Worst Vog Ever...

Lagoon Drive looking into Honolulu.

Due to the lazy Kona winds, and the Big Island's Kilauea spewing tons of ash, this is the WORST "vog" I have ever seen in my life. In fact, I think this has got to be the all time worst ever...worst than any New Years too...and if you've ever seen New Years on Oahu, you know that is BAD.

This stuff is bad for your lungs, eyes, and skin, and it almost stopped me from riding today...but I went out for a very easy spin at about 6pm to take this video.

I wonder if it will be this bad in China for the Olympics???

This Ain't Rain...Barely Visible Diamond Head on the Right Side.

Full Speed...4/13 Auto X Pics...

At every autocross there several photographers who take some awesome shots...I gotta learn how to take these panning shots...Thanks Folks...

Full Speed BMW 1...

Full Speed BMW 2...

Full Tilt BMW...

Full Speed 6...

Full Tilt 6...

Hawaii State Team TT and Strong Winds and Flexy Spinergys

April 20th, this past Sunday, was the Cambio sponsored Hawaii State Team Time Trial Championship and it was my first race for my new team.....


The race was a 40 kilometer, 4 man Team TT from Kuuloa Beach Park to Laie and back. MAHALOS, to my teammates David, Susie, Darin, Charles, Cal, Gay and the entire Cambio/Core gang for busting their butts and putting on another 1st class race!!!

Our team was the Cambio "B" team made of 3 other strong riders plus myself and our time of 56:34 was not too bad considering we never rode together before. Although we came in 4th (out of 4 teams) in our division, we came out 6th overall.

On the way out, it was super fast as it was mainly a strong tail and side wind - my max speed was about 55kph. The Cervelo, with my "new" position, slightly more forward than previous TTs, felt really good and it must have been really aero cause I could just soft pedal while in the draft. The only thing holding me back from really cranking it up was knowing that it would be like hell on the way back into a strong headwind; and, the raging side winds in the exposed sections.

Being that our team never rode together before (very bad for a Team TT), we took some time to get into a good rotation and rhythm. And the nasty side winds didn't help at all. They were so bad, in fact, that I probably rode about 1/3rd of the race on my bar ends to keep the bike upright.

On the way back, it was as hard as expected and the wet roads mixed with white lines and blot-dots for about the last 4 miles really sucked. We NEVER got into any kind of rhythm as the side winds required an echelon across the whole road - and I didn't really want to block the entire road with all the cars passing the other team still on the way out...really sketchy sometimes...almost to the point that your time depended on how much of a "chance" you were willing to take.

I would think that if we practiced and if we didn't have to worry about the traffic passing the other teams, and if everyone had the full aero treatment, we had the horsepower on the team to do it in the low 55s or better...

Becuase my Spinergys are 1st gens and really flexible, they're total cr@p in side winds. This was the 2nd race where the side winds really affected my performance as the flexy wheel really makes you feel disconnected with the road...not a deal breaker by yourself, but with others in close proximity in a TTT, it is NOT GOOD! I think I'm going to be building up my Spinergys using some carbon fiber and epoxy to reinforce those flexy 8 spokes. The way they are now - it's just to crazy with any side gusts.

Back and safe in one piece...me in my new Cambio Team skin suit that looks and feels really slick! Beautiful Chinaman's Hat in the background...

1st Place Overall
609 Tony Lang Cambio-Core Men 1/2/3 155+ 0:53:35
610 Ricky Armstrong Cambio-Core Men 1/2/3 155+ 0:53:35
611 John Akana Cambio-Core Men 1/2/3 155+ 0:53:35
612 David Lum Cambio-Core Men 1/2/3 155+ 0:53:35

2nd
621 Alex Eiler Tradewind Breakwind Expr Men 1/2/3 155+ 0:54:40
622 Thomas Moen Tradewind Breakwind Expr Men 1/2/3 155+ 0:54:40
623 Keven Kawainui Tradewind Breakwind Expr Men 1/2/3 155+ 0:54:40
624 Rich Cocheran Tradewind Breakwind Expr Men 1/2/3 155+ 0:54:40

3rd
605 Ray Brust Boca 1 Men 1/2/3 72+ 0:54:51
606 Eduardo Sa Boca 1 Men 1/2/3 72+ 0:54:51
607 Alika Chee Boca 1 Men 1/2/3 72+ 0:54:51
608 Tai Bletchta Boca 1 Men 1/2/3 72+ 0:54:51

