[Holtzman]

There is only so much time in a day. It is extremely difficult to compete competitively, and participate in robotics. I've been racing bikes on the road for 6 years now, and a member of 1114 for 3 years now.

In my rookie year (2003) I didn't even really know what FIRST was. So I went about my training normally through the winter and into the spring. I missed a couple of days of regionals because of training, and I didn't attend championship, which I later regretted. So at the end of robotics season, I had decided that next year I would attempt to do both seriously. Cycling and Robotics.


2004 rolls around. I had earned myself a spot on an Amateur cycling team in Canada. Build season comes, and before I knew it, I hadn't been on my bike in a month. Regionals come, and the weathers getting nicer, but I still wasn't training. Regionals are just too time consuming and tiring to do both there. We (1114) traveled 6 out of 8 weekends in March and April, and I hadn't gotten nearly the amount of training in necessary to race competitively with my team.

Once regionals and championship had ended, I was back training normally, but my form and fitness never recovered back to the level of 1 year ago. I got kicked off my cycling team, and swore I'd never let robotics interfere with cycling again.

And yet here I am, 1 year later. Do I regret wasting an entire cycling season? nope, not for a second. All the places I went with robotics, and all the people I met more than make up for it.