One big happy biking family

Michael met up with the rest of "the clan" today at Pulaski, VA along the New River Trail. The bikers remaining at this point were Michael, Stavros, Dan, Nate, and Michelle. Nate and Michelle are leaving tomorrow for unknown reasons and might join up again later. Trevor pulled his Achilles tendon, but he hopes to be able to meet back up with the crew later on. Calum and Claire are about a day behind the rest of the group, but they too hope to catch up at some point. They are all backyard camping tonight in some friendly backyard 500 yards northeast of the intersection of I77-I81. And I even hear they got showers!

Today's ride from Galax to Pulaski was difficult: Michael said the road was rocky, he got a flat tire, it was steep, and to top it off he was stung by a bee between the eyes. Ouch, but apparently he got it out pretty quickly. I think he's pretty relieved to be with the clan now because apparently camping in the backwoods isn't always rainbows and unicorns, on particular snafu was putting the tent's rainfly on backward. But with a group that knows the area they get luxuries, like showers and access to outlets for charging phones.

The past two days have been okay rides. Michael got up to Stone Mountain, NC the first night and then the following morning did a short hike to a waterfall there (pictures hopefully to come!). Then he had a shorter day up to Galax, VA. Today was meet up day. In total, Michael has done approximately 200 miles (he was in his tent and didn't want to get up to check the exact mileage). That's approximately 5% across the country!

Tomorrow they hope to get out early and head to Damascus. No not Syria, but Damascus, VA. It will be somewhere around 70-80 miles, so a fairly long day. We'll see how far they get in total. They will be on the Virginia Creeper Trail.

Below is the map of what Michael has done so far. I will be updating it as they move. I have put small comments on some spots, but by and large my contact with Michael has been sort and not very descriptive, so sorry if it isn't as complete as possible. Please let me know if anything doesn't work or there are questions!


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Off!

This morning Michael took off on his cross country bike trip. The rest of the group started from Richmond, VA late last week and Michael will be heading up to the VA/NC border to meet up. Here is his route, and hopefully within two days he will be met up! Good luck, safe travels, and May the wind be always at your back!

The beginning of Summer!

Today I loaded up the bike trailer I am borrowing to test it out on the open roads. Here are some of those pictures. It was a windy day and I made sure to hit some of the biggest hills around. All told I did 14 miles in about 50 minutes; not far but enough to get a feel for the hills and trailer.

I'm riding a modified 1999 Lemond Zurich. It is in great shape and was a bargain with full Ultegra components. But now it has triple chainring, Shimano Sora shifters and derailluers, aerobars, Bontrager wheels, and a WTB saddle. it is a great bike.

I am borrowing the trailer from my PE teacher here at NCState. For today's ride I loaded it down with 30 lbs. of water and tools, plus the weight of the trailer to make a 45 lb payload. It was interesting to feel the trailer behind you, but it works great.

My first major trip with it will be to Charlotte this coming Monday. I'll pack a tent and other gear to make the 160 mile trip in 2 days. I just need to get to Charlotte in time so I can vote on Tuesday!

The end to the school year

You can find most of this years aerospace senior design flight videos here.

There are also some nice pictures from picnic here.

This first video is of Team Phelan's (the best team) picnic flight.



Here is video of Tandemonium's first flight...