Sun, Apr 04 - Day 8	WhooHoo! The Quest is over, and we're done! As it is Easter, we attended church this morning, and started on the final 45 miles after lunch.  I wasn't in a hurry, as the last 20 miles or so was down Emerald Island which is a very "bike friendly" community.  The weather was perfect at about 75 - 80, there was a cool breeze, and I was enjoying my "victory lap" along the oceanside ride. Pictures for the past two days have been updated.  I'm now taking a well deserved break with my family for a vacation on the beach, and will be back in touch by e-mail when we get back home in the near future.
Sat, Apr 03 - Day 7	I went 75 miles today, with 45 to go to the goal.   I'm a bit more tired than expected, so more details tomorrow.
Fri, Apr 02 - Day 6	The car trip with the family to where we left off yesterday was blessedly uneventful. The bike ride, on the other hand, was more challenging than expected as day topped off at 95 degrees.  In spite of the heat, I was on target to pedal 50 miles but I ran over a nail at mile 41 and got a flat rear tire.  Darissa and I found a local hardware store that sold what I needed for repairs, and we replaced the inner tube after dinner.  A very short test ride later, it appears the bike is ready to roll.  With only 120 miles left to the destination, the end of the quest is in sight! When we found a hotel for the evening, I told Marie at the Comfort Inn about the Quest. She was kind enough to give us $20 off of each of the room rentals for the night. You can find their web page link here, and I'd recommend them if you're ever staying in Clinton, NC as they're good people. We did forget the USB cable required to load the pictures from the camera to the laptop, so I'll upload the pictures tomorrow.
Thurs, Apr 01 - Day 5	Only planned a half day of pedaling today, as Dad had committments back in Asheville this evening, so we stopped the trip a bit before noon for the drive home.  Dad, thank you again for all the help and support on the trip - I enjoyed the road trip with you! As my wife's vacation and the children's spring break starts this afternoon, we'll drive back together to the point I stopped at tomorrow and finish the bike quest over the next few days.  The plan is to get back there early enough so I can pedal in the afternoon, and get a full day in on Saturday.
Wed, Mar 31 - Day 4	107 miles - a new personal record!  And we're past the halfway mark already, with less than 200 miles left to the ocean.  Maps and pictures added to the website as well.
Tues, Mar 30 - Day 3	Got started pedaling at 9 AM, but got into a bit of trouble near the town of Columbus by 11 AM.  The original map had me going down 74, but that was a major highway and not just a state road.  As a result, we changed our route to take the roads north of the freeway, and stopped again at 1 PM to scout the roads ahead by car.  Ended the day at a small town about 15 miles north of Charolette.  This also added a few miles to the total trip, which will be close to 552 miles with the modified route.
Mon, Mar 29 - Day 2	Rode from about Gneiss to Saluda, which got up to about 4400 ft in elevation in Highlands.  Short blog, as I'm tired.
Sun, Mar 28	Rain delay to the quest, as there was a significant storm along the planned bike route.  Still, I planned for a few days of not being able to bicycle, but I hadn't planned on using one this early on.
Sat, Mar 27 - Day 1	We're off to a great start!  Dad and I were driving to the tennessee border by 6:45 AM, and got there to start just after 10:00 AM.  Officially, I rode about 74.5 miles (and went through all batteries) in roughly 9 hours.  What's not listed on the map is where I took a wrong turn in Murphy, NC and went North on Hwy 19 for 8 - 10 miles.  I called this "a scenic detour by which I encountered scenery I would not have seen otherwise."  Dad had a much shorter word for it. "Scenic detour" aside, it was a good day, and where I'm a bit sore, I'm feel I'll be ready to make more miles tomorrow!  Updated the maps, blog, and will add pictures soon.
Fri, Mar 26	The Quest starts tomorrow!  We're up and on the road at 6:30, so we can be at the Tennessee / North Carolina state line by 8:30, and I feel ready to pedal!
Sat, Mar 21	Rode only 20 miles one way, but from 2400 ft elevation to 5400 ft elevation uphill.  Needless to say, the bike ride back down was a lot faster... Only one week to go until the Quest starts!
Sat, Mar 14	Computer problems with my e-mail account led to a recent donation being accidentally deleted.  The problems have been fixed, but I know at least one donaltion was removed before we could add your name to the list of sponsors and get in contact with you...If you've tried to add a pledge to the account recently, please use the "pledge drive" form to recontact me.  My apologies for the inconvenience.
Sat, Mar 11	Doing the "single Dad" thing for a few days while my lovely wife takes a much overdue mini-vacation and goes to visit her Mom.  Given that it's me and "the crew" for a few days, not sure how much training I'll get in, but I reman optimistic!
