Philadelphia Phlyer

This was my second weekend of racing and it was the Philly Phlyer - a team time trial (TTT), circuit race and criterium spread over two days. I had performed reasonably well in my first weekend coming 16th, 21st and 22nd out of a field of around 50 intro men's riders, but I was looking to improve on those results in these races.

First off was the TTT (Team Time Trial) in the gorgeous Fairmount Park along the river, and it was a lot of fun - although one of our guys was late to the start line so we ended up doing the whole 6.7 mile course with only two people instead of the recommended 4 person team! This meant it was rather painful, especially as my teammate didn't have time to warm up (he locked his keys in his car before the race) so started cramping meaning I had to 'pull' (ride at the front and put in the most effort) for quite a bit during the first half of the race. Still we scored a respectable time, and ended up second... out of two intro teams! In our defence, the other team had the full 4 people meaning 2 of them could 'mule it' (where you pull for long stints towards the start of the race and pull out when you are tired) and still have the required 2 men cross the finish line. Still, it did earn Rutgers 11pts in the East Coast College Cycling Championship and it was a lot of fun.

Next up was the circuit race with a field of 25 intro men, a similar course to the TTT but with an added hill (fun!) and so a little bit longer. Originally the race was 2 laps for the intro's, but after a long delay due to a nasty crash in the category before us we ended up doing just the one lap (although that was more than enough!). The course consisted of a downhill followed by a ~2 mile straight followed by an up and down hill followed by coming back along the straight before climbing the first hill then a sprint finish. Coming up the hill halfway through the race there was a pair that had broken off the front followed by a group of 3, then I was right at the front of the main pack behind them. Knowing it was now or never I really pushed it and caught the group of 3 that had broken off. We left the main pack well behind as we headed down the straight and started cycling through the 4 of us (each taking turns pulling) as we gained on the pair. I took the lead just before the end of the straight and with a big push attached us to the back of the front pair. Unfortunately, we still had the hill to come, so we all were out of our saddles, pumping the legs and trying to stay with the group. Amazingly, an RIT rider started his final push halfway up the hill, and although I was tempted to try to catch his wheel, I knew I needed to keep something for the sprint, so stayed in 4th position to the top. Then it was a full loop of a roundabout before the sprint finish, and as we looped I started to stand up on the pedals and really work the strokes. I passed the guy in 4th as we left the circle and started gaining on the Yale man in second. Unfortunately the final straight wasn't quite long enough to catch him, and I crossed the finish line in 3rd! I was pretty ecstatic, this was a hell of a lot better than I expected to do, and the 6 of us in the front group cooled down together all thanking each other for a good race and talking with excitement for the next day and the Crit. Here's the photo finish of the Circuit race:

Road race

The Criterium was being held at the Philadelphia Naval Yard and the industrial area definitely gave the race a different feel to the luscious green parkland we had been riding through the day before. The Crit was a 6 corner crit in an 'L' shape, requiring a bit more handling skill than the Rutgers crit, especially as two of the corners were *very* tight and with the same 25 man intro field as the day before I knew it was going to be a good race. I was pretty nervous going into the race, I was worried that yesterday's result had been some kind of fluke, and I felt a little pressure to make sure I did well in the Crit too. After our coached lap (all the intro races get a 'coached' lap where we cycle slowly around so we know the course before racing) we were off for our 5 laps of the 1 mile course. I immediately dropped much further down the pack than I wanted too (around 15th or so) which wasn't in my original plan (I had hoped to stay around 5th or 6th). I therefore started to slowly work my way up the pack, gaining 2 or 3 places per lap until the final lap when I was sitting around 7th or so. As we turned onto the final straight I knew I needed a good sprint, especially as there was a slight uphill and the front 9 or so riders were in pretty close proximity. Up once more out of the saddle I started to will my legs to push that little bit harder and before I knew it I had passed one guy, then another, then another to rock home in 3rd - my second podium finish of the weekend! I couldn't stop smiling as I returned to the Rutgers tent and everyone was congratulating me. Here's the photo finish of the Crit:

Criterium

Overall I had earned myself 8 points (5 for 3rd in circuit and 3 for 3rd in Crit) as well as the 11pts in TTT (which don't count towards my individual total) placing me 4th in the ECCC Division 1 Intro Men overall championship! Unfortunately, I'm not going to have a chance to gain more intro points as, after discussion with my teammates, we all agreed that I should upgrade category and start racing in the D Men field. This means longer races (over double what I had been racing), more racers (the average D field is between 40 and 80) and much faster opponents - but I am definitely up for the challenge!

