It is the Most Wonderful Time of The Year

Some folks can't wait for the 4th of July weekend because of the fireworks, picnics and parades. Although I enjoy these things, the 4th of July Weekend starts for me the best three weeks of television of the year. There is something special about being able to turn the
TV to Verses almost any time of the day and watch cycling. I get up in the morning and get to listen to Phil Liggett for the beginning of the day's stage. At lunch, I get to catch the finish again with Phil. When I get home, I get to listen to Bob (Bobke) Roll cover the race. If I miss any of it, I can catch it again before I go to bed. That is the way TV was meant to be./

Fourth of July Weekend

After the 80 miler on Thursday, we took the 4th off from the bikes. I slept in until 0800 then we all headed to Wright Bro's for breakfast. After Breakfast, Heather, Chris and I took Ginger on a nice walk along Pearl Harbor. We had tickets for Bay Fest so we cooked out in the afternoon. Bayfest was a blast. I really enjoyed the Little Big Town concert. I have always enjoyed their music I just didn't realize how many good song they released. I think I knew the words to everyone of the songs they played.

Rodney Adkins was the main act. We got to see him last year at the College World Series. I enjoyed the show. My only complaint was that he played almost the same set as he did last year. I guess when you are a new singer, you only have so many songs you can play. After the concern, we watched a great fire works display.

Saturday morning Heather and I did a 30 mile ride around Hickam, Pearl and Ford Island.

When we got to Ford, I did some 30 second intervals while Heather rode around at a moderate pace. My goal was to lap her in 20 minutes of intervals. Luckily she started to get board and slowed down so I caught her on the final interval. On the way home, my blue tooth head set fell out of my ear. Several cars passed us and the last nudged it into the other lane. Luckily it still worked.

Later in the afternoon, Chris, Heather and I headed to the northshore to sunset beach. The surf was pretty strong which made me regret not bringing a boogy board. I did get to do some snorkeling and swimming and had a good time playing in the waves. The whole family went to JR Rockers for supper.

After Church on Sunday We ventured out west and hiked to kaena point. Most tourist don't venture out that way due to the rough nature of the area. I find it to be one of the most beautiful areas of the island. The hike wasn't too bad until we got to a section where the old road was washed out and we had to scale a cliff using a nylon rope. Chris and Ginger were both pretty exhausted for the return so Courtney, Heather and I ran back and got the Jeep. It was nice getting to do a little four wheeling. I haven't had it off road since last summer on my dads farm.

We got home around 6 tired and hungry. I cooked some ribs out on the grill and we ate around 8. Heather had to do most of her packing. It was after midnight when I went to bed and I didn't want to go to work at all. Most of all we were pretty sad today because Heather headed back to Illinois. She wanted to get back before the rest of the student's returned so she could find a job on campus. The worst part of being here is the fact that we don't get to see much of her. At least when she is here we make the most of it.

Ride to Kailua and Back

This morning Heather and I got up early to join the HACC for the initial part of the Scott Kimsey going away round the island ride. We were running a little late so everyone was eager to go when we arrived. I was surprised that so many people showed up for the ride. Unfortunately the guest of honor wasn't one of them. His new job plans got shifted to the fall and he had to take care of some personal business. Fortunately for us, he will be able to do a few more HACC rides before he heads to the mainland.

The traffic was pretty heavy on Nimitz until we passed the sand island turn off. Marianne ended up getting a Flat at the same spot that Jim Phillips did on my birthday ride. It looked like a NASCAR pit crew as several pitched in to fix her flat. We were quickly We fixed her flat.




The traffic lighten up has we headed down Waikiki and up around diamond head. We added some miles by going through Portlock and taking the Waimanalo bi-pass. As we headed into Kialua we had to stop for some road construction. Unfortunately a couple of the riders got tangled up and hit the pavement damaging their wheels. Luckily no one was hurt too bad and a few calls to spouses were made for pickups. We refueled at the little market/coffee stop on Kailua Beach then Heather, Marianne and I headed back the way we came from. The ride back was very nice. It is a little easier to navigate with 3 riders than it is with the large group. Heather did amazingly well considering she has ridden less than 100 miles prior to this ride in the last year. Traffic picked up and Nimitz was kind of hairy but we made it back all in one piece with 81 miles under our belt. After words Ben brought his puppy by and Ginger and her had fun playing. We went to the Hickam beach then we are heading out for Pizza. Not too bad for a family day.

