Airplanes and Injuries!

So I've been having this pain in my foot after running, for the past 3 weeks. I don't notice it when not performing high impact activities, so I'm not really sure what it is. It could be a small stress fracture. Whatever it is, it makes my foot hurt alot after running, which stinks because my bikes are in Raleigh while I'm home for winter break. So running is really my only form of exercise for about another week. That's ok, because I have an airplane to build!

It's a Goldberg Tiger 2 kit I got for Christmas. I've only just started the fuselage build, so nothing great to show off. I did happen to get a gallon of Cool Power %15 glow fuel for only $15 at our hobby shop!
I've also got some pics from a flight session with Lars and JB before I left Raleigh for break.

JB got some good stick time on his Razor that he hasn't really flown before, and Lars is usually always out there with me.

Ahhh Winter Break

So far I've had an awesome time relaxing and catching up with some friends and family this break. For Christmas, I got some clothes, a new RC plane which I'll build up soon, and some new egg beater pedals. But being a member of Team NORSA, I need another adventure soon. I haven't decided exactly what yet, but, I'm thinking something along the lines of this in western North Carolina right after New Years. I might be in Boone for New Years, and start classes again on the 9th, and am trying to decide what to do in the meantime. Camping is cheap, and I've wanted to try some bike-camping at some point. Will keep you posted...

End of Semester

Weeeell it's been a long semester. I did not get as much mountain biking in as I would have liked, and didn't race this season in the ACCC. It's a shame, I really enjoyed racing and camping out on the weekends for the races. Yea, I am a fast biker, but the best mountain biker is the one having the most fun. This semester of school really killed that feeling. I think things are going to clear up a bit next semester, and I should be able to get to go to some road races and the Tsali trip so guys on the cycling team are planning. The Cohutta 100 is in mid-April, which will be right before the end of the spring semester, but that's what I'm aiming for. Hopefully another adventure race will pop up with Team NORSA too.

Speaking of NORSA, we had an attempt at biking to Virginia from Raleigh this past weekend. It was an awesome study break even though horrible weather stopped us halfway. Read about it on Alan's blog.

I need another adventure soon.... will make one over winter break :)

Little recap

In between work the past few days I've managed to:
~Get pepsi can stove working properly
~Hang out with Lindsay
~Add a new steed to the stable:

Bear Island Sea Kayak Trip

Today I returned from 3 days of sea kayaking! The whole trip was a lot of fun and was a much needed break from school. It was really amazing to be able to get away from civilization for 3 days and not have to answer the cell-phone/worry about ANYTHING. If that's what happens when you go kayaking...I need to get my own!



Alan, a fellow member of Team NORSA, let me borrow one of his family's many sea kayaks (their garage looks like an outdoors outfitter store!) and some equipment for the trip. The other two guys that came on the trip were Dan and Adam, both from the aerial robotics club (which is how we all know each other). Dan brought out one of his family's canoes while Adam rented a sea kayak from a shop out in Swansboro. Alan had his mom's (he's always been a momma's boy) Kruger Dreamcather, basically a REALLY nice kevlar canoe/kayak hybrid.
Dan
Adam
We played in the surf on the ocean side of the island a lot, got flipped over a bunch of times, Alan tried to teach me how to roll a bunch of times... we built kites out of those black trash bags and reeds that were growing around our camp site. The kite building actually turned out to be a little competition, since we're all aerospace engineers :) And guess whose was the only one, I mean two, to fly? Hehe, Alan and Dan couldn't get theirs to fly at all! Anyway, the whole 3 days were awesome, very well spent :) Be sure to check out Alan's (Sailing adventures of SOS) blog soon, I'm sure he'll have more pictures, too!

Pepsi can stove

Today after class I decided to try making one of those pepsi can stoves I've seen on the internet. It's a lightweight camping stove made from 3 aluminum cans, and it's really easy to make. The stove uses 90% isopropyl alcohol, which you can get at any drug store for $2 for 16oz. so it's reallly cheap (good for college students...) I'm going to use it this weekend on the sea kayaking trip, so it'll have some field tests. It only took me an hour to make the stove, and I was going pretty slow to make sure my cuts were right. I used these instructions if yall are interested:
PCT Hiker

And Alan posted a write-up about the adventure race this past weekend on his blog:
SOS

PS 10 points if you can guess what brand cans those used to be...

Been a long time

Ahhh it's been a long time. Yes this blog was abandoned for some time. The last post was at the beginning of last mtb season... well it turns out I finished 2nd in my class. I won the last XC race of the season for double points which was really rewarding. But then I fell into a slump of bad parts and school and didn't get much riding done until spring time rolled around.

Anyway, on to new (recent!) things! This weekend I went to my first adventure race, a 12 hour beast located in the Uwharrie forest of North Carolina. I raced with 3 other guys from Team NORSA who go to State, too. This weekend, I got free admission into the coveted NORSA team based out of my hometown DC! SPRAGAW! In the raffle after the race, I won a nice floor bike pump that I needed since the carpump broke, and some Hammer gels, bleh. It was a lot of fun, and there should be some more coverage on their blogs. Actually, it's seeing they're active blogs that made me want to write something in here. I'll give you links to those soon! Here's a link to the race website, and you can see my name on the racer list to prove I went! HA!
Bushwhack Adventures

Next weekend is fall break, I've got two extra days for my weekend, and we're going sea kayaking! Should be fun since I've never been in a sea kayak before. A couple of us are heading out to the outbanks of NC to do some paddling around Bear Island. Three days til that happens, can't wait!