axellrocks:

Aloha from Kona, home to the Ironman World Championships (in October), and nearest host city to Hawaii 70.3 (Half Ironman, which was the impetus for my flying over here).

The water is great so jump in! I'm traveling with my high school friend J - J and I have done so much in the past few days, yet always found time for a nap or two! Why ARE we so tired?

Highlights so far:

1. Lava Java Cafe banana pancakes and Kona Coffee- simply a-ma-zing.
2. The gratuitous abundance of Kona coffee (think coffee plantations are to kona what wineries are to Sonoma). I could live on the stuff - it is simply magic... which leads me to number 3...
3. Magic Sands beach - an immensely popular local beach... it's a teeny strip of gravelly sand, scattered with lava rocks close to the break... the little break looked innocent enough, where heaps of kids/families bring their body boards for some expert wave catching. It was here that I watched kids and adults stand and catch waves on their body boards - no small feat - but to these folks that play hard and play hard... it was incredible to observe. Also incredible was the bigger break with mucho lava just to the left of the small shore break - seriously incredible surfers... of the kind I have not seen in Nor Cal (of course i only surf at sandy beaches so I have likely not seen the incredible NorCal surfers).
4. Sea Village - our condo! comfortable, cozy, with our own lanai (veranda), ceiling fans galore, a constant sea breeze - and the best part, the pool and hot tub were about 5 feet from the lava beach. Site of gorgeous sunsets below.
5. The Sunset - it was a most unbelievable shade of rose/pinkdiamonds....
6. Snorkelling at Captain Cook - I swam and snorkelled here for about 2 hours on Sunday. Julie and I had an adventures hour or so in the car - we snapped up some rental gear, and headed south to this huge bay with the aforementioned name - there is a giant memorial to the captain. We happened by the "Place of Refuge" (see below) and kept on driving, state hwy turned into a one lane goat path of a road, and it ended in this tiny community of one lane roads - ending at Napoopoo beach, a local beach with kids jumping off rocks, and tailgating in the parking lot. It was the stage where I finally let down and cast off my 'city ways"... where I left all my belongings on the beach and hoped they'd still be there - and of course they were. 100%.
   
7. Palace of Refuge. A beautiful bay full of fish - we snorkelled here too - occasional sea turtle's come out to rest on the big sandy beaches here. There is a guided walk in this National Park - the place of refuge was a place for royalty and for the wounded warriors or persons in trouble with the law, all could come and take refuge at this beautiful spot. Also site of many thatched huts and tikis and palms.
8. All Hawaiian's that I have met are the genuinely nicest people ever. I've heard and read stories that led me to believe otherwise, and someone (an ex bay area native) explained that he loved the kids have utmost respect for their elders, property and community here.
9. "K-sexxxx" my new favorite hawaii radio station - plays Hawaiian and reggae exclusively. Including the most repeated ballad "touch my light". (guess you had to be here to understand...)
10. The fauna - from the charismatic geckos, to the fear-inspiring giant palmetto-bug/cockroach, we embrace and love all Hawaiian fauna.
11. Kitch. Kitch stores are hilarious...perhaps Kitch was invented with the pineapple in Hawaii? Perhaps it's as my friend B says "wherever the white man invades, Kitch prevades"

Here's some of my favorite photos...

Today marked worldwide 'ride of silence' where cyclists from around the world marked off some time at 7pm (or any other time during the day) to get together with others, and ride in silence, to commemorate our fallen cyclists in our communities. We cant help but think of and want to honor Matt and Kristy, so fresh are those wounds.

And as if that was not sobering enough, today another cyclist was hit and killed in San Francisco.

Please ride (or drive) a little slower, breathe a little deeper, relax but be aware. Be predictable, be human, be compassionate. Most of all, we need to co-exist!

One more day and i'm flying away to Hawaii for the Hawaii 70.3 Half Ironman race on the Big Island of Hawaii.

I. Can. Not. Wait.

I have never been to Hawaii.

Show me the beaches, the sand, the waves, the sun.

Some of my packing list, in no particular order...
body glide - check.
sunscreen - check.
hat - check.
cute black shoes - check.
race belt - check.
Sharpie (A that's for you) - check
Ziplocks - need to get some!
run/bike shoes - check.
and on and on and on...

