went to meeting early cuz drove
worked out ideas for sailing ship transport during lecture which was good (the lecture and the drawings)(I did hear mostly)
they sell stuff at meeting. spent all money on bag- den look at bag and no mo place for water bottle. look at tag and get better bag dat is wata proof and can hold waterbag +camera+computer- but neva have on sale and the bag i got stay cheap and my bag falling apart inside anyways so its ok.
walked around fo eva to find flu shot place- but neva have flippin insuarnce card- but they neva care so they stab me and cause great pain.
walk back to car and stop at OK anime but they only open Sat now cause had to get real job
went to lunch by car couldnt find parking
went to lunch but lady took to long and den was too pricy for hawaiian food (cheapo dude tried to use only discount from HSTA)
went to other place but cash only
next place cash only
atm wrong kind and neva have cash card anyway
next place too crowded and was far walk
next place only breakfast
next place only sushi-chef off no want sushi
went back to crowded place and finally ate something
went to get freebe but they want hsta card and lef'em at home.
went to costco buy gas but nomo the stupid cashcard and neva have patience fo line anyway
left gi at school so went in civies to karate
went to buy gas but they neva take credit at aloha cause something broke
finally got gas but pay more


whooooo--

Just to get my mind off all the accidents:

Converted the CAAD 9 to 27 spd by adding a mtn tripple 46-36-24 and a 13-25. Record 9 shifters, 96 xt ftont, centaur long cage rear. Lucky i used a race face ti square taper BB cause the standard gear placement screws with the chainline to marf shifting. Had to move the BB in a mm to get all gears to work.

Other issues:

a steel frame is prob easier to convert because the dale's huge down and chainstay tube places the derailleur realy close to metal making optimal position of cage over rings difficult, slowing shifting but hey it works. Well i think it works- haven't ridden the Bride (of frankestein) yet. Wonder if I'll stick with that name? Poor chainline was causing massive case of chain suk which would be BAD at speed.

The original record derailleur actuall shifted across most of the range but their was some chain rub in the extreams and I need it for another bike.

The rear tire is really close to the derrailleurs lever when over the granny.

All mtn race:

Did the mtn race in sport class- damn- might have been able to win beginner. Former cambio Rob M took that class with a 70 lb disadvantage. That was the fastest I have ever gone over jumps like that- even got a little air unintentionally.

Behind me was a 4 yr old- his helmet was bigger than him! Thankfully this was the only race where no one passed me- and I caught the 2 min man.

Well, got to yosemite after a few snafus via taxi, bus, train, bus.

Saw halfdome, and that other famous thing from FFFFFFFFAAAAAAAR away. Got over to Yosemite falls, the tallest in the country- 2000 feet or so. The first cascade splashes up hugely before coming back down.

Made it to the bottom of the falls and did some paintings.

Food sucks at the cafe nearby but lived on manapua for another day.

Our room looks out on the falls on one side and part of half dome or some other scenic wonder on the other. Deer are ever where. frogs croak. Bugs buz. People infest the place.

Still a bit of snow on the gorund but its pretty warm.

Missed the sunset by a session with the potty. Oh woe.


http://picasaweb.google.com/home?tab=mq

Made it to san fran after picking up sean oh at CO.

drove over the golden gate with my cousins and visited the redwoods at Muir Woods. AND we had our first In and Out Burger- a dream come true!

Now for dinner. . .

This was originally written at the end of summer just after the race up Haleakala. As with all things related to me it is a bit late- since it is now December. However, it can be considered a parable for life and the year and is thus fitting as a sort of happy holidays letter which tells how the year has gone. Of course it will be even later since I no longer have internet because I am in Colorado and won't be back to civilization for a couple weeks. By then I expect it to be the New Year and I will have missed a dentist appointment.


I woke in the dead of night- 3:15. Enough time for a bite and to go through the motions.

In darkness we loaded the bikes- 6 in all- filling the Nissan Xtra Cab. 2 of us piled in with Dave. 2 more walked the block or so to the ferry.

Check in was uneventful but long. The Ferry staff's PDAs were malfunctioning and stuff was being done the old way- by running (well walking) paper back and forth from an office 50 yds away.




The colored lights gave the ship and port an unreal appearance. I fell asleep waiting but awoke as the two massive turbine engines came to life to pull us from the dock. I stepped out on the aft deck as the morning dew poured down the gunnels. As we passed the buoy and entered the open ocean, the steady deck of the ship began to sway. We left a half hour late and the captain throttled her up, churning the ocean into a froth to catch-up our time table. It wasn't long before the dramamine kicked in and sleep pulled me from the site of my beloved island falling into the distance.



