Bowdrill Fire Making

The Outdoor Living Skills class has started working on their bowdrill firemaking kits. This is a primitive method of building fires by rubbing two sticks togethor. Here are a few of the boys hard at work.

Possible Spring Break Mtn Bike Trip

Hello All-

Mr. Cunningham and I are considering putting together a spring break mtn bike trip to somewhere like Moab, Sedona, Santa Cruz, etc… The dates would tentatively be set for March 14th- 21st. The plan would be to rent a large house and hit the local trails everyday and ride ourselves stupid. We would also take a day off to see some of the local sites. The approx. cost of this trip would be $800.00 plus/minus and you provide your own airfare. The trip would be limited to about 6-8 riders. Please email me or come talk to me if you think that you might be interested in this trip.
Thanks
Mr. LaVoie

Paranormal (10/20/07)

Can you imagine riding a mountain bike for six continuous hours? Now imagine that except only two of the six hours are in daylight, and the rest are in the dark. That's what the mountain biking team did last weekend. People dressed up in Halloween costumes and rode their bikes around a six mile loop from 4:00pm to 10:00pm. Blue Ridge School only had two people in costumes but Captain America (Markley Anderson) and Goldfinger (Alex Stratmann) were awesome enough to compensate for the rest of us who were lacking in the creativity area. There were four people from Blue Ridge who teamed up into teams of two. Team 1 consisted of Daniel Desenberg and Joe Hemphill, and team 2 consisted of Riley Howard and Royal Shore. The real animals who completed the race solo were Mr. LaVoie, Mr. Anderson, Alex Stratmann, Chris Stratmann, Jeff Meadows, and Emory Schreiber. Mr. LaVoie recieved an award for completing 7 laps in the Clydesdale division and Blue Ridge Team 1 and Team 2 placed first and second in the duo. Team 1 completed 7 laps and team 2 completed 6 laps. Mr. Anderson and Alex Stratmann also completed 7 laps. Chris Stratmann and Emory Schreiber completed 6 laps and Jeff meadows completed 4 laps. The race was just plain awesome.

Ravens Roost Rock Climbing

On Tuesday the boys of the Outdoor Program headed out for a trip to Ravens Roost. All of the boys got a chance to climb on this 90ft cliff just south of Rockfish Gap. It was a great experience and most of the boys first chance to climb really high. After climbing the group went to Crozet where they refueled at Subway. All in all a great Tueday afternoon!

Bearfence Mtn Hike

Last Friday the Outdoor Program went for a hike up Bearfence Mtn. It was a spectacular hike rich with Fall colors and crisp fall air. Everyone seemed to have a great time.

The 8th Poor Mountain Hill Climb 10/07/07

Riley Howard, Royal Shore, Joe Hemphill, Chris Stratmann, Alex Stratmann, Vince Napolitano, Josh Snow, Jeff Meadows, Emory Schreiber, Mr.Brown, Mr. Welty, and I, sacrificed our Sunday sleep-in to drive three hours to bike a little less than 19 miles and a little over 5000 vertical feet. We woke up at 7:00am, arrived in Roanoke by 10 and the race started at 10:45. There was a three mile ride to the start of the race and the race itself was 6.23 miles up a 2500 ft. mountain. It was a hill climb so there was no downhill. The race was grueling all the way to the top, but it did not end there. The race finished 9.23 miles and 2500 ft. up and away from the parking and food area. At the top, we were all hungry and already exhausted. Most of the group agreed that the race itself was not the hardest part of the trip, but rather, the return to the parking lot. Mr. Brown blew two tires on the way down and hitch-hiked with a random person who was driving a truck. As Mr. Brown drove past more and more Blue Ridge guys, we ended up piling more and more of us into the truck until we ran out of room. Riley Howard also blew two tires about a mile away from the parking lot. Unfortunately, by that time, Mr. Brown had already picked up too many of us to fit Riley (Poor Riley). Upon returning to the parking lot we all ate copious amounts of BBQ, coleslaw, and chili only to stop two more times on the way back for snacks at a gas station and dinner at DQ. Most of us had agreed by the end that that was one of the hardest, if not, the hardest race that we have ever been in. Some of the guys say "never again" but I think that we can all agree that it was a great experience.

BRS Fun Ride

Wow!!! What a great turn out of local riders. The BRS Fun ride was a huge success. We had about 10 mtn bikers from BRS and at last count 35 riders from the greater charlottesville area. Everyone showed up around 5:30 and got warmed up with a quick game of foot down. After that we sent out advance, intermediate, and beginner rides. All of the rides were student led and highlighted our beautiful campus. Thanks to everyone who showed up and made this a huge success.

Panorama Work Day

Yesterday the boys of the outdoor program and mtn biking team headed to the Tevendale Farm to do some trail work and mtn biking. The farm is this years location for the 6 hour endurance mtn bike race entitled the Paranormal. Shawn Tevendale, founder of the Bike Factory Racing Team, coordinated the efforts for the boys. He had the CAMBC tool trailer at his place and we were able to bench trails, build berms, and widen the trail corridor. Ultimately, a great day of mtn biking and trail work. Thanks for Shawn for his commitment to young rider and local cycling. To learn more about Shawn's efforts check out http://www.bikefactoryracing.com/

George Washington National Forest 9/25/07

Yet another awesome outdoor adventure occurred last Tuesday when the Blue Ridge School Fall Outdoor Program took a trip to the George Washington National Forest. They set up some really cool routes and everyone did some sweet climbs and really had a blast.