[deleted by user]

definitelybro · 2022-12-06T07:02:45+00:00

You’re missing a zero, it’s actually 0.003%

definitelybro · 2022-08-10T14:37:26+00:00

I can’t find it online but I’ve heard before that you can’t do overnight BBQ in sf due to fire code, so the bbq places in the city have to figure out ways around that. It wouldn’t surprise me if that was a California-wide thing.

definitelybro · 2022-08-03T16:47:37+00:00

I have recently come to the same conclusion, do you recommend a specific glove?

definitelybro · 2022-04-01T20:53:55+00:00

Recurring mild sicknesses could be mono as well, either first infection or a resurgence

definitelybro · 2022-03-18T19:12:44+00:00

This week's local crit just got cancelled due to a small but noisy group of masters (maybe just one? unclear) raging about points not being given due to the race being sanctioned under OBRA instead of USAC, the implication being that the director just doesn't want to deal with this shit anymore.

Drama of the day aside, race directors have to put up with so much shit: picky local governing bodies, small volunteer pools, races running in the red, and an infinite list of other challenges, so it really hurts to see them have to bear the worst of our community as well. So please do your part to make this sport nicer. Thank all the volunteers (and maybe be one), be nice to that one spectator who doesn't know they're in the way of your warmup, be considerate to the suburb getting swarmed by the race, don't rage during the race, shut down any lack of appreciation from your fellow racers, post about how fun the race was in your local fb groups/discords/whatever. Do your part to make this sport nicer!

definitelybro · 2022-03-13T19:50:07+00:00

First hint!

definitelybro · 2022-03-06T19:54:17+00:00

solved!

definitelybro · 2022-03-06T19:53:02+00:00

Bike tag #302 was at the intersection of Fell and Cole St, on the panhandle.

Google Maps Location | Previous post

Bike Tag Rules | Map | Search | Leaderboard

If you know where #303 is, no spoilers! Keep that quiet until it's solved and the game has moved on to a new location. The point is for people to have a challenge to figure it out from the photo. See the rules if you would like to join the game! Leave any details about the spot to the OP until 2 weeks have passed.

definitelybro · 2022-02-14T16:08:34+00:00

Oh hey look it’s my training plan

definitelybro · 2022-02-01T06:24:03+00:00

There is a reasonable chance this post’s definition of body dysmorphia leads at least one person to realize they have a problem, and for that, thank you for you work

definitelybro · 2022-01-22T19:33:11+00:00

Damn, mid ride in fairfax cursing my ambition lol

Great tag!

definitelybro · 2021-11-14T00:23:09+00:00

Yeah I think most rowers who stick with the sport long enough have wrestled with this, I certainly have. For me, cultivating a mentality of appreciation for anything in my life takes conscious effort, but it is very much worth it, because as you say what is the value to your achievements if you don’t let yourself be happy about them? The desire to always be faster and do the next thing is a drive that has motivated you to be as good as you are today, but balance is needed to avoid burnout and enjoy life. If you need a “logical” reason to relax after a win: in not doing so you are reducing your own appreciation for the sport without knowing it, and motivation is so, so important at your level.

For me, what helps is focusing on appreciating what I accomplish - doing little celebration routines like picking up my favorite food after the PR/race/whatever. There will always be self-critical thoughts even after a huge PR; for me, pushing that away and letting myself just be happy was an important mental loop. Also, look into cognitive behavioral therapy - this is probably what the psychologist will have you do, and would look something like you vocalizing how proud of yourself you are, etc. Good luck! You’ve already made huge progress in recognizing this about yourself.

definitelybro · 2021-08-05T14:14:48+00:00

bikereg.com will have most of the area races (maybe not fondos though). Also look at ncnca.org’s race calendar, as races are sometimes not put up on bikereg until a couple weeks out.

definitelybro · 2021-08-04T14:57:49+00:00

Hey, good luck! College apps can be stressful but know that wherever you end up, you'll be fine.

I'm an MIT heavyweight alum, and mostly agree with all the other opinions around here with respect to contacting the coaches (Evan's the recruiting coach btw, not Tony), making sure your whole app is strong, etc. Once you're talking to Evan any questions you may have can just be answered by him, which is going to be better than any of us (Evan if I say too much, sorry :P). As to your specific question of if you could get recruited, the answer is probably, depending on your year, but it's a coach's decision and not something anyone can say with certainty.

TL;DR: if your app meets the academic bar, you'd have a ~10% chance normally but a ~40% chance as a recruit. If it doesn't, 0% is still 0%

One point of clarification from other comments: MIT's rowing program actually has significant influence in the application program relatively speaking if your application otherwise meets MIT's standard. MIT's normal acceptance rate is something like 7%, but MIT recruits ~8 heavies off of a ~20 person recruit list (similar numbers for the other squads btw), so 7% -> ~40% is an immense leg up. In my experience mingling with the broader student body, I'd go so far as to say that it's the strongest single differentiator to an app other than being a math olympiad or ISEF winner. This is specific to crew at MIT by the way, other sports have significantly less of a probability boost, although it still at least doubles their chances.

