Easter Greeting From Barack!!!

WOW...got a Easter greeting card from our future president...Barack Obama!!! Thanks to my good friends Mark and Liana, it got here in a round-a-bout way...from the Virgin Islands to San Fran to Hawaii!!!

Got some other stuff too...but I don't want to make Barack "blush" by showing what else he sent me...??? Although, I WILL say that it applies to the dumb @ss idiot Bush AS WELL AS to "do anything, say anything, I'm owed this presidency" Hillary Clinton...cause she should really consider "pulling out" already.

As it stands now, there is practically NO WAY she can win without the bogus Super Delegates (like bullheaded Dan Inouye) overturning the will of the people. And if the Super Delegates do put her over the top, I don't know who I will vote for..."Insane" Mc Cain, or "Duck and Cover Sniper Fire" Hillary... And, for once, I think I agree with Nancy Pelosi: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/26/clinton-donors-object-to-_n_93552.html

I think I 'll carry this around with me to show everyone...you think???

Cars I Like...

Not that I'm looking for a new autocross car...but...these are some car that I really like...

The BMW 1 Series - Inspiration was the old BMW 2002, but, to me it looks more like the BMW 320i. While in Japan in 2006, I actually sat in the new 1 as they get all the cool cars before us here in America. I also saw the 1 Series 5 door, which I think they are NOT bringing to America. :-( I think this would be a great car, but the gas milage would be not much better than my wagon now...

I like this Yaris S model too. Toyota's cheapest car, but it looks really good. Don't know how good it would be in autox cause it doesn't have much power, but it would save a LOT on gas...

This new Corolla XRS is also a nice looking car and with the XRS, it would be a great race car.

This Civic is also a car I really like cause I like the avant-garde wedge shape. Also, with the Vtec, it probably will be a good autox car, but, it costs a lot more than the Corolla.

This is the 2009 Fit that will be coming out in a couple of months. Its suppose to be 160% stiffer than the 2008 model and is suppose to be a great handling car. This car would be easy to take my bike around too.

Tripler Loops...Jury IS Still Out...

So I'm pretty bummed since my new pedaling style is still sort of on the fence...cause today, I felt good, felt like riding, and my times were not much faster...

I headed out at about 5:45pm and did 3 loops of Tripler...in the rain..and I was only maginally faster than last week, although it was pretty windy. Don't know if the wind helped or hurt...

Infact, I went back to my old "back seat" position and pedaling style and it felt pretty good - so long as I wasn't going into too strong of a headwind. So I used the old pedaling style in certain places where being back and high was better, then I went to the new front position to save the legs when they got tired. Who the hell knows which one is better - maybe a combination of the two???

Last weed Wed: 3 Triplers climbing all med. tempo with new pedaling style for all 3: all in the 8:55 to 8:58 range. Max HR was about 181

Today: 3 Triplers: Max HR about 186-187 (so I was going way harder than last week)

@ 3' on 1' off: 8:39 best time

@ 1' on 1' off: 8:56 worse time

@ hard tempo: 8:44 pedaling both from the front and back

So.....I still need to do more "testing" cause I don't have the PT...

Sunday Tantalus & Buffing...

Last week I was feeling real good about my new pedaling style and was just waiting to bust some Tantalus this weekend...but for some reason, I felt like sh*t and ended up sleeping ALL day Saturday and 3/4 of Sunday. So I forced my self to get out and ride on Sunday, very late.

Since I was feeling only so-so, I decided to just cruise around on the flats...except, when I hit Waikiki, the Honolulu Festival had all the streets blocked for the giant parade. So...with 1 hour already in the legs, I decided to try and do Tantalus...in a SLOW 25:40!!! I should have stayed home and slept....

I felt like I went pretty hard, got up to 183bpm at the end, and the legs felt OK with the new technique...just went slow...

So...I'll chalk the 25:40 up to being sort of sick...and I'll give myself 2 more times to get into the 24's or else!!!

I've also been spending LOTS of weekends and afterwork time since November helping my brother get his ride together. Like the Karate Kid, both my brothers and I have been prepping and bondoing here - glazing putty there, sanding up - sanding down, taping hi - taping low, painting left - painting right, polish once - polish twice, etc., etc...

It's starting to look really Bad Arse...

22 Min. Tantalus...

The Tantalus TT comes up in about a month, on April 6th...and...I hope to finally get into the low 22's...somehow!!!

