Friday 31 May 2013

Summer Vacations here I come! (Part-3)

Meanwhile, after a month of confusions, I came to know that the Kynykny development team was closing. Having felt sorry for witnessing me struggling in java, fate gave me something to look forward to - a Tryout to join the Trek-Firefox Racing team (Fate is not such a bad guy after all). The April BBCh would be the most contested race of 2013, with riders coming in from all over India and from Australia, England, Germany,etc ,Yes, BBCh is truly international.
I'm going to be honest, when I say I was pretty scared during the build up of the race, which might have played a factor in the 2 crashes I was involved in. But I was glad to finish in 20th position out of the 107 who        started. Fortunately the staff at Trek-Firefox were able to look beyond the crashes, and I signed my contract to join their B-Team.
                                    (Surely, calls for a celebration)

Enter May, which would be the last month of being a freshman, also brought back exams. This time I had math as my supporter and nothing could stop, java did slow me down a bit. After three weeks of theoretical and practical exams, It was now time to focus solely on training, and vacationing of course.
Things to do during summer:
- Train better and give a good performance at the team training camp
- Race better
- Get a summer job ( an idle mind is the devil's workshop they say)
- Get a girlfriend, or maybe later
- Last but not the least, enjoy.

~Sarvesh

Summer Vacations here I come! (Part-2)

After heaving a sigh of relief following the uncomfortable 1st semester and the horrendous Inter-University Championships, I now turned my focus towards the Chemistry cycle and racing in 2013. My goals were simple, get that 9 pointer and win races, which would involve some planning, preparation and again a few  million of cups of tea.

Just 4 days after classes reopened, I packed my bags to head to Chikmagalur with the SKCT guys to compete in a state level race. Good company, good food and good accommodation made this journey one to remember despite a poor performance (not even a top 10 finish out of the 30 who started).
Fortunately, just 3 weeks later was the BBCh Individual Time Trial, an opportunity to plaster up my self confidence which was shattered at the moment. Good training got me 15th place out of the 70-odd who started (Ain't gonna whine about no top-10 position here). 
                                       (With proper training comes the ability to suffer)

If there were two things to point out which made the 2nd semester better than the 1st, one of them had to be  the South Indian meal in our college mess. Unlimited food for 50 INR, and food so delicious that even Dr. Hannibal would've turned vegetarian after eating here. Another factor of influence would be my crazy (ran away from a mental institution crazy), awesome friends. Having successfully gotten back on my feet in math, 2nd semester was set turn out to be a walk in the park.
"What?! That's not right!" - said fate and introduced me to Computer programming. Though I am grateful to the leaps in modern lifestyle brought about by java, I did not understand why I had to start with Java instead of basics such as C or C++! After giving a sluggish performance in java in 1st internals, fortunately I found a tutor and managed to get by.
                                              (Never really got used to coffee!)

P.S. Realized now that there's a word limit in this blog, see you in part-3.

Thursday 30 May 2013

Summer vacations here I come! (Part-1)

I finally finished the first year of my engineering course today. It has been filled with a lot of ups and downs. If I had to choose which would be a better semester in the first year, I would definitely go with the 2nd semester.

First semester was a nightmare. Having joined the college later than others left me racing against time to cover up. This obviously resulted in a lot of stress and hating myself for changing colleges. Math which had been my strongest subject was now my Achilles' heel. Studying Computers was like asking Homer Simpson to write a thesis on modern physics!
Unlike studies, Cycling during this period was growing like the load line regulation of a zener diode (I have studied way too much electronics, so bare with me.). After the podium finish in the May BBCh I joined the Kynkyny development team, at that moment I was the most excited kid on planet earth. I started training with the SKCT guys and learnt a ton load of knowledge. Come october was the Nandi uphill race, which is my favourite as I'm very skinny which gives me a natural advantage to kick some heavy ass. With figuring out the paperwork that comes alongside changing colleges and figuring out how to study, I was left to turn to my mortal nemesis, Commuting, to gather as much training as possible. Surprsingly I finished 6th overall and won the Cat-2.
After the win, I was able to convince my parents to buy myself a trainer, which so happens to be the greatest gift to mankind (according to me at least). With the trainer arriving 2 weeks before the November criterium and the crumbs of motivation from the win last month, I gave a good performance in that race ( finished 9th out of 10 who finished and 9 DNFs). December went by as fast as the old B/W movies.
January brought in the first semester exams with that the constant hair ripping and about a million cups of tea (Never really got used to coffee hence the tea). Fortunately I was able to pull through and scored 8.86 in the first semester.


Holidays after the first semester were a little short of a disaster. I was enlisted to attend the Inter-University championships, which I was looking forward to after missing out the state championships in September. After 2 days into the training camp, it hit me like a menhir that the championship would be hosting only track events and not road races. Track racing was as alien to me as Math and computer of first semester. Following the horrible experience at the championships I returned home on the eve of my birthday. Rode to the Nandi uphill to celebrate my 18th birthday and decided to turn over a new leaf the following semester. And that's the story so far.

-Sarvesh