Fall and Winter in 10 days

A week ago Friday I left the land of endless Summer and headed to the land of the rising sun to do an IG inspection on Misawa AB in Northern Japan. This was my second trip to Japan but my first to Misawa. Misawa sits in the northern Japan. It is an area known for its harsh snowfalls. We flew on a military tanker which was nice because 1. ) I had never flown MilAir before and 2) we were able to fly direct saving about 5 hours in transit time. We left on a Friday but crossed the international date line so we arrived about 1 pm Saturday. It was a beautiful fall day. The temps were in the 60's and there were still some colorful leaves on the trees. The fall weather lasted until the middle of the week when winter hit. It snowed Wednesday - Saturday. Luckily it was still pretty warm so the snow didn't accumulate as much as it could have. I guess I missed some pretty rainy weather on Oahu, which was nice since the 12 hr mtn bike race was postponed so hopefully I will get to do the race later.

Riding the Leeward Coast

This Saturday, the HACC broke with tradition and rode the leeward coast from Kapolea to the end of the pavement on the Farrington HWY. This is the area of Oahu that most tourist and many residents never see. The area has reputation as being the depressed area of the island with high crime and rough characters. It lacks the greenery of the Windward side due to a more arid climate. However, if you overlook the clutter, it has a distinct beauty similar to the South West in the continental US.

We met at Kapolea at 0630 and mounted up. I got my stuff together and noticed that my tires needed some air. I had my pump so I pulled my keys out of the plastic case that I placed my cell phone, ID and credit card. I pumped up the tire and locked up the jeep. About 3 miles into the ride, I felt my pockets and realised the case wasn't there. I thought about riding back but knew I wouldn't beable to catch up and didn't really want to ride that area alone. I told myself that surely I set it in the jeep before I locked it up and it would be there when I returned. I kept it in the back of my mind but didn't want to dwell on it being lost so I could enjoy the ride.

We hoped off Farrington and road up one of the canyons to some Navy property. The area was desolate and very different from the Waikiki area that people think of when they think of Hawaii. We road through a housing area where most of the people lived in military tin quansant huts. We also road past many of the beach dwellings scattered along the beaches.
We climbed on Canyon road up to some public hunting land. Bryant and I decided to give the steep paved road a try to see how far it would take us. We climbed until we hit a great spot for a picture.
We plan on going back sometime with mtn bikes and exploring the trails in that area. After we reached the turnaround and headed back, we saw a school of dolphins swimming about 100 yrds off shore. Unfortunately they were out of photo range but still very cool to watch. We reached Waianea in time to ride along with there Veterans Day parade. With our Red, White, and Blue kits we fit right in.

I skipped the detour through Koalina so I could get back and hopefully find my missing case with phone, ID and credit card. When I got back to the Jeep, I found it setting on the roof where I must have set it when I opened my hatch to grab the pump. Luckily I put the stuff in the case as if it had been my wallet, I don't think it would have stayed there for 4 hrs. Finding my stuff where I left it capped off a great ride. For more photos, check out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/steelesc/sets/72157608794299624/

Busy weekend and the Beer Ride

This weekend was a three day weekend. I started Saturday with a ride up on the northshore. I got going a little late and arrived just as the group of one was taking off. Apparently I wasn't the only one who was having a hard time getting started 6 other riders showed up after me. We took a shorter route hitting Kole Kole and Dillingham Airfield before heading up Pineapple. The group split into two groups between Dillingham and Pineapple hill. I was in the second group and John was in the first. I was determined to try to catch him on the climb or at least keep him in sight. I thought I could see him a ways up the hill so I kept the Hammer down. After a while I lost sight of what I thought was him and figured he just too wide of a gap. I expected to see him coming down the hill but I made it up to the bus stop with out seeing John. I turned around a rode down to join some of the riders coming up. I saw John making his way up. Apparently he went around the circle instead of starting when he got to the hill so we could ride up together but it took longer to get around the circle than it he thought it would so he started behind me.

After I got home, my ankle was bothering me so I kept icing it and wrapping it, hoping it would feel better before Monday. It has been bothering me for a couple of weeks but not enough to stay off of it. It felt better Sunday except for a couple of times when I step on it wrong while washing cars at the Knights of Columbus Car wash. It felt much better Monday and didn't bother me at all during the ride.

Courtney had a very busy Saturday. She spent 11 hrs at the school practicing for her marching band then went to an all night lockin with the youth group at school. I think she had fun at both activities but she was very worn out.

Chris and I checked out the new Whole Foods in Honolulu. It was much smaller than the one in Omaha but what it lacked in size it made up for in High Prices. Milk was $10.00 a gallon. We did find a couple of items that were pretty decently priced. They had their store brand whole wheat pasta which was very good and only ran $2.00 and their red peppers were less than the commissary. Other than those items, I don't think we will be doing much shopping there.

