Haleakala Summit Ride

Lobster boy and Cervelo Girl Tackle West Maui

 
I should point out the title of the post indicates my nickname for the trip.  Yesterday we spent 2 1/2 hours at Polo Beach in South Maui.  It is a beautiful shallow, sandy beach with very clear water.  Not great for snorkeling but it was fantastic for doing some body surfing.  Tammy knows very well that I am a water baby and when I see water I am in it until I get called that it is time to go (I don't think I'll ever grow up).



 I spent 2 hours and 25 minutes in the water with what I thought was a waterproof sunscreen.  Turns out the sunscreen wore off fast with all the surf and playing in the waves.  I now have a very red back and triceps.  Hence the name "Lobster boy".

After all the playing in the waves we made a choice to get up early and ride around West Maui.  We heard that it is very beautiful and low in traffic (in certain area's).  We mapped it out and saw that it was 110km from the front of our door in Kihei.  Kinda a big ride, but we were confident that we were capable.  We started early to avoid the heat of the day.  The ride through to Lahaina was fast and flat, the ride started to go up shortly after Napili.  The road narrowed and became 18% for what felt like a lifetime (really only a minute).  The ride was crazy awesome, with us cycling on what seemed to be a semi-paved goat trail barely wide enough for a car.  We were extremely low on fluids then suddenly the city of Wailuku appears and we stopped for some much deserved Dr.Pepper and water.  Finally with the trade winds at our back we ripped down towards Ma'alaea only to make a wrong turn on a state highway.  We quickly realized our (my) blunder and U-turned back to Kihei.

Now after a shower and some pool time I feel better, but that was a shattering ride.  Tonight we might devour enough food for a family of six.

Maui

Ryder Hesjedal :: Haleakala Record from Media One Multimedia on Vimeo.

A little inspiration for our upcoming ride....

Advance Voting - 12 minutes

I'm not going to say who I voted for, but I just wanted to say that I left the house to hit the advance voting polls at 6:50pm tonight.  I returned home at 7:02pm.  I had to drive for 4 minutes, walk to the empty voting area, show ID and voting card, then vote, and drive home.  The whole ordeal only took 12 minutes!  It sure beats voting on the final election day.

Nigerian Email Scam

Bird Update

Towlee Bird is still trying to break the window.....

April Showers

Looking out the window at work today I didn't think that I would be cycling outside tonight.  The weather was not inviting at all.  Heavy rains and cold temperatures make for a miserable experience on a bike ride.  However, once I got home after work, the sun was partially out and the roads gave the impression that they were dry.  So I prepped the road bike, and left to meet the group at the designated meet up spot.

On the way there the wind was gusty, and the skies were spitting at me lightly.  The group workout was 6 x hill repeats with an increasing intensity from 1-3 and holding a strong intensity for 4, 5, and 6.  I did the best I could but the rain was coming down harder and the temperature was dropping.  My engine started sputtering on #4.  This was turning out to be a character builder ride for everyone.  As soon as the group was done, I sprinted for home, hoping to beat some of the cold out of my legs.  My thumbs and fingers decided they weren't happy with the cold wet weather and decided to inform me via the pain channel.  Wow did they ever hurt from the cold!  Braking and shifting gears with cold wet hands becomes increasingly difficult.

Once home, I jumped into the shower ASAP.  I was so cold that I couldn't tell if the water was hot or cold.

That was one cold ride!  Still happy I did it!

Play Date

Ellie had a special play date Saturday evening on her walk.   Her boyfriend, Rocko, was able to come out and join us.

Ellie typically doesn't care much for other dogs that we come across, usually just wants a quick sniff and then walks away.  However, the day that she came across Rocko it was a different story.  She just want's him to pay attention to her, she will run circles around him, swat at his face, and other doggie related stuff.  Rocko on the other hand, pretends to not be interested and this only urges Ellie to be more persistent with her behaviour.  It is absolutely comical to watch as Ellie runs a circle around him, then runs up to his face only to swat it and then run another circle.  

Bird is the Word

For the past 1 1/2 weeks we have had a Towhee bird trying to break our dining room window.  It is relentless at throwing itself against the window.  It seems to start around 6:30am and will continue for 10 minutes, then a small break and the bird is back for another round.  It will fly away when it see's one of us approach the window, but it doesn't last long.  It's starting to make a mess of the window.  We took down the screen since it was using that to hold onto to tap the window, now it's just flying it's beak and chest into the window.  Ellie has learned to ignore the constant tapping and banging on the glass.

Here is picture I took last week before we took down the screen:

I've researched some bird forums and have found that this is normal behaviour during the spring and shouldn't last longer than 2 weeks.  It's either trying to defend it's territory from it's reflection or it's trying to mate with it.  Either way, I'm not opening the window.

Closing the blinds only forces it to move onto the next window.