Back at It.

After two weeks off of the bike due to illness and christmas vacation up north to see my family, I was itching to get back on my bike.  I had ordered some new cranks from Chain Reaction Cycles since they were cheaper then my discount through the shop.  I also ordered a bottom bracket to allow me to get free shipping.  So on Monday morning I headed over to the shop to install them.

From Bike Repair

The trails were to wet to try them out so I decided to head out on a road ride with my new christmas present.  I used the gorilla pod that Sarah's parents gave me to attach to the bike and it seemed to do the trick but I dont know if it will be able to handle off road activities.  With the help of my Mac it was easy to do some video editing.

Biking Lake Martin from Eli Ellsworth on Vimeo.

Lake Martin

From Blogger Pictures

After being sick all week and stuck in the house I decided to call up my friend Ashley to see if I could borrow his kayak to go paddle around Lake Martin.  I ride my bike by this lake almost every weekend but this was my first time on it.  Its a small lake with lots of cypress trees and spanish moss giving you that Louisiana swamp feeling.  I figured that I would only be out there a few hours but decided to pack a lunch and find someplace to eat out there.  I was hardly the only person out there as tons of fisherman were out on there bass boats trying there luck.  It was nice to check it out and hopefully next time I will bring Sarah out here.

Paddling Lake Martin from Eli Ellsworth on Vimeo.

Comite Classic

From South East Mountain Biking

This Saturday I competed in the Comite Classic in Baton Rouge on the Comite Trail system.  I had originally planned on heading to North Carolina for some primo mountain biking but due to Sarah's illness I thought I would stay home and help her out.  I talked the Breaux brothers into joining me for their first XC race.  James rode in the beginner category and Philip rode with me in sport. 

From South East Mountain Biking

The pictures dont really show it but the trail was pretty slick in spots due to all the snow, yes snow here in Louisiana.  I took a few spills in the first lap as my small block 8's werent the best tire choice for the conditions.  I lost quite a few places with my falls but I'm pretty sure I wasnt the only one having traction problems.  On my 3rd lap I had my rear wheel come out of the dropouts, as one of my falls had opened the quick release.  Im really disliking the Ellsworth qr skewers as they seem to have a problem staying shut.  I dont know what placed I finished as it wasnt near the podium and as of yet they have yet to post the results online.

Comite Classic

Almost Done.......

From Buoy

Well this week I completed a big step in the road for my Engineering Degree and that was done by completing my Senior Design Project which has lasted two semesters.  My teams design was for a data collection buoy that would transmit data collected in the Gulf of Mexico to a satellite that our University has deployed.  I was in charge of the communications and mechanical aspects of the design.

From Buoy

We presented our design in front of all the faculty and a few industry folks while answering questions and defending our design.  I felt out of the two other projects that were from our design group we had the best presentation and answered all questions cleanly.  This felt like a huge weight had been lifted off our shoulders but was short lived as we had a test to study for the next day and finals to worry about.

CAPE Buoy

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: satellite communications)