Your daily outdoor news bulletin for October 28th, the day Congress enforced Prohibition in 1919 forcing booze underground and giving criminals something to do, mainly get organized:
Georgia Man Runs Across U.S. for Science
Josh Seehorn, 27-years-old and from Athens, GA, is currently crossing the nation on foot along the American Discovery Trail, a 6,800 mile trail that bisects the country from California to Delaware. The ADT is the only non-motorized, coast-to-coast trail in the U.S. and links up trails, rail-trails and the like through 15 states through the heartland. Seehorn has been on the trail since late March and is currently in the Iowa region on his trek from West (near San Francisco) to East (Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware), where he participated in a marathon to meet people, learn about the area, and presumably kill a few hours. The purpose of the trip is to raise awareness of envirothons – high school environmental education competitions – for which he is the coordinator and former competitor.
Forrest Gump was from Alabama, not Georgia. Don’t get the two mixed up, even though they both sport impressive beards, run across the country, and love Jenny….I mean science education. Follow Josh’s progress on his blog, his Twitter, and his Facebook.
Southwest Virginia Bike News
A couple of bike-focused stories out of southwest Virginia caught our attention over the weekend.
The first is a story on developing bike lanes in Lynchburg, VA. The city has installed bike lanes on some of its busy streets, and this has cyclists happy. Lynchburg has a bike infrastructure plan through its Region 2000 partnership and bike lanes will continue to pop up in the city. Accompanying the article on WSET.com is a video of riding in Lynchburg and the dangers it can pose. There are also comments, which despite the tinder-box subject matter, are relatively docile. This has been a long time coming in the Hill City, given that it has so many college students and an emerging outdoors scene. Read the story here.
The second story involves a university also, but not in a good way. A Virginia Tech student had the honor of meeting her University’s president last week, a feat for a school as big as Tech, but probably not the way she wanted. You see, he was driving the car that ran into her while she was riding her bike through campus. Abigail Motley was riding to class when Tech President Charles Steger hit her with his 2012 Mercedes sedan while making a right turn. Motley was checked out at the scene with minor scrapes. No word on the status of the bicycle. No charges were filed and Steger reportedly sent Motley flowers later that day.
Ligety Wins Opening Race of Season
How about a little skiing news as the snow flurries around the Southeast and we get jazzed for Sochi. American skiing ace Ted Ligety again won the opening Giant Slalom of the FIS Ski World Cup held in Soelden, Austria over the weekend. It is the third consecutive year Ligety has won the season-opening GS. And that’s not all! American skiing bad-boy provocateur Bode Miller came in 19th, a surprisingly high finish for a guy who took all last year off to rest his injured knee. On the women’s side, great American hope, Tiger-esse, pin-up, legs of steel, champion of champions, Lindsey Vonn did not compete. She plans to give her season a go next month following surgery.