4th
617 Gary Shields Hammerheads Men 1/2/3 155+ 0:55:00
618 Penn Henderson Hammerheads Men 1/2/3 155+ 0:55:00
619 G. Tommaso Cirella Hammerheads Men 1/2/3 155+ 0:55:00
620 Jimmy Day Hammerheads Men 1/2/3 155+ 0:55:00

5th
601 Mike Zagorski Pacificvelo-Uno Men 1/2/3 72+ 0:56:19
602 David Lelong Pacificvelo-Uno Men 1/2/3 72+ 0:56:19
603 Cody Bergfalk Pacificvelo-Uno Men 1/2/3 72+ 0:56:19
604 Arron Walen Pacificvelo-Uno Men 1/2/3 72+ 0:56:19

6th
613 Roberto Deiana Cambio-Core.1 Men 1/2/3 155+ 0:56:34
614 Mike Okura Cambio-Core.1 Men 1/2/3 155+ 0:56:34
615 Steven Serikaku Cambio-Core.1 Men 1/2/3 155+ 0:56:34
616 Eric Sugiyama Cambio-Core.1 Men 1/2/3 155+ 0:56:34

7th
625 Casey Tucker HACC-A-Lugi Men 4/5 72+ 0:57:35
626 Ben Sambrano HACC-A-Lugi Men 4/5 72+ 0:57:35
627 Stephen Stale HACC-A-Lugi Men 4/5 72+ 0:57:35
628 Steve Chrco HACC-A-Lugi Men 4/5 72+ 0:57:35

8th
629 Charles Dias Cambio-Core.2 Men 4/5 72+ 0:58:51
630 Mark Little Cambio-Core.2 Men 4/5 72+ 0:58:51
631 Kaleo Mcguire Cambio-Core.2 Men 4/5 72+ 0:58:51
632 Ryan Seto Cambio-Core.2 Men 4/5 72+ 0:58:51

9th
505 Barry Masuda Cambio-Core.200 Men 200+ 0:59:04
506 Samson Ramirez Cambio-Core.200 Men 200+ 0:59:04
507 Chester Tamashiro Cambio-Core.200 Men 200+ 0:59:04
508 Tony Lang Cambio-Core.200 Men 200+ 0:59:04

10th
497 Tony Krantz Fast Mamas Mixed 155+ 1:00:54
498 Tanya Bettis Fast Mamas Mixed 155+ 1:00:54
499 Fouad Fattoumy Fast Mamas Mixed 155+ 1:00:54
500 James Gurr Fast Mamas Mixed 155+ 1:00:54

Full Results: http://blog.teamcorehawaii.com/files/113326-105816/2008_State_TTT_Worksheet_Working_Results_Team.pdf

April 13th SCCA Hawaii Race

I was going so fast this past Sunday...I blew the grill right off my car!!! ALERT - Got the mojo back!!! For one week at least...

By luck...or maybe, as Aaron (a past STS racer) said, "this course was just made for my car"...for whatever reason, I had "IT" and finally squeaked ahead of my brother by 3/10ths of a second...

Like in the last couple of races, I thought for sure he would catch my best time of 30.363 on one of his runs...but his car was just too loose on this high speed course. According to the datalogger, we got up in the 40-45mph range in several spots...way more fun than last times course were my car hardly got out of the 30mph range.

Both wagons dropping anchor from 45mph...

Looking at the times, this was the best I've ever driven against the field cause even though I was only 40th overall, my PAX was 22nd and my brother's was 29th!

Considering the PAX rating is based on having the "best prepped car for your class," me and my brother did pretty d@mn good cause our cars are definetly not the "top dogs" in STS...but, I guess I DO have a BMW (non-sport package though). In fact, I think only one other car, a well driven STU classed RX8 on Advans, beat our times on street tires.

We got to stay for the fun run after, and we both felt that the track had a little more grip compared to the 4th heat only 20 minutes earlier. Real or imagined, I actually almost got into the 29s with two runs in the 30.00# range...wish I could have done that when it mattered!