State Champianship Road Race

Here is a great Picture Ben took of our family at my Graduation

Sunday Morning Heather and I got up at 0530 to head to the North Shore for the Pineapple Hill Hawaii State Road Championship. The HACC had to provide a wheel truck and Heather volunteered to drive. Unfortunately she drove for the 123 race and didn't get to see me race.
The first part of the race is a down hill section that we ride every Saturday called Snake hill. I was glad to have the experience with the road as we were headed down it in a tight pack going 35 + miles per hour. It was nice knowing were all the bad spots were in the road. At one point I looked down at my computer and I was going 47 mph. My strategy was to hang in the middle of the pack during the down hill and conserve for the climb. When we got to the bottom of Pineapple Road it went up to the front and did a hard pull. I knew I couldn't hold the pace for too long so I eased back as a group of riders passed. I was able to hold on with the front group of 15 or so riders. Bryant and I were the only HACCers in the front pack. Luckily the pace slowed as we road at the top of pineapple through to the feed zone. It was nice being down to only 10 riders for the fast decent. At the bottom of Pineapple Hill, one of the riders took off, Bryant and 2 others were able to keep his wheel and the rest of the pack split off the back. Unfortunately I was in the back of the pack with the split happened and couldn't get up to the front group. I joined up with 5 other riders and formed a chase group. We worked very well together but couldn't catch the front group. We stayed together for the final climb until we turned off on snake road. A couple of riders took off. I was able to catch their wheel and tried to sprint around them hoping to out sprint the group. As I tried to sprint, my legs turned to jello and 3 of the riders passed me. Bryant placed 2nd and I ended up getting 8th in the 4/5 race, but 2nd in my age category for my 3rd State championship medal which unfortunately I managed to lose between the race and my house. Not to bad for my first year or racing on the island. John Girmsey won the gold master's race by quite a margin. Shannon Cutting placed second in the Women's race. Again the HACC did very well.
The new bike was great. It was so nice having crisp shifting. I put new Keo pedals and was having some pain in my left knee. Heather and I rode down to Momentum and Biz tweaked the fit a little which seemed to take care of it as the knee didn't bother me at all during the race.

Heather has been doing a pretty intense workout for her softball off season. The workout involves sprinting, jumping and an occasional 1.5 mile run. She runs her 1.5 in the 11 minute range but hasn't tried any longer runs. We decided to see how far she could run at a 10 minute pace. We started running laps at the track so we could watch our pace. After 6 laps we were getting board so we decided to do the big loop. After the big loop we finished with a 9 minute mile on the track. I was very impressed that someone who hasn't ran more than 1.5 miles at a time could knock out a nice 4 + mile run finishing with a faster mile than her first. After her college softball career is over, she is going to make a heck of an aerobic athlete. I am sending her my old road bike so she can ride it at school.

Busy Weekend

This was one of the most fun weekends I have had in quite a while, which is saying alot since I usually have pretty fun weekends. I took a day off Friday to spend with my sister and to start celebrating Chris's Birthday. We went to the north shore and spent some time hiking at the Audubon park at Wiamea Bay. We took the easy paved path to the falls and spent some time enjoying the view. On the way back we decided to try a little more difficult hike on the way back which was a single track that went up and down some steep hills with a few loose rocks to make it interesting. I stayed back to help Chris navagate a tricky section when we heard Gina, Heather and Courtney Scream. Apparently a wild bore ran out in front of them. Needless to say, we headed back to the paved path. We headed over to the ocean for a swim. Unfortunately we forgot our snorkeling gear but I was able to work on my swimming using the book Full Immersion Swimming. I think i need to work on it in the pool as I swallowed a bunch of salt water.

After Swimming we went Cholo's Mexican Restaurant in Halewa for some great Mexican Food. We have been wanting to go there for several months and were not disappointed.

Chris's Birthday was Saturday. We went to Waikiki to the outdoor Mass at the Hale Koa. It is a beautiful Mass but a bit hard to concentrate with the great views and the people walking by.

Afterwards we went to our favorite Italian place Auntie Pastas for another great meal.


Sunday I got up early and headed to the Race. It was a perfect race. Check out Dev's Blog for a complete run down and great pictures: http://devsfitnessjourney.blogspot.com/

I rushed to my graduation at the O Club. It was a nice ceremony that Ben, Chris, the girls Gina and My boss Linda and her Husband attended. It was great having a cheering section as I walked across the stage.

Afterwards, I was treated to a nice surprise thanks to Mom and Dad with some help from the rest of the family, including Ben.

One Year Later

Yesterday marked the 1 year anniversary of my brothers death. It is hard to believe it has been a year since the army staff car arrived at my parents farm to deliver the news that Josh was killed in Afghanistan. We all miss him so much.

Heather's Home and Courney is in High School

Monday afternoon Heather flew in from Illinois for her summer break. This year she is just staying with us until the 2nd week of July so she can try to get a job for the school year. I am trying to convince her to race in the Hickam Crit but she doesn't seem to think it would be much fun. Hopefully I can get her to do a couple of weekday HACC rides. She enjoys riding but my bike doesn't fit her the best and she is not used to road gearing and shifting.

Courtney's 8th grade promotion party was Tuesday. I can't believe she is going to be in High School. It seams like yesterday when she was 11 months old and we were PCSing from Offutt to California.

Friday night, Ben and Casey came over for supper. We got out the poker chips and played some high stakes poker. I was making Margarita's until I ran out of tequila and had to make them with rum and whiskey. They didn't taste the best but they had a bit of a punch.