So stay tuned, I'll be sharing photos and blogging nearly every day while I'm there. You can follow along from your desks at work.

See, unemployment is pretty cool still.

And on another note - I just had to throw in some silliness from the past weekend's Bay to Breakers... aka the 'worlds longest party' or 'San Francisco's Mardi Gras"

either way - C-Dawg - thanks for the photo!

here goes..............

What is your occupation? Unemployment specialist

What color are your socks right now?  bare feet color (um I live in NorCal?)

What are you listening to right now?  the tv drone

What was the last thing that you ate?  ice cream (only one serving I swear!)

Can you drive a stick shift?  Yes

If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Periwinkle was always my favorite word for a color...

Last person you spoke to on the phone? My Sistah!

Do you like the person who sent this to you? YES C-dawg!

How old are you today?  29

Favorite drink?  Crystal Geyser orange flavored bubbly water... and IPA beer (not together of course)

What is your favorite sport to watch? Cycling, swimming, track/running, and the world sport dog championships...

Pets?  none (anymore)

Favorite movie? The princess bride, Baraka, Monty Python and the search for the Holy Grail, Office Space, Napoleon Dynamite, and on and on...

Last movie watched? March of the Penguins

Favorite day of the Year? New Years Day (or national hangover day)

What do you do to vent anger?  ride my bike, get the heart beating and scream!

What was your favorite toy as a child?  my little ponies, and breyer horses

What is your favorite, fall or spring?  fall

Hugs or kisses? both at the same time.

Cherry or Blueberry? blueberry

Living arrangements?    2 roommates - all good friends!

When was the last time you cried? the week matt died - or the week that Grandpa died - I cant remember!

What is on the floor of your closet?  shoes, and plastic drawers/storage for all my cycling crap.

Favorite smell? night time in the summer - blooming jasmine. Also the smell of 'green' when I'm running on a trail, sweaty cuz it's warm and humid - the smell of the plants just smells earthy and green and mossy. alive.

What inspires You?  pushing myself beyond limits to see just how far i can go...

What are you afraid of?  working too much to enjoy life...

Plain cheese or spicy hamburgers? um spicy burrito's!

 Favorite car?  my 3 bikes - cars are for car-lovers.
 
Number of keys on your key ring?  2

 How many years at your current job? 0.1

Favorite day of the week?  FRIDAY!!!

How many states have you lived in? 3 (OR, AL, CA)

How many countries have you been to? 6

First off - race organizers put on a fabulous race.. thanks guys! Williams wheels - big thanks to you for the neutral wheel support!!!!!!!!!!! Props!

EBC stands for east bay crashfest! Wom 3/4 (race together, score separate) - full of sketch riders that cant take bot dots or lean into each other, which is how I ended up hitting the pavement on the SECOND lap. but first: teammates - lots of them! Mo, Ashley, Bergen, Kate, Cathy. Course: flat, fast, great pavement, short. just like merco. also a crashfest.

My goal - points - just needed 2 to upgrade. Team goal - Get 2 lady mice on the podium. I wanted to lead Bergen out. Ideas: Find each other in the pack with 5 to go - and start ramping up the pace to string out the pack and see what we can do.

So - lap 2, one girl hit a bot dot or a bump, over reacted - leaned into Alice from Metromint - they were directly in front of me. I see this happen in slo-mo - and think "dont go down, dont crash, dont crash, dont crash" and.... they crashed - hard. Alice ended up shattering her elbow and may have fractured her cheekbone. She will need surgery to keep her elbow in place to heal. As this happened directly in front of me as we're going 20+mph, I slammed on my new emergency braking skills - slowed way down but had to either bunny hop a bike/person or go down to the right... so from what i remember, I braked and fell over. i have 5 giant bruises. I did happen to think "dont put your hand out" as the ground rushed to meet me. I gathered my arms close to me and rolled - landing mostly on my right hip and forearm and shoulder - and saw my bike skid across the road. Popped up quick, looked around, grabbed my bike and started to get back on - when people yelled at me to go to the pit (Anthony? nole? other teammates... it's all a blur). I ran into the pit - they changed my wheel - it was a bit bent... got me back in the race - unfortunately it took me an entire lap to get back to the pit - so they gave me 2 free laps... which i guess is a no no... anyway, i was bleeding and wanting to get back on so the official allowed it.