Rutgers Classic

        Back when I first heard I was heading to Rutgers, I contacted the Crew team (rowing) to see about joining the crew team when I came over to the US. I was told that unfortunately the Crew team only accepted undergraduates, as graduate students were ineligible for many college events. I was understandably disappointed, but I decided that I would try out a new sport instead.
        Now it seems a fairly common switch to change from rowing to cycling (for example, Rebecca Romero won a silver medal in the women’s quad in 2004 before winning a gold medal in Beijing in the individual pursuit in track cycling) so I decided to look into cycling with the Rutgers team.
        Immediately after contacting them I was struck by how welcoming the cycling team was - there were a few grads on the team and everyone was very generous in their advice and support. Hence, when I arrived in New Brunswick, I hunted out Kim’s Bike Shop - a local store owned by the parents of a past Rutgers cyclist. I met with Dave (who graduated a year earlier) and I eventually decided to go for a GT Carbon Sport.
        Fall term was then spent getting used to the bike. If anyone has never ridden a road bike before (like me) then you might be surprised just how different it is compared to a mountain or commuter bike. For a start, it is pretty wobbly - if you aren’t that confident and take a corner a little sharply you will end up on the floor. Secondly, you have to get used to using cycling shoes and cleats - where you ‘clip’ your shoes into the pedals enabling you to apply power throughout the whole pedal stroke, not just the downward section. Now when I first tried to use cleats I promptly fell off the bike... Luckily I was indoors at the time without anyone watching, and after a lot of practicing while holding onto the wall I finally was brave enough to try actually cycling.
        The difference between road cycling and ‘normal’ cycling is quite pronounced, but road cycling is hugely more efficient - everything is designed for maximum speed: lightweight frame, drop bars for aero body position, cleats to enable power throughout the stroke, thin tires for minimal friction, the list goes on and on. It may be a little uncomfortable to start with, but you soon get used to the new body positions and movements. I started going on group rides with the cycling team as soon as I felt confident, usually riding in the groups for the ‘over-insulated and speed challenged’, so the pace wasn’t crazy and we stayed together as a group. I also started increasing the distance I would ride, towards 25-30 miles solo, and peaking at a fantastic 58 mile Princeton group ride in January.
        In the meantime I had signed up for a triathlon (I’ll be doing a proper blog post about that later) and through a combination of exercise and good nutrition had lost 37lbs in 4 months, hitting my target weight of 180lbs (12st 12lbs) just a matter of days before my first ever cycling race - perfect timing! My first race would be the Rutgers Classic weekend (the first weekend of the East Coast College Conference), and would actually consist of 3 different styles of racing - Individual Time Trial (ITT), Criterium (Crit) and Circuit Race. It was great that my first race would be on home soil - being familiar with the course made me feel a lot more comfortable. I would be racing in the Intro Men, a category for beginners, or near beginners that meant we would be ‘looked after’ - whatever that would mean!
        After multiple emails, team meetings, sign-making sessions and beginners racing clinics, race weekend loomed, bringing with it a whole bag of nerves. On the Friday night we did the slightly mundane tasks essential to a well run race: sweeping key corners of heavy gravel, marking out potholes, flyering cars to let them know where they weren’t allowed to go. Then it was time for an early night and good night’s sleep before a 5am wake up call. Getting up that early I grabbed a quick bowl of oatmeal and headed down to Johnson Park, where the ITT was going to be held.
        
