Happy Thanksgiving...And A Long Ride...

Happy Thanksgiving...I probably should take some time in the coming days to think about all the good and grateful things I'm thankful for...everyone should...

Went for a long and very windy 3.5hr ride this afternoon...felt like junk all the way. Didn't help when the Polar HR computer I just put on today decided to STOP showing the speed about 1 hour into the ride. Rode back home, took all that cr@p off my bike, took of the irritating HR strap, and rode out to Hawaii Kai and back with whatever energy I had...

Then, about 2/3 of the way out to Hawaii Kai, I see this guy coming up to me in my mirror and I'm not riding really THAT slow...the guy kind of breezes by me riding a chrome Bianchi fixie w/ 2 water bottles on his seat - tri style...although I could have easily jumped on, I figured I'm just riding easy today so I just let him go, he barely makes it through a just turned red light. This guy had that total pro racer build, like 6' tall and super skinny and super tanned...I wonder if he's an off season pro cause I never seen this guy before and if I did, I would have remembered him for sure...

UH Wahine Volleyball - 2008 WAC Champions!!!

Jamie Houston Smok'in the Coconut!

Left Side!


Right Side!


Back Row Soaring!

Cubie Crushing It!


The last point and celebration...


UH was just smoking tonight!!!

The whole team played awesome and Jamie Houston was just slamming the coconut like I've never seen before...but so was Cubi and Kanani. And Kaufman's and Brandt's serves were causing havoc! And the whole team was putting on a Block Party!!!

When UH was making their runs...the Wahine got that whole arena ROCKING and it was just like a HOT ROLL in Vegas!!! Super exciting...

Bike Web Sites...

My favorite bike sites:

www.cyclingnews.com

www.pezcyclingnews.com

www.velonews.com

And a new one I just ran into this one that seems to be really good: www.bikeradar.com

A good article on aerodynamics: http://www.bikeradar.com/road/fitness/article/how-aero-is-aero-19273

Look KX Light - Lightening...

This past weekend I spent some time putting my KX Light on a 50 gram diet by putting on my lighter but well worn gray Terry Zero in place of the heavier black Zero. Also changed out the Dura Ace seatpost for an old school American Classic post which was probably about 10 grams lighter or so.


The American Classic seatpost is NOT clear coated or anodized so I had to buff that thing out to bring back the mirror like shine...looks way different from anything out there now-a-days, pretty cool I think. Hopefully, it stays shiny for a while.

I hope this AC seatpost won't break too fast as I think everyone has had an AC seatpost with a broken clamp...


Test rode it around yesterday and one thing good about the American Classic is that it has a micro-adjust level screw, versus the notch type in the Dura Ace or even Campy seatposts. Lets you get just the right amount of tilt.

Body On Me - Nelly Featuring Ashanti & Akon

I've been getting into piano music recently and I really dig the beginning of this song...it really grooves...



This song got kind of popular in the summer...but it never got to #1, which might be good cause I probably would have gotten sick of hearing it every 10 minutes on the radio. Infact, crazy or not, when there's a song I really really like, I actually turn the station so I don't over hear it...

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_on_Me

How Much Cooler Barack Would Look...If He Raced...

My brother was testing out his Nikon D40 and his photography skills the other day, panning and focusing on FAST moving objects...pretty good job I would say ;-)
Tantalus Descent...

Obama's Cool...

I Like To Ride...So Does Obama! Looks like he needs to pump up his back tire though. Also looks like he likes to trailer around his daughters.

3 Hour Ride...

Took the Bridgestone on a very gusty 3 hour ride today...and, the stretch with the 100 stem might be a tad too far...may need to find a 90 on Ebay...we'll see.

Also, am getting some problems with my aero lever on the right side...during the ride it must have slipped down about 1cm or so. Could be that's why it felt too far, especially at the end of the ride.

But whatever...cause everytime I see that stem on the bike...I feel good :-)

Even More RB-1 Upgrades - Cinelli Italian Style...

Added these to my RB-1 today...Cinelli 1R Stem and Cinelli 63 Bar.

With that iconic winged "C" on the front...back in the day, there was nothing more racy and beautiful than having a sleek, soft polished and Italian, Cinelli 1R stem on your bike...it screamed...PRO! Although, I don't think anyone around here was really a pro, all the fast guys AND the pros rode these stems and bars. It was the standard!


The 1R used a slightly bigger 26.4mm diameter bar, not like the 26.0 standard today. Cinelli 26.4mm bars, also pretty much the standard, came in various bends: "64" Giro d' Italia shallow drop, "65" Criterium bend (had one of these "sprinter" bends on my bike for many years), "66" Campion del Mondo "Merckx" deep bend, and the bars I have here (actually my brother's) "63" Campion del Mondo medium drop bend. http://www.43bikes.com/cinelli-bars-stems.html

Thank goodness (again), I didn't dump these as they were just laying around for many years. Since I started upgrading the Bridgestone, I put the Cinelli combo on and off the bike several times over the last couple of weeks...deciding that the stretch was just too long, 100 vs 80. Plus that, this old-school set up ADDS about 125g to the bike, cancelling out lots of the gains I made going to the Dura Ace drive train stuff! But still, even though its heavier, I just couldn't get my mind off knowing how sweeeeettt it would look. So today, I decided to just put it on and went for 1-1/2 ride...and holy smokes...I COULD RIDE IT!!!!! (today anyway...)


At first, I was going to use my lighter Deda 215 with this super nice, retro Nitto 26.0 Pearl stem the D-man let me borrow, to get rid of that clunky, but functional, front loading Profile stem. But now...after riding with and seeing how the Cinelli components look...there's no turning back!!! I really really hope I can get comfortable with the longer stretch...a 3 hour ride is on tap soon.

One thing for sure...Cinelli is pure Italian Style!!! It just takes it to the next level...too bad we all have to use that clunky threadless stuff now...

The Cycling High...

Some days you feel like riding and some days you don't...but, when you gotta have it, cycling makes you feel unreal good...

Yesterday, I felt like crap, didn't want to ride, but I forced myself to do about 45 minutes riding around the neighborhood on my full suspension bike...at night. Good thing my diy-bicycle-light was still kicking a$$ big time. Got home, but still felt pretty crappy...

Today was a different story. All day at work, for some reason, I wanted to ride...and I wanted to ride HARD. I figured 3 hard laps of Lagoon before the sun went down would be a good "fix." I even used the drops on the 3 legs into the wind, versus going only medium hard in the hoods. Got done a little after 6pm. It was TT style very HARD, like I haven't done in several months, but...it felt so unreal good...

I gotta get more days like today...

BARACK OBAMA IS PRESIDENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally...Barack Obama is president of the United States of America...

After Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004, finally...

Barack Obama is president of the United States of America...

Finally...

Peace.