Welcome to Hawaii...

Kapaa, HI to North Bend, WA
Wednesday, November 29, 2006 to Thursday, November 30, 2006

What’s up with tourists and going to Hawaii and saying “Aloha” and “Mahalo” like they actually respect the culture? Who goes to Hawaii to respect the culture? I don’t, so don’t say aloha to me. Here, I’ll let you in on a little secret… when you walk into a store and a Hawaiian says “aloha,” they’re not saying welcome, they’re saying “oh, another tourist. Thanks for coming to Hawaii and taking my land, I really appreciate it. Now buy something and get the -edit- out of here! Mahalo…” So why do you tourists walk by me and say aloha like you genuinely respect their culture? You don’t, all you want is your selfish little vacation on their quaint little stretch of tropical island, and a piece of their overpriced pineapple dessert. So don’t bore me with you’re drawl about respecting culture. When I go to Hawaii the only thing I care about is my selfish desire to make my life better, that’s it. As for the Superferry to Kauai and the new Costco there… let’s rock this party… I’ll take the Superferry over to live in the Costco while all the Hawaiians are employed there.
I guess you probably miss my point. The point is that tourism in Hawaii does more for Hawaii than Microsoft does for the world. Any Hawaiian on property is permanently set for life and the rest of ‘em are living on a reservation called paradise. Oh, and by the way, yes, both congress and the territory have to approve state status before the US goes “show boat’n in…” to give life to an otherwise lifeless people.
Disclaimer: No I don’t have a problem with Hawaiians, and no I’m not racist to Hawaiians or anyone else. Hawaiians are the same to me as anyone. However, if you visit Washington I’m not going to look at you like you just walked onto a space station and you’re not green… I’m going to look at you like you’re from the US. Whatever happened to equality? Oh yeah, I almost forgot, it only goes one way!

Kauai- day 6 & 7

Just me and my shadow... A welcome change to just me and the rain.
The "Pacific Missile Base" at the end of the island. No trespassing or unauthorized radio transmissions...
The top of the island, great view eh? Wait...! I think I see something...
The 18th and last mile of the climb to the top of the island.
A MASSIVE crevice, or should I say canyon, on the side of the road. I'd be content if I saw this and never saw the Grand Canyon. This thing is easily as impressive as the Grand Canyon, just don't fall off.
The Canyon & I again...
Walla Walla Washington. No, seriously. Okay, okay... it's the Waimia side of the island.


Kapuu, Kauai, HI
Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Where’d global warming go? It sounds like its left Seattle for the moment. I know the media’s hyp’n up all the “storm” coverage n’ stuff in the area like the ice age is set to return or something, but I’ve a lil’ hunch that it’s not quite as severe as they’re say’n it is. My bet is that life hasn’t yet come to a standstill just because a few school districts have given in to the hype… but who am I to speak on the subject? It’s not like I’m liv’n large in Kauai or anything…
In an attempt to get to the hill in time to ride the last stretch to the end of the island and still ride up Waimia Canyon and up to the top of the mountain, I decided to go ahead and drive into Waimia. The Waimia side of the island is pretty lame; it’s sort of like a desert, similar to Walla Walla without the penitentiary. Waimia Canyon Drive is one beast of a road… I was in my 27 and still cranking on some of the sections, it was unbelievable. I thought only Maui had a hill like this (and Hawaii of course, however…), but I’ve never seen one like this. Every time you get to think’n that you’re over the last pitch there’s another one that’s longer and steeper. On Maui it’s slightly different; the pitch stays the same for the entire 10,000 feet. On Kauai the pitch varies continuously until the top at 4200 feet. It was nice, just like in Maui at the top, you could see all of 10 feet ahead of you. Rather spectacular really. Kauai was 18 miles to the top; Maui was 42 miles to the top. To complete the ride I ended up riding to the end of the island from Waimia, then back to Waimia and up the climb, back down the climb to Waimia and over to the end of the island and back to Waimia… 4 hours total…
So this is my last hour on the island before riding back to the hotel and catching the taxi over to the airport. I actually intend to hit up the local Safeway for some sleep potion before the hotel. That'll be key in making the most of the flight home. In the meantime I'm spending the last hour in the hippy cafe utilizing their free internet.

