Fitchburg Day2: Circuit Race

On tap for the second day of Fitchburg was a 28 mile circuit race featuring a two block long stairstepper climb, and a fast backside to make about a three mile loop. For most, it is easy to sit in for this race.... usually finishes all together without any time gaps. Didn't quite work out that way.

Since my TT put me way out of contention for any hope at overall glory, I figured I'd try my hand at the points jersey. The first sprint was the very first time through the line. I tried to get myself up to the front, but was still about 40 back through the turn at the bottom of the hill... so no dice for that sprint. Two laps later, I got myself into the top 15 into that turn looking to snag some points... but as soon as the road went uphill, I slid back instead of passing people, which is necessary in order to get points. From there on it was a race of survival. I kept slipping further and further back, and eventually was gapped off at the top of the hill, and the lights went out. I rode it very easily, not really caring how much time I lost... turned out to be a good strategy. The field was finishing right as they were lapping me, so I blended right in, and they placed me in the field.... at the same time. If this mattered at all, I would have corrected the officials, but their mistake moved me from 85 to 70 overall, instead of moving me down to a likely lantern rouge. So.... whatever. I'll claim that prize tomorrow during the road race.

Fitchburg Day 1: ITT

Day one of the Fitchburg stage race was a moderately uphill ITT. This race always starts with an ITT, and I really prefer the flat affairs, but this one was a bit different. Not an uphill ITT like Army's collegiate event, but gradually up 600 feet over a few miles (with some pretty good kickers) and then a flat, almost downhill speedy finish.

I used my road bike with some borrowed clip on aerobars, and it probably wasn't the way to go. Should have brought out the TT rig. The climbs were not as bad as the profile made it out to be, and I think that good times were up for grabs from those with their TT bikes out. That being said, not sure I would have moved up much from my 85th, about 2 1/2 minutes down on the leader had I brought out the Zepp. So yeah... cracked the top 90.

Tomorrow is the circuit race, which features the first sprints for the points jersey, so I will be going balls out for that bitch. Hopefully snag some points and get myself into a good place for that. Need something positive out of this stage race...

All in the details

This picture is of a wiring issue in one of the 5kW units that Siemens is operating now. It's at Phipps Conservatory near CMU in Pittsburgh, so the last few days at work I've been going down there to help with some maintenance on it. Got me thinking.

Most of the problems with fuel cells aren't the fuel cells. They work wonderfully if you give them the right amount of gas, take away the products and don't let the reaction sites clog up with carbon that you'd expect to see on a grill after charring some steak. (All that is relatively harder than you may think...)

True about a lot of things... it's all in the details. You can ride your bike alot, train yourself into the ground, but if you don't look after the details of eating well, sleeping well, and doing the right kinds of riding, it won't matter much come race time. You can take time to talk with people, but if you're constantly thinking of all the other things you have to do, and stressing about what you didn't get done, you're loosing out on the big picture. So here's to taking care of the small stuff. First off is replacing these fuses with smaller ones....

See you in the details.

Update contd

Ok, so yea. I'm living in Pittsburgh with Munas, who thinks his blog is as good as mine (actually, its far superior because I have more of a life). We have real nice place neary Shadyside/Point Breeze area. A block from Walnut St, which is a happening place. The riding is beginning to be better as we find quicker ways out of the concrete jungle and streets with needles on them.

Work is actually pretty cool. Getting paid twice as much as at school has perks, and I'm really interested in what I'm working on in general, so it's pretty good times at work. Siemens is the world leader in tubular solid oxide fuel cell technology, so it's cool to be there learning alot about what they've tried, and what hasn't worked. I do do a lot of bitch excel data work from time to time, but at the same time I'm also learning all the ins/outs of the tests being run as well, so I learn from that, and they gain from me copying and pasting, reformating, making graphs and sending it out. Good trade for now. I have a guess I might be back here some summer during grad school, and I'd like to not do that kind of work then. We'll see.

Racing hasn't gone too bad. Did pretty well in a podunk crit in WV a few weeks back. Nabbed a prime and 3rd place, so about 80 bucks. Also did a crit in jersey, which didn't work out too well because the large teams represented there gave the break too much leash. Overall I'm feeling pretty good though, and I'm looking forward to doing Fitchburg in a few weeks... that'll be fun

Pittsburgh.

Lots happened since I've updated anything on here. I've gone done up and moved down here n'at to Picksburgh (that's 'pittsburgh-ese' for "I've moved to Pittsburgh"). I'm working this summer at Siemens, the world leader in SOFC technology.


Ok, something much more important just happened. Hi surprise.

I'll update all six of you about my life later.