Monday morning was the HACC annual Yard House ride. Yard House is a restaurant in Honolulu that has over 100 beers on tap. We met at the Gym and rode down Nimitz. We weaved through Honolulu to ride up Tantlus. I hadn't ridden up tantlus since I did the time trial back in April. I decided to see if I could beat my TT time. I was very pleased to ride a 24:56 which was over a minute faster than my TT time. We headed down Round Top which had recently had the top 1/4 refinished making for a very smooth decent. We stopped half way at the lookout for some pictures. Check out Jeff Adkins pics for some great views of the rain falling on the city: http://picasaweb.google.com/jdabama13/HACCOctoBEERfest# or Jon Laurions: http://gallery.me.com/jonlaurion#100206 . Chris and Courtney met us a the Yard House and we enjoyed a great meal with the group.

September ,a month in review

It is hard to believe that another month is done. September was pretty busy for me starting with the 24 hr race the first full weekend of the month. This year the HACC fielded two teams. Both teams focused on having fun verse trying to win. John Girmsey decided to give the solo event a go. Chris and Courtney took advantage of the opportunity to camp at Koaloa ranch and spent the night with me. The first few laps went pretty well. I was managing to clear all the obstacles and stay in my pedals. Unfortunately on my 3rd lap, i misjudged a drop and endo'd hitting pretty hard. After that, it rained off and on and I spent more time walking over the technical sections than I did riding them. I still managed most of my laps under 30 minutes and really enjoyed the race.

The next weekend, I headed to Mississippi for a conference. Several of my friends from Germany were at the conference and we had a great time drinking beer and talking about how much we missed Deutchland. My buddy Ron is stationed in Mississippi. Ron and I came into the AF on the same day, were in brother flights in Basic and went through tech school and our first base for 9.5 yrs. I probably spent more time with Ron than I did my wife and kids during those years. Ron picked me up at the Airport and took me to Hooters for Lunch. We spent most of the next Friday drinking beer, smoking cigars and talking about the good old days and all the characters we worked with. It was great getting to see him.

Curt, Denise and I played a lot of golf while we were in Mississippi. I started to get the golf bug and was playing some of the best golf I ever had. I have been trying to get out the Par 3 course since I got back but haven't had a chance. I even started to look at buying some new clubs.

Courtney's band has made great progress. Last year the HS band only marched in one game and look pretty bad doing it. This year they practiced all summer and really looked and sounded very impressive.

24 Hour Race

Here are some clips from this years race

Aug 2008

If you are a regular reader of my blog (that is if I have any regular readers left) you may have noticed a lack of blog entries. August was an extremely busy month for the Steele family.

The first weekend, I put aside the road bike and competed in a mountain bike race at Koaloa ranch. Koaloa ranch is a very popular tourist destination on the Windward side of Oahu where they have filmed several movies and TV shoes including Lost and Jurassic Park. It is nestled in a beautiful valley . The race included significant climbing on Jeep roads followed by some technical single track. This year my fitness level is definitely on track but all of my bike miles have been on the road bike. I started the race in the front of the pack climbing the hills feeling pretty strong. That all changed when we left the hills for the single track. I was definitely a fish out of water. When we lived in CA I was the King of the Single track riding the most technical trails with no problem. Not now. I was timid. I kept telling myself the advice I used to tell my friends "momentum is your friend" but couldn't force myself to listen to it. I kept stopping to walk over the technical sections. Needless to say the guys I left in the dust on the climbs did the same to me on the single track. Each lap I would pass a bunch of guys on the climbs only to have them pass me on the single track. I ended up in 9th place overall and 3rd in my age group.

The week of 10 -16 Aug was full of activity. At work we held our annual Manpower Conference which my office was responsible for setting up and at home, Stephanie had her College Graduation at HPU. Normally I wouldn't have been that excited by the conference by one of my best friends Curt was attending as our Career Field functional Manager. Curt arrived on the 10th. I picked him up at the airport and had him come over for supper. Ben graciously let me borrow his mtn bike and golf clubs for Curt to use. We were able to play golf and work in a bike ride between the conference.

Mom and Gina arrived on Wednesday for Stephanie's graduation. Stephanie really appreciated them coming since her graduation was kind of short notice. She originally planed on finishing in January but she was able to squeeze in a few more classes so she could walk in August. It was so great to see her walk across the stage. You could tell she was proud of herself as we were proud of her. The ceremony was held in the Waikiki shell, which was a beautiful. It was too late after the ceremony so we decided to have the traditional graduation dinner Saturday at the Hale Koa after going to the outdoor Mass.