Kauai- day 5

Kapaa, Kauai, HI
Tuesday, November 28, 2006

It’s snowing in Seattle now. So I guess my little trip came at a perfect moment. It’s rather remarkable really. I expected it to get sunny as soon as I left, but I guess a lot of bad luck eventually leads to the good stuff. The weather here remains rather spectacular.
Yesterday I went down to that climb I was talking about. It’s quite a ways away from where I am; it starts out of Waimia and is somewhere between 12 and 21 miles. I got about a quarter of the way up before turning around and coming back. I’m going to drive closer today so I can ride the whole thing without going over the four hours.

Kauai- day 4

Kapaa, Kauai, HI
Sunday, November 26, 2006

I went on my first Kauai ride today & I was rather impressed by the drivers. They’re very good, much better than the bunch I dealt with in Oahu and Maui. Had the drivers been bad it’d have made no difference though, the weather and terrain are such that it warrants riding whether it’s suicide or not. Of course I didn’t know for sure that the riding was going to be superb until today. I rode for 2 hours in what seemed to be an endless garden/jungle thing. The temperature was ~80 and the clouds were nowhere to be seen. After riding I went for a swim in the sea in front of the hotel. The water’s ideal… like everything else.
I am an excellent photographer... yeah? The one on the bike, that's no hands...

Kauai- Day 3

Kauai, HI
Sunday, November 26, 2006

The climate is slightly different here than in Washington, although there are a few similarities… In the raining most temperate rainforest in the world, the Hoh rainforest (which is slightly north of Seattle), the average rainfall is 150 inches. In Kauai the average rainfall is 460 inches…!- the raining most place in the world. I think most of that happens up top of Waialua though. Contrary to the statistics it’s quite sunny here, the rain comes ‘n goes and it’s actually rather soothing when it does come ‘cause it’s always nice ‘n warm.
Kauai’s a bit different than Oahu and Maui in that the place is simply undeveloped, apparently 85%... which makes it extraordinarily,,, uhhh, native… I’m sitting here in this hippy café using their internet & they’ve got a picture of the Hawaii superferry (that’s evidently going to connect people from Oahu to those in Kauai so they can work in Honolulu and settle down at night in Kauai)... the ferry is pictured as a cruise ship with the mouth of an angry shark… like it’s going to destroy the pristine Kauai environment. It says “we need an environmental impact study…”

Kauai- Day 1 & 2

Kauai, HI
Friday, November 24, 2006

In a desperate attempt to thwart the winter blues brought on by endless rain and overcast skies of the Northwest, I have migrated for 5 days to Hawaii. From Thursday to Sunday I’m taking time off the bike to recover from the past several weeks of the initial weight lifting phase in order to transition into more intense cycling specific exercises. What better area to do this than in Kauai? I brought the bike, yoga mat & enrolled in a fitness club for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday… I’m actually kind of excited to hit some of the roads here, although they seem to be a bit busy and somewhat unfit for cyclists, the terrain is excellent with winding jungle roads, pristine beach views and one superb 12 mile climb up through some canyon…
At the moment I’m in the small town café drinking coffee and eating a banana while thieving the local wifi.

