2009 Aloha State Games

My first win! more to come later about the entire weekend.

Aloha State Games Results

Maui Trip

All,

I'm planning on going to Maui on Thursday early Morning January 29th and coming back Sunday night February 1st. I will be going via the Super Ferry, and not taking a car, this will be a bike only trip. I'm trying to do this on the cheap, so will not be a frivolous trip. I'm putting it out there for all to join in on the trip!

Cost per person would be:
$180 super ferry (includes bike fee)
$50 x3 Nights hotel (2 person per room)
$food

The goal is to get in 4 solid days of training/riding, with doing the climb one of the days! I plan on doing this ride unsupported as crazy as this sounds. The following is the plan of rides.

Thursday 29th
Depart Oahu Via Ferry
West Side Maui ride

Friday 30th
Haleakala
or
East Side Maui Ride

Saturday 31st
Haleakala
or
East Side Maui Ride

Sunday 1st
West Side Maui ride
Depart Maui Via Ferry

Island Riding Finally

Back to riding some good miles on the island after my great break in Idaho climbing in the trees and mountains.

I was awoken around 0300 this morning to Police sirens, Fire truck sirens, and of course the extremely bright lights that go along with both. A friendly MP decided to park his car with lights on right outside my window. Looking out and seeing the crazy amount of cops and other support personal I was thinking "crap this is going to be a health and comfort inspection". I debated throwing my bike gear on and getting out of there before anything happened. I ended up getting dressed just in case and laying back down in bed. Curiosity overwhelmed and I got up and started to walk around a bit to figure out what was going on. Looked towards the Smokers "pit" and discovered that was were the action was. Turns out some stupid person decided to get completely wasted, as most of the failed youth of the service do. Thank you irresponsible members of society, thank you for my lack of sleep.

The plan was to meet Mike Zagorski at the bottom of Kunia Rd around 0700 and head up Kunia Rd and go from there. We headed up Kunia, then down Snake Rd, then around Halewia then out towards Waimea Bay. Its cool, yet sorta weird how in under two hours on a bike you can be on the complete opisite side of the island. Turned around there and headed back the same way, Mike pulled off at the top of Pinapple Hill to head back to Millina as I headed back down Kunia Rd then onwards back to base. All and all was a good ride of 64 miles, legs felt good and ready for more.

SunValley To RedFish Lake

Mt Harison

Yesterday I decided I wanted to ride up Mt Harrison, it is one of my favorite rides near by. We headed out to Albion to drop me off about 4 miles from the start of the climb. The first little bit was fairly flat and I could tell my legs weren't firing on all cylinders. After I started up the legs felt a bit better but not fully to my abilities. I think the altitude is still getting to me a bit.

About 1/3 the way up I was greated by a heard of cows feeding on the side of the road. I'm no fan of cows, mind you are darn right hate cows. They are dumb animals that you never know what they are going to do. This one decided to give me the 100 yard stare and I was really thinking it was going to charge at me. I made it to Pomerelle Mountain Ski Resort, about 60% up the grade or about 7,800ft, and was starting to feel alot better. My legs take a large amount of time to warm up, generally 45 minutes, before they can ride well.


Me about 8,500 ft up starting to feel a bit of cold in the air. The views from up this far are amazing! You can see for miles around, even with the cloud cover. The leafy trees I passed earlier had started to change colors allready for fall, the colors were so bright it was neon.


Funny story about the water bottles. Seems my support crew decided they would wash my bottles out the previous nite in a attempt to get them sparkly clean for the next day. Well, hmm it is wise to wash out bottles fully before drinking from them, all i could taste was soap. I ended up riding up only on that single bottle of 16.9oz of water, not nearly enough.



Allmost to the top only about 1km to the top, the grade gets quite steep at the top.


Last push to the top, ended up out of the saddle in a atempt to really crank it up the final 200 meters.


Felt so good to finally reach the parking lot at the top!


Quick family photo, and then it was off the bottom of the hill. The way down was a quick little jaunt as it was starting to get cold on the top and I wanted to get down to Albion for a great dinner.

Trail Creek Time Trial

First morning after arriving in Twin Falls at 1430, I was up at 0500 to get ready to head up to Sun Valley for the Trail Creek Time Trial. When getting to the late registration area we noticed no one around. We decided to ride up the road and even found the finish line, yet no people. on the way down the hill we found some people at a small turn off the road. Turns out the flier that stated 0800 start time was wrong, start time 0900. Registration was a tad bit un organized as the lady registering was not exactly sure of what was going on. Secondly it was BLOODY COLD! 45 degrees, Im used to 70 degree plus weather. I put on every item of clothing I had; tights, bibs, base layer, jersey, jacket and beanie. Yet I was still cold! Finally go to my start time and I decided to shed the jacket as the weather was warming up a tad.

