NerdFest2013. If you thought training was tough try sitting through this...

June 2:  Made it to Louisville KY for NerdFest2013 aka The North American Catalysis Society biennial meeting.  I caught a direct flight from the Dallas ITU race to Louisville to minimize travel time and since I got there so early, I built my bike and went out for a ride!  Absolutely beautiful riding in KY.  Humidity was delicious, I got slimy and sweaty on the ride, and everything smelled so green and fresh.  Ahh I love the south.  Sensual.

But of course I was there on 'work' so I wasnt going to have much time to train.  The conference (The North American Catalysis Meeting) is the top catalysis conference in the word, catalysis being the branch of chemical engineering that I study.  The research we do involves studying materials (catalysts) which make chemical reactions happen (ie. petrochemical, oil company, renewable energy research).  I think there were about 1500 people at the conference about half of which are grad students and the rest professors and researchers from around the world.

Sunday night was the opening reception at Churchill Downs, the venue of the Kentucky Derby, and this being a pretty well funded conference (imagine every petrochemical/oil company ever trying to get involved) it was super classy.  Here is 'Mine that Bird,' the 2009 derby winner who recently switched to soccer.

They had just about every type of Bourbon imaginable (this being KY).  Since I know literally nothing about alcohol it fell flat on me but had to try this one because it was named after my favorite person ever, Thomas Jefferson.  One sip and I nearly choked to death.  Does that mean its good?

Mark Twain however was apparently a fan: "If I cannot drink bourbon and smoke cigars in heaven than I shall not go." Doesnt exactly sound like my life.

Here is a panorama of the 'Hat room'

Of course the food was also delicious.  Sidenote: it was funny watching all these sedentary 60yro nerdy engineers shovel down pastries all week at every break session.

Here are some pictures of the outside of Churchill Downs.  The three people are the three other students from my lab at Colorado.  Simon, Rhea, and Matt.

And finally the conference started...

Each day there were presentations from 8am to 8pm (6 always going on at the same time that you had to choose from), so if you went to everything it was pretty mind numbing.  The first day was pretty hard core, I presented Monday afternoon, but honestly after that it wasnt that bad.  I was still able to get out Tuesday night for another bike ride!  Beautiful southern greenery.

I won a Kokes Award for the conference which paid for my travel and hotel and stuff for the week and one of the perks was that Tuesday night we got a paddle boat ride on the Ohio River.

I still managed to get some swimming and running in either early in the day or as a break from some of the sessions.  I wouldnt ever want to live in Louisville, but it was a pretty cool place to hang out for a week. Made it back to Boulder Friday afternoon just in time for a sick awesome weekend with roommate Ginna's family!

Next up is St Louis 5150 June 28th or so.  Its gonna be another back to back to back with that, then my undergrad friends Todd and Amara getting married in Charlottesville VA and then the Boulder Peak.

Now I can finally enjoy my first weekend of summer!

Rudy