Saturday, October 30, 2010

Oh Schenley....

I'm BACK!!!!  I know it has been a while since I've posted about cycling but rest assured I am back and back on the bike!  Today I decided to stay *local* (the Squirrel Hill area) and I must say, my neighborhood kicked my little lazy butt!  I decided to try out the trails in Schenley park (map).  I have previously used the Lower Panther Hollow Trail to get me to the beginning of the Eliza Furnace trail but never took the time to appreciate the trails there.  I started out by taking the Upper Panther Hollow (Bartlett Street entrance) to it's conclusion.  There were still a good bit of leaves around which I thought made the ride even more enjoyable.  I love the Fall season in Pittsburgh; especially when the leaves are changing.  I unfortunately missed the peak of the season but am happy to get a few rides in before the winter chill hits.
View of Panter Hollow lake from Panther Hollow bridge

The weather was pretty decent.  I had purchased some Pearl Izumi tights from REI during a sale they were having (rei.com) and today's weather was the perfect opportunity to try them out.  I LOVE them.  I would definitely recommend them if you need some nice, affordable (well on sale at least) tights to add to your gear.

All in all the ride was great! It was a short ride because of all the hills and my poor cardio at the moment.  A lot of it went quick in the downhill of course.  I must say, some of the trails in Schenley excited me and made me wish I had a mountain bike ;-)  After the ride, I stopped into 61C cafe for a fresh fruit and juice smoothie. Yummm.  And as any addict would, had to stop into my LBS (it's on the way home) to check out the offerings.  Let's just say I didn't leave empty handed ;-)  I look forward to hitting the trails again tomorrow with some of my friends.  Until next time...


Distance: 5.18 miles
Time: 38 minutes

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Beth Pruitt - Denise Denton Emerging Leader Award

I had the pleasures of attending a talk by Dr. Beth Pruitt, the Denise Denton Emerging Leader Award.  Dr. Pruitt told us about her personal career path as well as the research being done in her lab.

I found that I surprisingly have a lot in common with Dr. Pruitt.  She is an avid outdoors sportswoman, participating in hiking, mountain biking, skiing, and whitewater rafting.  Given the theme of this blog, you can probably guess that I love cycling too.  She even for a summer enrolled in whitewater rafting school that she participated in on evenings after going to the lab.

It was fitting that Dr. Pruitt spoke in the session following the impostor syndrome panel because she took the opportunity to tell us about times in her career when she too felt like an impostor.  Her current research deals with the use of MEMS technology to study the sense of touch.  She had to learn a lot of biology in order to be successful and expressed some of the difficulties she faced in doing so.  I too had to learn a new set of terminology and techniques when I went from the Computer Science to Biomedical Engineering field.  Dr. Pruitt definitely inspired me to continue learning and never give up.