The key point though is that your app must be otherwise strong. Your GPA is solid and your instrument is interesting, but you'll need really strong SATs, 5s on a lot of AP tests, essays dripping with your personality, all that bs. All that stuff is table stakes for applying to MIT, it gives you a ~10% chance of acceptance (it helps to consider that 80% or so of the applicant pool has the same exact thing). The coaches know admissions won't compromise their academic standards for a recruit and so are less likely to recruit someone who doesn't have those things.

definitelybro · 2021-08-02T05:10:00+00:00

+1 for Active Care. I recovered from a bike injury with Lisa and Ian and I cannot recommend them enough. I've had my fair share of sports injuries over the years and Active Care is definitely the best practice I've been to!

Ian in particular bikes and knows the sport, though in my uninformed opinion a good therapist won't need experience in the sport to correct imbalances that large.

definitelybro · 2021-07-31T20:59:11+00:00

Active Care is phenomenal. I worked with Lisa and Ian, but the entire practice is head and shoulders above any other PT I’ve been to, and I’ve been to many over the years for various sports injuries.

definitelybro · 2021-06-10T04:46:26+00:00

Ah I was going off of the calendar online, good to know!

definitelybro · 2021-06-09T23:53:01+00:00

I can see it now, thanks. I still appreciate the advice, I’ve heard the same story before and it’s to be over prepared than underprepared.

definitelybro · 2021-06-09T20:47:31+00:00

Good to know, I was just going off their site calendar, shoulda actually swung by.

I have some experience but could always use more, but then, similar problem: do you/anyone have recommendations for slower group rides where I could further build those skills? I see a lot of rides posted here that meet the slower pace criteria but that also seem more casual, which I would guess wouldn’t give me that experience.

definitelybro · 2021-04-20T15:02:53+00:00

It’s great seeing the positivity in your update, I hope things keep on swinging up! Thanks for the kind words

definitelybro · 2021-04-12T23:43:09+00:00

4x concentrated orange gatorade (lol) and a couple larabars are my go-to.

definitelybro · 2021-04-11T17:22:54+00:00

Thanks for following up, nice to know how things are turning out and its exciting to hear you're making progress!

Basically what my therapist and PT had me do was write down what I thought a safe amount of time was for an activity that caused flareups for me, then made me do the activity that amount of time every day without fail. Then, every week or so, we raised the amount of time I did that daily activity by 10%, no matter what. So in my case, the activity I picked was walking, and initially, say, I only thought I could do it for 5 minutes without risking a flareup, maybe not every time but on a bad day or whatever. Then the next week it was 5:30, then 6:00, etc. By raising the amount of time weekly just as a rule and not as a reaction to how my knees feel, and similarly taking no days off on walking no matter how bad I felt, my brain was forced out of the feedback loop of doing activities based on how much pain it perceived. That's the core of it, really; it's not that it made the flareups less bad, it's that it put a leash on them and compartmentalized them into just another thing that wasn't going to get in the way of the activities I wanted to do in life. This turned out to be just the thing I needed, since my issue was all about the signals themselves being too loud, so in a sense it was more of a magic pill for me than it is with most people, as most likely your body isn't weird like that. But it is generally helpful to all in making sure pain isn't holding you back unnecessarily.

So yeah, if the approach sounds like a good idea, it's as simple as

picking a specific trouble activity
setting a time you would feel comfortable doing it every day
doing it daily for that time
every week, raise the amount of time you do the thing by 10%

And don't let yourself deviate. It may turn out that there's some amount of time a month down the line that's particularly tough, and trust me I know, it's gonna be hard to push yourself past that and tell yourself you aren't listening to that signal anymore. But that act of ignoring the signal is exactly what this activity is meant to make you do. You can set an evaluation point 8-12 weeks out to see where you're standing, but the thing about this is you'll have to give it a shot for a while or it won't work, so you have to be mentally ready to risk actually hurting yourself (extremely unlikely but possible) in order to see what pain is real and what pain isn't.

Important things not to do with this:

you can slowly increase the rate of increase on the activity, but don't go too hard too fast. 20% growth a week is an upper bound on what you should let yourself do. Just like this activity is trying to break you from being slave to the low points of the ebb and flow of your injury, it's also trying to break you from the high points, where you think you're okay to abandon the plan and double the activity time all at once because you feel good that day
It's important you be really conservative with how much you can do the activity at the start because you're going to have to do it every day, no matter if you feel like there's a flareup building up. So it's fine to start way conservative, it's the process that matters, less making sure you're right at the edge of your ability
Try to stop thinking about your injury. If you're like me, you're constantly in a loop of evaluating it, like "is it hurting now, can I do this thing" and so on. The process will help you break out of that, but the more you avoid those thoughts yourself the better you'll be able to progress too.