I've been doing Tantalus for so many years and I've been totally stuck in the 23's or so. So I figured, instead of only trying to improve my fitness, why not try something different? So, what I came up with was a different pedaling technique.

While riding last week, I did some thinking of how I've been pedaling my bike. Instead of pedaling from the "back seat" like I used to, I decided to try pedaling "off the front" to see how that would work.

After about 3 rides, from what I can tell...it "might" be working. Although, without a Powertap...I'm only going by time and feel. Seems like this style saves the legs and works the lungs instead, and when I mean saves the legs...it's not like before when it felt like my legs were going to BLOW UP...well...maybe...I may not be going hard enough at this point yet too...

I mean, the other style was OK, but I've been really really really stuck and stagnant in ALL my climbing races, whether at Tantalus and even at Haleakala (with my 3hr 50min rides for 2 years in a row). THIS TIME, this time, it's going to be DIFFERENT...

Still climbing pretty slow, but, maybe I'll time Tantalus this weekend...

Keeping the Faith...

I am...

Even though we lost 3 out of 4 primaries last night, the delegate count stayed pretty much even. Here's a message I got VERY early this morning from Barack Obama:

Steven --

We may not know the final outcome of today's voting until morning, but the results so far make one thing clear. When the dust settles from today's contests, we will maintain our substantial lead in delegates. And thanks to millions of people standing for change, we will keep adding delegates and capture the Democratic nomination.

We knew from the day we began this journey that the road would be long. And we knew what we were up against. We knew that the closer we got to the change we seek, the more we'd see of the politics we're trying to end -- the attacks and distortions that try to distract us from the issues that matter to people's lives, the stunts and the tactics that ask us to fear instead of hope.

But this time -- this year -- it will not work. The challenges are too great. The stakes are too high. Americans need real change.

In the coming weeks, we will begin a great debate about the future of this country with a man who has served it bravely and loves it dearly. And we will offer two very different visions of the America we see in the twenty-first century.

John McCain has already dismissed our call for change as eloquent but empty. But he should know that it's a call that did not begin with my words. It's the resounding call from every corner of this country, from first-time voters and lifelong cynics, from Democrats and Republicans alike. And together you and I are going to grow this movement to deliver that change in November.

Thank you,
Barack

SCCA Championship Runoffs

Like the Super Bowl...where the Giants beat the #1 New England Patriots, the "best" don't always win...and my car did look really shiny and clean...maybe I should have done the Castle-Hanauma TT instead...

I was the STS "Ace"...if only for a couple of weeks. After looking forward to today all week...FTW!!!...I should have probably worn the "King" socks...


My *Best Run.....This WAS my best run, but I coned it away 1 d@mn second after it started...and I knew I was lined up a little crooked, but I STILL didn't think I was going to hit that cone. It would have been good for a 33.217. Lucky I did have a 33.4 in the bag cause Aaron, on his new Azenis 615 shod IS was right there with a 33.5 - whew...


The *Best STS Run.....Congratulations!!! to my brother and his fwd 6 wagon who won the STS championship today with his 2nd run of 32.9 seconds! But this fun run, even while driving too wide into the finishing chute, would have been good for 32.2 something except...for a few cones at the finish. My day was also made a little longer when he drove MY rwd Bimmer in the fun runs to a 33.0 something...Holy Smokes!!! You gotta DRIVE!!!

Today's course was WAY WAY harder to drive compared to the last race as the turns were so wide open that you could take 10 different lines through the turns - of which probably only 2 were correct. You just had to somehow figure out which one was the fastest for your car.

With a couple of pointers from my brother and Curtis Lee, THE all-time reigning ACE of Hawaii Autocross, I managed to run a 33.4 with my brother in my car...and on another run I even managed to get the beginning 1/3rd of the course as fast as my brother - according to the data logger.

Now...all I need to do is somehow put that 1/3 together with a better 2/3rds and I may be dealing Aces again...something easy to say but hard to do. That's why this sport is so great...wait till March 30th!!!

RESULTS: http://www.sccahawaii.org/3-2-08.pdf

2007-08 SCCA Hawaii Championship

FTW!!! Spent this morning washing my car to look goooood for tomorrow's SCCA "Super Bowl." It's one event, winner take all...and you need to get it done in only 3 runs instead of 4.

All week long I've been thinking about how to drive the best lines. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hope that I can rip off some fast runs tomorrow...and even if I don't win, at least my car will look nice and shiny - lol.