Off I chased back onto the pack and got in the field. now i had a chance to think about what happened. i was a bit scared so i got up front and did what i could to stay there - i did NOT want to go down or get near sketch girls again.

fast forward to 5 to go - we found each other - and were getting squeezed back by the dolce train and the code 3 train and the mintys. I said somethign to bergen and kate and i went left, they went right and we 3 went outside, regrouped and hit the gas... we maintained position going into the last 2 laps - pace ramped up big beginning the last lap where I heard the worst CRACK SNAP ever in a race. another crash - we kept going - didnt receive any news about neutralizing - kept our eyes open - and because I had let last weeks race go by me at the end - i wasnt going to let that happen again. So I worked hard to maintain position out of the second corner - into the 3rd corner... and finally sprinted it out - Bergen did well - i thought she was on my wheel for awhile but she swung out by the last straigtaway and left - i saw her charging - it was awesome. I put on my best sprint - outsprinting one or two gals for 5th or so (in the field - but i got 4th in the 4s).

Overall the race was scary - i didnt work that hard - but just as well. flat fast courses are scary unless the pace is so fast that the pack cant get together...

Here comes the scary part: i traipsed over to the pit to get my bent wheel and give back the loaner. The guy in the pit took the loaner - and my right side of the fork came off with it. a clean fucking break. I about passed out from shaking and scared of 'what if....?". Somewhere, my guardian angel (turns out the whole team had a bad ass cardre of Guardian Angels looking out for us this weekend) was working extreme overtime. The only thing keeping me together was the tension of the skewer holding the fork taught, and my body weight holding it down.

I am happy i still have my face.

double happy I have my upgrade points.

This is one of the most 'classic' criteriums in the Bay Area. It was started nearly 40 years ago (?) - and it is an epic crit. Why? The namesake - a 23% grade hill smack in the middle of the race. Yes, that's right, I said 23%.

The entire week before the race was a week full of smack talk. Why? Apparently last year, the promoters received many many many unhappy concerns from women because they only offered Womens 1-2-3 race. So this year they offered a 3/4 race and only 10 women pre-reg'd until the week before. So the discussion groups started the emails a flying and we basically cowed women into signing up... either throw down or shut up, right?

So, race day - 26 women in the cat 3/4 race... 10 laps of the race course. And we're off. um, cant clip in. For the first time, I couldnt clip in and had a horrible start. It didnt really matter... I rounded the first R turn about 15th back. Then the second R turn, same place - then the sharp left hand turn UP and UP and UP. I kept my wits about me, making dang sure to shift all the way down in the rear and into the small ring up front - so I didnt spin out before the hill, but would have no problem shifting up when the going got tough. I got into the groove, spinning halfway up the hill, and standing the second half of the hill, stomp stomp stomp past most of the girls - wow, I'm doing pretty well! After the crest, there's a dip, false flat into a sharp R turn and then downhill back to the start/finish.

After the lame start, I would move up into the top 10 and didnt fall out of the top 10 for the rest of the race. I felt amazingly strong and kept dropping girls behind me on every time up that hill. I managed to keep track of how many times we hit the hill, and silently counted them down in my head as we passed it. With 2 to go, I started to ramp up the pressure and crested the hill in the top 3 - but I burned my match too early - on the last lap, a couple of the girls poured it on, and I maintained about 5th up the hill, but couldnt recover enough to bomb very fast down the downhill. I gave a good sprint but did not go into the sprint with a good placing. So, next time, go through the 'finish' in my head before I actually do it. My placing was 7th overall and 3rd in Cat 4... but I really felt that I had a better race than my finish showed.

All in all, we had 3 girly mice in the top 10 - and all our girls that started indeed finished the race. 23% people!

Here are some photos - i tried to  pick photos that 'capture the hill' :)

This was the first time up the  "Cat's hill"  - I'm in the lower left corner - this was after I couldnt clip in.

