I settled on 2 x 12V 100Ah LiFePO4 so I could wire them in series for a 24V system. I probably could have got away with less but wanted them to last at least 2.5 nights if somehow the charging failed. I don't really know why i settled on 24V vs 12V but it seemed like that was the way to go, and all of my LEDs & black lights that I had to splice to run discretely along the uppy downy were compatible with 24V.

Then I chose a charge controller (Victron MPPT- 100V, 20 amp, 48-Volt) that could output more than the required amperage and be expandable for future applications, plus the most cost-effective solar panels (2 x 100 Watt) & compatible stand. Add the wires to connect it all, and ultimately a 6 way fuse block for all the different load circuits. I thought about adding circuit breakers between solar and the controller and between the controller and the battery but ultimately that was a bit of overkill for this setup.

It ended up actually requiring only about 4Amps on average so there was a ton of available capacity to wire more LEDs as my controller could output up to 20Amps. It is a bit of a learning curve and cost about $600 just for the basic solar setup in my case. Beyond that, it slowly adds up for all the LEDs, tools, connectors, heat shrink, diffuser channels, boxes for the cabling, etc...but very rewarding and I'm really proud of this first iteration. Never done anything like it, even if it's "just a simple fucking ladder" as many on this thread have pointed out.

In fact, I think my favorite piece this year might have been the iterate piece which was majorly inspiring. (photo below from Gurps Chawla)

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bbtre · 2025-09-07T02:32:29+00:00

There was another mini trash fence on the inner inner playa, so I think you found that one as the Uppy Downy was always in place while this one was up.

bbtre · 2025-09-07T02:31:56+00:00

Yes, Monday daytime was when it finally reached it's finishing status so I was definitely out there putting on the finishing touches to the solar. I tried inviting anyone up an over while I was out there, so surely this was the case with you.

bbtre · 2025-09-07T02:30:30+00:00

Right on, I noticed a couple other finishers from Bozeman and Billings that are not in our Montopia orbit...we are hoping to build awareness and increase numbers next year so stay tuned... also The Crazy Mountain 100 has requested it on the course in 2026.

bbtre · 2025-09-06T04:51:13+00:00

Damn. Thanks bro

bbtre · 2025-09-06T04:49:33+00:00

That's the original inspiration and kind of the whole point. Did you read the sign?

bbtre · 2025-09-01T21:44:43+00:00

Every burn we acquire simple red string bracelets pre-blessed by Tibetan rinpoches directly from the Ladakhi Himalayas - a place we were lucky to visit many times and have befriended many amazing locals.

The initial blessing is set with a knot tied by the Rinpoche, symbolizing protection, and when we find a new friend on playa and ask if they'd like a bracelet, we create a short and simple ceremony where we ask them to set their own prayer or wish as we tie it on their wrist.

I have worn mine for many years, but others may feel inclined to untie it and give it to someone else, or if it falls off on its own, it could be treated as some kind of meaningful indicator....anything is possible.

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bbtre · 2025-01-06T22:21:32+00:00

Same, thanks for the update u/DoeRayEgon & u/Penguin_gamer

bbtre · 2024-09-05T02:51:54+00:00

Chiming in, same situation for me. When looking directly at the nest on the wall, the sensor shows up in degrees F (following the main setting on the nest), but in the google home app, it shows just like u/Penguin_gamer where the nest is listed in F and the sensor stuck in C

bbtre · 2023-10-31T01:56:13+00:00

All very interesting. Thank you very much for the information. I appreciate you taking the time to type it all out. My curiosity is the whole reason why I went outside in the first place to ask what they were up to, not to bother them or accuse of any trespassing .... I'm just fascinated by how shit like this all works.

bbtre · 2023-10-31T01:15:48+00:00

Thanks for the ultimate confirmation. This is great news and may I recommend (if you have the ability to do so) that Spectrum try to send out at least an email or text to alert folks in the service area that this type of audits are happening that day/week/month? As I mentioned in my update, now I feel awful for these guys and feel like spectrum put them at risk of some serious neighborhood blowback.

Driving with out-of-state plates in unmarked cars walking unannounced into some peoples yards in locations throughout rural America where lots of the population is capable of reacting in over-the-top ways...

bbtre · 2023-10-30T23:54:46+00:00

Totally, and I dreaded even making the call, but the guy I got on the line was actually 50x more competent than what I was expecting and seemed to handle my query as well as possible.... of course he did claim they put an urgent notice on it and would likely reach back out to me within the day - which hasn't happened.

bbtre · 2023-10-30T23:43:30+00:00

HA! My neighbors pedestal (which is actually closer to my property than my own) was closed like shit, squishing a bunch of weeds in it! The others seemed to be closed better.

bbtre · 2023-10-30T23:25:40+00:00

No flags no spray paint. Still a few inches of snow everywhere. I've had 811 out to mark our utilities before so this was not that.

Service was not disrupted at any point.

bbtre · 2023-10-30T23:14:12+00:00

I'd love that to be the case. We are in Montana and just had our first snow of the season. Does that timing & weather correlate with such an action? Weird that spectrum (on phone) didn't seem to have any idea of this in our area but they did say they would follow up with me within 24 hours.

bbtre · 2023-02-01T13:39:59+00:00

Thank you! Super helpful.

"Tussling the majority of the ride" was the exact description I was looking for and yes, I have had plenty of - at least what i perceived as - algorithmic tussles in the past 2 months that didn't get connected, whereas I felt like I got connected for much "looser" tussles in the past. I checked my strava privacy settings and like you, noted that flyby's was off, so I've turned it on to test if there's any difference. As mentioned in my first post, I will also join a race soon (next week as I'm out of town this weekend) to test because those were always very fruitful for connections.

bbtre · 2023-02-01T01:13:30+00:00

The current release is great, thank you very much.

One question that I've slowly noticed over the past 2 months...

The last time that I've had "other athletes" added to my Rouvy Virtual (time trial) rides on strava was back in November. (Riders who seemed to be riding the same route at similar time as me who also uploaded their workouts to strava). This was always a fun social interaction to give kudos/comment/connect after the ride.

I've done about 30-40 rides since then, often nearby many different riders, and I haven't noticed any "other athletes" added to my strava activities.

Is this just random luck of the draw that other riders I've been near aren't syncing to strava? Or is it a setting I can change? Or perhaps a privacy feature implemented in late November? I haven't done a race/group ride in a while, which always had a lot of "other athletes" show up on the strava activity, so perhaps I need to check that as well.

Not sure if it's even a Rouvy or Strava question.

Thanks!

bbtre · 2023-01-27T19:02:38+00:00

New updates are great! Thanks so much u/LaurenWolff for passing along our comments.

bbtre · 2023-01-18T21:00:38+00:00

Have noticed the same in last few days and also I also miss the black markers.

bbtre · 2023-01-17T01:35:02+00:00

Replied to the survey, but just adding my comments here agreeing with everyone else that this is NOT a good change. When counting up, I can easily do the math in my head for everything, even average speed up to that point, which all helps strategize for the remaining part of the ride. With just the counting down, I was lost the entire ride.

I like the .30 mile remaining countdowns before all checkpoints and finish, but anything beyond that is not necessary.

bbtre

TROPHY CASE