Rocky Mountain High, Colorado

Winter Park, Colorado
"MY run!"
Apres ski at Derailer Bar

The clan!

Doodle bug playing with his trucks

Dad, Kevin, Jason and Beverly with their sleds

Here comes Jason, there goes dad. Don't get stuck, like I did!

Kevin and Jason

Our favorite bar in Grand Lake!

The Bell's and Henson's!

Jason and I

at Breckenridge

My tail feathers are clipped, I SOLOED!!!

After almost 20 hours of dual lessons with my instructor Melissa, I have now flown solo on my own!!!! After 13 takeoff and landings last night from PDK, Melissa asked if I thought I was ready to solo the next day. I said, "Of course!". But for some reason I think my landings last night were better than today. I guess that's a good thing because night landings can be tricky, just give me VASI (visual approach slope indicator) lights and I'm ok! What made today even more special was to hear "Lawrenceville tower, November 9861 Charlie, request to land". Mom and dad made a surprise visit to watch me fly solo, which was very cool. Although dad may want to work on his radio communication a little and listen better. "9861 Charlie, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" (Voice of ATC!) It was a simple misunderstanding, but I will admit that my next landing with my instructor wasn't so good because I was listening to what ATC and my dad were doing. But I guess dad and the ATC made up for things because they let them in the tower to watch me. Then Melissa joined them while I went on my own for 3 takeoffs (to a complete stop) and landings. The first one may have touched down more than once, but it was safe, just not pretty. The second one was decent, although I think I skidded the tires applying too much brake. And the third was not so bad, but not a "greaser"! Next I will be working on my cross country flights and hopefully I will wrap this up in another 20+ hours! It's been fun, but the "finesse" of landings will come with more time. Right now I'm just glad they are SAFE landings!!! So here are a few pics from today after my landings. By the way, Melissa is cutting my "tail feathers" in the picture where she is cutting my shirt. It's part of tradition, and I'm just glad to be apart of it! Thanks again mom and dad for coming to watch and give me the moral support!!

Me, November six six niner Bravo Delta and my original mentors mom and dad!

Me and my awesome instructor, Melissa! "Who's f@%${}g this chicken?"

Be gentle, this is my first time, soloing.

Can we get a bigger pair of scissors?? :)

Fly me courageous

"Wrap me high in the sky, circle me with stallions. She flew from peak to peak with the freedom of an eagle. So fly me courageous." -Drivin' n Cryin'

Now 9 lessons and 12.2 hours officially logged, progress has been made on this future PIC (pilot in command). My instructor tells me I need to have my medical exam and presolo written exam done pretty soon, she's about to let me loose and SOLO! I hope to do so before I go to Colorado next week skiing and snowmobiling, but we'll see. The biggest thing I have to work on is consistency in setting the plane up to land. I can get it to the end of the runway and judge if I am too high or too low, but the plane will virtually fly itself if you set it up right. There are certain airspeed's, that if achieved correctly, will set the plane up to land "on its own". And of course I still have work to do when you get the plane in the flare just before you land. Remember, look at the END of the runway, not the nose of the plane! Crosswinds are also a challenge, but that too comes with time.

Flying with the "foggles" on to simulate IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) conditions.

Takeoff from Runway 2L, crossing over 2R at PDK. The asphalt paved runway on the right in this picture is Runway 2L/20R, mainly for small airplanes. The other long concrete Runway is for small planes and jets, which are many every day.

"Flight attendents please take your seat, and return your trays to the upright position!"

A nice view of downtown ATL and even the Georgia Dome.

Learning to FLY!

Now that I've been back for a couple of months now, and was tired of sitting around the house, I decided now would be the perfect time to learn to fly. About 7 years ago I seriously considered learning to fly, but the problem was I didn't want to quit riding my bike. Not that I would have to quit, but with a full-time job the only time I could do it would have been after work and on weekends. Now that I have time on my hands, I figured this was the best chance I would get. I am working part-time with my good friends Jason and Matthew Morris helping them finish building 2 houses and a renovation. They have other projects going and just couldn't spend the time on-site to really see these things across the finish line. So oddly and perfectly enough, I have been doing that for the last three weeks and really enjoying it. IF they have more projects down the line that I can help them project manage then this could become a full-time gig! We'll see how it goes, but the housing economy isn't the best right now, but maybe renovations will be.

To try and make a long story short, I "interviewed" 3 potential instructors and different flight schools at Peachtree-Dekalb Airport (KPDK). I was going to go with the third outfit because I liked the instructor and my friend Paul Helmbold learned there and instructed. But they never called me back..... I am not going to beg someone to take my money, so I decided to look elsewhere. I found on AOPA's (Aircraft Owners and Pilot's Association) website a thing called Project Pilot. Basically you find someone local to you and introduce yourself via email. I have found a mentor with a guy by the name of Bill Hotch. He was very helpful and encouraged me to try SkyBound Aviation and recommended three instructors. I chose the one with his best description which was, "she is knowledgeable, fun, and really compliments when you do something right, but doesn't chastise you when you do something wrong". So to make another long story short, I am now flying with Melissa Bermudez and things are going REALLY well. He was right on the money and she is everything that he described. And it doesn't hurt that we have similar smart-ass personalities!