Race was a down the hill turn around then back up past the start line. The start wasnt really down hill, more gently rolling downward. The start I was feeling pretty darn good getting right up to 28 mph and holding that for most of the first part to the turn around. The around was pretty tough as the road is fairly narrow.

The ride back to the start line I could start to feel the pain of my lungs and legs. I wasnt getting the oxygen, nor did i get the proper warmup i needed. The next little bit still inst much of a hill, however i could tell it wasnt going right. The last 1 mile is around a 15% grade all the way to the finish. By the top I had had it, my lungs wanted to explode, my legs ached, and I couldnt breathe. The ride down was sadding as I thought about how horiable of a race I had just had. I got caught by the rider behind and failed to catch my minute man. I dont know the place I got or my offical time. I have around 29 minutes, with a dismal avg of 19mph. What got me was the elavation, 36 hours before I was at 0 feet, then flew for 12 hours, and rode a race at 6,700 feet elavation. Abit from the race it was a nice trip up and some great scenery.

Woops where went August?

O the month of august where did it go? All ready it is September 11th and im on a flight headed back towards the mainland, with my bike in tow. The month of August was not as strong training as I would have liked. My motivation and drive seemed to have vanished quickly and fast. The only saving grace was the adtion of a power meter mid month. Luckily this gave me enough motivation to continue on and try and get some miles in on the bike. I also have to thank my fellow team mates on Pac Velo, as the sunday rides gave me a reason get up in the morning.

So, the power meter I know many of asked me about it and how is it working. It has had only slight problems, all related to either the Garmin Edge 705 or the "wonderful" design of the megaxo bottom bracket. My problems with the Edge have slowly dissolved with the latest firmware updates, however there is some kinks to work out. I have had some strange missing data periods on the Edge, this can be extremely frustrating when your are trying to record every detail of your ride to be able to analyze later on. The greatest aspect of the power meter was at Dick Evans Road Race. During the Climb up Kunia road there was a crash that split the field right off the bat. I was in the second group towards the back. Knowing what my wattage limits were, what my "Burning a Match" wattage was I was able to make smart moves. In the beginning I knew I still had the ability to make some jumps and get out of the back of the chase pack and into the top 10 of the chase. I then was able to know when I could offer the group something by pulling and to what extent. Luckily, I was with a great group that organized quickly and we caught onto the lead pack. This turned out to be the best move of the day. All thanks to the Quarq Cinco.

Dick Evans, so we already know that I made the jump and caught on to the main train at the top of kunia. The next 30 miles nothing spectacular, I rode with my fellow teammate David Delong. He however had a mechanical (threw a spoke) and had to drop back. I knew this happened but didn't know when he was going to go back. I found out to late when he was gone and just then the pack picked up the pace. It was a crummy move on the groups part. Everyone in that field knew he had a mechanical and took advantage of it, really shady. Looking back on this event I wish I had known, or wish I would have acted on it by falling back and him back into the pack. Hindsight is 20/20. onwards the race went and I felt strong and was riding up in the main group. Then 25 miles to the finish after a long descent I shifted, my chain dropped as did my sprits. I tried and tried to get it back on to no luck. I had stop and put the chain on. This made me lose contact from the lead group. I tried to catch back on, but 1man against 20 that late in the race isn't going to happen. To my credit I did gain ground but not enough. Mile 99 disaster! I flatted going up a small out and back hill. Halfway up I knew I had flatted but said screw it and kept going to the top, by the top I was riding on the rim. At the top I said flat flat flat, yet the volunteers looked at me like they didn't know what a flat was. Great! no wheel support and no other ideas, glad I packed a spare tube and co2. 6 minutes later I carried on and headed to the finish. Going up Makapuu grade I darn near broke, I had just been passed by two team mates and was unable to hold on. Between the flat and the chain drop, the miles alone I was popped. I did finish the race and in a fairly good time.5 Hours 20 Minutes.... should have been 5 Hours 14 minutes without the flat. Then you think, well if i was with the group I could have gone faster, so realy what should have been my time? Next year next year!

