Chemical Reactions on Two Wheels

Tell us a little about yourself.

My name is Brian Herbert, and I am born and raised in Lakewood, CO. My heritage stems from India and I have lived my entire life in Colorado. I currently work for Agilent Technologies (Nucleic Acid Solutions Division) as an operations Manager and oversee departments across two sites and six different manufacturing areas. Agilent produces synthetic RNA and DNA as therapies for drug companies globally. I help oversee the scaling up of new manufacturing facilities, and then my group will periodically monitor the product, environment, and water used in production from a microbiological stance for our drug substance intermediates produced.

How do you find the balance between your scientific pursuits and your newfound interest in cycling?

Well, it is not easy. I live in Littleton and travel one hundred miles a day between two facilities, one in Boulder and one in Frederick Colorado. I am fortunate to have an incredible group of people I work with, and my company is devoted to a work life balance culture. This means I can accommodate my family needs and work from home as needed and I get to create that ecosystem for myself and my team of people. My cycling pursuit is third, work is second, and my family is first. I am striving to find avenues to try and stay more fit and I dislike the gym environment and cycling has started to infiltrate my life slowly. I try to find slivers of time on the weekends between kid’s activities and life obligations, but I am now considering carving out a consistent time on a weekday.

Can you share with us how your analytical mindset as a chemist influences the way you approach learning and improving in cycling?

I do not really consider myself a chemist anymore because I have been managing for 9 years now. Occasionally I have to do some math, but more or less I have to have a very good understanding of our processes on a granular level so I can look at it from a higher level to ensure we are anticipating growth and fixing the nagging problems that are just small enough to ignore now but won’t be as we continue to grow. I do have the luxury to strategize with my peers and implement elements of improvement by exploiting these problems, implementing good metrics, and helping to improve the process which is incremental. In terms of cycling and exploiting my own weaknesses, I realized I need significant improvement, but for me it will also have to be incremental because I am not athletically gifted. I also rely on subject matter experts aka (my friends) who are bad ass riders and I look up to their accomplishments and it pushes me to ride just a little bit farther or try to push harder on a hill.

What are some of the challenges you've faced as a beginner cyclist, and how have you worked to overcome them?

It is hard for me to get into something without having understanding. Like why a certain bike is so much more expensive than a box store bike. I had to wrap my head around the idea of the differences of just getting on a regular old pedal bike vs seeing a cyclist completely decked out in a kit with the shoes, glasses etc. I had to first wrestle with why moving forward with getting a road bike seemed intriguing. I love to research and read about anything that peaks, my interest a little. So, I read and read to help me understand the lingo, the gear, materials bikes are made from, the nuances of geometry and so on. The more I read the more I became interested, and I realized for myself I wanted to chase more distance, see more sites, and getting a nicer road bike can really help with that in terms of efficiency because I am fat. Cycling can be as expensive as a nice car or not, and I had to educate myself on what would be right for me, and I could not make that decision without reading and reflecting on what is necessary and what was not. Also because of my personality I wanted to obviously spend an amount of money that created maximum benefit without taking a second mortgage and the only way to do that is to have some self-awareness for your own ability and ask a lot of questions and find people who know a lot more than you do and are even more obsessive.  I am fortunate to have friends like that! I needed perspective and that is a huge challenge to overcome if you are not curious enough to engage your local bike shop and really educate yourself and there is a significant cost associated with getting into a more substantial bike that is designed for constant use. Then you get to the riding part. How do I even find these routes? why am I cramping? Hills are hard. You cannot assess your challenges without riding consistently and realizing what works or does not work, and then you can make the incremental changes and work on salt intake and nutrition and the timing of it. That is where I started to enjoy cycling because you adjust, and you might get a little better the next ride and you want to try to do more. You must be consistent and that is a challenge because of life.

How do you incorporate your knowledge of chemistry into your understanding of nutrition and hydration for cycling?

I do not possess knowledge for this. My thought on this is we all have different body types, and we all metabolize differently than others. This comes down to my friend’s opinions as their experience is better than mine. Trying different approaches out creating baselines for yourself assessing how you felt and adjusting.

Can you tell us about a memorable moment from one of your early rides that sparked your passion for cycling?

It was my first attempt at a big ride. I did not have a bike and I borrowed my friend’s wife’s bike a Trek Domane. It was a thirty mile ride, and I had no idea of my ability or if I was even going to make it.  Then I experienced the speed, the camaraderie, the coffee and pastry, and the feeling of accomplishment of doing something that was hard. The pain in my legs was barely tolerable and I was definitely hurting but It felt good and that was my test for myself. I immediately bought a used Cervelo C3 endurance road bike after that ride.

How do you think your background in chemistry shapes your approach to bike maintenance and equipment selection?

I am required at times to learn things in a short amount of time and educate myself to make a decision on in a meeting. I am overseeing building out a new laboratory and I am responsible for all the decisions on laboratory instrumentation, glasswashers, autoclaves, walk in freezers, layout and so on. I will have to provide the building contractor doing the build, responses on voltage we are running throughout, and the requirements for each piece of equipment. I am not an engineer by trade but the repetition for recognizing what you need to learn to help procure or maintain something is inherent through practice and interest. In high-school I bought a drag car and helped build the motor with the aid of my best friend and his dad. I have always had an interest in gear in general. I think having that understanding on your bike’s capability compared to yours not only makes cycling fun but is essential. I have gained understanding through friends and curiosity. I also know what is not worth my time like getting new tires put on. They are a pain in the ass sometimes and I can do it, but I do not care to. I have taped my rims and put on new tires, but it is annoying.

Have you set any specific goals for yourself as a cyclist, and if so, how do you plan to achieve them?

I missed a year of riding while taking on an investment property renovation. My goal was simple for this year. I simply want to log more miles and reflect on improvements. My goal will be moving, and my hope is I do improve and can make adjustments to continuously improve.  The biggest goal for me is to be able to feel like I can remotely keep up with my friends when riding and feel okay afterwards.

What do you hope to achieve through your journey as a beginner cyclist, both on and off the bike?

I know I mentally feel better after a good ride, and I like that feeling. It helps me feel centered off the bike. As a beginner cyclist I hope to achieve longer rides and consistency in my riding.

Can you share a particularly proud moment or accomplishment you've achieved since starting your cycling journey?

I was scared riding the Iron Horse Purgatory ride for the first time.  The elevation and climb kicked my ass, and I was incredibly thankful to my friend to whom could have easily ridden ahead chose not to. I did not need him to stay there with me, but he recognized this was a lot for me and I was having a tough time doing a 10-mile climb at elevation. I never even imagined myself doing something like that. I was cramping like hell, but I could not let him down and I got to the hill at purgatory and told myself to harden the fuck up and get up that fucking hill to the finish line. It felt so cool to be a part of something like that, hearing my name announced and It gave me a sense of confidence that made me feel better at work and at life in general.  I did my second Iron Horse last year and really improved from my first year and I will be doing it this year again. I might even sign up for more rides because it forces me to ride and prepare.