Actually we've got a nice little Saturday planned . . .

I figured the end of March wouldn't be a bad time to start racing for real or something like that. As part of their annual Oredigger Classic, the Colorado School of Mines cycling team holds an individual TT up Lookout Mountain. Tom Danielson set a new record (as an ITT) of something stupid like 16:02. I think my personal best in a mass start event as a Cat 4 was some three minutes slower, but I'd like to think I'm faster now that I'm a big, bad Cat 2. I would have spent just as much time trying to register day of than I would have spent racing. The lines were long and start times were being handed out for 3+ hours later in the neighborhood of 12:30 and beyond. So I wished my teammate Kevin, who was smart enough to preregister, good luck and went for a ride with Brian Kendall and other teammates from last year.

The rest of the day was where the real fun was to be had. I spent some quality time with Keely at Bed, Bath & Beyond getting some new sheets and some other accessories to make the home more homey. Since Passover starts Monday we did our best to try and shove in as much non-kosher for Passover food, sampling the delectable offerings at Little India's. The day ended on another high note, my favorite website woot.com which usually sells one item every day until that item runs out or the day ends, put up for grabs the much sought after "bag o' crap". For whatever reason this $1 mystery item usually sells out in minutes, but I was lucky enough to get my first order in, can't wait to see what crap they send. It is rumored that one time a lucky individual received a 50" plasma screen . . . I expect something more on the crap side of crap though.

Tomorrow (April Fool's Day . . . weeeeee . . .) I'll be heading back to Golden for the Oredigger Circuit Race on the CSM campus. The course looks like a good one and the race promises to break apart in a hurry.

Wind Blows

I'm not sure if it really counts as jet lag coming back from Hawaii or if I was just suffering the post vacation slump, but a sleepless Monday night put the damper on the first part of the week. Nothing like wandering around all Tuesday like a zombie and then coming home to a wonderful workout on the trainer to get some TT position work in.

Today I have started thinking about making some sort of decision on what race(s) to do this weekend. Koppenberg or the Oredigger Classic? The Kop is a classic, but the road scouting report wasn't the most favorable.

"There are potholes on Marshall Road that I wouldn't want to go over with a monster truck!" - Brian Hutchison
"You might want to ask about heavy earth moving equipment on course." - Mike Carter

I rode out to Golden this afternoon to check out the course for Sunday's Circuit which runs through the scenic Colorado School of Mines. One would think that as a club affiliated with the School of Mines they would have access to some asphalt for patching the war zone that is Illinois St. All road hazards aside, I think I'll be racing in Golden on Sunday and might put in an attempt to break Tom Danielson's Lookout Mountain record. Would it really be that hard to take a few minutes off my previous personal best?

Daily Grind

Nothing like coming back to the real world after a week of vacation . . . there are times where it seems like nothing really happened when you were gone, making it much easier to transition back into it. There are other times where you can't figure out what happened while you were gone and even worse can't remember how to do your job. I'm somewhere in the middle.

The Hawaii trip ended without too much fanfare. Will and I got in a couple more rides, but the last day was just plain stupid windy! I was pushing 11 MPH heading north along the coast so we decided to tour every road in the Mauna Lani Resort, including sneaking into a few of the gated sections to check out the big, expensive houses. On the way home, I put in a short power effort, maintaining a nice wind assisted 36 MPH.

While the overnight return flight got me home in time to race Sunday, there was no way I was going to make it to either venue with enough energy to be at all useful. I spent the morning on the couch eating some end of vacation waffles and then avoided watching the debacle that was the UNC v. Georgetown game by riding around with Keely, getting her familiarized with the potential bike to work routes for her.

Not to forget . . . despite previous mishaps and adventures, Dempsey (and his co-campers) survived doggy sleepover camp at Beds 'n Biscuits. He actually got a very favorable report card saying that he ate well, didn't really miss us, made lots of friends (all bitches I might add), and was welcome back anytime. That's my boy . . .

Foiled!

The ride plan for this morning was to ride up the Mauna Kea as far as possible, attempting to climb from not so high altitude wise up to somewhere in the neighborhood of 13,000'. The mountain looms in the distance and the approach seems to take forever regardless of where you start. Will and I decided to skip some of the sketchy sections going from the coast to Waikoloa Village and start from there.

The first thing I noticed is that everything riding inland, no matter how downhill it appears really is uphill. We climbed to the inner highway that goes from Waimea to Kailua and headed towards Saddle Road.



As the name indicated, Saddle Road goes between the two volcanoes, the Mauna Kea and the Mauna Loa. The Mauna Loa still oozes lava regularly and is part of the Volcanoes National Park. The Mauna Kea is much older, not so active, and is host to a number of research observatories, taking advantage of the fact that there really isn't much of anything out here to create light pollution. The south end of the island was much clearer today and our approach of the Mauna Kea brought us closer to the clouds.