Now its September 11th and Im headed home! Its been 18 months since I have been home and its time to get a break. The plan while at home is to start back my riding and really get some base miles in. I have a race on Saturday the 13th. It is a 10 mile hill climb time trial. The following weekend I get to do the Twin Falls Triathlon. Mind you I haven't trained for a triathlon in over 2 years! Im looking forward to this race, it will be a trip back to the start, the twin falls Tri was my first triathlon. The rest of my time will be spent doing all my favorite hill climbs, and a trip through north-eastern Idaho. 18 days of biking bliss!

July is over, what comes next

July is over and that means the cycling season for Hawaii is almost over as well. I choose not to do the Boca Stage Race in decision to get some miles in on the bike and get back in the grove of things. I was fortunate enough to have some time off of work and was able to enjoy the high life. Everyday for a week I woke up, road my bike, ate, took a rode my bike again, and went to bed. That was the best week of my life.

Soon my new training tool will be here and that has really energized me for a great performance at the Dick Evens Road Race. Soon after the Road Race I will be heading home to Idaho, for some quality relaxing time, and plenty of riding time. I have 2 races I will do while in Idaho but I'm looking at them more as fun little events then anything. The first is going to be 10.4 mile hill climb time trail. This race is a bit weird for a time trail and for a hill climb race, as you descend to start with, then turn around and continue up. Total elevation is only 850 feet so nothing to killer. The next event will be the Twin Falls Triathlon, this race I have a bit more hopes for and really want to rip up the swim and the bike course. It will be nice to go back and do a event that started me out on riding a bike. I will also get to see allot of my old cycling buddies and get to talk bike with them. During my time at home I plan on doing all of my favorite rides, most of which are hill climbs. I cant wait to go up to mnt Harrison, as it really is my favorite ride.

Quick Update

Okay so I have been guilty of not updating the blog in quite some time, but really I have been trying to stay off the computer as much as possible. Im off this weekend and still off for a couple more days after that. I plan on taking the time and spending some good time on my bike and really nothing else. The only time I have even felt like going on the computer is to download my ride data, and really I dont even need to do that as I can now store a years worth of rides on my new shiny Edge 705.

Was able to use a new feature of the Edge 705 today, routes, and directions. I was out on a ride and needed to know that exact route of the rest of the ride. Considering I had allready riden the ride it was saved in the history. I was able to quickly turn on the mapping functions of the Edge. The Edge was really helpfull and saved me from making a couple of wrong turns.

Week in review

Made in out on the bike late this week starting with Wednesday. Went out and did some loops with Ben and Dev on AMR. The ride was stated as 3 loops of AMR. The first loop started out really nice, Ben took some wicked sprint attacks up the Hill and of course I had to follow but by the top he had me. I got him on the downhill and pulled away, he was waiting for Dev. The next 2 laps I did solo, really feeling strong. I tried to kick it up as best as I could up the back hill of AMR trying to hammer it 53x15 and keep the speed up over 20. Was able to do this on the all of the hills! I stopped at burger king after the third loop and found Ben not looking so well. Seems he didn't get lunch and was not feeling to well. Dev came from his third loop a bit later looking to go for 1 more. I chased and caught up to him and of course had to pull away a bit. Dev is a more courageous descender then I. He was able to speed past me on the downhill. O the look on his face when I slammed on the pedals and went up the back hill at over 22mph! Once again I stopped at the burger king to not find Ben and Dev coming back saying one more, o goodie 5 climbs! Did the 5th climb and still no Ben. We ended up heading home and found out Ben had gone home. Sorry Ben, wish you would have felt better.

Thursday, started out bad yet ended great! Got up late and bagged my ride to Barbers Point instead headed to hickam to do some loops. At the second stop light (1 mile from home) I was shoved off the side of the road hit a metal plate and blew my front tire. Fixed that real quick and shoved off. 1 mile down the road hit something and pooof! Rear Blown, stopped threw some air in it and headed home on no pressure. Ended up going out later and did 2 tower loops and a quick jaunt out to lagoon drive. Had some crazy head wind that knocked me down hard on the speed. Stopped by Ben's on the way back to see Maya and found out there was a ride at 1715 (3 hours from then). Chilled out at Ben's house had some liquids and snacks and went out for another 20 miles with the guys. Did some good sprints with a guy on a Transition. Dang that thing is hard to draft! After the ride I called in my last Hail Marry to get Sunday off for the race and it paid off, Sunday off. To top off the night went out with Ben and Dev's family to ruby Tuesdays for the salad and quiche.

The State Crit, Long story short: I was feeling great, was exactly where I wanted to be and flatted on the 9th lap into the race. My spare wheel wasn't were it was suppose to be and I had to pull out. Was pretty upset so decided to ride home and get some more miles in. I hammered it home pretty hard trying to punish myself up every hill in 53X14.