I came to and I was surrounded by islands! After a bit of orientation with the help of a map, Molokai was to port and Lanai and Maui on Starboard. Aft, Tony was looking a bit out of sorts. Out to port I was greated by a lovely young Oregonian on vacation. I called her attention to two small flying- wha- flying fish! First time I saw those. Their tiny silver bodies flickered in the sun and quickly disappeared in the waves.

We landed on Maui in what seemed like no time. The 3 hours had passed easily and the sleep helped. It took a long time to get off the boat and a bit more to untangle the bikes and settle logistics. We headed up to Haiku to sign in for the race. We had a great lunch which had some nice views but forget the name of the place. We spun up the hill for a bit and I lost some of my nerves.

Checking in, we found we had gotten a good deal through Orbitz at the Maui Lu in Kihei. We had seaside rooms that were next to each other! Dave and James crashed but I went exploring. Right outside I found opihi (limpets), ogo (sea weed-looked edible so i took a nibble), pipipi (a type of sea snail), amaama (rock grab), and a few things I don't know the name of. Not to much of anything and the opihi was kinda small. Ocean had a strong pull and we were near an estuary making the shore silty.

We headed off to the dinner with the racers but missed it and searched aimlessly forever for food among the hoards of tourist traps. We ended up eating at Antonio's by Longs. Very good pizza. The lateness of the meal combined with a bit too much chillies would come back to haunt me. Mauka of us, the west Maui mountains were on fire.

I woke in the wee hours- 5 times. James had been hydrating and went to the bathroom on the hour. Almost didn't wake up- forgot to save the alarm setting on my phone! But, Jame's watch kept beeping. I went through the motions- coffee, yogurt, fruit, brush teeth. Despite good intentions, we barely had enough time to get to the start at 630.

The racers were massed just below a cane field. The sun was low and in-obtrusive in a blue sky over a tawny mountain. I couldn't hear the instructions which went on forever. I didn't even hear the start. But , finally we were off. It wasn't long before I pulled off my arm warmers. Worse, my seat post had fallen and I lost contact with Cal. It took a bit of a push but I caught up to Petra. Things went well and got better at the first rest stop where we were greeted by scantily clad "stewardesses". I did a touble take as I sucked down a thing of goo- "you look familiar?"

"Sharon!" she said.
"Krazzy Sharon!"
"Help me out?"
"Heavy Breathers!"
"Dev!"

I took a quick picture of us but turned on the video instead. So, took another picture. "My kind of racer!" she grinned. Some of the other racers never even saw the Stewardesses. WTF?

We headed up the mountain. A bit later the discomfort began. I stopped but rushed to much which came back to haunt me. Back started to go, muscles tightened in the legs. I spun to work it out but my gearing was a bit large for the situation and started to wear on me. I pulled away from Petra and another girl singing Emmanuel by Amy Grant. But I always slowed and they caught me up. I asked her to sing El Shaddai. By the time we got to the last bathroom, I ended up stopping for an extended rest and Petra had pulled away- this is with a sore back from a week old confrontation with a truck.

At the top, my head was fuzzy and breathing a bit labored. I weaved up the last bit of road. Cresting I accelerated to the line and hopped across. 4 goos, 1 Cliff bar, 4 bottles of drinks- maybe 1000 calories consumed in 36 miles and 10000 feet of elevation gain. About 5 and half hours of riding and another half hour thinking about it.



The Rangers wouldn't let us ride back down and we had to pile into a Suburban. James ended up in the boot. Rain started to come down on us for the downhill.

By the time we got to the base of the hill we were behind schedule. We only had my bike- all the others were in a cube still up top. We piled into Dave's truck and rumbled back to the hotel for a shower.

Back in Paiea we headed for the race party. Food took a long time so I went to a few galleries and left my info with a gallery manager. Haven't heard back from her though. Food ended up being pretty good. The highlight of the whole thing was the free massage. It really helped to speed recovery. Awesome.

We rushed off to the ferry but still stopped for a load of Krisspy Creams. There were 4 of us in the cab along with 3 dozen doughnuts- oh plus 3 more we got for free with our super ferry tickets.

Turns out Carl has a Southern in your face humor.

The ferry home was quieter. I went out on deck hoping to sea the stars blazing across the sky. But, the lights from the ship were so bright it blanked the stars. Only the brightest were visible. The distant islands were little glows on the horizon. A planet loomed low and large. Oahu came into view as a huge lense of light. I went in after only a moment as my weariness caught up with me.

Made it home at about midnight. the next day legs were OK.

It seems that education is falling apart. Kids lack the motivation to do their best in schools.

Teachers are being driven by admin to try new plans that are rebranded old plans to help these kids out.

And still its tough to compete against other countries. Test scores go up but achievement still flatlines.