There are a few people who drive the Saddle Road, absolute crazies who have no regard for life, limb, safety and the speed limit and the military. There are a few really, really nice looking ranches . . . cows and tennis courts . . .





As we rode past the cows stopped what they were doing and stared at us riding by. I didn't quite catch it in the picture, but they all stared at us, wondering what the hell we were doing. As the clouds started rolling in from both sides I started wondering what the hell we were doing.



I think we were doomed from the start . . . early on, Will's seatpost started slipping. Ah the joys of carbon on carbon. Every 3 miles he had to stop to yank his seat back into position.



We didn't make it to the turn for the visitor's center, but got in a good 2 hours of climbing. Gotta love it when it takes a mere 40 minutes for the return trip. I'd love to say it was an easy descent, but Saddle Road isn't in the best condition. Much of it is an overlay about a 1/2" thick on top of whatever is down there. You can see this in areas where it has cracked through and you can feel it everywhere when the pavement rumbles and rattles as you move over it.

The best part of climbing that much is that you can do whatever you want for the rest of the day . . .

Will Ride for Breakfast

I headed out this morning nice and early with the intention of meeting Keely and her family up the hill in Waimea for breakfast after the first big climb of the day. I was greeted as usual by a relatively stiff headwind from the house up to the turn off for Waimea and an equally strong wind going up the hill. I made it to Waimea slightly after they did which allowed them to scout out a spot for breakfast . . . nothing like sweet hawaiian bread for making the world's best french toast.

After breakfast I continued east from Waimea towards Honoka'a (a beat down, little town consisting of one strip with an old theater and a few shops). I opted to take the old Mamalahoa Highway, rumored to be more scenic and winding than the new Highway 19. Judge for yourself . . .







I emerged on the other coast . . . windy over there too. That side of the island is completely different. It is more lush and green and the scenery is a bit more spectacular with the island dropping away rapidly to the ocean. There are more rocky cliffs and jungle like settings.



Instead of braving the wind, I decided to hop into the car with Keely and head down the coast a bit more to see what we could see. We stopped at a few small towns along the way and hiked to the waterfalls which really were in the middle of the jungle. I have never seen plants with such huge leaves, not in person at least.



I managed to get in just about 3 hours on the bike, mostly climbing. The rest of the afternoon consisted of cocktail hour and more sitting by the pool . . . life is rough.

Kohalas

I think Kohalas translates to something like "getting blown over by gusty winds while trying to descend" . . . What does it mean when flags are blowing slightly upwards?



Rumor has it the other islands are getting pounded by rain and we just got the trade winds. Fortunately they are supposed to end Wednesday which should give me a good opportunity to ride one of the volcanoes and get in a good 14,000' climb. Not really surprising to me, given the way things seem to work in the world, the first person I ran into on the road was from Colorado. Will rides with Team Evergreen and is staying a few miles up the island. We crossed paths yesterday just before the turn of to Waimea and put in a good 60 mile ride in some silly wind. The climb from Waimea over the Kohalas was an easy one with the 20+ MPH wind at our backs.



The descent through Parker Ranch down to Hawi was a bit on the sketchy side, very much akin to Carter Lake a few years back when everybody was getting blown off the road. We thought the ride back along the coast would be an easy one with a tailwind the whole way, but as luck would have it the winds shifted and then died down. Still, all in all, not a bad morning.



Keely and I were on cooking detail last night and decided to blow it out, making use of some quality local ingredients. We made a mango salsa, macadamia nut crusted ono (kind of like mahimahi), jasmine rice, braised bok choy, and for dessert . . . baked pineapple with kaluha, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Couple that with some vanilla ice cream and done!

How to Live Like an International Rock Star

Start with a house on a Hawaiian island . . .



Include some frivolous Viking appliances from stove and fridge (pineapple optional) to outdoor mini fridge and full built in grill . . .



Add an infinity pool and a hot tub and voila!



Today's ride wasn't of much interest. Will and I just rode south to Kailua-Kona, ran into a salty dog of a fishmonger at the marina while checking on a lead for a decent fish market. Riding at sea-level is amusing . . . so much power, so little terrain (along the coastline at least).

Leaving Town

Today was a day full of activities, training, dropping Dempsey at doggy sleep over camp, getting ready to go to Hawaii . . .

Who'd a thunk after the weather this winter I'd ever consider a spring ride where I was overdressed in shorts, a jersey and armwarmers. Today was one of those days, destination . . .



The plan was to ride from my house, out to Lookout Mountain, past Floyd Hill, to Central City Parkway, up the hill, across on Peak to Peak, down Golden Gate and home. It ended up being about 85 miles or so. I got beat in a stop ahead sprint even though I was riding solo.



This silly Border Collie ran with me for a couple of miles and wouldn't quit, wouldn't go home, wouldn't slow down. I think he was trying to warn me of the dangers ahead once past Floyd Hill and on the Clear Creek path.