Individual Time Trial
        Unlike a lot of riders there, I was kind of looking forward to the ITT, and not unexpectedly it turned out to be my best event. The ITT consisted of a 2.7 mile course with two 180° turn-arounds that you had to complete as fast as possible. You were completely on your own, being sent off in 15s intervals and drafting (riding close behind another rider to avoid the wind) was illegal.
        I suppose it is probably the rower in me (with all those 2km tests!) but I really liked the idea of just being me against the clock - if I was fast I would do well and no external circumstances would affect the result.
        After a 5am wake-up call I was down at Johnson Park helping set-up and then I was hopping on the trainer to get warmed up for the race. A trainer is a little stand that you attach to your back wheel. Your wheel is then placed on a small cylinder that offers resistance through either fluid, magnets or wind (although the latter makes it sound like you’re powering a jet engine not just riding a bike...). This means you can ride your bike while stationary, allowing you to get your legs warmed up without having to weave your way through cars attempting to park. Before I knew it the Introductory Collegiate Men (Intro Men) were being called to the start line and I was off!
        The race was certainly hard, and my legs were pumped full of lactic acid by the end but it was also kinda fun. I had a fairly quick start averaging 23-24mph on the first stretch, trying to ensure I took Pat’s advice and took the most direct line from apex of corners to the next apex and it was great to hear some of the Rutgers guys encourage me when coming out of the first U-turn, just when I was starting to really feel it in my legs. Coming back up the course I managed to pass the rider in front of me and, after avoiding a stray line of geese, was at the second U-turn, where Cristian was yelling at me to catch the guy in front. I didn’t want to let him down and sure enough I soon passed the guy who started two in front of me, however by this point my legs were in quite a bit of pain! I was passed by a really quick DeSales guy right at the finish line (he placed 5th in the Intro Men) but otherwise was pretty pleased with my run.
        I later found out that I finished the course in a time of 7:38 and that put me 16th in a field of around 50-60 Intro Men - a result I was very happy with! It would also have placed me 78th out of the 120 D-Men (the next category above Intro) so that was pretty pleasing too. It was much better than I expected (I originally just hoped to not finish last) and after the race I was pumped for the Criterium that afternoon!

Criterium
        After finishing the ITT we cleared up the course materials and headed over to Busch Campus for the Crit around the training bubble. Now a Criterium is a style of race where riders race over a very short lap (usually around 1km) that is usually in a square with sharp 90°+ corners so technique is key. As an Intro I would only be racing for 20 minutes, unlike the hour the A Men would be racing. For the 30 minutes before the race we had our ‘Intro Clinic’ reminding us of cornering technique, a very important skill if we wanted to still be on our bikes at the end of the race! Very soon though we were lined up at the start line and setting off for 2-3 ‘coached laps’. Coached laps are something they do for intros to help us get comfortable with the course - we head round with some A riders from the different universities who give us tips and pointers for the actual race. Although these were non-competitive laps, there was certainly a bit of jostling for position to ensure a good start position.
        I managed to line up at an end of the second row on the start grid and before I knew it we were off for our 5 lap race. I soon found that I could happily keep up with the main pack (around 30 riders), and slowly worked my way towards the front. I then did something pretty stupid: I made a big push the second lap in. I was taking the first corner of the lap and realized that the rest of the front pack weren’t really putting full effort in so I whipped around the edge and took the lead. I tried to pull away and create a bit of space between me and the pack, however I soon realized just how much more difficult it is to ride on your own versus in the pack. I only managed around half a lap before the main pack caught up with me, and my legs were screaming at me by this point. To give them a little break I headed towards the rear of the main pack and enjoyed the ease offered by drafting. Unfortunately after spending my legs too early I struggled to work my way back up the pack and by the final lap I was firmly in the middle/rear of the pelaton. It didn’t help that on laps 3 and 5 I had guys crash out just in front of me on the final corner, resulting in me having to take wide lines to avoid getting caught in the carnage. As I turned onto the home straight of lap 5 I stood up and started my sprint powering through to earn the 21st spot on the board from the same field as in the morning.
        I certainly learnt a few things with my first Crit experience, that I will be taking with me into the next few weekends. Firstly, I need to be much more tactical about when I push. If I had left the push until maybe the 5th lap there is a chance it could work - if I know I will be able to put that extra burst of power when others can’t it may work out a pretty good strategy for me. I also learnt that crashes are pretty scary, but if one happens around you they are surprisingly easy to avoid (generally it just means taking a slightly non-standard line). Finally, make sure when you go for the home sprint that you have enough control over your bike - I saw one guy from a university that will remain nameless who in the sprint of my race stood up for a big push, and promptly lost control of his bike and crashed, taking off all the skin on the end of his thumb and good lot from his thigh in the process... Not fun...

