On Wednesday, I had my cert sim for my position as Rendezvous Procedures Support (RPS). It’s a backroom flight control position for the shuttle supporting the Rendezvous Guidance and Procedures Officer (RGPO) in the front room of Mission Control. I passed! As soon as I finish the rest of my off-console tasks, I’ll be officially certified! I will work STS-124 in June and then start training for RGPO after that. Very exciting. (I’ve also been assigned to my first flight as lead RGPO for STS-129. However, that flight is a very long time away. Sigh.) The sim was hard, and I felt like there were some things that I could have done better, but overall I’m happy to have passed.
Because I had a long day on Wednseday, I was able to take off early yesterday for my first ride on my new tri bike! I am in love with it, so much so that I even made it the wallpaper of my phone. It is so pretty! And shiny! For now, I’m calling it Red, for obvious reasons. (It is red.)
It was a good ride. I made it short, only 9 miles, because I wanted just long enough to get a feel for the bike without starting to get uncomfortable. Observations:
- The aero position, where I’m down on the bars with my arms tucked in and streamlined, is new to me and I expect an increase in back aches and neck aches as I adjust. I could feel my neck tightening after only 20 minutes.
- This bike, due to a combination of being lighter and putting me in aero position, also feels less stable. I don’t trust myself at slow speeds in the aerobars — I just can’t maneuver very well. But I expected that.
- This bike is light! As I stood outside my apartment waiting for Garmin to find some satellites, the bike was leaning against my legs. A big gust of wind came along (it was very windy yesterday evening) and almost blew the bike over!
- I’m faster on Red. At one point, I looked down and I was going 25 mph. Granted, this was just after a slight downhill and was with the wind at my back, but still. I never go that fast. Even when I turned back into the wind to head home, I never saw my speed drop below 15 mph. I averaged 16 mph for the ride, and that was with a ton of wind, including stops at stoplights, and taking the first 5 minutes super easy.
- The seat that came with the bike is not so comfortable. After only 10 minutes I was in pain! I will definitely be looking for a new saddle.
- I remembered why I usually avoid riding outdoors immediately after work. Way way WAY too many cars on their way home for the day.
The official Lonestar photos are online, so here are two for you to enjoy. In the first one, I’ve got my bike gloves in my mouth. Strange, I know, but it was only a few tenths of a mile into the bike and I hadn’t put my gloves on yet. I prefer to just grab them in transition and wrangle them on while riding. For short races, I don’t even wear them.
From the photos, you might not guess that it was sunny enough to burn my shoulders to a crisp. Burn them enough that they took until last night to recover even enough to start peeling. Yeah. Awesome. I will have some great tan lines for the near-strapless dress I’m wearing for Karen’s wedding next weekend. In other news: I am an idiot who apparently cannot apply sunscreen correctly.
Lots on tap for the weekend after a change of plans that means Jose and I are not going to Corpus Christi. BAM meeting tomorrow morning, volunteering at the BAM water station at Angie’s Half Crazy on Sunday morning. Anybody out there running this one?
Crosstrain says
Not sure who’s running the Half with HARRA races on April 5 (Trolley) and April 9 (LP). I believe Jay is providing race support. Let us know how it goes, I’m curious about the course. I’m driving a SAG wagon for the Space Race on Sunday(Space City Cycling Club’s hosted yearly race).