Apparently the sun doesn't hit a good portion of the path where I was "riding". Nothing like a hike-a-bike adventure in 6-12" of dirty snow that has been around for the last 12 weeks. Although my shoes look like they have shoe covers built in, they are vented on both the top and the bottom. Fortunately I had plenty of climbing ahead of me to let them dry out. I didn't take any pictures of the casino towns because frankly they scare me. I was amused by the share the road signs and the cattle ahead signs on the Central City Parkway.

As soon as I got home, I took Dempsey to Beds 'n Biscuits where he will spend the next week while Keely and I are living the good life in Hawaii on the Big Island. Nothing like a 6AM flight to make for an early, uneventful St. Patricks Day.

At Last . . .

As evidence from yesterday's post, I can now post pictures to this here blog. I should have plenty of opportunity to take some phenomenal pictures while in Hawaii next week. I'll be vacationing with Keely and her family, eating good food, drinking good wine, and getting in some good riding.

It came as a surprise to some last weekend at Stazio, but for those who don't know, I'll be racing for Tokyo Joe's this year. I made the move basically to go to a smaller team where there would be a bit more opportunity to get results and a ton more opportunity to learn to race intelligently. On a team of just a few there is no room for self sacrifice early on and you have to learn how to take advantage of the efforts of those around you. I'll be riding with Kevin Nicol who won the Best All-Around Rider competition last year in the Pro/1/2 category. He's been racing since he was 11 and will be great to learn from.

There's not too much in store for this weekend. I could go ride around in circles, literally, at the CU Research Park crit . . . there isn't a single corner on the course . . . or I could get a longer ride in before packing up the bike. We leave on Sunday for the Big Island, plenty of adventures waiting there I'm sure.

What's Updog?

What do you get when you mix hydrogen peroxide and dog stomach?



I can only see the queen of hearts in the mix that Dempsey showed, but the odds for a strong Hold 'em hand are good. He managed to eat 31 of 52 cards. From previous mishaps involving the complex dietary and culinary choices made by dogs I knew to give him a mouthful (his, not mine) of hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting . . . seems to have worked quite nicely. The pup is no worse for the wear. This I can say with certainty hours after the incident, but he didn't look to happy in this one . . .

Like a Black Dog in the Shadows

I was thinking this morning how many things could be applied to the imagery provided by my dog Dempsey in the early morning, post DST darkness.

Blogging at work on antiquated browser technology doesn't work so much. Evertime I try to do something like add links, pictures, etc. Netscape for Mac OS 9.2 crashes, locks up my computer, resulting in all of my work being lost. Not just blog work, but actual work that others may or may not be counting on.

Racing my first race in my first full Cat 2 season went as expected. I finished and met my primary goal of not urinating on myself or others. One of my high school lacrosse teammates set this goal when told by our coach that we should set goals that are easily achievable so as to be able to track progress and not get discouraged. It was amusing to see how many of the who's who of American cycling was out yesterday at the Stazio race. The good news is that it felt better than my first experience racing with the p/1/2 crowd last year.

The remainder of the day had a good focus on food. My parents, girlfriend Keely, and friends Brian and Jessica headed to the Pearl Street Mall Illegal Petes for some grub, followed by a chow fest dinner at Damascus Grill in Littleton. There are going to be leftovers for days, one or two maybe.

So like a black dog in the shadows . . .

Parental Visit

Despite the years of my sister telling me that I was some unwanted, free promotional item from Sears, I do have parents. Despite the fact they haven't come to visit me in Denver for a few years now, they still say they love me and thatI am not viewed as some sort of disappointment.

In planning for the weekend's activities it has become obvious to me how many of my daily activities are centered around eating and riding my bike. Besides sleep, what else is there that I am missing?

We'll be hitting the new Denver Art Museum which opened to mixed reviews. There isn't a 90 degree angle in the entire building so there are plenty of opportunities to watch people walk into stark white walls that jut out, not realizing that the top of the wall sticks out further than the part they are looking at, because of the angle. This design feature also makes it difficult to hang art on the walls. A repeat visit should be amusing for me since I know what to watch for now.

Sunday will be my first "race" of the year. I'm dragging the parents up to Boulder for the Stazio Crit. I had a fitness test yesterday, but nothing like a race to give you clear indication of where your fitness really is.

Me Blog Now

Seems these days just about everybody I know has a blog: family members, coworkers, friends . . . you name it. The only person left out was me, not anymore! I'll get links up soon so everybody can go look at the people I mention. A few friends recommended myspace, but I don't really need/want to go trolling for 14 year olds or make myself feel more popular, I just want to share the joy that is the life and times of Seth Rubin.

The good news is that the digital camera is on the way. I picked up an eBay special . . . a Casio Exilim Z60 which is small enough to fit just about anywhere and can be fired up in stealth mode for the unsuspected, candid shots.

The sun is shining, it's warm and the snow is pretty much gone so I am going to go hit the park for an active recovery ride. Until next time . . .