Overall It was a typical week, I just hope at some point I can get back on a good training plan and get some good training in. Im in a slump!

Weekend in Review

A small recap of the active past weekend:

Got off from work at 0530 Friday and headed start for Ben's house to start our longer weekend run. A couple of the guys whom were going to do the ride decided to snuggle up to the Dora doll a bit. We headed out towards the tower and the sun was shining and it was perfect weather for a morning run. Around mile 3 there was a drinking fountain that my fellow runner pointed out to me and gave me the signal to get a drink. I was thinking " He is watching out for me , making sure I drink" Well sorta. I hit the button and was shot right in the eye by a high pressure miss angled drinking fountain, o yes he was laughing. We carried on and kept going for the tower stopping at the beach for a bit of water. I finally got to the tower, amazed to be honest I had made it. The run back was uneventful, if you don't count the numerous "DORA" written wtih rocks on the roadway.... wonder who did that? After the run I ended up at Ben's house after the run and feel asleep on his couch later in the after noon. I had been up for 24 hours and ran a 10 1/2 mile run. Ben took this opportunity to take some pictures of me sleeping next to Maya (his puppy) and forwarded the pictures around.

That evening we headed over to Jeff's House for a BBQ and to watch the fireworks. We had some great food, especially the chili and shrimp! During the party my left knee started to hurt pretty darn bad and I ended up with a ice pack on my knee. The fireworks were nice, however Maya decided she didn't like them what so ever. I spent some time with her in the car calming her down a bit. we started saying out good byes after the fireworks and started off. Ben started to drive me home but that didn't work out to well as the base was a mess. You could only go one direction, off base. I ended up walking home, walking through a gaggle of drunk sailors on liberty.

Saturday morning was to be the 4 sisters ride. I woke up at 0500 in preparation to attend but as soon as I stepped out of bed I knew my knee was saying no. Sent a txt and headed back to bed. Woke up a bit later to hearing how great of a ride was had and asking how was my Dora doll. I got dressed and headed to the nex to get some new shoes as my POS Nike+ ones gave me some severe knee problems. I headed back to base and was picked up by Ben and Dev and headed to the bike shop for a bit of drool time, and Ben to pay the rent. On the way home I started feeling bad about not climbing in the morning and decided to head over to Tantalus for a bit of climbing. I went over to Hickam first to see if Ben would like to join. I then headed off base and started to go to Tantalus and thought "why go that far for climbing" and headed towards Aeia Heights. Long story short I got lost and really have no clue how I missed the turn for Aeia heights. I ending up going up Kaahumanu St. Climbed up t the top and headed down. As I went down I remembered that Royal sumit was around this area and found it. Did one climb up Royal Sumit and decided to climb up Kaahumanu St one last time before heading home via Kam Hwy.

Sunday was designed to be a easy spin/recovery ride, however we decided to turn it into a brick workout instead. We meet up at 0600 and did around 22 miles of biking with some descent little sprints now and then. We quickly headed back jumped in our running gear within 2-3 minutes and ran a 4.5 mile loop on base. Was a good effort and a good change of pace for a workout. Nothing like doing muscle confusion to really get the body going. Later that evening after doing all of my laundry, yes ALL. I had a bit of energy left and decided to jump on the treadmill in the barracks and did a extra 4 mile run just to get nice and tired before bed.

All in all it was a great weekend! Spent doing the things I love, and with my best friends!

Kalaeloa Hawaii State Championship Criterium

I have made the decision today to not attend the Kalaeloa Hawaii State Championship Criterium. There is many circumstances leading me to arrive at this decision.


Road is in HORRIBLE condition: The course has not been maintained by the state in many years. The road is bumpy, and full of pot holes. The corners are chalk full of chunks of missing road. This is going to cause a dangerous situation when cornering with 30+ other riders.


10 year increments: It has been stated publicly now that the awards for state champions will be given in 10 year increments. This places me in the 20-29 year olds. For some reason every other state race has been done in 5 year increments, yet this one has chosen to change to ten. This plays against most riders but setups some other rider for great opportunities.... I will let you make the assumption.

Bit of running

Woke up this morning and headed over to Hickam to meet Ben, Jeff, Dev for a morning run. The pace was lead by master jeff, a fast strong runner. My goal was to hang on his heels and pray I could keep up. I was able to stay with him the entire run! Jeff had me do three tempo run efforts during the run. It was great having someone coach me on what to do during the run to get the most out of it. Todays run was one of the first times in over 3 years I have had enjoyment out of running. With all the drama in the cycling world it was nice to get in a workout else where. Up next 11 mile run friday morning!