Infidelis

North Bend, WA
Wednesday, November 22, 2006

The weather’s been a little strange of late. It seems that the rain’s gonna continue regardless of how long it’s been falling. Where does all of it come from? Is it scientifically possible for it to rain forever…? I guess this leads to my next point. I’ve successfully completed my 6th ride on the trainer since returning from Spain, three 3.5 hour rides and three 4.5 hour rides. I think this is actually a new record for me, and yes that is saying something. My record is perhaps unmatched. I’ve only departed directly from my house on a ride once since my return; otherwise it’s commuting from Preston or riding the trainer.
I’ve recently acquired a method for validating the legitimacy of stop signs. Here’s how it goes, if you’ve never stopped for a certain stop sign, then that stop sign should be removed (Pretty intense huh? It’s practically a formula in its complexity). I’ve never stopped for a stop sign, so it follows that all stop signs should be removed.
Today, on the way back from the gym, I had a rather unusual experience… well, perhaps unusual for the various rational Human Beings out there, but for the “variety” of infidels, such as I, it’s the kind of thing that happens all the time… I went to the gym at 3:00 pm knowing that it would be dark when I road back to the car, so I brought a couple lights ‘n stuff. I hooked everything up and it emitted a healthy light. Then I got a flat tire & while I was fixing it I looked up at my bike and noticed that the light was much less than before… I finished fixing it and gave the light a little check-up only to decide that indeed the battery was dead. The roads that I do the commute on have very, very little traffic. So I was more concerned about the various forms of wildlife in the woods than getting hit by a rogue Seattleite. It’s strange when you’re out there in the dark riding fast, the night vision kicks in and you have an entirely different perception of reality. I think it’s got something to do with the Quantum theory and mental utopia stuff.

Of faux and feud

North Bend, WA
Thursday, November 16, 2006

Behold, I saw the sun today! No joke, come dawn this morning the sun barged right in like it was no ones business. I mean, I could get a picture of it, but who’d believe me? Scientists would mull it over and they’d be in agreement that the picture’s fake. That’s how it is these days, you get a picture of a UFO or a Sasquatch and they call you a liar. You’ve just gotta grin ‘n bare it, get in that mental utopia.
Yesterday was a good four and a half hour ride, and I was looking forward to riding outside, but the rain was incessant, it came down like a mudslide and kept coming… and coming. So, I set up the trainer for round… uhh… is it five now? I think so. My personal trainer (ex-Navy Seal) would say “it’s all about the focus, when you’re fighting it doesn’t matter how much it hurts… you give up and you die.” So that’s what I was thinking while I was riding. Of course, thoughts other than evading death did cross my mind, but I can’t think of what they were. I do recall that my mind was rather lucid during those four and half hours, I think most thoughts revolved around the time and arithmetic. Good stuff. I heard this groovy little song while I was listening to the radio too: Wind It Up… Gwen Stephani… Sweet Escape.

Tacking on two wheels

North Bend, WA
Monday, November 13, 2006

I had this great idea yesterday… go on a ride with the UW cycling team… bad idea. Turned out that they were riding for an hour and a half, I wanted to at least do three and a half hours. So I drove all the way to Bellevue just to ride by myself in the rain. It wasn’t so bad, but it certainly felt like a bit of a waste. I got to ride on some of the good old routes that I used to do when I was riding after college, but other than that there wasn’t much to be said for the drive. Of course, from North Bend it’s only a ~30 minute drive to Bellevue, but it’s 30 minutes longer than I want to drive to ride “with” myself. I did enjoy a few gusts of wind on the way back into Issaquah though; its fun when you suddenly hit a gust and you can’t get into a gear big enough to have a normal cadence. I love the wind when it’s not in my face, when it is, I’d probably rather be riding on the trainer in the rain…
Anyway, I drove to the Bellevue park and ride where I disembarked and continued via bike to the husky in front of the UW. Then I met up with the “dawgs” and began the south end loop going through Seward Park first. At the May Valley turn off I left the UW guys and rode around May Valley, over Cougar Mountain, through New Castle, and across Mercer Island to the I-90 bridge where I turned around and went back to the car. The ride ended up being about 3 hours and fifty minutes.

