I’m sitting here in lovely Lake Tahoe, having just killed myself on the slopes at Heavenly. I take a trip with some friends from college every year, and it always seems to come right after the build season is over, and before our first competition.
Some details of my first real day (remember, us mentors still have to go to work after the robot ships!) of post-build relaxation:
18 miles downhill, 11 miles on lifts
29.7 mph max speed
12.7k ft ski vertical
10021 ft max altitude
7485 min altitude
Very nice! When the competition season starts to wind down I start back up with writing and beekeeping – my generally preferred form of relaxation is “other types of work”.
Realistically, I like to stay with my family, do a little less, maybe go out with the guys every once in a while, etc. If it’s near the end of school, I get so slowed down and relaxed my teachers think I’m ill (this doesn’t affect my grades).
I apologize to my wife and spend the offseason begging her to let me do it agian. Jk (she is quite supportive and would never think of not letting me be part of such an awesome organization.)
When the season ends baseball season is in full swing…Nothing like sitting outside on my deck with an adult beverage or two listening to a good game on the radio.
QFT. Seriously, (no offense to anyone), if you’re thinking now is the time to fully unwind, I can tell you haven’t been in FIRST too long.
After Bag and tag, though it may be relaxing, those teams serious about winning will keep working, either with practice bots, training the human players, preparing for their competition, etc.
I know this year, in the coming weeks, 256 will be working on our first ever practice bot, human player training (118, your human player will be no match for ours), and even practicing setting up a pit area (speed trials) so we can get to work ASAP
We’re in Michigan and are busy on our three work sessions (including 6 hrs on the robot) before competition, and then we have 5 hours of pits on Thursday. We have not really wound down at all. We have also been drilling our drivers & human player about the game.
Take a 1 day break, get right back to building the practice bot!
And once that is done we normally find imperfections with it and try and see what works so when competition comes around we can alter our competition bot
Let’s be honest, build season doesn’t “end” until the FIRST season ends, it just gets less intense and less time constrained
Take a day off, then proceed to not sleep because you can’t wait to compete. Done competing? can’t sleep because you’re excited for invitationals and parades and pool parties and… well… it’s the world’s coolest vicious cycle of sleeplessness.
QFT. We’ll still meet every day until CTR, but we may cancel here and here, and members will show up on more of an “as needed” basis. But it definitely doesn’t end…
I usually take a trip to Portland OR to see my sister and her kids. I have been able to catch the portland regional in the past, but this year it was the same week as the lake superior regional, oh well.
Oh my god that looks gorgeous! As the guy in charge of everything drivetrains on 256, a humongous, truck-style transmission is just awesome compared to the silly little things our robots use.
Speaking of transmissions, I’m “relaxing” after bag and tag by designing new gearboxes.
