SCCA Hawaii Sept. 9th Autocross

Wagon's Rule STS...

Tires must have worked...me up on my tippy-toes on trail breaking...

After not racing this car for almost 6 months or so...this was my first race back with the Bimmer and the first on my new 17's and 225 RE01 rubbers. Originally, I didn't want to race without putting more suspension on (sways, springs, shocks), but since I couldn't bring the Eunos out...I HAD to race my car.

The first couple runs were just TERRIBLE and the car felt like a slug cause I was driving it like my brother's R-comp 2 seater. But after sort of getting back in sync with the slower response, I did a pretty good 3rd run at 35 flatish...BUT!!!, hit the 1st d@mn CONE out of the start chute 35.0ish----->37ish!!! With the pressure on, I luckliy squeezed out a much better 4th run that really felt "gingerly fast" at about 34.5 and change ...I was happy :-)

According to the datalogger, I could generate about 0.90 to 0.93 G's continuous in the sweepers and over 1.0 G peak, especially in the "banked" drainage grate turn. I was really afraid of abusing the new treads, but they held up exceptionally well considering the non-sport suspension on my car. Must be that free camber mod helped a bit, cause I was VERY late on one turn and the car still actually turned instead of just plowing...whew...I could just picture the scrubbed off edges on my front tire with that bit of lousy driving...

My brother's 6 with new coil overs...and still on indestructible mud and snows...

I drove his car the other day and it has NO front end grip, compared to my RE01s. Gotta watch out for him if he ever coughs up the bones and gets some "good" tires cause in the fun runs, he ripped off a 35.2ish run which would have been only about 7/10s off my best run of the day. And considering, I'm on what many say is the "best" STS tires available, good tires for him could easily be worth 1/2 second as his suspension is definitely overworking his tires now...

My friend Erik808's non-wrx-subie generating some G's tippy-toeing through the right hand sweeper into the finishing shot...good for 2nd place in STS...

At this event were the most wagons I've ever seen at SCCA...






Results: http://www.sccahawaii.org/9-9-07.pdf

End of Summer Weekend...

Everyday Stuff: Today, we bought a BIG bottle of Otokoyama Sake...verrrryyyyy good and smmooooottthhhhh........aaaahhhhh.....

Also drank up the rest of the Funaguchi Sake...premium unfiltered draft goodness...in a can...to protect the draft brew from the quality degrading light.....

Cycling: On Friday, after a week and a half of stressing and cussing out e-bay...I finally got my new $25o Polar CS400 working and took it on it's first real ride yesterday over the Pali with the D-man. Everything except the altitude was working good...got up to 179 bmp at max so I did go a little hard...

To get the damn thing to work, had to read the manual - nothing, read the Polar Forum - Nothing, read the FAQa - NOTHING..... I was getting pi$$ed!!! Had to finally end up calling some foriegn country - I mean Polar Customer Service. The computer needed a global reset: push all 5 buttons and HOLD (dumb cust serv rep didn't tell me to HOLD) till it resets, then push the bottom left, then top right buttons - presto - global reset and all is hunkydorie...

Still don't know if it's worth the hassel though...I kind of liked going "old school" for the last 1/2 year or so.....maybe it was a 250 bone mistake???

Jogging/Running: Today, I spent some time working on my brother's Eunos...so didn't get out till 5pm or so. Ran about 10k from Triangle Park and did what I used to call, my Figure 8 Run around Diamond Head and Kapiolani Park. Still running/walking very slow so it took OVER 1 hour... Route: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1340724

Jogging ----->Slow Running

After Friday's and Sunday's slow outings, my legs felt like someone took a bat to them.

But...being too late to ride and with the sun going down so early, I actually drove down in the heavy traffic to Ala Moana park to run...since running around Salt Lake is pretty boring...no scenery really ;-)

In the twilight, I kind of sort of jog/ran for almost 4 miles on Wednesdayand could tell that some running legs were coming back. Since I haven't run at Ala Moana for like...years...I saw several long time friends that I've hadn't seen for a long time. In fact, it's been so long that the trees I remember being small back then are getting big now.

Since working in the country, it was good to get back into the townie action again...

Route (3.9 miles): http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1334692

Jogging.....

I used to run before...today, I only jog.
We'll see if I can start running...in a couple of months.

Did about 1 mile or so on Friday. Today, did about 5.7 miles around Diamond Head.

Was pretty nice to run instead of ride today, as I haven't run for a long time...and I haven't run around Diamond Head for a really long time...the beach was really nice....

Here was my route today: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1324033

View From the 45th Floor...

On Tuesday...after eating breakfast, I decided to get in some free entertainment.