Sun, Mar 07	Beautiful day for a ride, and lots of cyclists out and about today!  Rode north (uphill) on the Blue Ridge Parkway to about 3200 feet, and where I started was at about 2400 feet in elevation.  Round trip of the whole day way about 30 miles, but I was a bit disappointed that I didn't go farther. I need to make some adjustments as the balance of the bike was off...  for instance,  going downhill the bike would start to fishtail if I went over 20 MPH, and uphill felt like I was lugging an anchor.  I'm pretty sure that had to do with all the extra stuff I brought to test out the trailer, which added about 50 pounds to the bike.  I'm going to try the Blue Ridge Parkway again soon and see if I can't get father without the trailer and all the extra weight.
Sat, Mar 06	Got and installed the bicycle trailer!  It's a one wheeled device that can carry two panniers (saddlebags) for extra stuff.  Pictures taken and added to the site with me posing by the bike in "high visibility" safety yellow... I'll take it out tomorrow for an extended ride to see how it works!
Feb 27,2010	We drove out west to the Tennessee border as a family so I could scout out the path through the mountains and make sure the route was safe for biking.  As we passed one of many yellow road signs with a outline of a bicycle and "Share the road" written underneath, my youngest son stated, "Dad, isn't that backwards?  It's the cars that take up most of the roads..."
Feb 22,2010	YESSS!!!  We've reached the $2000 mark for the pledge drive, and are trying to raise $5000 for the MS Society!  Thank you, thank you, thank you to all our generous sponsors so far!
Feb 21,2010	Only 25 miles today.  Unfortunately, the "home brewed' GPS Datalogger doesn't hold up to the thousand natural shocks that the e-bike is heir to, so I'm looking at alternatives.
Feb 20, 2010	Rode about 56 miles today, from Asheville to the border of South Carolina and back.  Dad was kind enough to meet me in Tuxedo NC and join me for lunch. The trip took about 5 hours, including the time taken for breaks and a sit down lunch.
Feb 19,2010	Built a GPS datalogger from a kit, and I plan on testing it out tomorrow on the trip.  The information it records will be found on the "Maps" tab when it's uploaded.
Feb 17, 2010	Modified the website to add a "photo album" page, which shows the e-bike with the travel cases attached.  I've also included the "team Seth" logo.
Feb 16, 2010	Rode about a mile to the local print store where I had a logo designed for the team walk. It was about 24 degrees outside, so I wasn't up to a long trek.
Feb 11, 2010	Two items today:  First, I looked at the elevation of the map and realized that the path climbs about 2000 feet in the first 120 miles of the trip, with a 1500 foot uphill happening in about 15 miles of that.  The good news is, it's almost all downhill from there... Second:Thanks to the generosity of the folks that have signed up so far, the pledge drive is over $1000 so far!
Feb 07, 2010	Rode from where I live in Asheville to Montreat College, which is about 30 miles round trip.  Took 2 hours, including a few short breaks for water.  Weather was in the mid-to-high 30's, but the roads were mostly clear of snow, ice and water.
Feb 04, 2010	Modified the ride and added the cases back to it which increased the "Geek factor" but it can now carry 60 lbs of batteries. Took a short (5 mile) test ride before the weather turned bad and made minor adjustments.  The new tires will take some getting used to, as they're a bit slicker, but maybe riding while it's below freezing with ice / snow on the ground may have had something to do with that?
Feb 03, 2010	Got my bike back with the upgraded tires and mud flap for the front wheel.  I'm still not feeling 100%, so I'm pushing back the long test ride until this weekend, but I will update the bike pictures for the website.
Feb 02, 2010	Asheville still has snow on the ground and I was feeling under the weather, so this was a good day to update the website.  I talked to the good folks at the MS Society here in NC, and we're going to set up a MS Walk page called "Team Seth."  This means any funds raised from this bike quest will be combined with the funds raised from the MS walk this May.  Doing so counts towards the local chapter's goals for the year, and commits a set percentage of the money raised to be used locally with the rest going to the general MS Society funds.
Jan 30, 2010	Asheville saw 8 inches of snow today, so maybe it's for the best that my bike is still in the shop.  Worked on setting up EdsNCbikeQuest.com instead.
Jan 26, 2010	Had a blowout!  After riding about 4 miles and taking care of errands, I was on the way home going downhill and hit a branch on the road.  The front tire is fine, but the rear tire wouldn't keep any air in it; it looked like it had the green "fix-a-flat" goo over about a 9 inch area.   Taking it to my favorite bike shop to upgrade the tires to something a bit tougher and get a replacement inner tube.