Both me, my brother and my younger brother are thinking of bringing back the Eunos for the next race in July...maybe with some big arse rubber FTW!!! But if not, the 185 r-comp advans will have to do for now...


Results: http://www.sccahawaii.org/4-13-08.pdf

Vid of one of my brother's runs...

TT Bike and Paris-Roubaix...

Took my Cervelo out for some short and hard intervals this afternoon on Lagoon Drive. Don't know what's happening, but my position felt all out-of-wack as I've been trying to "convert" to my newer forward position. For better, I hope, I had to move everything a little bit forward this afternoon and it felt somewhat better. As the ride was very short, I can't really tell if it will be good for 40k.

Gotta get out and ride a little more this week since I'll be on a pretty fast team for this week Sunday's State Team TT.

This past Sunday was the "Hell of the North" classic bike race...and cause I couldn't wait to see it on VS this Sunday...I found the last 20 mins or so on the web.

Only thing is, it doesn't really show when the crucial move went off the front of the race...now that must have been awesome...I gotta find that somewhere...

CYCLING Paris Roubaix 2008
Uploaded by miha2007

Gent-Wevelgem...Some Inspiration...

A great call and an awesome high speed finish to Gent-Wevelgem for one of my favorite racers.

Gotta love that this race is broadcast LIVE all over Europe and on a Wednesday too!

Gent - Wevelgem 2008

Skipped Race...and Flying Ducks...

So this past Sunday was the Tantalus TT...on a wet wet rainy day. For the first time in a LONG time...I ddddddddidn't do this race...I'll miss the T-shirt for sure...

Last Thursday I did Tantalus after work and I went pretty dang hard...and could only do a 24:37...considering I did that same time last year in training...I probably would have done a mid 23 something during the race. My new pedaling style seems to be helping a bit, although, I still need to perfect it...for sure, I have more options versus only riding from the back like before.


On late Satuday afternoon, I ran at a medium pace for about 6 miles or so from Ala Moana to Kapiolani and back. The highlight of the day was running with my ipod back along Ala Wai Blvd.


While running, two ducks flew waist high right in front of me, sort of diagonally from left to right, high to low, far to close. If I thought fast, I probably could have stuck my hand out and grabbed them! The neat part being, I could clearly see the second duck's still head and neck very clearly, but the wings were just a blur...sort of like a movie...now that was neat...

Not exactly the same, but you get the idea...

1st Race of the 2008-2009 SCCA Hawaii Season

Last Sunday, March 30th, was the first race of the new season.

In the Runoffs a couple of weeks ago, my brother beat me by a 1/2 second. It's getting w-o-r-s-e...I got beat by 1 second this time!!!

Like it is before every race...we both couldn't wait to get on the track again as SCCA is the only outlet to let your car really RUN. STS ran in the first heat, which is a slight disadvantage as you don't get to watch/learn from the prior heat...but whatevers...cause I walked the course lots that morning.

We knew that the course was going to be SLOW...and per the data logger IT WAS as most of the course was run in the 20 to 35mph range. Really too slow for our tastes as you didn't get any adrenaline rush that you get when you're into the 35-40mph range.

Since moving to Aloha Stadium, the courses have been MUCH slower and shorter than at HRP. Can't be helped really...unless...they double up on the track. But if they did that, every ones day would get really long since probably only one car could be on the course at the same time.

Like the prior races...I had difficulty finding the right line and pushing the car to the limit, especially in the 180 type turns. On my last run, I was going decently good, until I hit one turn where I just took a TERRIBLE line (actaully lots of people took the same crappy line as was observed when we were working the course) and I ended up going back "upstream" to make that turn and the next.

Comparing runs on my data logger, I really lost a lot of time there...but not for that mistake I probably would have run in the high 42s...but with my driving, I probably would have *!^#$% up somewhere else...

Here's my brother's fastest run (I think)...




STS Results:

Gregg Mazda 6-Wagon 42.079 PAX 28th
Steven BMW 325it 43.087 PAX 46th
Erik Subaru RS Wagon 43.995 PAX 55th
Malcolm Toyota Corolla 46.773 PAX 86th

My brohter's PAX of 28th is d@mn good with a heavy FWD wagon!!! Like always...can't wait till next race...I'm now taking tips from my brother and back to reading my racing books again: http://serikaku.blogspot.com/search?q=Shhhh...Secrets