Thanks to Steve Woo for the photos!!! -

Hooray! GTTGM!

April 26, 2008 - Category 4 Women's race - Field 42 -

Girly Mice: Daniela, Bev, Meredith, Marja, Jessica, Kate, and Me.

Prerace ideas: This was Bev's A race, and my legs were feeling pretty good too, so we were going into it just seeing what we could do. Daniela wanted to try see how the legs were feeling, and 'ride for me'.

Course:~15-mile loop. Greenville, Altamont Pass, Carroll, Flynn, Patterson Pass, Cross, Tesla, Greenville. Finish on Carroll Road (~4 miles past start).Feed zone on Carroll.

 Yes, this is a *hilly* race. We go up and over the Altamont pass, and for those that aren't "in the know", the Altamont Pass is a particularly dependably windy spot in the Bay area, as evidenced by the zillions of windmills up there.

The race started off flat - and neutral. All was well, we were chit chatting back and forth taking note of whom to mark for the hills. The same 1-2-3 from Sea Otter the week before were in the race, as were several other strong climbers of note. Up Altamont and up to Carroll, I looked back and we had a break of about 10 girls within the first 10 minutes - the entire pack was strung out. Dewars girl (1st from SO) took off on a solo break up and then down the first two hills, heading back to the flats we caught her. Bev dropped both her water bottles, and I gave her one of mine, leaving me with just 1/2 bottle until the feed zone. Did I mention it was climbing into the 80s! I asked aloud if anyone had any water to spare, and Cody from Wells Fargo gave me some, as I had given to her at Copperopolis. Thanks Cody!

With the pack of about 10 of us gals, we headed back up the first hill again (it's probably 2 mile slog uphill?) and I'm feeling good - I look around and see we've splintered the pack again.  As I'm hitting the top of the feedzone, out of water, I'm screaming for my coke (i remembered later that I had chosen 'diet' b/c i hate corn syrup, doh! that was dumb! but the caffeine did the trick) and an extra water bottle because I was OUT! As soon as I get my bottles in the cages and look up, the top 4 gals were taking off. DAMN how did that happen again. It's like i lose focus for 1 or 2 seconds and my competition took advantage. So, I gave chase for a few minutes - not catching back on. I look back and realize I have some STRONG climbers behind me. "that's okay" i think to myself "i can organize these gals and we can catch the break".  Well, I tried to organize a paceline. "hey gals, let's work together to catch them". I got this answer, "great, how do we work together? what's a paceline?" i should've known. Where are Bev and Daniela? I had no idea then but I had also ramped it up quite a bit when trying to chase the break and had completely dropped B and D and wouldnt see them again.

I attempted to get the girls to paceline - but they fell apart, and I rode them off my wheel - bombed the downhill solo, and had junior's passing me here and there. Finally I get to the flats and saw this hilarious kit "team unattached" - and thought for a split second "wow Michiko would love that kit" and then observe the girl's number and note it's not in my group (so we cant work together) and say to the girl as I pass "hey, i wish we could work together" as I turn my head to look at her IT"S MICHIKO! I havent seen M in ages! Good to see you out there... the flats were not so fun solo.

I cruised about solo, and got to the right hand turn again to head back up toward the finishline. I kept looking back to make sure none of the girls I passed were catching back on again. Suddenly I see black and yellow leading a charge behind me. DAMN, I thought to myself, WHY IS A TEAMMATE CHASING ME DOWN? Well they caught me, and it was DP who said "what are you doing out here by yourself again?" whew, it's just the guys (we're not in teh same race, so i was safe). Wait. Why is that green jersey long blonde hair GIRL in drafting off the GUYS?  Long story short, I pulled Green Jersey girl out of the Cat 4 men race. Yes, she drafted them and caught up to me. That is called CHEATING. I told her as much. I asked her to do some work up the hill - she complied, and then I said, since you cheated your way up here, you will let me cross the line first if it comes down to it.... she was worried, apparently it was her first (?) race and claimed she didnt know she couldnt draft with the men. bullshit I say.  No matter, I dropped her about 1/3 way up the last hill...

I raced to a 5th place finish - a free bottle of wine, a t-shirt, $10 and some points!