Why I ride

Albert Einstein discovered the theory of relativity while bicycling. Ernest Hemingway said that, “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.”

Recently I have given allot of thought to the reasons I ride. With the recent turmoil amongst the cycling community and the ever continuing sour taste cycling has given me, I really have thought why do I ride?

When I started riding it was tough it was painful and it gave me a great sense of accomplishment with my progress. Soon cycling became more then a workout, it became my outlet. Cycling turned into my escape, my zen time. Nothing was more relaxing then a 40 mile ride out and back to the south hills, or a 30 mile climb to the top of MT Harrison. When out on the bike I was whisked away to a world where nothing could hurt me, where nothing mattered but me and the bike, it was magical.

With the storm approaching, i let it in, I lost my zen. I lost the sensation of pure bliss of the pain from a hard ride and the magic sensation after a epic ride. All I could do was think of the storm and the damage it was creating, it sucked me in. I began to not ride, I began to not enjoy myself on rides, I lost who I was.

Now that I have turned away from the storm, I'm rebuilding. I'm starting out fresh re-building from the damage, and I will prevail.

I'M A CYCLIST

I RIDE FOR ME!

Tuesday Lunch Ride

First ride with HACC as a non member today not much different. Luckily many of the riders I have came to know don't care who I ride for nor do they care in getting caught up in the ever growing drama. A big thank you to those who don't care of my choice to race with a different team, and thank you for not bringing it up on a ride. It really doesn't matter who we race for, we all can ride together.

Was your typical perfect Tuesday ride! high winds, Fast breaks, and tons of sprints. Steve Steele was out on his new Fuji and rocking it up! He is a force to be reckoned with! Steve keep up the great work, your getting WICKED FAST!

A little side note and heads up for those who will continue to read my blog. I have always used my blog as personal place to voice my thoughts and opions. Yes, this has upset some in the past and I truly have not intended for this to happen. I have in the past pulled posts that have upset people either on requests or in respect to those involved. Recently with some of the actions of others I have decided I will no longer remove any post unless my personal views change. I will continue to try and avoid confrontation on the blog but will voice my opions and thoughts.

Pacific Velo

Yes the rumor is true......

HACC Freedom Tower CRIT

Hickam Criterium Results - click here

First crit, not my strong point. I did two races today, one the cat 4/5 45minutes + 1 lap and the Miss and out race. The 4/5 race was first and I didn't do as well as I had hoped. My goal for the race was to not get lapped or get pulled from the course. About 8ish laps in I started to fall off the main pack, it was over from that point on. My cornering abilities were plain old weak and I was timid into the turns letting riders pass me. After the pack left me I stayed on the course for as long as I could, occasionally getting pulled by the sambrano train. 27 laps in and 40 minutes later I was pulled from the course. outcome.... not sure.


The miss and out is a extra race at the end where anyone can jump in and start. After every lap they pull the last rider. Lots of tactics, don't do all the work, but don't sit in the back and get pulled. I felt allot better during the miss and out and was able to really hit my stride on cornering. I was hitting the corners with allot more speed and coming out of them pedaling like I should. I was able to do some fast pulls up at the front. The hardest part of this race was the interval like atmosphere. The straight stretch after turn 4 was a all out sprint to not be in the back. Thanks Ben for all the interval practice and random sprint attacks, it saved my but! I finally got pulled, but was able to get 10th place.

Pre-Anouncment

I will be making a anoucment on June 29th, stay tuned.

Back to the Plants

After some long thought and internal debate I have decided to go back to vegetarianism. I felt so much better and active while eating only fresh veggies and fruit.

Sorry Ben, Tonight was my last sushi.

Running..... yup I said running!

Woke up at 0500 Wednesday morning to ride my bike over to Ben's house to start a whole new evolution of training. I arrived at Ben's around 0540, we then proceeded to head towards Jeff's house. I knew I was in trouble right off the bat. 1) I haven't ran in 8 months. 2) Jeff shows up with a runners belt loaded down with water. The run started off at a good pace and I felt as If I was going good. We started to head towards the Mobile Diving Unit and my legs started to feel the burn. All those comments about the age of my fellow cyclists were haunting me. We started rounding back towards Ben's house following the edge of the harbor, and knowing the end was coming soon I was able to finish with no stopping. Not to bad of a 4 mile run. Headed home and had to have some "HULK JUICE".

Next up:
Cycling(spinning) Thursday morning.
Running friday morning
Cycling Saturday morning
Cycling Race Preperation Suynday