Silverton: RR State Champs

After 2 of the most hectic weeks of my life to this point it's off to another race.  This one the OBRA Road Race State Championships held at Silverton, OR.  Never heard of it?  Me either.

Gainful Employment!

Someone recently told me that the average college graduate must send out 38 resumes/applications before obtaining their first job.  I don't know if I refused to believe this because in my mind that was an obscene number or because I didn't want to admit that I was fast approaching that number.  SRAM, Acumed, Stryker, Johnson & Johnson, Biomet, Miosek, Specialized, Trek, Nike, Oakley, Intel (just to name a few); they all had my resume and all I'd received were polite emails (read: form letters) explaining that although my skills and background (I have no background) were impressive they've chosen to go with another candidate.  And then out of nowhere I receive an email from a teammate essentially say "send this guy your resume."  End of message.  After a blind email thinking I was throwing my resume into yet another abyss I received a prompt reply and an interview the following day.

Shortish story even shorter:  I'll be working at Renovo Bicycles as a design and test engineer.  I had to choose between working at a bike shop mindlessly adjusting derailleurs and building kids bikes and a real, honest-to-God engineering job.  No contest.  Work starts Monday.  Welcome to the good life.

Life at Mach 3

The last few weeks have been kind of hectic.

Tuesday PIR

Another Tuesday, another PIR.  I typically don't post race reports for PIR simply because it's a training race but I found a few pictures from last night so I thought I'd share.  Both photos are from Jose Sandoval.  Hit the jump to see them.

Tour of Walla Walla: Stages 2, 3 and 4

So I've done a poor job of posting updates about Tour of Walla Walla.  Below is a brief recap from each stage:

Stage 2:  time trial
I was sitting 5th GC after Friday's 1 second time bonus.  Looking back this was really stupid.  1 second doesn't mean crap if you can't protect it.  I went a little too deep on Friday's stage chasing that KOM bonus and definitely felt it Saturday morning.  At the start gate I was chasing guy on a regular road bike and getting chased by a Canadian junior on a TT setup that was worth more than a year's worth of college.  Between my mind and sore legs I wasn't totally into this TT.  I tried, I really did but I just couldn't will my legs to push any harder.  I could blame it on the wind, the course or Canadians but in the end I didn't get it done.  This was my course and I was ready to tear it apart but I let my mind get in the way of my legs.  Wound up 29th, 2:20 off the leader, putting me 21st on GC, 2:22 back.  Definitely not ideal.  I guess this is just one hard lesson that every race matters, every second counts and there's no place for mental weakness in a race like this.

photo courtesy of Wheels in Focus

Tour of Walla Walla: Stage 1

Yep, another stage race, this time in my old stomping grounds:  Walla Walla.

While I'd targeted this race since November I lost almost all motivation after Cherry Blossom.  Part of it was the depression/denial about the Jamis but also my legs were totally shot after Cherry Blossom.  The other part was that I graduate in 3 weeks, have no idea what I'm doing and trying to wrap up our senior project and projects while still training.  Not the best combination.  This past week was a cascade of little sleep, poor eating and too much stress.  Whatever.

(another) new bike

So remember the picture below and how I described myself as "cracked out of my mind"?