UCSD Cycling Team

This year I decided to join the cycling team. I knew it was going to be competitive and a large change of pace considering the only racing I had done before was a mountain bike relay race where we drank beer between turns. Training was going slow and steady until December when I had to get an abscess from my left thigh removed. Spending almost four weeks without riding was a real setback. So it was no surprise how my first race went. It was the Red Trolley Crit where almost 70 cyclists raced in a short circuit. I accomplished my goal of not crashing, but I played it too conservatively. After the second lap I was completely out of shape trying to catch up to the front pack and fell even further behind. I got behind another school's rider who also had fallen behind and drafted to regain some energy. I was starting to feel better and even more so when a couple of other teammates came up behind me. At this point we were heading towards the start/finish line and I started to make a move to get back with the main pack so I passed the rider in front with the other UCSD people behind me...unfortunately we were taken out by the officials. Without sounding like I'm making excuses I would like to mention that the race combined two categories C&D so the race was a lot bigger and faster than a normal D's race (fyi, I'm in the beginner category D).

USC's Crit was my second race this past Sunday. Because of what happened at Red Trolley I was determined to stay within sight of the main pack. The race had an inauspicious start, first the race was postponed about half an hour because the fences and hay bales were not setup in time. The plan was to have a clinic before the race for new riders, but the majority (>95%) of the riders had already raced a crit before so there were many a groan when instead of starting the race we took a couple of practice laps as a group. Then when we all thought the race was going to start we had to wait for the hay to be swept and the start/finish line put down. So finally the race began and I was holding position in the front half. The course was flat, but had two corners that had storm drain dips in the road. If the line around the corner was not wide enough the rear wheel hit hard on the bank of the dip. I think this was the reason a teammate's (Daniel?) tire blew out in the first couple of laps. About half way through the 25min race I was boxed in the middle of the pack when the guy to my left took a drink of his water bottle. He was slightly behind me so I didn't think much of it and held my line. That's when he bumped into me. If I hadn't had my hands in the drops I'm sure we would have hooked handle bars. Even so I felt his wobbling as he tried to regain control. When he uttered an "I'm sorry" I knew he hadn't gone down, but I knew not to get behind him just in case he made any more mistakes. On a few of the turns I had enough momentum and energy to make my way closer to the front. This helped when the preem laps were announced and the front took off. With a few laps to go I got behind Ian and knew I had to get ready for the final sprint. With one lap to go I had started falling behind because I had been so determined to stay near the front that I used up more energy than I should have. That's when I heard a loud pop and saw Ian's front wheel wobble. Apparently another rider had driven his rear axle into Ian's front wheel. I'm sure someone else closer to the action might have a more exciting recount of how that happened. I think I made it somewhere in the 15th-20th place, but it felt like I had won because I achieved what I set out to do, which was to stay with the front pack and finish the race.  

Short Bio

I had to write this for a grant application so I might as well post it here as an update to what I'm doing:

Issac Garcia-Munoz graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 2007 and upon graduation was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship grant for a one year independent study of musical instrument building in Latin America. As a TJW Fellow, Issac apprenticed with instrument builders in Argentina, Chile and Guatemala. By building a classical guitar and a bombo leguero (bass drum) he learned traditional woodworking techniques used by luthiers. Issac also studied how Joaquin Orellana made sound utensils (instruments derived from the marimba) to create a musical landscape and worked with the Rafael Landivar University to promote youth orchestra concerts showcasing these sound utensils.

Upon return, Issac worked for three years as an electrical engineer at Broadcom Corporation, where he gained experience in the network industry. Issac is currently pursuing a Master's Degree in Computer Music at the University of California San Diego with the goal of blending traditional techniques and new technology in the creation of musical instruments.

Issac began his involvement with the Universal Language Orchestra in the last session of 2011. Previous experience teaching children ages 6-12 comes from being a summer science camp volunteer at the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, California. He is now helping his colleague Joe Mariglio develop curricula and instruments for the next two sessions of the ULO.

Thanksgiving Dinner Music

This was the setup for a percussion piece that used dinning room table objects to present a Thanksgiving theme.  I liked the use of speaking into cowbells to simulate droning speech.  They were really good at bowing the glassware without tipping anything over.

Huge Gong

Kobayashi Trio played a piece that excites resonant modes of the suspended metal.  The gong was softly struck repeatedly to keep it in motion and facilitate the resonance.

La Bamba

Para bailar la bamba se necesita...ir a Las Vegas...because on one of the pedestrian bridges there was this duo rocking out to the song.  (Btw, this was the night before Bryan's wedding when the guys went out to the strip!)  What made the duo even better was crossing the bridge half an hour later and they were still playing the same song!

Darlingside in Hollywood

Going to Rosy's place in H-town is always amazing because of the food, her backyard that stands below the H-sign and this time musical acts.  It also seems to be a Watson fellow reunion.  Auyon was the special guest with his band Darlingside.  They had been recording a new album in LA and had time to do a backyard show before returning to the east coast.  He was a fellow the same year I traveled so we had met at the Watson conference of '08.  Jillian and Nick (younger Watson fellows) also showed up. J was also around working on an album and followed Darlingside's performance with her harPop (harp+vocals and yes I just made that word up).  Nick is still in K-town trying to make it big writing screen plays.

Here are their plugs:
www.gilliangrassie.com/
http://www.darlingside.com/about/
www.ironict-shirtcomedy.com

I don't always grade papers, but when I do...

So this blog is now my graduate school blog.  After 3 years working at BRCM as a test engineer I decided to go back to school so I can work on stuff I'm interested in doing...rocking out hehe.

I just started a masters in Computer Music at UCSD!  And in the pic I'm grading the first homework assignment in my backyard for the musical acoustics class I TA.