big john

Remember that descent in the last stage of the ToC where 2 riders went over the guard rail? Well, we went down it today and a friend 2 riders ahead of me went down hard in a turn. Somehow the guy following him avoided the bike which came flying out into the road, blocking the lane. I got stopped just before hitting it but 2 guys following me fell over and a third did some cyclocross into the weeds.
Anyway the crasher landed on his face in much the same way he did a few years ago when he lost part of the use of his left eye. It took a while before he could convince his wife to let him do the long rides again and I always thought it was a bad idea. I yelled for him to be careful when he passed me a few turns before the crash, but I still feel like crap.
He's supposed to go home from the hospital tomorrow, I sure hope he's ok, and I kinda hope he doesn't come back to riding.

mattm

Wow that sucks, hope he's ok indeed.

big john

Thanks, Matt.

Homebrew01

No prize list ?

spectastic

why would I commit to buying a motorcycle without ever having ridden one before?

furiousferret

Cat 5's. We get medals, which I have to smelt and sell to get any cash...

shovelhd

What most of us did. You ride one off road. But hey, if you want to pay somebody to use their bike to see if you like riding, I guess that makes sense. Bikes aren't usually provided for the advanced course. Good luck with your decision. I miss my bikes. If everything falls into place I'll be a Motoref in a few years.

Creatre

I did the MSF course and got my permit. Then got my motorcycle at a later date. Then did the advanced course on that. I'm not sure if I would have normally done the MSF course first, but it was a gift to just have some fun, and it got me interested in motorcycles. It was nice though because when I went to get my motorcycle, I was able to drive it off. Very cautiously though. The 100cc course bikes could not compare to a real 1000c monster. I felt very good after the advanced course, at least got rid of a little anxiety of having all that power and weight.

gsteinb

Cramping something beyond belief

Homebrew01

I pulled my race bike out of the shed where it's been sitting since I last raced it. Tires still held air, so I decided to take it for a ride. What a difference good wheels make ! It almost made me want to push myself.... Almost.

echappist

ugh, apparently people are throwing tacks onto a local crit course. outrageous as it is, but even more so given that someone pulled a similar stunt 4 years ago...

not sure if they caught the bastard last time; hopefully the perp gets caught this time

shovelhd

I'm looking for motivation. Local crit course, are these sanctioned races or underground?

echappist

sanctioned. actually organized by a fellow 33-forumite

great course: 2 90-degree corners and one 70 degree where you descend into the turn and then climb out of the turn. police are informed, but still troubling... i was going to race there today until i caught something earlier this week

shovelhd

So these are training races? What are they competing with in the area? It could always be some schmuck with a coal rolling pickup that hates cyclists but there could be something more. Has there been any conflict over the races?

echappist

once a year race, held in town center of a small town about 40 miles SW of DC. it does close the two major avenues of the town, but i'm not too sure about much else.

the only other conflict i know of is from 4 years ago when there was another tack-throwing incident

Ygduf

It only takes one ass to spread tacks.

spectastic

I plan to ride it to commute. If I did that, I was going to want the MSF course anyway. The stuff they teach in that course is foundation for building good riding habits.

and yea part of it was to build a little confidence before I get my hands on one. we never went fast in the course (<20 mph), and it was a 125cc, but I think Imma go for the 500 or 650 anyway

globecanvas

"John it's my pleasure to upgrade you. Thank you for not whining and begging."

- NYC USAC upgrade coordinator

topflightpro

My wife won two packages of salted ham for taking third place in the Women's 4 race this weekend.

It apparently has so much salt, it doesn't even need to be refrigerated. Part of me really wants to try it out. Another part of me doesn't.

rideaz

That's a really terrible prize! Was the race held at the State Fair?

spectastic

those of you who do research for a living. are you able to put in your weekly 40 hours and then forget about work, or does work follow you wherever you go?

I know for professors that's pretty much out of the question, so I suppose my question applies more towards laboratory scientists and industrial R&D people



and oh my god Internet Explorer is such a piece of ****. my work computer can only use IE. stupid..

rankin116

It depends. Some weeks I'm super busy, other weeks I barely work 35 hours. I do infectious disease research though, all depends on cycles of my experiments.

spectastic

where do you work?

I also have a question about necessity of a graduate degree to do research. My understanding is that a PhD makes it a lot easier to start out in a leading role in a research project, while someone with a MS or BS may plateau being a research assistant, and maybe later move onto a managerial position, which I don't want. I think I'd like to stick to the technical side. is phd a good idea for the long term? or is a masters adequate. I actually had a 1 on 1 with the R&D manager on our site once, and he told me that he was on the fence like I am right now. He chose to work in industry with a BS, but his entrepreneurial mindset naturally led him to take on projects that led him to work in R&D. From my conversation with him, he wouldn't recommend getting a graduate degree when you have the option of working in industry for much greater benefits. I don't know if he's actually right, if this logic is exclusive only to certain companies or industries, or if he was just blowing smoke up my ass in order to make me stick around this company.

rankin116

I'm a PhD student, so my only input here is what I've heard from career talks. If you want to be seen as a scientist, you need a PhD. The field is flooded with them now, so to be a good researcher with a MS will basically get you nothing in a research based career path. Business or management? Sure, but you should then plan on getting an MBA while you're working. I went to a career talk/workshop for two days at the New York Academy of Sciences, it was ~$300, sold in a week. So many PhDs now and so many looking to get out of academics.

Ygduf

YES - this is one of my all-time favorite skits.
#t=11