School isn't the problem- its the motivation- or maybe its too many hopeless kids, too many kids that have grown complacent or entitled to have a good life-

Perhaps this is all the lack of parental support because our economy focus on stuff- like cars, roads, electronics- to the point that human needs have been pushed aside-

How to behave, local customs, Social interaction- all thes things are falling away into chaos.

If parents were more involved- could be more involved, if society was rebuilt to encourage social interaction in a positive way, that would be one step forward.

The next thing that needs to be addressed is motivation- Japan, Germany, the US- all surged forward into economic strength by being pushed to the breaking point. We can only prey that bringing the nation to the brink is not the only way to renew the strength of society.
Without a society that works, education will only reflect the ugly reality of the world.

There is all this controversy going on in society- not enough fuel, education system falling apart, gang violence- they all have a common root.

Cars-

When cars were developed, they needed a market. Roads were built along with places to go. Suburbs and such came along to mirror the landed rich.

All this infrastructure increased the cost of living, helped to break apart nuclear families, more work, no one to care for kids. Combine that with the shrinking of the middle class over the years and the proliferation of low wage jobs that create low wage people (kids who don't care, no hope).


Solution?

Reduce the number of cars needed by centralizing the population in dense cities. People should walk to work (or bike). People living together can more easily care for each other, the children, and the elderly.

Expand farming and traditional industries. People with less of the book skills should be doing things the old way- by hand. Something to do which is worthwhile will give people hope. This will also help to create a culture that is more independent. Wouldn't it be great if Hawaii could make all its own food and materials for life like before?


Apartment buildings as they are now isolate people in a small space even though they are surrounded by piles of people. Buildings should be designed to encourage interation between people. Each floor should be a mini-neighborhood within a larger building community.

I think these ideas would go a long way towards making a better society.

After 7000 miles I finally changed most of the housing on my Paramount. Turns out they had been rubbing on the bike frame and brake caliper- wearing a hole into the plastic covering on 3 of the housings coming off the bars. I managed to protect the paint with a special sticker. Unfortunately there is a big 1/8" groove cut into my front brake from the cables. All the cables were intact and functional at the time of the refit so I only changed the housing. Pretty much the only repairs on the bike have been 1 chain and piles of rubber and bar tape.

Testing out a FSA handlebar- first road carbon bar. Seems ok, better than my anatomic bar in terms of fit.


Also found out that XTR no longer works with a standard drive train- after I slapped one onto my bike. What kind of BS is that?

someone left a psp case in the back of the truck

Sunday was the state road race. I actually got their in time without making a wrong turn.

Warmed up and got to the line just in time for the start. My friend was late and I was pinning his number to his jersey when the gun went off.

I tossed the extra pin on the table and zipped off after the pack. Just before the drop into Waialua, I came up on the rear of the group. We accelerated into the turn and then there was the sound of the freewheels whirring. Smoke came off a carbon wheelset and I balked. A couple people dropped back and I accelerated up the field.

We hit the hard right into Waialua and the pack accelerated up the small hill to the circle. As always, I started falling back. Jeff from HACC came up behind me but he got bit when we hit Pineapple hill. I ended up working with Jun Ichi from Tradewinds for the next couple laps. We passed another HACC on the hill. Matt came up and he pulled us around for the second lap. We hit the hill and he accelerated where I wanted to rest. When we started hitting the curbs he hit the brakes! Agh. Frustrating- slowing where I accelerate, speeding up where I cruz!

We hit the right and Mat started to pull away. On the hill he left us and riders started to pass. We kept a pace just below disaster.

Jun took the lead on the downhill. I hung back until he braked and let Candi (thew bike) roll forward, her record hub ticking away. I was confident. Jun had been favoring his right leg on the hill. He had fallen back a couple times My plan was falling together.

Back on the hill I started to pull away. He kept coming back and then Jeff passed. I tried to go with him but I was gone. Legs were heavy as hell. Jun passed too. I figured, I'll recover and then get'em.

I tried to get it together but no go. Lactic acid? I took a gel. It went down in an instant. In a few minutes I felt better and started speeding up. I caught Mat. He was totaled. I was hardly moving and passed him out of sight. I patiently pushed, expecting to catch Jun and Jeff. Others went by. I accelerated past the cop at the corner and in for the final run for the line. Hunkering down I stomped on the pedals, depending on Candi's insane rigidity to thrust me forward.

I came upon the line shot. I barely passed it and turned back to the truck. I barely got off the bike, unable to pull myself straight. While I was convalescing on my tailgate, Jun came up to shke my hand.

After a good lunch and the discovery that one of my team mates abandoned the race due to pregnancy, the results came in. Turns out Jun came in 2nd. Aggggggggggh. Could've been me. But, I got no license so he would have got the medal any how. K sa ra sa ra. Heck, at least I beat Mat.

Took 2 days for the fuel system to recover. Legs were ok the next day but were slow for tuesday's ride.