On my last 2005 visit to Japan, I stayed at the Keio Plaza in Shinjuku and had a direct view of the magnificent Tokyo Metropolitan Governement Buildings, twin towers actually. But back then, I didn't know that it was the government building and that there was a FREE observation deck on the 45th floor.

One thing for sure...Shinjuku Eki (新宿駅) was still VERY confusing as ever...and even though that was my "base station" last time, I got lost and wondered around looking down all the "valleys" between the other tall buildings for the distinctive look of the Government Building.


Here's a よんじゅうごかい Photostitch view from one side of the building, looking East. The Keio Plaza's two buildings are there on the left and Shinjuku Eki is sort of center left, just in front of the park in the middle. This is what I would call a concrete jungle...no wonder it was so hot...


Looking down into the buildings large ground level open plaza...note the orange spire...it's in the top picture too...

On the 45th floor, there's a cafe...that takes up about one-third of the viewing area...you need to pay to get in. The next time I go back there...I'll probably go at night to see the lit up skyline...and to enjoy a cup of that great Japanese kohi...and perhaps some good company...

Lots and Lots of Walking...

While in Japan I did this walk about 2 times a day...1/2 mile (minimum) each way, not counting walking around while lost and while lugging around some star sharks in my roller luggage...and in 90+ degree weather too...

The main portion of the walk was along a couple block long pedestrian mall with lots and lots and lots of people...going to and from the station in the morning and at night...

Gmap: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1220568

No wonder everyone in Japan is so skinny...

"Home Made" Shabu Shabu...

Last Saturday, my brother, back from Japan was on a shabu shabu fix...

Off to Marukai we went to buy a butane stove, some buta niku, gyu niku, lots and lots of vegetables, and using some good konbu from Hokkaido ( :-) Kushima-san ) we fired up the new stove and went on a shabu shabu rampage...it was fun and super good and filling!!!

たくさん食べ物があったからやっぱり食べ過ぎちゃった。でもそのしゃぶしゃぶは超おいしかった！！！whatever that means.....

Cycle to the Sun 2007

Barry (a past winner of this race in just under 3 hours flat), Cal, and myself wearing the proof that we went from 0 to 10,000 in too long...

"Don't Feed the Hippies"

My packed bike...easier to pack with smaller wheels...

Well, I guess I should finally write about last last Sunday's Cycle to the Sun.

1) The all-you-can-eat pre-race pasta dinner was great as always.

2) The all-you-can-eat post-race steak dinner was great as always.

3) The weather was more perfect than last year.

4) And...I crushed last years time by a whole 5 seconds or so....whoopppeee!!!

Even after weight weenieing out my new 650 weapon, and even with my new light weight Met helmet, I could only improve on my last year time by so little...

To put it simply.....It was a VERY hard ride...

My lower back was absolutely KILLING me and my triceps were like jello...and I was cramping through the last 2,000 feet of climbing and I could hardly breath in the thin air...but other than that, it was fun...I think...

Present at this years race were 2 World Class athletes. Ironman triathlete Chris Lieto/ took 2nd overall and World Champion mountain bike lady Alison Dunlap/ and another woman crushed a LOT of us macho guys...Results: http://www.cycletothesun.net/results07.htm

My race was going great till 7,000 feet as I was riding with about 4 other riders...then things started to go bad with some cramping...then it went really down hill (I mean up hill) after that...

Lessons Learned:

• I don't know whether it was in my mind or not, but riding the white line is really faster than the AC since everytime I rode on the line, I started to slowly and shurly pull up on the group of guys I was riding with...I probably rode a good 5 miles on that line.



• I gotta start training earlier in the morning...we woke up at 4:50AM!!!



• I gotta take more salt tabs



• Tufo's are much more noisier and rougher riding than my clinchers pumped up to the same psi

Picture of me and my friends Barry and David at the bottom of the steep Makawao Hill: http://www.randyjaybraun.smugmug.com/photos/sspopup.mg?AlbumID=3374272

Picture of my friend Cal at the same hill: http://www.randyjaybraun.smugmug.com/photos/sspopup.mg?AlbumID=3374272

Picture to remind me of when I was feeling good that day way further up the mountain: http://www.randyjaybraun.smugmug.com/photos/sspopup.mg?AlbumID=3374272

Pic of my friend David who was probably suffering more than me: http://www.randyjaybraun.smugmug.com/photos/sspopup.mg?AlbumID=3374272

Now this it tough!!! Even a Bike Friday made it to the top!!!: http://www.randyjaybraun.smugmug.com/photos/sspopup.mg?AlbumID=3374272

WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR!!!