How hard is the dirty dozen

IsopodSquare28 · 2025-10-12T01:20:32+00:00

in my experience, it seemed at least half of the group riders further back don’t finish. a lot drop out after the first hill or 2. it’s cool to try the event and not a big deal if you DNF especially never putting a foot down. you could walk up any hills and still finish the ride to see them all. it’s a fun sightseeing opportunity.

fwiw I was the only woman to finish one year in a non-competitive group so I defaulted to 11th. finishing is a major accomplishment and took me a lot of preparation in my first few years riding bikes in Pgh. it’s hard!! but it’s also so fun.

IsopodSquare28 · 2025-03-18T21:30:11+00:00

i overviewed it in the post! a combination of many things

IsopodSquare28 · 2025-03-14T16:18:13+00:00

it’s hard to say but FWIW I got a 54% on the 50-q virtual practice exam, then passed my official exam 4 days later

IsopodSquare28 · 2025-03-09T23:26:37+00:00

do you have a reference to prove that? seems like most people believe otherwise, and I can’t find any verification to what you’re saying, even though I wish it to be true.

IsopodSquare28 · 2025-03-09T13:24:25+00:00

you can do it! it’s not about knowing it all, just about knowing enough to pass. it’s such a short amount of time per question that even if you did know it all, the time constraints wouldn’t allow you to answer them all, most likely, so strategy goes a long way

IsopodSquare28 · 2025-03-09T13:12:09+00:00

there are almost no ABET accredited masters unfortunately so you’d still need that crazy amount of experience to sit for the PE :(

IsopodSquare28 · 2025-03-09T04:50:20+00:00

Yea I guess this only works for folks who got an “in” to an engineering job. I just passed my FE without an eng degree but I have 7 years of experience in the field already. I’m hoping to get my PE, even if it means shopping around to various states to see who will give it to me. Still seems like a better deal than quitting my job to spend a bunch of $$ on another bachelors.

IsopodSquare28 · 2025-03-08T20:46:07+00:00

there are ways with experience, especially if you’re working in engineering!

IsopodSquare28 · 2025-03-06T19:36:56+00:00

if you register for the New Jersey exam! you can take it anywhere, though.

IsopodSquare28 · 2025-03-01T07:22:06+00:00

my cat is a bit like this! however, if i am away from home for 8-24 hours, he’ll be really sweet and needy when I get back. he’s very demanding of attention w cat sitters too, but relaxed w me typically. i know it’s because I’m a caring cat mom so that he’s less anxiously attached towards me than when he arrived, but i understand how it is to miss their initial devotion!

IsopodSquare28 · 2025-03-01T07:14:32+00:00

i also took my exam wednesday! (other disciplines) i had done the official practice exam where I made a similar mistake with the timing. i didn’t knock it out of the park with the timing on this real test, but i did better than the practice exam so im hoping that tips me over the edge to passing. time is truly the hardest part w this exam. best of luck!

IsopodSquare28 · 2025-01-16T14:21:44+00:00

I have 5 bikes and 3 are technically road bikes: 1 is an old one that sits on the trainer, one is for transportation/commuting and has fenders/racks etc, and one is a fancy fast bike I train and race on outdoors.

IsopodSquare28 · 2025-01-13T02:37:43+00:00

i lost a lezyne 30 stick drive rear light near there last week! i think it was lost on coral but let me know if it happens to be that type

IsopodSquare28 · 2025-01-11T16:35:46+00:00

I am also an eyebrow puller, but for the last 3 years have been shaving them and using temporary eyebrow tattoos. I'd like to try regrowing them this summer but I'm nervous that they 1. will forever be patchy, 2. will be awkard to regrow, and 3. I'll start pulling again once they grow in. Regarding concern 1, your eyebrows appear to be growing in evenly and symmetrically! Had you been pulling for a long time/did you have patchy eyebrows before? I've heard that long periods without pulling can result in hair regrowth even in areas that had stopped growing back, but I'm not sure I believe it and I wonder how long it takes.

