Not sure why the birds struggled today - still processing and at a loss for words !!
We hope to get back more birds tomorrow as they have some good road miles on them - and then decide the next steps... Monday and Tuesday is calling for rain.. We will rest them up and back on the road 55-75 and then 1st race ~!
Starting out today was 10-15 mph variable winds and we had planned to go 55 miles today - got to 55 and decided to go further as there was another club releasing there and it was calm and clear. Another flyer was down 1/2 his birds also.
Looking back we had not medicated in a while except for respiratory, we saw wild temperature swings from 30 degrees and frozen pipes to 74 degrees this week, ... we don't know why !!!
Entries fees are not all in – I have noted all those that have indicated the funds have been sent and are in transit. A list of available bird will be published Friday if we have not heard from you. These will be available on a first-come first-served for whoever wishes to activate.Paypal: Friends and Family stephenfurlonge@yahoo.comCheck: Arizona Classic Derby 965 E Desert Lane Gilbert AZ 85234The pre-race warmup training is going well - 35-45-45-75 which will get us to 800 miles in training tosses. A few birds have been pulled into the observation bay. If they are not able to make the 1st race - they will be refunded. Between races we also train at least one toss 50-75 miles.The first two races are set: Race 150 - Tuesday Feb 11th Race 200 – Saturday Feb 15th
Funds continue to be sent in - I am assuming for 10 days from activation toss for funds to be received and cleared ( Canada included). Any bird not paid up this week (or communicated to me that entries have been sent) will be offered to others to activate. We hope it does not come to that.
Birds are being loft flown - we plan for 2 more tosses and then first race.
We want to have the first race scheduled this week -
best regards
Steve
Entry fees continue to come in - as soon as all are accounted for - we will schedule the first race, lockdown and post the payout.
Tried to get the birds out to 50 miles twice this week and had to bring them back due to windy conditions and some rain from the fronts that moved across the eastern part of our course. They were loft flown instead. Monday is also forecasted rain - will do 2 more tosses and off to the races !!
Paypal: "FRIENDS AND FAMILY" - stephenfurlonge@yahoo.com
Make checks payable to: Arizona Classic Derby
Stephen Furlonge
965 E Desert Lane
Gilbert AZ 85234
Stay tuned...
Quick update-
Activation toss is complete. There are a few stragglers that will be updated from the clock today.
Check the toss to see how many birds you have remaining -300 for each of your birds left.
No - the first bird did not break speed records - he was obviously clocking in from previous training/outing.
In the actual races - birds are scanned and a basketing list generated/published at basketing.
Windy day today as expected with 15-20mph headwinds - some winds in eastern state where we fly - take it one day at a time to see if we can get in a toss...
Today is loft cleaning, loft fly and bath -
Grinding along here and getting everything lined up and working for our activation toss and first race upcoming.
By request, we are adding a media page to our website to put up media collaterals and some of the important things that folks like to see in a race.
.... will give a longer update later today...
We are still experiencing upload issues in real-time at the loft. Cox is coming out on Monday to upgrade us to the new Panoramic Wi-Fi high speed things... this would allow us to do a lot more with higher upload speeds and not having to reboot computer and wincompanion every time it get a remote app error or goes to sleep .... Yesterday Birds arrived ~9:30AM. Wincom software errored out and went to sleep mode, complete reboot of computer/wincompanion, then ran birds out and re-clocked.
Loft is cleaned, birds let in and fed - we picked up two stragglers from yesterday (not sure if they were really late or just missed them in the re-shuffle yesterday piggybacking on each other to get in - added respiratory/Probiotics in water today. All seems well ~~!
Regards
Rain and fog two consecutive days - as you can see from the cancelled training attempts.
Birds loft flew today - back on the road tomorrow ~! Bands have been corrected and correctly assigned.
The temperatures from tomorrow will warm up for the next few days to 75 - that's why we live here - beautiful pigeon weather to get the remaining tosses in.
After activation toss - funds should be sent in - any bird NOT making the first race will be refunded immediately. Remember we continue to train 50 miles between activation race and first official race - so if a bird is lost during that time, the activation will be refunded.
We are at approx 465 miles of official road training - just two more of the harder hurdles to cross a 90 mile and 125 mile - picking the best days to go. And then continued shorter conditioning tosses whilst the activation fees are incoming. This would get us to 800 miles of training before the 1st race - as we have done in every series 2016, 2017, 2018.
It has been a rough journey seeming that the planets were not aligned in our favor. We had two major events happen that delayed the races. One was life changing adversity that we suffered thru (those in my local club know and we don't publicize our priviacy). The other was the unpreparedness for the massive neighboring losses resulting from our Federation flying our race couse in youngbirds directly over our loft complex. We did not wish to take this risk based on 13 years flying this concourse~!
That being behind us - we forge ahead to get these birds trained and not take the easy route by shortchanging the training and rushing the 1st race. We owe it to the breeders that placed their confidence is us to train the birds !! We have been trelessly working with the birds waking at 5am - 10am; 3pm - 5.30pm everyday.
We are almost there - just two more big tosses - as we work thru the kinks of delivering a successful 1st race - stay tuned ~!
While it is still early - remember we fly your birds for free in our local Old Bird races to 500+ miles ~
Best regards ~
Handled every bird today in the loft and checked the e-band. There are a few birds that need the e-band replaced - will get those done and updated shortly. Will update here when the inventory reflects the changes.
Birds are in generally great health - we would like to see a little more weight on them. This is probably due to the working the birds twice a day and the cold nights. Also we would like to see clean, pink vs some scales still on the keel. We will loft fly as needed to give the birds a small break.
We also pulled 3 birds out and put in the holding bay to rest up ~!
Until next update.... by request here is some additional info on my record --
Here is my local race record for the last 5 years (2014 - 2019) flying the Arizona Federation. From 2013- 2005, its more of the same....flying 3 different directions and multiple directions in the same season against about 65 flyers from 6 clubs in the valley en total...
2019-
1st Champion Loft– Arizona Federation Old Birds
1s,t, 2nd, 3rd Arizona Federation 245 miles
2nd, 3rd, 4th Arizona Federation 415 miles
1st, 2nd, 4th Arizona Federation 358 miles
2018
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 Arizona Federation Auction Race 358 miles $$,$$$
2nd Champion Loft – Arizona Federation Young Birds
2nd Average Speed - Arizona Federation Young Birds
1st Average Speed – Short, Middle, Long Distance Arizona Federation Old Birds
1st Champion Bird – Arizona Federation Old Birds
2nd Champion Loft – Arizona Federation Old Birds
1st Arizona Federation Old Birds 535 miles
1st Arizona Federation Old Birds 415 miles
2nd, 3rd, 4th Arizona Federation Old Birds 268 miles
2017
1st Champion Loft – Arizona Federation Old Birds
1st, 2nd, 3rd Arizona Federation 245 miles
2016
1st, 2nd, 3rd – Arizona Open Classic $$,$$$
2015
1st Average Speed – Short, Middle, Long Distance Arizona Federation
1st Long Distance Average Speed – Arizona Federation Old Birds
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Champion Bird – Arizona Federation Old Birds
1st Arizona Federation Old Birds 245 miles
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th 14th – Arizona Federation 358 miles, 817 birds ~!!
2014
1st Champion Bird – Arizona Federation
1st, 2nd Arizona Federation 385 miles
The last 3 birds must have missed scanning - as we ran the birds back out this evening and these 3 clocked ~
Hand inventory in process tomorrow morning early before we let them up and we should have any bands corrected by the following toss.
This week we plan to stretch the birds out -
