LANDIS LOSES THE BATTLE

The word came out today that Floyd Landis will not retain his yellow jersey from the 2006 Tour de France. A board of arbitrition concluded that even though the drug tests were not up to stadards, they were to be upheld. Still no word if Floyd plans a comeback after his two year suspension which will be up in January 2009.

HAWAII STATE ROAD RACE

Sunday I did the Hawaii State Road Race Championship. This was one of the most fun races I have done this season, even though it was a tough race and it was very hot and humid. The race was about 42 miles with 3200 feet of climbing. The ascent was a tough climb up Pineapple Hill and the descent was fast...times THREE! I lost a water bottle on the first descent and thought I was done for because I didn't bring any extras...thank goodness someone else had brought some extras, what a life saver. I got a cramp in my right quad on the last ascent but toughed it out until the end with some help from Jeff Adkins...thanks Jeff, I owe you one!

At the starting line.

And at the finish line.

HACC Daddy breaks out a pro move!

Thanks to Rolly Bicaldo for sharing the great photos!

SOME MORE BEACH PHOTOS

Me with my beautiful wife (yes, getting in some "good husband" points)

Breanna with her Mommy

Eat your heart out Hollywood...here are a couple of Ewa Beach Superstars!

COMMAND PICNIC AT THE BEACH

Today my command had a picnic at Honeymoon Beach on Hickam Airforce Base. Damien had a blast playing with Mike and Pon's boys and sitting in the dunking booth.

HICKAM CRITERIUM PART 2

Here are some more pictures from the crit.



Other photos taken by fellow HACCer, John Laurion can be viewed here...
http://picasaweb.google.com/jonlaurion/HACCCriterium

In other news, Versus has started up a new website for the upcoming Tour de France...
http://www.takebackthetour.com/

Did you see Frank Schleck's crash in the Tour de Suisse? Ouch!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mbyc0gFvsEI&feature=related

and in slow mo...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4wynjBatxo&feature=related

HICKAM CRITERIUM

Today I rode in the first annual Hickam/HACC Criterium bike race. This race was put on by our cycling club and the Hickam gym and was master-minded by the HACC Daddy, John Girmsey. It was a great race that was well planned and in a perfect location. Thanks to John and everyone involved in putting the race together.

This was my first "crit" and was quite an eye opener. I knew that if I was unable to stay with the pack, I would get shelled pretty quickly and that is pretty much what happened. I got off to a bad start in the 4/5 race due to clipping a curb on the first lap. I ended up scraping up my right pedal and crank arm. That sucks.

Thanks to Ben Sambrano and Jeff Adkins who let me ride on their wheel for a bit of a rest. I know for sure now that I need to up my training to get ready for these kind of races next year. We do have another crit next month, maybe I'll do better in that one with the experience I gained today. It was a good learning experience and a fun day of racing.

Here's a pic a swiped from Jeff A.'s blog.

iTunes And A Good Run

Being on leave is great. I got a lot of work done today rebuilding my iTunes library. We had some computer issues and ended up having to buy a new one. So now I'm having to rebuild my extensive library. It was a good thing that I had kept all the files on an external hard drive. So now it is just a matter of loading the files back into iTunes. Took a break from the computer this afternoon and went on a 7.76 mile run which felt great. The nikeplus.com website now has a thing called "My Nike+ Mini" which is pretty cute. I made my mini and put it as a screensaver on the new computer.

Back At It!

Two days of being sick and not eating or drinking anything put a hurting on me. I lost about 6 pounds in those two days. Dropping weight was good, but not that way. I spent the next three days getting myself back to feeling normal. Today I finally felt like getting out and doing something. So, I took a ride over to the Barbers Point/Kalaeloa area and did a few loops on the ASG course. Then rode out by the beach. It was a nice ride. When I got home I went for a little 3.33 mile run. Man, it felt good to get back out on the road.

Tom In Trouble

Heard today that one of Goy's favorite cyclists is having some trouble and was not allowed to race in the Tour of Switzerland. Too bad, he was having a good year. Hope this doesn't keep him out of the TDF.

