Update for week 4 of March 2009

Aloha from the update head quarters. It's been a good week for riding. The rain is gone for now, the sun is out, and the roads are dry. I logged 172.8 miles this week. Three trips to Mauna loa, two to One Alii Park, plus my daily work commute and short errand runs. The good news is I only suffered two flat tires this week. Since the beginning of this year, I've spent over $50.00 on tubes. The tires on one of my road bikes is telling me I need new ones. I'm pretty picky about tires. They gotta be dual compound, kevlar belted, hand made tires. I'm not going to tell you how much they cost because you'll think I'm nuts. But since my life is on the line every time I get on the bike, I feel it's worth it.

Mike Dunn, the Color Commentator for ESPN's NHRA racing is going to meet up with Lisa and I near Lexington, Kentucky on May the 18th for a short ride. Mike will be doing the NHRA "Thunder Valley Nationals" May 14th to the 17th in Bristol, Tennessee, and will be driving home along HWY 81 which parallels the Trans-America bicycle route between Lexington and Charletesville. If we were a couple of days earlier on our ride, we could have been on National TV with him, and get to tour the ESPN studio, plus meet some of the top racers in the business. Who knows that could have been the start of a whole new Carrier for me. Just kidding of course. Can you imagine me? In front of millions of people trying to explain centrifugal rotationary torque via unrestrained wattage delivered simultaneously in parallel to the pavement by way of mechanical intervention? I don't think so, I'll leave that up to the pro's.

Anyway, Thursday (Kuhio Day), Lisa and I will be doing a simulation of our trip. This time it's for sure. My plan is to load up all my junk, I mean stuff, and ride to Kalua koi to meet Lisa at her place. From there, we will both ride fully loaded up to Maunaloa where we will meet Fern. The three of us will ride to town, take a lunch break or something, then jump back on our bikes and head out east to Pukoo where we have permission to camp in somebody's yard. We will probably make a number of stops along the way since this is a simulation, and we have all day to get to our destination. Friday morning after a hearty home cooked breakfast (Probably oat meal or dried cereal), we will repack all our stuff and head back. Once again taking our time making sure we have enough strength to make it up the hill after all that.

Since Mana'e Goods and Grinds have wireless internet. I will try to post an entry while we are there. We'll see how that goes. Thanks again for giving up your valuable time to drop in and check up on us. Aloha, Ted.