Circuit Race
        On the Sunday it was the turn of the Circuit Race. This would involve much longer laps (around 4 miles) that would include more corners, a couple of small hills and a lot more riding in the pack than the Crit. The race would last for 30 minutes in total, including a ‘coached lap’ like at the Crit. The races would also get longer as the category increased, ending with a 90 minute race for the A men racers.
        The race was around Livingston Campus (One of Rutgers’ four campus at New Brunswick) and would include 8 corners and at the end a slight hill leading into a long downhill straight making for an exciting finish.
        As with the Crit, we had a beginners clinic beforehand, this time concentrating on drafting and bumping - two slightly scary, but ultimately essential techniques. Drafting is the art of riding close behind another rider to stay in their slipstream, making life much easier for yourself. To draft effectively there should be a matter of an inch or two between your wheels, so obviously it can be slightly dangerous, hence the workshop to teach us how to draft safely. Luckily I had already had quite a bit of drafting experience through team rides so this wasn’t anything new, however even with this experience, when someone slammed on their brakes in front of me I only just managed to avoid being sent flying, and in the process managed to knock the rider behind me and send him to the floor. Luckily no one was hurt and it certainly got the message across that drafting could be dangerous if someone acts without warning.
        After a few laps of the car park drafting each other we headed to the second half of the clinic - bumping. As the circuit race was longer than the Crit, most of the riding would be done in the pelaton and so there would inevitably be a little bumping of elbows etc. As was clearly pointed out learning how to bump was about making sure you didn’t fall over and not (!) a technique to take out other riders. To practice we rode over a patch of soft-ish grass and in groups of three practiced hitting elbows and shoulders, and responding by putting enough pressure back to stop the collider, but not so much as to send the other rider flying. After a few groups hitting the decks (including a spectacular fall between three members of the Yale team) everyone pretty much had the hang of it and there was time for a quick loo stop before the race started. In the toilets there were people getting changed and so I asked someone “Is this the queue for the loo?” to which I got the response “Oh, so you’re from McGill, are you?”. Never mind the fact I had my Rutgers cap on (the rest of my kit was hidden under my hoody and tracksuit bottoms) but I am pretty sure I don’t sound much like a Canadian!
        Soon enough we were on the start line and setting off for our coached lap. As with the Crit, even though this lap was non-competitive, there was certainly a lot of jostling for position - I for one did not particularly want to start at the back end of 50-odd riders if I didn’t have to! The course was much less technical than the Crit but it also surprised me just how close we were riding next to each other, this was definitely going to be interesting!
        After lining up again the race started and I managed to cement myself towards the front of the pack. After avoiding a crash in front of me (people seem to like to crash just in front of my bike...) I dropped a little towards the back of the main pack, but found that on 5th corner (which I thought was fairly easy) people were loathe to apply much power, so I simply took the outside line and was back up toward the middle of the pack. I again attacked on the uphill at the end of the circuit, putting myself again towards the front.
        The second (and final) lap I planned to attack on the 5th corner again and at the finish, but found as I turned the 4th that I was stuck in the center of the pack, without much options to get to the sides to make the push. This was pretty frustrating and it was only on the 7th corner I was able to start working my way up. Coming up the hill towards the final straight I found myself in a bit of no man’s land, I had broken off from the group but was a little too far to catch the 20 or so riders out front. Hence the final stretch was hard work and I ended up sprinting against one other guy also in the no man’s land.
        I managed to win the sprint and ended up finishing a very respectable 22nd in the same field as the day before. I was really pleased with this result - coming in the top half of all three races was much better than I expected - but I feel that if I could have attacked a little earlier and been a bit more aggressive in moving up the pack during the last lap I could have done a little better. At least I now have some idea of tactics for the next few races, and what works and doesn’t in terms of race plans for me. I definitely think in the Crit I need to just stay with the pack and push on the final lap, whereas with the circuit I need to attack a little earlier to ensure I’m not stuck in the center of the group towards the end.