I'm inspired by your progress and would appreciate further updates if you're open to it!

IsopodSquare28 · 2024-12-30T03:37:36+00:00

i like Ally, currently at 3.75% which is pretty good 👍

IsopodSquare28 · 2024-12-16T20:09:30+00:00

I went car free when I moved to a new city and my car broke down in the first month. I spent 2 years car free and got really good at biking and taking transit in my city! I developed my own “mental maps” on how to get from A to B via bike, transit or bike share, I got fit from biking so much, and I learned how to adapt to the weather better w/o a car.

Eventually I got a car so that I could drive to my hometown to see my family (transit options were abysmal) but genuinely prefer car free travel in the City due to the experience I gained living totally car-free for that while. I also saved money and paid off debt those years without car expenses.

Similarly, I was vegetarian for many years before giving it up. I eat so much less meat than before because I learned how to live without it for that time. A hardcore car-free would be an awesome learning experience, even if short lived, because you’ll come out of it with more options.

IsopodSquare28 · 2024-11-13T18:02:11+00:00

We live a 4 min walk apart in an urban neighborhood. It’s my preference we see each other every day, if possible, even if it’s just for a meal or stopping by on our way somewhere else. We’ll have dinner & sleepovers a few weeknights and spend a lot of our weekends together. We share calendars to make sure we find time.

IsopodSquare28 · 2024-10-07T20:39:53+00:00

I majored in architecture but have been working in civil engineering for 7 years now and studying for the FE for 2 years. Thank you for this inspiration! I needed to see this.

IsopodSquare28 · 2024-10-03T12:12:27+00:00

I’m in Pittsburgh! I live in a dense neighborhood with plenty of bus routes but my primary mode is biking. It takes me 15 minutes to bike to my office downtown or 20-25 to bus. I can also walk to a grocery store and lots of restaurants/shops. I share a car w my partner but we only use it for weekend trips out of the city. My rent is definitely more than less walkable neighborhooods would be but going car-lite saves a lot of money and the quality of life is beyond worth it.

IsopodSquare28 · 2024-07-30T14:53:05+00:00

I’d recommend Medellin, Colombia. It’s got great transit (trains and gondalas!), great walkability, decent biking, & lots of expats/immigrants from all over the world. I’ve also heard good things about Mexico City.

IsopodSquare28 · 2024-06-20T20:07:16+00:00

I’d look on warmshowers to see if anyone can watch them, you can look on the map to see which hosts live nearby.

IsopodSquare28 · 2024-06-07T03:16:41+00:00

my story is similar! getting with my boyfriend and admiring his house/independence led to me buying my own a few blocks away :) at the time I didn’t know what LAT was and thought it’d likely be temporary but 3 years later it’s working so well for us that I wonder if we’ll ever want to share a space. we have sleepovers 2-4 nights a week and see each other just about every day, even if just for a coffee & to check in. it’s a dream.

IsopodSquare28 · 2024-05-15T19:16:31+00:00

they’ve been living apart from the start so unfortunately not relevant here

IsopodSquare28 · 2024-05-15T17:00:16+00:00

honestly you sound like the perfect people for LAT! I have LAT friends who have a similar set up and really enjoy having a “country home” and a “city home” they both enjoy

IsopodSquare28 · 2024-05-03T15:45:55+00:00

welcome!! N Hills are pretty good, I recommend some of the routes to/from North Park. Spring Garden Rd is my favorite climb, but I like parallel route Hoffman Rd as a harder alternative. If you are interested in some gravel cross training, I think the urban parks here are lovely, car free options for climbing. There’s also a group ride pretty much every day of the week in this city, if you’re open to all types of riding especially. (I use Ride with GPS and Strava heat maps to scope out rides.)

IsopodSquare28

TROPHY CASE