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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Lessons of the Tri

Today I am repairing my bicycle. This is a task that, traditionally, I have taken to the bike shop to accomplish. Truly, they can do in 10 minutes what takes me 2 hours. But in making the commitment to race in a triathlon, I feel that I've also forged an inner agreement to learn about transportation technology. To ramble a bit, I started this journey on the highest of the high end, building a database of the world's fastest driving machines, exploring their pedigree, performance specifications, evolutions and design patterns.

Like marathon runners, the top handful of exotic cars are both light and powerful. They make do with smaller engines, amped up to outrageous power via the use of supercharging technology (where the air power of the exhaust fumes is re-inserted into the main torque generator), and shave off every last ounce to achieve essentially ultralight mass. Add to that superior aerodynamics, and smart gearboxes, and you get ultimate performance.

So coming back to present-day reality... My model of the triathlon goes something like this: the tri is a model of our own human evolution, our human race as it were. We began as aquatic beings (mythology: Atlantis, creationism: the fifth day, evolution: prokaryotes), and that is the swimming. We then crawled onto land, and that is the running. Finally, we created technology, and that is the bike. Yes, yes, I know that the formal order of the tri is swim / bike / run, however, when I make my own race, it will be swim / run / bike : sea / land / tech.

I've also, in the past few years, learned to do some primitive maintenance on my motor vehicles. And again, it takes me three to 10 times longer than the professional mechanics, yet I get the satisfaction of knowing how this magical machine which transports me works.

A year or so ago, I found myself carless. So I caught rides with friends, and more often than not, biked everywhere. I even once biked 35 miles to a yoga class in the suburbs. As I got more used to it, I found the bike completely fascinating. Whereas running was a jarring sport, making my bones and body numb by the incessant and infinitely repetitive impact of feet on hard pavement, the bike had this feeling of... of ultimate FLOW. Like, it really felt, especially once I transitioned from my mountain bike to a racing bike, like this was the Ultimate transformation of power, from human energy to linear velocity. With every stroke of the pedals, I felt the direct transfer of power to the gears, and the direct translation of that into raw distance traveled. Soooo efficient! So graceful! So able, even more so than a sprint, to suck the oxygen right out of your lungs!

Now to get to the point of my post:

The marathon taught me two key life lessons: 1) disciplined training for an event guarantees that the actual event goes well, and 2) I can indeed accomplish anything that I a) set my mind to, and b) train for, and c) plan for.

Now the tri- is teaching me how to be responsible for my own technology. How to fix tires, brakes, gears, pedals. How human energy and mechanical leverage can fuse together in a beautiful and flowing expression of grace and power. How things work. That I am an empowered being that can fix his own ride whenever necessary.

That's all for now.
'Til next time, enjoy the ride!
G

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

quiet in the storm: ultraphysics is born

Well,
the start-up work has finally settled down a little, so it's time to invest a little in the Dream. In this case, the dream is next generation educational tools and toys for children.

One of my favorite teachers in high school was always Mr. Whipple, a brilliant and inspired teacher of AP Physics. In that single year, or intimate class of 8 genii explored everything from simple rigid body mechanics all the way up to electromagnetism and thermodynamics.

It is my goal to encapsulate the entire body of that learning into an interactive lab on multi-touch tablets and table surfaces. So, without further ado, I present to you:


UltraPhysics
by Greg Roberts
an interactive lab modelling our physical universe.



Enjoy :)