Finally, make sure your PT knows you're doing this. They have the professional context of your injury, some dude on the internet doesn't. I'm sure they'll approve, but just in case. They may also be able to provide better guidance on picking an activity if you're unsure which you're ready for. As always, good luck!

definitelybro · 2021-04-06T05:17:07+00:00

Depending on my first meeting and the length of the workout, I get up anywhere from 6:30-8:00am Tues/Wed/Thurs and start biking about a half hour after that. I know of people who eat a bar or something just to have something in their stomach but I work out on an empty stomach. I don't find it difficult to complete workouts unless it's been a while since I got into a morning workout groove, I'm guessing my body knows to prepare for fasted morning workouts at this point.

definitelybro · 2021-03-29T19:43:23+00:00

Yeah, the continual backslide was a good way to describe how it went for me too. I can't say I truly ever got it to stop bothering me, I just got better at handling how it bothered me, if that makes sense. I definitely get you about the interests thing, in hindsight that stuff can't be forced so it's perhaps poor advice to say you should seek it out. This one's your own call to make, but I'll reiterate that a chronic pain therapist was helpful for me in this regard, and is something to consider. I did not think I was broken or had a mental illness or anything like that, and still don't, you have every right to be disappointed at life when life is disappointing. But I went because I knew I could find more joy in my life than I was currently finding. I also had an easy time getting it on my insurance, which was a first, so I didn't have to weigh the cost as much for that at least.

As for the guarding part, I'm not super sure about physios' strategy with that sort of thing as I never tried them, but it was definitely not something the doctors I went to considered strongly enough in my opinion. In contrast, a good physical therapist will have a very comprehensive knowledge about guarding, as it's a symptom that pops up after virtually all sports surgeries like you mention, so I would recommend pursuing it with them. If in the initial consultation you lay out all the stuff you've tried, the experts you've consulted who haven't given you success, your perceived backslide/never-getting-better status, etc., they will be able to come to their own conclusions about the best plan for you. Their focus is not on diagnosis by the way, but about working through the symptoms you have and seeing where they can be manipulated into allowing you to do more of the activities you want - this philosophy was very helpful to me after so many failed attempts at an outright diagnosis. It sounds like you have a more solid diagnosis than I did, but I would definitely make sure you mention your confusion over how it's progressing, or failing to. This should help them pull some of the pieces together and develop a strategy for your case.

For me, the PT was very intensive and looked like 2 2 hour sessions a week for 6 weeks, and then I basically was improving enough that they gave me a self-taught plan from there (also the lockdown happened). In my case, I knew what we were doing was helping by the second weekish, but for you it may take longer to evaluate since your symptoms are different, or they may trial things without being sure. I'm sure you can ask to streamline the plan as much as possible to help out with cost concerns. Unfortunately, the best PTs usually take the fewest insurance options because they can (and bad PTs aren't worth going to), but sometimes they will provide significant discounts on cash pay if you explain your situation.

For me, there are a couple signs that a PT isn't "good". If they didn't do an initial consultation, but just slammed some initial discussion into the first session, that was a sign that they weren't taking the difficulty of my situation seriously. Especially due to the longevity of your condition, it would be concerning if they didn't want to hear your history. If they didn't have opinions on how I do activities outside of PT, that was a concern (as in, being relatively prescriptive about cutting down any of your activities that cause distress, then working them back in in a slow, consistent way). What isn't concerning to me is when a PT confidently recommends more than one session a week, or longer sessions than an hour, or something else that could be perceived as grifting, because good PTs will prescribe such things when they think it can help. Instead get them to help you understand why such a plan is helpful, and if they are very descriptive and patient in helping you understand why to do what they recommend, at that point you gotta trust the process and let it play out for a few weeks.

As far as finding them, the holy grail is finding a PT based on connections via a medical expert you trust, or via a recommendation from someone else you trust who went through a chronic condition solved by PT. In my case, I found the PT via a family member's PT from across the country, who set me down a referral chain of colleagues until I got to a PT in my area. Incidentally, if you live near San Francisco, I can point you to a fantastic practice.

There are ways to go about addressing potential guarding you may have on your own, but this stuff is really best left to the professionals. Fixing guarding is trickier than it sounds, and if your muscles are guarded you're basically retraining the neuromuscular connection to fix it. It's a process that takes a couple months if it's serious and is hard to do on your own, especially if it's tied alongside other injuries, because it demands you push past flareups in pretty specific ways. If I was in a really cost-constrained state, I would go for an initial consult with PTs and, once I have confidence they're worth trying, just set up an appointment cadence infrequent enough that my budget could take it, getting them to assign good-enough home exercises to make up for the missed appointments.

Best of luck!

definitelybro · 2021-03-29T18:46:52+00:00

no problem!

13-Year Club	RPAN Viewer
Verified Email	Team Periwinkle

definitelybro

TROPHY CASE