Being Sick Sucks

Well, it all started Thursday when I got to work. My stomach really started feeling bad and I was constantly having to take trips to the head. Just the thought of eating or drinking anything made me feel nauseous. Around 2:00, I decided I could take no more and went home to rest. I slept until around 5:30 or so. When I woke up, I felt even worse. I had chills, my body felt weak and my stomach was still very upset. Goy finally talked me into going to Tripler to the emergency room (I am pretty stubborn when it comes to going to the doctor). I ended up getting two bags of fluid pumped into me intravenously. I was put SIQ for Friday. I was supposed to be in an a retirement ceremony on Friday and had some work to wrap up since I have the next two weeks off. I had sent an email to one of my co-workers at 2:00 am when we finally got home from Tripler but I guess in my weakened condition I typed his email address wrong. So I guess no one knew that I wasn't going to make it to the retirement. I feel bad about that. It was interesting though that nobody even called to look for me until around 3:30 Friday afternoon.

New Book, Crit Training, Hammerfest

Picked up Johan Bruyneel's new book this weekend. Should be interesting. He also has a new website...

www.johanbruyneel.com

This morning was the monthly CPO PT. The area CPOs meet on the second Tuesday of every month and I lead them in some PT and a run. This morning only six people showed up, so I led a little PT and then let everyone hit the cardio room to pick there own poison. I jumped on the stationary bike and did a good 45 minute spin...I was drenched afterwards.

Today's Tuesday Hammerfest went well. We started out with a practice on the crit course and then headed out towards the tower for a "cool down", yeah right! The crit practice went well, no crashes. It was a bit of an eye opener but was good to scope out part of the course and pick some good lines. I think if I ride in early tomorrow, I may ride over and check out the entire course.

The rest of the ride was good. I hung with the lead group for most of the way out. I had to back off just before the turn around. After the turn around I felt good and kept up a good pace. I later hooked up with John and Scott and we eventually caught up with the lead group again. At the last turn, I kept my eye on the guys in the front to see who would make a move. I saw Bryant and a couple of other guys take off, so I jumped on it. I was in fourth place and was keeping up. I looked down and was hitting 30+ mph. I passed one guy and later someone else passed me. I think I ended up as the fourth person to the sign. Pretty Good!

Hot In HI

Yesterday I did my commute in to work. At lunch time I took a run out to the Missing Man memorial and back. Man, it is getting hot! The ride home was a little windy. I was feeling a little sluggish on both the ride in and the ride home. I need to clean the bike up and give it a good inspection this weekend.

I found this on the internet.



Sounds interesting and it has given me some ideas. I'm half thinking of putting something together or just doing a run on my own. We'll see. Here is link if anyone else is interested.

http://www.runday.com/index.htm

Pearl City-Roubaix

Riding a bike through Pearl City must be close to what it feels like to ride in Paris-Roubaix. Man, those roads are rough and there is hardly room to ride. You have to keep a sharp eye going through there with all the traffic.

This is what came to mind yesterday as I was commuting home. That has got to be the worst place to ride a bike in Hawaii.

It was funny comparing my ride through PC to P-R. I think the only difference was that instead of hearing Jonathan Vaughters or Johan Bruyneel yelling through my earpiece, I was listening to RATT's Greatest Hits (RATT is an 80's metal band for you youngsters).

Good Week, Race Cancellation, and A Bump On The Head

This week was a pretty good week. After suffering many flats last week, I fixed the problem and commuted in three out of five days this week (had to drive a couple of days to run some errands). Both the Tuesday and Thursday lunch time rides went well (for most...sorry again Dev!).

On the Tuesday ride a small group of us was finishing up the ride when I heard a couple of guys planning a break. When I saw them both miss a turn and go straight, I launched an attack. I backed off a bit because I didn't think anyone had decided to counter. I was almost to the speed limit sign that we normally race to, when out of nowhere, Ben came flying by. Victory was so close! No backing off next time!

I started getting back into my morning gym routine (hit the treadmill + ab workout on Wednesday morning since I drove in).

The Aloha State Games Road Race was cancelled yesterday due to several issues. I got a call from the coordinators of this race yesterday when I got home. Goy asked me who I was talking to. I told her a race got cancelled. She asks, "So you are only doing one this month?" I said, "No, two." She said, "You told me before that you were only doing two this month." I said, "I am only doing two, now." I then got hit upside the head with the phone. Marriage is so fun.

So, I will be doing TWO races this month...the Hickam Criterium and the Hawaii State Road Race.