Things to learn -
1) do NOT doubt yourself and dont let yourself GET DROPPED. I am working on this in practice from now on. I am every bit confident that I would've given a huge run for the money for 3rd or 4th in that race, if only I hadnt doubted myself that I couldnt get back into the break.

2) constantly watch and cover the gap that opens in front... and then see number 1.

I am only 1 or 2 points away from upgrading to a 3. Pretty exciting!

I like to ride my bicycle! So that's what I did. 2 hours, mostly off - road INSIDE the SF city limits. I yielded a great 2 hour workout, 4 (big) bruises, two cuts, one sore left knee, 1 really patient off-roading partner (thanks BR) and 5 patches of (now gone) poison oak, shaking hands and forearms, and a grin from ear to ear.

It was a beautiful day to spend a Wednesday.

yes yes yes, i am back. internet is working again. expect good things, stories, and photos because I'm on day three of unemployment.

Santa Cruz Criterium - race report -

Category: W4. Field 20(if that),

Girly mice: Me, Daniela (our A lady), Kate, Bergen and Cathy (we were all domestiques today). Our goal - to get the win and maybe podium another girly mice.

The race course: 14 laps - flat start into downhill hairpin 180 turn (i still suck at it and will be much faster in that turn next year!) downhill - flat, right turn, small rise, right turn, larger rise to start finish again.

Competition: Lucia and Kimmy from Testerossa

we were off (like a prom dress) at the whistle, everyone chilling and taking the first hairpin cautiously - I was playing lieutenant today - making sure Kate, Daniela, Bergen and I were in the top 10 or so. Daniela of course went right out front - but after two words, she had a goal of sitting 4th or 5th the whole race.. and she did well staying there (which you could tell was killing her, it was like watching a racehorse fight for the bit..) anyway - around 8 laps to go, kate ramps up the pace for a lap, then bergen goes, then i go, so we were leading laps trading off - keeping d protected. We dropped 1/2 the pack in 4 or 5 laps - we started lapping people at 5 laps. wow.

anyway - there was one near crash of mine with the velobella girl - she went into the hairpin turn and got scared and came to a near complete stop in front of me - fortunately i rolled right past her. what i didnt know until much later is shortly after that encounter, she nearly t-boned me on that turn, when i was first or second wheel. yikes! after 3 laps - kimmy and lucia at the front - i slid past them on the outside yelling "girls - this is the straightest line to take" (it was left of yellow but we had the whole road - by not following the bend in the road we saved like 4 meters, and could pedal thru the R turn - we did that from then on... but always be thinking of smart tricks like this from now on - it just makes sense)

so 6 and 7 laps to go, we all sit back and keep cool - and try to keep daniela on a wheel - not in the wind, and not at the front (again hard to do but to D's credit, she did a very good job of trying to stay 4th wheel the entire race).

5 laps to go, kate ramps up pressure, then bergen, then me, then kate and on we go attack after attack. Lucia and Kimmy from Testarossa were getting antsy too - and a minty and velobella were in there too... we let lucia and kimmy work for about 3 laps - with 1 lap to go, I stomped up the hill past the girls - and started putting on the hurt, then eased up a bit - and kimmy and lucia took over.. we were strung out but i could see the girly meece were with me - suddenly last lap: kate is there, we're thru the turn heading down hill and i just said "KATE GO FOR IT GO GO GO GO GO" and hopped her wheel, she burst speed for another 200 meters or so - we hit the rise and lucia and bergen were there - we hit the last hill and i clicked down, stood up and sprinted up that power climb - and I could feel lucia 'give up' amd i'm in first - I crested and started pressuring to the finish line - hoping that d was still on mywheel and i was giving her a good lead out - finally she swung around me - as she did i looked back and didnt see anyone close to us - so i stood and sprinted as much as I could behind D - and the crowd was roaring for the GIRLY MEECE 1 2 3 FINISH. D was screaming, I was too, and the crowd was wild!

Ren - amazing - the words of tactics an encouragement were perfect this morning - D - way to go, you learned so much today! Bergen and Kate - we'll do it again - you were the hero's today! WOOHOOHOO

GTTGM!