        All in all I had a fantastic weekend racing - the races were completely different to anything I’ve done before but were a lot of fun.

        

Fulbright Enrichment Seminar

        Every year, enrichment seminars are put on throughout America for first year Fulbright Scholars, allowing them to discuss topics pertinent to the ideals of the Fulbright Scholarship - mutual understanding and using it for worldwide benefits. This year was no exception, and Fulbright hosted around 10 different conferences all across the country from the start of February through March, encouraging scholars to discuss the important idea of social entrepreneurship - that is using business models with a social conscience to benefit people and communities.

        Scholars were not given a choice of host city, but could specify which dates would be best suited - in my case the last weekend of February. Hence I found myself on a snowy Thursday morning at the end of February sat on a plane ready for a 6 hour cross-country flight to San Francisco, CA. I seem to have a habit of flying during pretty severe snowstorms - and sure enough by 9am around two thirds of the flights scheduled were cancelled. Luckily our flight wasn’t too delayed and before I knew it I was up in the air.

        To say I lucked out was a bit of an understatement - from random assignments for my Gateway Orientation and Enrichment Seminar I had got Miami and San Francisco! Landing in 65F sunshine immediately brightened my mood and after a quick frozen yogurt at the airport I got onto the supershuttle to the hotel at Fisherman’s Wharf. Having a hour or two before the seminar started I decided to get a quick run in - heading along the bay. The 4.5mile route took me past Alcatraz and halfway along to the Golden Gate Bridge - amazing!

        That evening was full of introductions, and culminated in our welcome dinner with our keynote address by a social entrepreneur and academy award winner who had flown from Washington DC specially to give the address, and was flying straight back afterwards - talk about dedication! The speech covered a whole range of topics from what exactly is ‘social entrepreneurship’ to how we can get involved.

        The next couple of days were focused on discussing Social Entrepreneurship and how we can get involved. This included panel sessions with current entrepreneurs, case studies and working on ideas of our own. All the scholars were split up into around 8 groups, each being assigned a topic to try and solve through social entrepreneurship.
        To give you an idea of the kind of projects we discussed, our group was assigned environment, and we developed a business model to help clean up and educate Buenos Aries in Argentina. This involved hiring unemployed to clean up rubbish from streets and parks in Buenos Aries, and in exchange offer them free education and advice to try and get them back on the job ladder. This would not run as a charity, but rather as a business, competing for contracts from the government and private businesses, and looking to make a small profit that could be reinvested in the project. All this planning culminated in the group presentations and our group earned the runner-up slot! It was a great experience to really think through a project like this, but I realized that its probably better for me to just stick with the maths...

        Part of the enrichment seminars is always a volunteering opportunity, and the San Francisco conference was no different. Three projects were being supported: teaching in a local school, clearing up local parks and, the one I was assigned to, helping at the San Francisco Food Bank. If you have never heard of a Food Bank before, this is a big warehouse where food that is donated is collected, repackaged and distributed to projects such as soup kitchens and homeless shelters. Most of the food is either ‘staples’ such as rice, pasta and beans or food that is nearing its ‘best-before’ date. This food may be perfectly edible for a long time after the expiration date, and so the food bank can repackage and distribute this food instead of it going to waste.
        Our project was going to consist of some repackaging, this time of bulk supplies of frozen carrots, frozen sweetcorn and pinto beans. These were provided to the food bank in large tonne weight bags, and we would be repackaging into 1lb bags so that they could be easily given out to the needy. After our safety brief we got to work, and I got given the job of moving the food to the tables where others would sort into smaller bags - basically, all the heavy lifting! All I can say is that frozen carrots weigh a surprising amount, and I certainly made up for not getting to the gym while in San Francisco! It was great to help out with such a worthwhile project and be part of a chain that will end up feeding thousands of people in the Bay area.
        