We have now flown 4 times and she feels I am progressing very rapidly. My dad said 7 years ago that I must have learned a lot by osmosis flying right seat and just observing over my entire life. I think she was impressed that I just knew how to steer the plane and could taxi it to the end of the runway. And since then all of the "basic" aspects of flying seem to come natural. My second lesson was cool because she made me fly without looking out at the horizon, by wearing a "hood" which is like a visor you wear on your head. You have to accumulate 3 hours of this type of instruction and it was fun to only use the instruments on the dash to navigate. She would give me a heading direction (from 0 to 359 degrees), and altitude (from 2500' to 3500'), and then mix it up with doing turns, climbs and descents. A few times we would climb or descend and also turn, then "roll out" to a fixed heading and altitude. Hopefully all of that makes some sense. It's actually almost easier to fly that way because looking out at the horizon is hard to judge what degree of bank (turn) or amount of vertical rise or descent you are doing. As you might guess, I was pumped! Although she had her hands on the controls and basically helped make minor adjustments, we landed the plane together with me setting it up on the final approach pretty well. We have since had more "hood" time and practiced power on and power off stalls. But NO spins and spin recovery, it's no longer required in the final flight exam. Today we were supposed to fly, but a small bit of rain started pouring right when I yelled "Clear" to start the engine.... Tomorrow doesn't look good either.... So much for getting three days a week of flying in....

Melissa and I taxiing back to the North Ramp at PDK.

The latest in flying fashion. Wear your kneeboard out for a night on the town! I was actually just getting out of the plane, hoping that the skies would clear and we could go up. But damn, I do look good with that kind of fashion statement!

And if you REALLY want to impress the ladies, just flash them your credentials. That's right, I know my checklist and ATIS frequency!

Kokopelli Trail - Fruita, CO to Moab, UT

Well I am finally posting about my trip on the Kokopelli Trail, September 27th-29th 2007. The trip is put on by Bikerpelli Sports and is a 3 day, 150 mile adventure. Day 1 was a very technical and rocky section as we had to carry and push our bikes quite a bit. But the scenery was awesome and a great day of single track was the best way to start the trip. My companions were Bryan Holloway, Mike Masters and Terry Mathison, as well as 16 other riders and 5 support staff. We seemed to be the only full lycra wearing people on the ride, and looking resplendent in our Cycleworks kits! Each day consisted of a ride briefing with a hand drawn map to illustrate different sections and turns to watch out for. They were broken up into two sections with a SAG stop for lunch in between. We would pile up our bags for the cargo van to take to our camp that evening so all we had to worry about was RIDING! A full Camelbak, a few Cliff bars and we were off. The first day was about 36 miles total but we didn't get in until 4:00 or so.

Trailhead
Ride briefing with Alex & Brenda The 4 Stooges - Day 1 (Mike, Bryan, Brian, Terry)
Colorado River
Mike and Bryan

This is what the trail looked like from atop Bryan's head!!! (Hit the play button to watch the video)
Camp #1 Dinner with a view. Alex, Brenda and Durango (the dog)

Day #2

This day was our "high mileage" day. I think it was about 51 miles. Although fairly scenic, it mainly consisted of gravel roads and a small bit of pavement and finally one epic decent. The first decent from camp was the most fun of the day, and FAST! Unfortunately one guy fell and broke his hand on the same decent. He thumbed it to the SAG and then went to the hospital. Other than a few flats, Mike taking a spill into the briars and Terry losing two spokes, our trip was less eventful, fortunately.

Dewey Bridge

This section was called the 'Rose Garden'. But it looked more like a ROCK garden instead. I know that a few guys actually rode the whole thing, but a walked the majority of it. It was crazy! It was hard to imagine even the Jeeps decending or climbing it.









Here is a view looking back at the 'Rose Garden' and what we just came down.

Camp #2

Day #3

Today's "stage" would start off with a 17 mile climb on gravel roads and Jeep trails. It was very scenic until the SAG stop. After that it became really technical as we finally found the infamous Porcupine Rim trail. Then we knew we were close to Moab and the end of our trip. I am not a great decender on a mountain bike, but after getting a feel for the rocks I felt more comfortable to just let go of the brakes and bomb it! Towards the end of the trail it started to lightning, then rain, then HAIL on us. So we took cover for a little while and then finished the ride on the pavement to the final camp. All in all it was a great trip and I think we all had a memorable time.

Porcupine Rim

Watch out for the edge Bry!

Day #4 - Canyonlands National Park

After 3 days of riding most of us were sore and tired. My butt hurt so badly that the bones were aching as much as my bum. So we opted to rent a Jeep and take a little ride. Bryan and I finished off the day doing some real Jeep riding and crawled around some really cool slick rocks. The next day we loaded up the rental car and headed back to Grand Junction to fly home.

Musselman Arch

Island in the Sky National Park
Mesa Arch Rock crawling on Fins and Things Jeep Trail

Hang on Bry, it's going to be a DROP!