To close out the month, I competed in the Annual Dick Evans Memorial Race. This ride has been going on since 1983 to remember a Cycling Ledgand who was killed while riding his bike in Honolulu. The race circles the island for 112 miles. We lined up in Hawaii Kai at 0545 and started with a police escorted trip across Honolulu. the first 30 miles was considered neutral as we tooled along at 20 miles per hour. It was great rolling through the stop lights. It took only 20 minutes to get from Ward Center to the Kuntz gate turn off. It can take as long as 90 minutes in a car. Once we got to Kunia road, the real race started as we climbed the hill. I kept telling myself what John Girmsey said about keeping with the lead group up the hill and was able to hold on. I was so glad I listened to John as I was able to recover as the lead pack dropped the tempo after the climb. I was feeling pretty good on the flat part of Kam Highway and decided to stay in the front of the pack. This was not good strategy as I used way too much energy. I was towards the back of the pack at the last water station and failed to make the break as the group attacked up the hill. I stayed in the chase group and we were able to catch up just as we hit the second long climb between Koneohe and Kailua. That is where I fell off for good. My legs were cramping and I barely made it up the hill. Luckily Casey came up behind me and he, I and another guy traded pulls until we almost caught the chase group just as they headed up another hilly section. Casey ended up getting a flat so I had to solo it into Wiamanolo until Shanon and another rider caught up with me. I stayed on their wheels until we hit the Makupu climb where my cramps started up again. I managed to ride all the way up the hill but couldn't keep Shanon's wheel. I was able to finish but had both legs literally freeze up with cramps after I crossed the finish line. My original goal was top 25. I finished 26th or 27th depending on where you look. Next year I may not be as strong but at least I will be much smarter.

I guess it is about time for a new post

My cousin Marci, her Husband Joel and her boys came for a visit last week. We had a great time introducing them to the pleasure of Island Life and the Tour De France. Marci has two boys Avery and Chanse. Avery is 15 and Chanse will be 8 on Marci and My Mom's (twins) birthday9 Aug 08. The boys really enjoyed the Beaches. We visited the Hickam Beach several times and also spent time on Sunset, Waikiki, and Kailua. I tried to convince Chanse that the Tour De France was the best thing on TV but he still preferred Sponge bob.

The Friday after they arrived, they went to the Hickam Beach in the afternoon while I was at work. The Top 3 club was hosting a party at the Beach so we decided to go to it. Part of the entertainment was a jousting stage. Joel, Avery and I signed up. I got beat in the 1st round by Avery then they needed another competitor so they let me joust against Joel. I won that one and had to take on Avery. By this time I was starting to figure the trick was to push instead of hit. I was able to beat Avery the second time but he landed one hit squarely on my shoulder which I injured in may. I was able to continue to joust and won an ipod shuffle. Marci and Chris both won $25.00 gift certificates and we all ate for free. I guess I got my $10.00 annual dues worth.

I took Monday and Tuesday off and we went all over Oahu. We found a nice hike through the rain forest while driving around on Saturday. We went back and hiked it Monday. Afterwards we drove to Tantalus Lookout and to punchbowl national cemetery. They also squeezed in a Luau, a trip to the Arizona Memorial and a shopping excursion to Waikiki. We hated to see them go on Thursday as we had a great time during their visit.

Yesterday, I raced in the Boca Stage Race road race. Courtney's Birthday is today so i didn't race in the other stages. I have had a cold coming on the last few days so I wasn't sure how I would do. The course was a 3.5 mile loop that started with a decent then had 3 climbs on the back side, the last leading towards the finish. My goal was to stay in the lead group as long as I could. The first lap was neutral then the pace picked up. Each lap we would hit it hard on the uphills and rest on the decent. There were 10-12 of us in the front group. On one of the Middle loops I gunned it on the last climb and got about a 100 meter gap on the rest of the lead group. I held it through the decent but slowed abit because I didn't want to fight the wind alone. I was hoping to break up the group up a bit as they accelerated to catch me. On they next uphill section, a couple of guys made a break for it. I bridged up and brought another rider with me. We stayed ahead again but were caught on the decent. The breakaway and bridge took it's toll as I could tell my legs were sore on the uphill section. I was able to hang on with the front which slowly started to chip away riders. The bell lap we were down to 5 riders. I took a pull on the section leading up to the last climb but was passed on the climb by 3 riders. I hang on for 4th place out of a field of 35 riders. I felt pretty happy with my results. After the race, I went to Momentum and had the bike tuned then headed home. We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping for Courtney's Birthday. Courtney had 5 girls over for a party and 3 stayed the night. I think they had a great time because they were up until 430 in the morning. Today we are going to celebrate her birthday with just the family.