        On the Friday evening we split off into pairs and threes and met a local family for dinner. These hosts generally had some link to Fulbright or IIE and myself and Teresa (from Argentina) were matched with Nancy Schneider and her lovely family. Nancy had been a Fulbrighter in Germany, studying public transport solutions whilst her husband Rick worked in air travel. They had two very friendly daughters Rebecca and Katie and we all headed to their favorite local restaurant for dinner.
        The whole evening was a lovely sociable occasion, and I learnt a lot about San Franciscan life - from what the girls were doing at school (including a heated argument about the relevance of Shakespeare!) to the local sports teams and attractions. I was overwhelmed by just how welcoming the family was and after dinner (which Rick insisted on paying for, even after I offered to pay my share) we headed for a quick tour of San Francisco in the car including the town hall, china town and other local landmarks, all accompanied by a fantastic commentary from the family. It was certainly a memorable night and a highlight of the whole conference.

        On the Saturday afternoon, after presenting our ideas, we had a couple of hours of free time, so myself and Jaykar (a UK scholar studying Public Health at Harvard) went to meet up with Mary O’Hara (another UK scholar, a journalist based in SF). It was great to catch up with both of them and see just how different our Fulbright experiences have been. Both Mary and Jaykar are here for around a year, so they have had much busier years, trying to pack in all their experiences whereas I can take it a little slower on the traveling front. We met in the one British-themed hotel in SF (complete with Beefeaters at the front door!) and spent a good hour or two chatting away before heading out to see the Chinese New Year parade.
        San Francisco has the largest china town outside of Asia and so the celebrations were like nothing I’d ever seen. The amount of people out was staggering, and there was parade float after parade float ranging from the stunning to the captivating to the ridiculous (I mean, a McDonalds themed float? Honestly?). Pretty soon we had to head to the docks for our evening cruise around the Bay, and we found out just how hard it is to move through thousands upon thousands of spectators when you need to get somewhere in a hurry!

        After battling through the crowds and doing a little running we made it to the dock and met up with the other Fulbrighters, and were soon aboard our boat for the evening. The boat was going to circle the Bay while we were served dinner and drinks and possibly use the dancefloor. The first thing I noticed was how rocky the boat was - considering the Bay seemed pretty calm that evening, we were being thrown around a little, drinks were nearly spilling and eating dinner was certainly more interesting than usual! Not only that but there was a mildly terrifying DJ on the decks - she looked like she was out of the 60’s complete with headband and was pretty much forcing people to dance against their will... Luckily I managed to escape her clutches by taking regular trips up to the viewing deck where I saw some amazing sights, from the Golden Gate Bridge to Alcatraz, and all by moonlight - spectacular!

        Unfortunately, Sunday came around far too quickly and before I knew it I was saying goodbye to old and new friends, and promising to keep in touch when we got back to our hectic everyday lives. As I had managed to book a slightly later flight than a lot of people I ended up with a couple of free hours in the morning so decided to head out for another run. I headed out at around 8.30am and started heading up the bay towards the Golden Gate bridge. This time I didn’t stop halfway like last time and kept going, passing a triathlon club swimming in the Ocean, a cycling club heading out on a group ride and a running club that passed me at a speed about triple what I was going! The morning was perfect, sunny but not so warm that I overheated, and with just enough breeze to cool me down without blowing me off my feet. It truly is an amazing run and was rightly voted by Runner’s World one of the Top 10 Runs in America. Before I knew it I was underneath the Golden Gate bridge at a plaque where you can “offer your hands” to the bridge - a completely meaningless gesture, but also a nice way to feel like you had achieved something (there was even a little plaque on the floor for dogs to offer their paws!). I turned around and headed back to the hotel and the second half went even quicker than the way out. Before I knew it I was passing the shorefront shops and arriving at the hotel 7.5miles later - one of my longest runs ever, and without doubt my most memorable. As much as Fulbright organised an amazing conference, I think that run will stick with me most out of the 4 days - I really achieved the ‘runner’s calm’ and felt completely at peace during the run. I forgot all my work stress, all my responsibilities and just lived in the moment, drinking in the peace and calm. This all might sound a little arty-farty but if you run, or cycle or do any long-distance sport you’ve probably experienced something similar at one point during your training - sheer bliss!

        And with the run, that was the end of the conference. I got back on the plane for a 6 hour flight back to New Jersey, leaving the sun and warmth to be greeted by cold and rain. The four days soon seemed to fade into distant memory but they were certainly a highlight of the term so far, so thank you Fulbright!