Ride'n dirty

North Bend, WA
Friday, November 10, 2006

Is it possible to maintain a routine where you awake at 5:00am? Not if you were me. I could do it for a school year (3/4 of the year) for four years, then it’d be over. Stuff just starts to fall apart after awhile. Even if you get plenty of sleep. I think it’s in your blood or something. Suppose you go to bed at 8:00pm and awake at 5:00am everyday except on weekends, then on weekends you “sleep in” until 6:00am. I bet that it’ll still feel like you didn’t get enough sleep. The reason I mention this is because on the days I go to the gym I wake up at 6:00am… rather early for me… Yesterday I forgot my helmet. I can forget my helmet because my commute is very complex- I drive to Preston, then ride down through Fall City and up into Issaquah on Issaquah-Fall city road & then up to Bally Total Fitness right below Bellevue Community College. Basically if I don’t bring the helmet in the car I realize it when I go to grab it out of my bag in preparation for the ride after arriving in Preston. I’ve concluded that waking up at 6 was cause for the helmet debacle.
In Seattle they have a mandatory helmet law and evidently ticket you if they catch you riding dirty. Not to mention that riding without a helmet is foolish.

Flogging the imp...

North Bend, WA
Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Sometimes life’s just not fair. You can put a pretty name on it and sit back as you give up or you can go down fighting. It’s up to you, most people sit back, personally I find it hard to give in. If I have to I’ll ride with a snorkel or take it a step further… I’ll bring the trainer down to the edge of the flood and ride their for three hours while spitting on its person. Everything’s a fight; it’s all about the manifestation of that mental utopia. Seriously.
If you’re not familiar with this particular storm, it’s known as the “pineapple express.” A cute little name for tropical weather from the Pacific bound for the Pacific Northwest. The reason it was so efficient in causing this flood was that we had some early snow fall in the mountains about a week before it hit. Since it brought 60 degree weather and tons of rain, all of a sudden the snow level rose to 10,000 feet causing the snow to melt and meander its way down into the valleys. I noticed that yahoo is now advertising river rafting tours… Do floods make you want to raft down these rivers? Maybe, only if you get a chance to smack the imp child around a bit on the way down the gauntlet.

Voting is imperative

An election without your vote is one that is stolen!

This just in!

North Bend, WA
Sunday, November 05, 2006

So the weather’s still absurd. Nonetheless I went out for 3.5 hours. It’s similar to riding the trainer in the shower. I guess the rain’s been falling long enough for the rivers to flood, so midway into my ride I came across a closed road. King 5 news was there with their big truck like there was some sort of breaking news goin’ down. I rode by and took a picture of them. I reckon their presence alone warrants a story from someone… Anyway, usually the floods signal that the rain will go away in a couple months. So I’ve already got my hopes up, I’m looking forward to the first good rain free day to come some time in May.

Engaging the network

North Bend, WA
Saturday, November 04, 2006

Training’s back in full swing now… so’s the rain. I think the rain’s goin a little harder than I am though. I try to keep up but it’s hard, the rain goes all day ‘n all night. It’s like it doesn’t need to recover or anything, as soon as you think it’s given everything it becomes something of a hurricane.
At the moment I’ve begun to ride a bit more, doing the gym workout three times a week with the commute to the gym (~3.5-4 hrs total) and the road stuff for 3.5 hours twice a week (of course, since it’s eternally wet outside, I’ve spent a bit of time indoors mad-dogg’n the wall while riding my trainer). That leaves two days to rest up and do a bit more recovery.
So what do I do with the downtime? Lately I’ve been spending most of it installing this arse of a wifi network in the house. This actually marks my third attempt at installing the piece of garbage. I’ve discovered that Best Buy has a good return policy. I buy it, and if I can’t get it to work I take it back. I’ve done that twice up until now. I finally got it to work, I’ve gotta admit that I spent somewhere in the range of 4 hours plugging cables in and listening to some dude from India try to figure out what the problem is. In the past they’ve gotten frustrated after the third hour and just told me to take the “flawed” equipment back… So two in every three wifi devices are defective… My advice, buy three and return the two that don’t work… and buy them from Best Buy. Yoga really helps with wifi installation too. I would recommend it to anyone who works in the industry. Try the part where you utter “ooooooommmmmm…” should be quite relaxing if you can endure the pain involved with crossing your legs. Anyway, if you’re ever in the area look for the encrypted “Outpacetherace” network. If you can guess the password I’ll give you a free Yoga lesson.